She went fleeing off to her bookshelf, as Kyon sat in a complete daze, trying to make sense of everything that was going on around him. It certainly wasn't something that occurred everyday. You meet an old friend at the supermarket; you start hitting it off, and the next thing you know she literally forces you into her apartment to show off her writing. This wasn't the sort of activity that normal people would partake in. You just don't go to someone's apartment and start drinking their beer as they begin writing out their life story for you. It just wasn't ordinary.

If he had his way, they would have just exchanged emails and called it a night. Maybe a phone number if he were feeling daring enough, but certainly not a six-pack under her roof.

"Hopefully they're all here this time," she chimed from in front of her bookshelf. "The other day I had lost one of em', and it took me forever to find it again!"

With a sudden lurch of her hands, she grabbed a short group of hard covers that were wedged tightly between volumes of unsavory h-rated manga and two paperback science fiction novels by Frank Herbert. Once the five hard covers flew out of place, all of the literature around it tumbled down in a horrific mess. Dune was now sitting uncomfortably on top of 'Boys and Their Playthings'. It was sight that, Kyon envisioned, would have most likely have made Mr. Herbert throw up in his grave.

"Maybe if you cleaned up the place, you would be a bit more organized." He shook his head, pretending as if he didn't see the cockroach that ran in front of his legs as he uttered the word 'organized'. "I don't see how you could possibly get any work done around here."

Haruhi had all five of her hard covers towered illogically on the palms of her hands, which was beginning to resemble a small skyscraper on the verge of collapse. The books wiggled back and forth with every step she took, as if they were all panicked individuals trying desperately to escape the clutches of a clumsy behemoth.

"You have to understand, Kyon. A writer's passi-" She tripped over her own feet, miraculously able to restore her balance without knocking over her miniature book building. "Wow, that would have been a nasty fall." She whipped her hair back, proud to have made it all the way back to her target goal without an incident. "Annnywaays! As I was saying, a writer must completely absorb herself within her work. I don't have the time, nor the energy to clean up."

"But yet you have enough time to read manga I see..." He nodded in the direction of Mr. Herbert's neighbors.

With a sigh, she dropped all five hardcover books on Kyon's outstretched right foot. He bit back a yelp, but only with the cooperation of every single cell in his body.

"Those are for inspirational purposes!" Haruhi huffed as she took a seat in front of her now quivering guest. "I would never be caught dead reading any of those if it didn't enhance my writing abilities."

Kyon cleared his throat loudly, building up the courage to counter Haruhi's argument.

"How exactly does reading..." He glimpsed over at the shelf once more, reading aloud the first title that caught his eye. "...Boy Plus Boy Paradise enhance your writing ability?"

"It titillates me when I'm bored."

His face turned a bright cheery red.

'That was way too much information.'

An ominous smirk creased through her mouth, as her line clearly had the desired effect she hoped it would. Her gaze quickly shifted down to her collection, which lay scrambled all around, and on, Kyon's foot.

"That's a lot of books you've written there," Kyon said, desperate to change the flow of conversation.

"Everyone a cutting-edge blockbuster!" Her hands moved gracefully around his shoe, picking up every last fallen book and placing them gently into a neat pile on her lap. The book which lay proudly on top was handed to Kyon shyly, as Haruhi's face became surprisingly subdued. "This one is probably my most personal."

Accepting the hardcover with a firm grip, he studied the cover with dutiful interest. It seemed to channel some sort of Christian symbolism, as a scrawny grey creature with a massive cranium hung crucified from a bleeding red cross. Around him swarmed a mob, brandishing their pitchforks straight towards his mid-section. Kyon studied the creatures face for a moment, as he noticed the beings dead black eyes told more of a story than he imagined the entire first chapter was. The thing's eyes clearly sent the message that he would welcome death. It would gladly welcome death. It was clearly suffering.

"Tears for a Fallen Angel," Kyon muttered the title. The black lettering didn't stand out from the rest of the cover, as it blended perfectly with the scene that was created around it.

Flipping over to the back cover, a golden glint caught Kyon's eye. A small emblem shaped as a ribbon lay embedded into the back cover, with the caption 'Best Sci-Fi Novel of 2014' written beneath it. Under this, a brief listing of other awards scrawled down the remainder of the cover, until finally concluding with the statement:

"Suzumiya Haruhi has crafted nothing short of a genre classic, turning old-fashioned clichés on their heads in a truly breathtaking opus of steel cold science fiction and liberating romance. 'Tears for a Fallen Angel' is a masterpiece."

-Patricia Martin

Author of 'Contact in Kyoto'

and 'Young, Blonde, and Dorky: An Autobiography'

"Oh my god..." he gaped, struggling to find the words. "You've won a lot of awards for this."

Twiddling with her thumbs nervously, she couldn't help but feel just a little proud of herself. "It won the Saturn award for Best First-Time Writer. That's the one I'm the most proud of."

"Wow..." Of all the things he would imagine Haruhi becoming, a successful science fiction writer was not one of them. He had always envisioned her being a part of one of those 'nut job' organizations in charge of tracking Yeti or some bizarre fictitious phenomenon of the sort. To think that she had chosen this particular path was completely beyond his comprehension.

He stared admirably into her eyes, noting how little she had changed. The Suzumiya Haruhi of today looked exactly like the Suzumiya Haruhi he knew as a boy. Yet, the Haruhi he knew wouldn't have the patience to write a chapter, let alone an entire book. The mere suggestion of Haruhi having written anything of quality challenged all of his previous preconceptions.

"I didn't realize that you were so talented, Haruhi."

"Neither did I." She shrugged modestly. "To be honest, I just write whatever I feel like, and for some reason, critics seem to really eat it up."

'Haruhi? Modest? ... Is this some sort of trap?'

Chuckling lightly to himself, he couldn't seem to break his gaze from her. Her eyes studied him cautiously, processing his every motion.

"I'll have to..." snicker "... I'll have to read it sometime... hehehe... HAHAHA!" A hearty laugh filled the room, erupting from his mouth like a volcano. "Sorry, sorry." Control flowed over his body again, as he picked his brain trying to remember what he was going to say. "It's just so... I'm just really really impressed."

"I always felt it could be better," she responded earnestly. "A lot better."

"I'm sure all writers feel that way though." He brushed off her comment with a motion of his arm. Haruhi stared at the floor, her yellow bows sticking out like sore thumbs. "So, uhhhh, what is this little magnum opus of yours about?"

"Oh!" Her head flung back evenly onto her shoulders, her bows bopping lightly with the sudden jerk of activity. "It's a little hard to explain without sounding absurd." She grinned. "It's about aliens."

"Doesn't surprise me in the least."

"It isn't what you think though," she retorted in a strangely apologetic manner. "It functions as a highly effective romance. That's the core of the story!"

The hands seemed to communicate her ideas and passion far more than her words, as they were quite literally being flung about in all manner of strange configurations.

"You see, it's about mankind's first contact." Her hands tightened into fists. "No real surprises with that. I mean, people have been writing science fiction stories around that concept for decades." The hands loosened, becoming as floppy as pancakes. She shook her head back in forth, obviously trying to shoo away her sudden string of negativity. "The only thing is, contemporary science fiction really pisses me off. Whenever contact is made, the aliens always just end up killing everyone! It isn't effective storytelling, you know." The arms which were the transports for her arms were now moving in subtle circular motions, while the hands came back into their fist positions. "I mean, come on! As much as I love watching humanity get destroyed, it starts to get really old after a while." Her arms shut down, leaving her hands completely motionless by her sides. "But you know one movie that really went above and beyond that?"

"Hmmm?"

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind." The index finger on her right hand was now pointing outwards like a javelin. "It was the main influence for the story. That movie made aliens, you know, seem somewhat plausible." The javelin remained erect and unmoving. It was as if she forgot that her index finger was as stiff as a board. "They had majesty!" She thrust her finger suddenly. Forwards and back. "They had class!" Forwards and back. "They felt like real intelligent beings." The javelin falls and curls back into the hand. "But... at the end of that whole film... we never understand them. No movies seem to have the guts to portray 'their' culture and how 'they' function."

Her shoulders scrunched up around her neck, and then released in a silent sigh. "So I kind of figured, you know, if you're going to introduce an alien culture to a reader, why not focus the entire story around a romance?"

"So, is this an inter-species romance?"

"Of course," she exclaimed cheerfully. "Otherwise it would just be really boring." The smooth wrinkleless top of her hand flattened out, all of her fingers out stretched. "These aliens come down to Earth to, you know, make contact." Fingers dangle downwards, swaying back and forth. "The first aliens on Earth pick out random people from the planet Earth to basically be their 'tour guides'." Hand clenches up, one finger stretched outwards. She returned to the javelin form. "That's where our main hero comes in. He completely falls for the human form that the alien chick he's representing puts up." Eyes close while hands move in circular motion once again. "She's kind of a soft-spoken seductress. She's got lavender hair; she's fairly short, and really really thin."

'Where have I seen this before?'

"He completely falls head over heels in love with her. He learns all about her culture through this psychic connection she sets up between them, but..." Haruhi's eyes remained closed as she struggled to keep her voice even. "He convinces her to stay human, and that eliminates all of her natural born defenses. She is slaughtered brutally by a hate group within her own apartment." Her eyes remained closed, though her hands were still telling the story with vivid visual flair. "There's blood everywhere and her head was clearly smashed in... on the same bed where they had made love."

Her smile returned to break the melancholy as her eyes slid open once more. "So what ends up happening is that the main character ends up becoming this amazing historical figure, like a 'peace maker' for the whole of the alien population on Earth. He takes a stand, and fights the oppression that this particular race faces. It's really inspirational!"

Despite her sudden bursts of enthusiasm, the emotion that creased her expression was that of discontent.

"My real problem is..." She released an audible sigh. "... I really love the story, but I hate my writing. I never feel like I give my ideas justice."

"From what I'm reading here," his eyes darted across the inside of the dust cover. "They all seem to love you. I mean, this one author said that you were 'like a gentle breeze clearing the filth that had been infecting the sci-fi genre.' Last time I checked, that is considered pretty high praise."

"Yeah," she grumbled. "But they don't know what the story 'could' have been. I mean, I doubt any of them even cried. What good is a tragedy if it can't move someone to tears, right?"

"I'm sure it's fantastic." He placed the book gently on the floor, being cautious as to not smash any bugs that might have been resting in the spot. "To think that Suzumiya Haruhi would grow up to be an award winner. In literature, no less."

"I think the passion and drive to write the things I do just comes naturally to me." Her eyes glimmered as she lost herself in a train of creative thought. "I can just close my lids, and pretend like its all real, you know. Then I open them back up after I've got a clear enough vision of what I wish to convey. Then I just go ahead and type my heart away."

"If you're such a successful author, why are you living in a place like this?"

"No one bought the damn books," she shook her head with frustration. "It was almost like they were allergic to them or something." She bit down on her lip, giving the matter a serious amount of thought. "I really don't understand how a book can win so many little doodads and not get picked up by anyone." With a quiet fury that seemed to make the very hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, she snatched the last beer from her six-pack and quickly took part in the duty of drinking it down to nothing. "It..." gulp gulp "...really starts to piss me off..." gulp gulp "... now that I think about it..." gulp gulp gulp "... and now that beer is gone. Just one more!"

With that, she stumbled back to her feet and made a short voyage back to the refrigerator.

"Don't you think you've had enough?"

"I have a really high alcohol tolerance level," she bragged. "The worst that happens is that I start to get a little pissy." The fridge swung open with an audible squeak. "But only a little bit."

"Well," he laughed nervously. "That's... reassuring?"

'Is she an alcoholic?'

She snatched up an ice cold six-pack before slamming the refrigerator shut with a heavy 'thunk.' Plopping down belly first on the floor, she had apparently become too lazy to walk from the door of the fridge and back.

"I'm going to let you borrow some of those," she pointed at the pile which had returned to its previously scattered state. "But you have to give em' back by the end of the month. Got that!"

"I'm not sure I'll have enough time to-"

"Ahh, come on!" She pouted, opening her can with a snap and a sizzle. "You can't be THAT busy, are you?"

Liquid courage drained into her system, kicking her motor mouth back into high gear. "Now that I think of it, you haven't mentioned anything about a career, huh?" She giggled, slithering towards him playfully.

"Sssssoooo," she hissed.

"Well," he stumbled. "Ummmm... would you please stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"That snake thing. It's really freakin' me out."

"Okkkaaaay," she taunted while folding her legs Indian style. "Just answer the question then."

"Well, I'm uhhh..."

'Why are you so nervous? It isn't like this is the first time you've told a girl this'

"I'maproducerforatelevisioncompany," he mumbled madly.

"Huh?"

"I'm a producer for a television company."

'Calm down! Why are you sweating?!'

"Oh really?!!" Her legs stretched forward as if by reflex. "What kind of a television company do you work for?! I bet you make a ton of money, huh?"

"Ummm..." he chuckled nervously. "You're never going to believe this."

"Oh, come on! If I managed to write an award winning book, I'm sure nothing you could say would really shock me."

"Well..."

'Courage, Kyon. Courage!'

He paused. "The truth is, and this is the truth, I'm not just a producer. I'm actually the president of an entire channel."

"Wait wait wait wait! Lemme try and guess. You're the president of Tanigawa Productions, right?!

Silence. Nothing but an incredibly long and uncomfortable silence could be heard after Haruhi made her little joke.

"......" Kyon's embarrassment wrapped his mouth shut.

Haruhi's jaw dropped as she realized the gravity of her statement.

"... No way."

"Way."

"Wow... that is like..."

The throat from which a high-pitched girly squeal would soon unleash itself struggled to swallow the saliva which accumulated in her mouth. From head to toe, her entire body felt as if it had been struck with an electric current. She couldn't hold it back any longer. She had to let it out.

"EEEEeeeeeeeeeeeEEEE," she squealed loudly. Darting to her feet, Haruhi shook with excitement. "Oh my god, Kyon! That's seriously amazing!"

No matter how hard she tried, the energy wouldn't simmer down. "I swear, I'm going to faint. I never would have thought that... I-I mean... wow!"

"It's really not that big of a deal," he responded modestly.

"Not a big deal?! Kyon, you're like royalty! Just the fact that you're within my presence is, actually, starting to make me feel just a bit unworthy." She dropped onto his lap flirtatiously; her back turned towards his face. "You have a big house, huh?"

"I, uhh, guess you could say that."

'Don't you go growing on me now! Don't you go growing!'

"How big?"

"It's big enough."

"No no no, I need exact measurements here."

"It's really big." All feeling left his body. He had become comfortably numb.

"Really big isn't an exact measurement."

"I'm really kind of embarrassed by the whole thing."

"What is there to be embarrassed about?" She turned to face him, still seated comfortably in his lap. "You're like a god!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"But Channel Tanigawa is the most popular station on TV. People would die to be in your shoes." Staring longingly into his eyes, a deviant flair sparkled in her sockets. "Looks like I'm going to have to try the whole seduction trick, huh?"

'No. Down boy. Heel!'

She leapt off of him, giggling ecstatically as she skipped to the other side of the room. "Y-You seriously shudda seen tha-" The laugh became more and more violent until finally tears began forming on her cheeks. "That was priceless! Absolutely priceless."

With a final act of forced reservation, Haruhi put a lock on her giggles. However, her sudden excess of enthusiasm seemed to possess no cap.

"We're totally going to go clubbing sometime!" Rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, she looked as if she were addressing the wall. "We can go shopping too! You know, there's this jacket that I've been meaning to get for the long-"

"Hey! Just because I have money, doesn't mean that I'm going to buy you anything." Kyon felt agitated. It was clear as day what kind of manipulation Haruhi was attempting to pull. She would continue to be friendly and outgoing, but in return, she wanted him to buy her the things she would never be able to afford.

"And why not?" Her brown eyes took a shade of innocence. "Don't you want to help out an old friend? I mean what else are you going to spend your money on? I'm a worthwhile investment!"

'Don't fall for it, man. She's just using you.'

Well... uhhhhh....." Her eyes bore into him like those of a starving stray kitty. "...Shit. Fine, I'll buy you whatever you want."

"Yaaaaaahoooooo!" Galloping to her millionaire's right side, Haruhi couldn't help but prod his ribs gently with her foot. "I feel like I've won the lottery or something."

'Oh Kyon. Why must you hurt yourself in this way, Kyon?'

As the irritating behavior of Suzumiya Haruhi weighed more and more heavily on his mind, the President of Channel Tanigawa decided that perhaps it was best for him to go. He didn't wish to get into any more trouble than he already had, and Haruhi's constant barrage of flirting and teasing might just lead him into a situation he would later regret. The last thing he needed right now was to wake up with Haruhi clinging to his body.

Secretly, that's what he had been craving throughout the course of their encounter.

"What time is it?" No matter what time, it's time to go.

"About 11:40. Why?"

'11:40! It really is time to go then!'

Leaping to his feet with the ferocity of a saber tooth tiger, Kyon's body was already at the door before his mind was aware of what had happened.

"Shit. I didn't realize it was that late." He turned the doorknob with reluctance. "I've gotta go."

While his thoughts had been following Haruhi to her apartment, the presentation he was about to give about next year's 'Summer Block' had completely slipped under all of the excitement around him. Not that it would matter much if he were at the presentation or not. He certainly wasn't the brains behind his operation.

"You know," Haruhi spoke calmly. "Tanigawa Productions is only a couple of blocks away."

"I know. It's going to take me forever to get home." He let out a deep sigh, knowing deep down that he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight, no matter how much he hurried. His wakeup call was in five hours, and remembering the long cold trek to Haruhi's apartment wasn't helping to ease his mind.

"I'm trying to say that you can stay here, moron!" A hint of fury flamed in her words. "There's no point in walking all the way home when I have an extra sleeping bag just for this sort of occasion. You see, it's all part of the plan."

'Part of the plan, huh?'

Kyon released the door handle, finally giving in to her will. "You're really evil, you know that?"

"It gets the job done."

As Haruhi dug her extra sleeping bag from under a brown box with the title 'Research Materials' written across it in black ink, Kyon began to wonder how anyone would be able to sleep in a place like this. A haunting image of a cockroach laying eggs in his ear didn't help matters.

'Do cockroaches lay eggs?'

"It makes perfect sense, Kyon." She laid out his bag mere inches away from hers. "Tanigawa is only a walk away from here. So we can have a sleep over!"

He noted the proximity of the two sleeping bags. This was bad. This was very bad. He briefly considered taking residence in the bathroom, but quickly shrugged off the notion. If the bugs were this bad in the main portion of the apartment, he could just imagine what the bug colonies in the restroom would be.

"Isn't this sort of... like..." he struggled to convey his worries in words.

"What?"

"You sure you're comfortable with a guy sleeping here."

"Don't go getting any ideas," Haruhi smirked. "If you try anything, heads will roll! You got that."

"So you're completely okay with me sleeping here."

"Why wouldn't I be okay with it?"

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, you know. I'm a man. You're a woman. Sleeping within close proximity of each other."

"I have a right foot, Kyon. A right foot that has your face's name written all of over it if you continue that train of thought."

She swung her right foot at an invisible attacker just for demonstration. Haruhi was, clearly, not a woman you wanted to mess around with.

"... Okay. We're cool then."

"More than cool. Glorious!" With that, Haruhi began unzipping her jacket. She threw the piece to the side, revealing a thin white undershirt, which she began stripping away before Kyon became completely aware of the situation that was unfolding in front of him.

'What the hell?!' Retreating to the restroom with all the haste his legs would allow, he heard a loud crunch underneath his shoe. The room was plunged into darkness with the slamming of the door. Though, a few moments later, Kyon wished he had just waited in the dark.

With a flick of the light switch, he saw an entire family of five roaches flee from his sight and into the shower. He was so terrified he didn't even bother to check what he had stepped on.

"Okay," Haruhi called. "I'm decent."

Glad to leave the festering hell hole Haruhi used as a washroom behind, he was greeted with the image of a beautiful woman stretched out in her sleeping bag. Though, the fact that she apparently couldn't afford a futon disturbed him a little.

"You know, I left my suitcase at home. I don't even have my presentation materials." He took off his shoes, struggling to find a spot where it wouldn't immediately become a bug heaven. Finally finding a spot next to Suzumiya's shoes on top of the 'Research Materials' box, he gave up his search and placed them directly beside hers. He had his doubts that the box would protect them.

"Well," she sighed. "You can make something up, can't you?"

"Wouldn't be the first time actually." He began unbuttoning his pants, before realizing the obvious blunder which followed such an action. "I think I'll, ummmm, sleep in my clothes."

"Go ahead. Strip down. I really don't care." Her eyes remained wide open, fixed on him.

"I think I'll pass." He curled up in his sleeping bag, intentionally turning in the opposite direction of where Haruhi was facing. "Anyways, goodnight."

"One of us has to turn out the lights."

He groaned. "Not going to be me."

"Kyon, who welcomed you under their roof?"

Another groan emitted from Kyon's mouth, this one a tad softer than the last. "Your house. Your light switch."

"Alright," she grumbled. "Fine. I see how this goes."

She crawled out from within her cozy futon, while Kyon refused to take a single glance at her.

"Man," she whined. "It's times like these where I really wished I had pajamas.

'Wah?!'

"Y-You mean you're not weari-"

"Yeah, it sucks." The lights went out with a click. Returning to her location of slumber, Haruhi cackled lightly to herself. "Guess we'll have to go buy some."

'What am I, her husband?'

"Goodnight Kyon," she said with a surprising degree of sugary sweetness. "I'm really glad we ran into each other, you know?"

"So am I," he smiled. He felt his lids grow heavy. "Goodnight Haruhi."

"Sweet dreams, Kyon."

"Don't let the cockroaches lay eggs in your ear."

"They can do that?"

He chuckled. "Night."

"Say Kyon."

"Hmmmm?"

"Would you... would you like to do this again sometime?"

"...I'd love to."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You aren't jerking my chain, right?"

"No."

"I had a lot of fun tonight, Kyon. I mean... I haven't had this much fun since high school."

"Neither have I."

"So next time we'll go to your place, right?"

"If you want."

"Alright! Do you have a pool?"

"Yes. It's indoors."

"Wow, really?! You must be even more loaded than I expected. What else do you have?"

"Goodnight Haruhi."

"Goodnight Kyon."

They both fell asleep at the same exact moment, content with the outcome of their magical evening.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Welcome back everybody! It's been a really long time since I wrote Chapter 2, but things have been a little too hectic for fan-fiction writing as of late.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this Chapter. Originally, everything that happened within this Chapter was going to be a part of Chapter 2, but then my logic came into play and I figured Chapter 2 would end up being 'waaaaaaaay' too long if I included all of this. So, the last half of that Chapter is now Chapter 3.

I write fan-ficiton in a very 'stream of thought' manner. I don't worry about what I'm writing too much. So naturally, I often times feel that certain chapters are better than others. Out of what I've written so far, this is my probably my least favorite. I love the interactions between Haruhi and Kyon, but I was beginning to feel like my writing was becoming hindered by the apartment. To put it lightly, I'm very glad that Chapter 4 will be taking us away from that terrible terrible place. I don't intend to write about cockroaches for a very long time now.

:) As stated in previous entries, please leave your 'honest to suzumiya' reviews. If you feel the fic sucks, tell me. If you think I've destroyed the characters, tell me. If something fascinates you, please tell me. I love reading reviews, and knowing that people are actually reading my work (whether it's crappy or not) is all the incentive I need to keep writing.

Sorry for the late update. I'll try to keep on the ball from here on out.

I hope you have enjoyed my crap!