07.11.11
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Before I begin, I'd just like to announce that as of 37 minutes ago, I have completed all my summer homework. That's a weight off my shoulders, let me tell you. This, of course, means I'll have more time to work on this blog, which I'm sure the 3 people who commented and the 3 people who subscribed are happy to hear.
Alright, before I start rambling again, I'll just get to the story.
Deep breath now…
Okay… so as I'm sure you remember from the first post, I do not like waking up early in the morning. Not one bit.
It all started on the third day of summer break last year. Since summer had only just started, I wasn't used to the change in schedule yet, so I ended up setting my alarm by mistake the night before.
Which means I ended up rudely awakened at 6:00 in the morning for no reason at all. That's another thing you should know about me, when I wake up in the morning, no matter what time it is, I simply cannot go back to sleep. Not until it's nighttime again, annoyingly enough.
As you can imagine, I was not particularly happy about this turn of events, but I knew laying there would get me nowhere, and so, with an annoyed sigh, I was up.
I felt better after a nice breakfast. Since I was only cooking for one, it didn't take long to whip something up.
Oh yeah, that's something I forgot to mention: My dad had gotten a job out of town about a week prior to all this. I'd been planning on going to his friend, Misuzu's, pension out in Karuizawa for the summer, but a surprise and brutal hurricane put an end to those plans. It's kind of hard to have guests when you're pension's half destroyed by a fallen tree (don't worry, he was insured). So, I was home alone for the next few months. It didn't bother me, I knew how to take care of myself and I had money from my old part time job that covered what Dad's weekly deposits into our account couldn't.
Now that we've got that out of the way, back to the story.
I finished eating around twenty minutes later and figured I'd get started on my homework. I plopped down on the couch with my history textbook and my notebook and pen, content to spend my afternoon taking notes for an essay on the historical and cultural impact of the Meiji Era.
That's when the doorbell rang and my life changed forever.
…that was really cliché wasn't it?
Oh well, the truth is the truth.
Anyway, when I heard the ringing, I didn't think much of it. Not even when I walked to the door and opened it to find a man in a blue jump suit holding a clipboard in front of his face.
"Fujioka Haruhi?" He read off my name in a bored, robotic tone.
"Yes," I answered. By now, I'd figured my dad had just sent me another care package. I got one from him once a week around this time, though usually on Wednesday rather than Tuesday. That was a little strange.
"Sign here please," he said, handing me the clipboard.
I took it and neatly signed my name, during which time he signaled for another man to bring in the package. Or should I say, packages.
It was around this time I began to suspect that this wasn't a care package from my dad. He normally didn't send six all at once.
And they usually aren't all bigger than I am.
I almost dropped the clipboard. The two men wheeled the giant crates one after another into my (admittedly rather small) apartment, then the first guy wordlessly took the clipboard from my and walked to the door. This action finally brought me to my senses. I bolted outside and called after them.
"Wait a minute!" I cried out. "These can't be for me, you must have the wrong address!"
The delivery men glanced at each other briefly, before the one with the clipboard addressed me.
"You are Fujioka Haruhi, right?"
I nodded.
The man held up the clipboard again for me to see.
"And this is your address here, right?"
I read the address written on the paper, examining every letter and number. It was indeed mine. I couldn't say anything, but the look on my face must've spoken for me, as the man bid me goodbye and walked off with his partner. Before I knew it, they were gone, and I was stuck with six human sized crates with God only knows what inside and no idea what to do with them.
It was useless just standing outside staring into space, so I went inside and shut the door. Leaning with my back against it, I studied the crates one by one. Their sizes varied a bit. When I said before that they were all taller than me, what I should have said was all but one were taller, and the one that wasn't was only a head or so shorter anyway.
Other than their unusual size, they were pretty average looking wooden crates. As I moved closer though, I found that each of one had a logo stamped on one side. In bright red ink, an image of a rose in bloom, with a single word written below in fancy font English letters:
OURAN.
Now, I'm sure some of you are wondering, 'What the heck is Ouran?'
Well, join the club.
That's right, even after all the dealings I've had with them (which you'll hear all about in later posts), I still have absolutely no idea just what exactly they do. My only guess is…
Well, you'll see in the minute.
Now, where was I…? Oh right, I'd just found the logo.
I got out my laptop and did a Google search for the word. To my surprise, I got with no results. Even after trying several other search engines, I continued coming up empty handed. That arose quite a suspicion in me. Every company had a website, one that didn't… well there had to be something fishy about it.
I was starting to feel a bit anxious at this point. If I couldn't find the company this way, the only other way was to open one of the crates and see if there were any papers that might have a phone number. I swallowed.
Now, I'm generally a very rational individual. I don't read fantasy books and I don't watch anime or anything. I always think things through logically and I don't take flights of fancy or daydream. At this moment, however, I think the oddness of the situation was getting to me. I was imagining all sorts of horrible things that could be in those crates. A cache of weapons, illegal narcotics, poisonous reptiles… well, you get the picture.
I tried not to think too much on it as I went next door and asked my bemused neighbor if I could borrow his crowbar. I returned, instrument in hand, a minute later and set to the task of choosing a crate to open.
That's when I noticed that the lids where all on the sides of the crates, which meant I'd have to lower the box to the ground horizontally or else it's contents would spill out onto the floor once I'd opened it. They looked pretty heavy, but I had no other choice. I picked the one closet to the door and, with a great deal of struggle, slowly ease it onto it's side with the lid facing upwards.
I stared at it for a long minute and took a deep breath. Those scary thoughts started to come back as I gripped the crowbar tight in my hands. I steeled my resolve, telling myself there was no way whatever was in this crate could be weapons or drugs or anything of the sort.
A minute later, the crate cracked open. I pushed the lid off quickly so I wouldn't have any more time to think about what might be in there. With the contents of the crate now completely visible, all my earlier thoughts disappeared in a flash. This is because what I was looking at was something I hadn't even thought of. My jaw dropped to the ground.
A guy.
A naked guy.
An anatomically correct naked guy.
Well, at least it wasn't drugs.
…darn it. My dad just walked in and I don't have dinner ready. I have to stop here, but I'll post again as soon as I can, promise.
Posted by Haruhi at 7:03 pm 1 comment
