Hey, guys! What's up? I know I haven't been very well about posting lately... or remembering when it is I actually post... but I finished this chapter early! The first chapter introduced - sort of - Yuki, and the second chapter introduced Umi-chan! Er... Nekozawa-senpai... Moving on... Anyway, so this chapter introduces Haruhi, while the next one should - don't hold me to this - should introduce the rest of the Host Club. Oh god... just imagine that horror... yeah, the next chapter might be late, seeing as how hard it might be choosing between all the different disastrous scenarios that could result. Anyway, here's the third chapter, please read and review! Enjoy!
After a few minutes, Umi-kun and I reached the cafeteria. I was gaping the entire way. This place was amazing! Like a actual castle!
When we stepped inside the commons area, I was floored. It was huge! Not just that, but there were so many people! Five times as many people as in class, at least! And there were so many different smells coming from the kitchen, imagine the different possibilities! As boring as the morning lectures had been, the rest of the school was simply fascinating!
Umi-chan and I got our lunches, then I followed him to a strangely dark-lit corner of the room. I was subconsciously humming the entire time, and sat down next to him at the table. I wasn't sure what foods they had served, seeing as everything was classified 'A', 'B','C', or 'D', so I just ordered what Umi did.
He didn't say anything as we walked, when we were in the line, or when we sat. That was fine though, I guess Umi just isn't much of a talker. I watched curiously as he raised a fork full of food to his mouth.
"...Yes?" he asked, once again pausing stock-still.
I gave him a big smile. "What are you eating?"
"...Lunch?..." He answers, still not moving.
I giggled, and focused my attention to my own tray, sampling the foods as I hummed and swung my legs.
He continued eating as well, if not a bit hesitantly. A fact that I hardly noticed.
When lunch ended, I followed him back to class. Lunch was pretty entertaining; I watched how the different students interacted with each other when they weren't in class. Strangely, nobody came up to the table where Umi-kun and I were, but I'm sure that all his lunch buddies were just busy today. It's okay, though, I'm sure I'll get to meet them tomorrow!
Half way through evening classes, it started to wind down a bit. We were given some time to go through the textbook and read some on our own* for the lesson. I raised my hand and the Sensi looked up.
"Yes?" He said.
"May I go to the bathroom?"**
Once he wrote me a hall pass, I started to turn towards the door before turning back.
"May I ask another question?" I asked. He nodded.
"Where are the bathrooms?"
After giving me directions, the Sensi sent me on my way. I walked out of the room into the amazing hallway. I couldn't get over it, it was just so cool!
As I walked, I tried really hard to remember Sensi's directions. Was it three hallways down, then left? Or right and two hallways back? Um…. maybe it was left, then four hallways to the right…. wait… that doesn't sound right.
Suddenly, distracted by my mind's ramblings, I had run into someone in the hallway, effectively knocking us both to the ground.
"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed, "I'm so sorry, are you okay?"
The boy sat up, rubbing his head. "It's alright., I'm fine. Are you okay?"
His voice was surprisingly soft, bringing a big smile to my face.
"I'm great! I'm so glad you're not hurt! Are you sure you're okay?"
He gave me a soft smile as we both stood up. "Yeah, I'm alright. My name is Haruhi Fujioka, I'm a first year. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Haru-kun! My name's Yuki, and I'm a third year!"
Haru-chan looked at me strangely. "What are you doing in the first year hallway?"
I looked around confusedly, the expression on my face. "This…. is the first year hallway?"
His strange look increased. "Yeah… How'd you get here?"
I looked back at him, my smile back. "Oh, well I was looking for the bathroom, and today's my first day, and I left my map back in the classroom, so I was trying to find it on my own…. I wonder how I ended up here. It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes..."
Haruhi's strange look went away. "Oh, well, that explains it. Well, classes are over now, and I would show you back to your classroom, but I've never been to the third year hallway. Hey, here's an idea. Right now I'm on my way to club, I'm sure one of the third years there would be happy to show you."
"Alright!" I beamed, following Haru-kun as he lead the way. This whole school thing wasn't that bad! Sure, getting lost was a minor setback, but everyone was so nice! We took a series of turns down the hallways….. Erm, I couldn't remember what they were. Oh, well! It's not like I'd need to navigate there from the first-year hall that often. I wondered what kind of club Haru-chan would be in. Hm… Well, it can't be that strange. After all, it didn't look like Haru-kun would be the kind of person to participate in anything widely abnormal.
* I have no idea if they do that in Japanese schools, I'm just taking a guess. Every once in a while at my school they give us class time to read the chapter out of the textbook, so that's why I wrote that.
** I have no idea if this is allowed, but for argument's sake, let's just say it is.