The Afterlife of Haruhi Suzumiya

Chapter 4: Just Your Average Kyon

"I'm off to school, mom!" I yelled as I ran out the door with the house keys in one hand and my breakfast in the other. I waited for the bus to arrive at my bus stop, and then I was off to higher learning.

It was the first day of my second week at school, and I felt fairly... normal. I wasn't acting the way I did on the first day of school anymore; I was acting like your average high school guy.

Like every time I had a mood change, my sexuality changed, too. Today I felt straight. I felt like girls were hot and guys were not. This was rare for me, but not unheard of. The normal me rarely got any time in the spotlight, and it rarely lasted more than two days or so, so I decided to savor every moment.

I noticed about last year that my unusual mood swings tended to have patterns, when I acted one way, multiple traits about myself would change drastically. I had started taking notes about my moods this previous summer, and it occurred to me only now to start naming them.

I started with my normal mood, the one I was feeling today. I thought about it, and it didn't take long to pick the name Average Mode. I was feeling perfectly average, so the name worked fine.

I then thought about last week, how I had been imposing my will upon the students and didn't take orders from anybody. I was perfect academically and physically, and I even acquired a few worshippers. Then, the name God Mode hit me.

So far I had God Mode and Average Mode for the names of my five noted personalities. What should I name the others?

"Good morning class, how was your week-end?" Ms. Asahina asked, interrupting my thoughts. I then noticed that I had been on autopilot and gone all the way to class, even taking a seat and placing my backpack under my desk, without realizing at all. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Nope, no one was out of sorts. But a few were casting nervous glances at me, like they were expecting something. I suppose I had brought it upon myself.

Sigh...

"Today I'll be handing out permission sheets for the school computers. If you want to use them, you'll have to have these signed and brought back by Wednesday. Any later and you'll have to go through the front office to turn it in, as I won't be accepting them. Here they are, and if you happen to lose yours, I have a few extra copies. Other than that, there's nothing else I have to hand out. Have fun studying or finishing your homework, class." Then she muttered to herself, "Because ofcourse you never do it at home." Stacks were handed to the people sitting at the front of each row of desks, and they passed the stacks back until everyone had a copy.

When they were all handed out, Kaiba and Terry left their seats and came to sit by me. "So, BB..." Terry said, using the ridiculous nickname he had made for my... err, nickname, "What's with you today? No ridiculous orders? No crazy schemes? No yelling or cosplay? Something seems off, man. Are you okay?" I shook my head; I didn't want to bother explaining my wild mood swings to him.

"Did you have a rough week-end?" asked Kaiba, with a worried look on his face.

"I'm fine, Kunikida." I said, giving him a soft smile. He was so cute, like a son or a little brother. Why had I tried to harass him last week? I stared at him a minute to see if I could draw up the feelings I had felt, and they slowly bubbled up. I quickly put a cap on them, and made sure I didn't feel them too strongly. I didn't want to end Average Mode prematurely, and it probably terrified him and broke multiple laws when I was in God Mode around him. It'd be best to avoid that. If only I could somehow turn God Mode off. Forever.

"You know," he said, "you don't have to be so formal or anything. I know you're respecting my heritage and culture and all, but it's fine if you want to call my Kaiba."

I blinked a few times and stared at him. Had I called him by his last name? I hadn't even noticed. But... it just felt weird otherwise.

"I'm sorry Kuniki- ...err, Kaiba. I hadn't noticed I was doing that. I'll stop." It felt so awkward to call him by his first name for some reason, why was that? I'd done it before... And why did I feel like we'd been friends for years, instead of days?

"You're effing weird, you know that?" said Terry.

"Shut up Taniguchi, I'm not in the mood." Again, that odd feeling, like I had done this all before; like we'd been best friends forever. Déjà déjà vu... And did I call him by his last name, too?

Before the silence had a chance to turn awkward, Ms. Asahina walked up and sat down beside us, like she has done a few times before. "Hey Kaiba, I have your new schedule, they fixed the problem with your science class." She handed him a slip of paper. "But are you sure you don't wanna take Physics, yet? It'd be great if you could be in one of my classes other than this one, even if it's a mix-up."

"No thank you, I'm fine." said Kaiba, shaking his head. No one had been able to get over their crush on Ms. Asahina, and most still had trouble talking to her, but Kaiba had a bit of practice, and could even speak to her without stuttering! The blush on his face was inevitable, though.

"Well, if you say so. I guess I'll be seeing you in two years, if I'm still teaching by then." And with that, Ms. Asahina got up and walked to her desk.

Everyone knew what that meant, and Kaiba tensed noticeably, ready to flee at a moment's notice. The rest of the class became silent, and all eyes were focused on Kunikida and I. One person even started getting people to place bets. It was a tradition that had started in a week, but everyone knew the drill. When Ms. Asahina leaves her Memory Lane, or when homeroom was half over, it was time for me and Kaiba to play dress-up.

Though I honestly didn't feel like it today, and I didn't do anything. I sat there and tried to think of something to talk about when Kaiba gave in to curiosity.

"Umm... sir?" he started nervously, hoping that politeness might somehow save him, "Are... umm... you wouldn't happen to have plans to... you know... try out a new cosplay on me, would you?"

"I brought the outfit but I don't really want to dress you up. Why? Do you want to put something on? Because I can give you the costume and you can go change in the bathroom."

The entire class was shocked. Expressions of disbelief and fear washed over the class, as everyone thought; has he gone crazy! Some even took it a step further and thought; has he gone sane!

I looked around and shook my head. They didn't honestly think I would be that way ALL the time, did they?

The rest of the class went on a bit quieter than usual. The other kids took a few minutes, but they quickly got over the fact that I wasn't my usual self and went on to either discuss it amidst themselves or talk about something else completely.

Taniguchi, Kunikida, and I just talked about random, normal stuff. School, classes, girls, that stuffy kind of stuff. They seemed to enjoy it, and I sort of did, too. It was nice, and relaxing. But it didn't last long.

The bell rang, and most of the students went to their next classes. I got my backpack out from under my desk and was about to leave, too, when I noticed someone standing in my way. I'd seen her before, and I'd paid special attention, too. But until now, until this very second, I hadn't felt what I was feeling now. These emotions were strong, and they made a core part of me. They were based in the deepest of instinct.

Fear.
The most primal fear possible.

"Hello there. As you may know, my name is Ryoko Asakura, and I'm running for student class president. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping with my campaign. You have such a charisma about you, and I can't help but feel like we're meant to know each other, somehow. Teehee~!"

Something told me that I didn't have long to live.