It took too long! But longer chapter = longer wait.
As always, you are proof-reading, so report any parts where I seemed to forget to finish sentences.
Count the references! Save, swell, trade for sweet prizes. (Even this sentence is a reference)
"When writing fanfiction, you have to remember that your usual reader is a big fan of the franchise you are writing about, I mean, is there any other reason why they should read it? These readers therefore have very good knowledge of the series. Such readers are smart. Very smart at that, otherwise Detective and Mystery Stories wouldn't be as big as they are. [...] In conclusion, they will try to suck up all information they can get. When dealing with multiple perspectives, for example with the introduction of a new First-Person Peripheral Narrator, this can lead to redundancy and readers omitting parts they already know the information of. Try to avoid writing such info dumps as best as possible, however if it's absolutely needed, write the scene(s) so that they resemble previous scenes but are whole different to read. Improvise!"
- Poster "The eternal child", in a "How to write good fanfiction" compilation thread on sosbrigadedotnet
Chapter 4: It happens all the time
In anime, especially harem shows, it sometimes happens that the protagonist, who, in order to be more relatable to the audience that is overly dominated by males, is as bland as they could, usually says something like "My name is Something Someone. I am just your average teenage high-school boy/girl." Well, I am not going to do that, because, you see, I am not normal. In fact, nobody is normal, as there is no such thing as being 'normal', if you want to know why true normality would be bad, watch the Spongebob episode concerning that, it's pretty good. But in the whole world, there is nobody that is normal, and there are a lot of people in the world. A lot. The current world population is a little lower than 8 billion people, a little less than 120 million of them live in Japan alone. In the last decades the population has been steady in industrial nations, in some countries like my own birthrates were even declining. It would take another 10 or 20 years or so until all the baby boomer would die, resulting in a massive drop of population in these nations. However in newly industrialised countries and developing countries it is still booming. India recently placed as the biggest country, after China's population fell under India's 1.25 billion due their one-child policy. And all over the world, people are the same. All have insecurities. All have dreams. All have something they can and something they don't. Go outside. Walk a bit around, maybe around the neighbourhood or where ever you live. Now, how many people were there? It doesn't matter. Each one of these persons have a live as you, maybe better, maybe worse. But they are conscious of everything, exactly as you are. They all are worried about tomorrow. They all have dreams, all have feelings. Even you have dreams, don't you? Then why are you listening to my pathetic story, and don't work on that dream? Because I can't anymore.
When I was young Papa used to tell me bedtime stories. They weren't fairy tales. Yeah, of course I got them too, but Papa's stories were different. His stories were, sometimes depressing, sometime hilarious, but always interesting. They included stories about aliens who come to earth, sometimes in peace, sometimes not, about worlds in which magic and science battle against each other, about people whose job it was to monitor time travel, and about mystical espers who served the true good. And these were the easy understandable stories.
Looking back, these stories were a bit like Twilight Zone, but less... mind-fuck. There is a concept that says that all humans are, at the time of their birth, tabula rasa, and that after that birth, this empty blackboard is written on by the people around us. Our childhood defines our adult life. I don't get the full theory, but I can definitely say that it was these stories that were what made me today.
And some day, I guess it was somewhen at the end of primary school, we got asked what our dreams were and what we wanted to be when we grow up. My friends wrote things like 'Become famous.' Becoming famous was, at the time, the last thing I wanted to do. Daily you read about idols and music groups, actors and singers, people who get judged by the media for every little thing and every little step. An idol has sex with every member in her band, but the bassist? Fired. Idols are to be pure. Leader of a Boygroup is found smoking recently legalized weed? Fired, celebrities should not take drugs. If I were to enter the idol stage, or become otherwise famous, I could only imagine myself as a cynic, someone who plays the happy Genki Girl on the outside, but is actually deeply scarred, emotionally and maybe even physical.
Another girl wrote 'become a wonderful bride.'
I tell you, I was never a Christian, nor did I ever belong to any other religion. However I am no atheist either. I thought that people who are very outgoing atheist are just as bad as Bible Belt Christians. I never wanted to be a bride, not for the reason that I never wanted to marry, far from that, but that I didn't want to enter a church in a white dress I will never use again for the rest of my life. And don't get me started on the various types of Japanese weddings, be they shinto or whatnot.
But that doesn't mean I didn't believe. You see, my dream was to find out if aliens, time-travellers, sliders, espers, youkai, magic, god/s, or you name it really exist.
But I wasn't really the type for that thing. All I did was sitting in front of the TV and watching shows about UFOs and how the early Homo Sapiens may or may not have been visited by aliens that gave them basic knowledge. According to Star Trek, the greek gods were aliens, after all. I read books about time travel, from Asimov to Wells, until I practically breathed the knowledge of the many concepts and possibilities. I analysed mythology searching for the connection of today's society with old motives hidden in this story. But...
I was a too passive person, I never planned on going out and actually trying to find what I was looking for. I once bought a lot of those pseudo-science magazines, but now I look at them in disgust. They are too low. I can see through them, I could why a sentence was worded a special way: in order to attract more readers. I outgrew them the same way I outgrew the UFO shows or other of these pseudo-science documentaries.
I used to be one of them, but I stopped. I still wished that these things really existed, I just didn't care on the outside. I was planning on being as normal as possible. 'Maybe, possibly, maybe I will get to be the chosen one?' was what I thought. But the possibilities for that to happen are way too small as that would actually happen. And I knew that.
That was about one week before my mother's death. When I decided to move to Nishinomiya, I decided to start a new, or maybe just different life, so you must understand, just how I reacted to meeting Hikaru Suzumiya.
"If you're not interesting enough, ergo not a person from space, a person from the future, a person from other worlds, or a person with extraordinary powers, that is espers, then sorry, but I don't have time for you."
How would one react to such a statement? Calling everything but aliens, time-travellers, sliders and espers uninteresting. Some people would think "What a weirdo...", others would think "Are we supposed to laugh now?"
I did neither. I was stunned by the speaker.
He was boy my age, a bit older maybe. He was tall, 175 cm, no, maybe even taller. He would triumph over me with my 165 cm, and I was a girl big for my age. His hair was brown, short and messy. He wasn't a bishonen, one of these handsome fellows, but he wasn't ugly either. And his eyes...
His eyes were filled with passion, just like Papa when he explained his stories
He looked around once, twice, then he sat down. I turned back to Okabe-sensei, who was burying his face in his hands.
"Next", he muttered under his breath.
Megumi stood up and introduced herself. No one looked anymore at the weird fellow that was before her.
The following days, Hikaru Suzumiya calmed down. After his big speech, there was nothing. During breaks you could always either see him sitting in his chair, looking out of the window, or just staring into space. While in Tokyo it wasn't that uncommon to get neural implants, that could theoretically give you access to the internet, similar to the the flop of the last decade, Google Glass, only it weren't glasses, but direct linked to the optic nerve, I think that a backwater town like Nishinomiya is fairly devoid of them, even if it was legal for them to be implanted into minors. Sometimes he ran out of the room and only came back a few minutes before the end of the break.
But his weirdness began to show itself. It was in small burst. But it was there.
1. His uniform was done differently each day of the week. On Monday, he was the tidiest, most well dressed student. But on each day, one thing on his uniform got more casual. On Tuesday, his sleeve buttons were undone. On Wednesday his blazer buttons were undone. On Thursday his tie was pulled out by a little, and finally on Friday his shirt was pulled out. I would like to see how he would change his uniform on Sunday. Not that he had any reason to put it on that day.
2. There was this thing that he was more or less shameless. Sport lesson are split between genders and are done together with class 1-6. Because the school, other than Teitan Middle School, didn't have its own rooms for changing into sport uniforms, we would change in our classroom, male in the 1-6 classroom, females in the 1-5. It was one day, when we were all in the middle of changing, when suddenly the door opened. Now, opening and closing the door is nothing uncommon, but it was rather that Hikaru Suzumiya of all people entered. Now, I don't like being seen half-naked by boys, but I am not of those hot-blooded tsunderes that regularly punch people because they saw them changing, sometimes even when it's completely not their fault, but in that moment, I, and probably all other girls in the room, wanted to beat the crap out of this guy for wanting to peek.
But what did Hikaru do? He went straightaway to his chair, all while his eyes were focuses on his bag. When he arrived at his chair, he just took it, turned around and went his way out of the classroom. When confronted with it he just said, "I forgot my bag. I don't care about your bodies. I did not enter to peek. If I saw you naked, that'd your fault."
Going by this logic, it seemed he didn't give naked women more attention than anything else and that they were to him at the level as potatoes.
3. He joined every club in the school. Every. Single. One. On one day he would go to the Tennis Club, just to leave it after half an hour and join the football club. Then in the end you'd see him in the Light Music Club, and some other time you'd find him who knows how that club was called. But the outcome was the same- he went his way, almost always followed by club members wanting to get him to join, and him declining every one.
Just what did he want? The worst part is, I couldn't help but look for him. Not on purpose, but only when he was near to me.
He, somehow, was interesting. But that was not the start.
It all began after Golden Week. The first day of school, to be exact. I was walking the way to school, after I had already done the first part with the bike. It was the goddamn hill, which, at this rate, could very well replace PE.
"Yo, Kori, how are you?", came a voice behind me. It was Megumi, walking behind him was her childhood friend Kenji. The two of them had smiles on their face, it seems that they had a nice vacation.
Not bad, I told her.
"What did you do during Golden Week?"
I visited my maternal grandparents in Tokyo, if only for a short while. As my mother was an only child, I am the only family they had. But they had always loved me regardless. They had also liked Papa, but on my visit I somehow felt how her death had also affected them, and that maybe, just maybe, they have been blaming him for it.
"Visiting family. Harh. I'd never do something so boring. Kenji and I worked part-time."
Oh? May I ask who took whatever drug you had to have taken in order to accept resumes from you, Megumi. It was probably Kenji that did all the handling.
"Wanna know who we worked for? Well, Kenji here worked for some transporting firm as a planning assistant or something."
I knew it. That guy was smart!
Megumi continued, "As for me, remember that time we talked about anime, and you said that I sound a bit like that one Seiyū?"
Yes, I do, but what does that have to do with anyth- I You don't say?
"Yep! I looked at all the cosplay café in the area and I got a job in one of them as one of her most famous roles of the last decade. I was the star there, I loved it, they loved me, and I made big money of it."
Ah, okay. Nice to see that you feel good. I guess that means that Megumi is one of those eccentrics that are idiots normally, but when giving a task they love, they become ridiculously competent.
We entered the school together and talked about more meaningless things, but as soon as I entered the classroom I saw Hikaru, sitting quietly in his place. You'd might think that he, sitting there, was just your regular high-schooler. Look again. He was sitting with a scowl on his face, observing the class. There is no way you'd know who he actually was.
I sat down and looked at him for maybe three seconds. Something was possessing me, because I actually wanted to talk to him. Then I tried to open my mouth, but Okabe-sensei entered the room in this moment, and I was cut off from what I was planning to say. Instead I got my chance to talk with him at lunch time. You'd think he was gone right away, but he actually stayed a bit. Enough for me to start.
"Hey, about that stuff in your introduction."
"What do you mean" Hikaru asked looking down on me.
"Were you serious about the aliens?"
"Are you asking that because you're an alien?"
"I am not, I am asking because-" I began, but he cut me off.
"Then shut up, you're not interesting" was his response, then he looked away again.
Well, okay, Mr. I don't care, then I will eat my lunch with someone else. After Hikaru stood up and left the room, I too got up from my seat and sat myself next to Megumi and Kenji. They had listened to my conversation, and Megumi already asked me.
"Don't you too think he is goddamn weird?"
Weird is broad word. And, well, I expected him not to be a dick.
Megumi laughed. "You just don't know Suzumiya Hikaru like I do!"
You know him? From Middle school, you mean?
"Yes, of course! I spent three years in the same class as Suzumiya. Back then, he was like the weirdest-."
She gesticulated, searching for the right word.
What did he do? Draw graffiti on the school?
"What?" Megumi almost shouted and began to laugh rather violently. I turned to Kenji for an explanation.
"It was years ago, in Megumi and my old middle school, that there was a first year girl who snuck in the school late at night and drew this huge weird lines. My uncle told me about it when I asked him, after I heard rumours surrounding it. He called them NASCAR lines done by Canadians."
I think it was the Irish who were always drunk. Get your stereotypes right.
"No one actually saw who done it. But the following day, this girl claimed to have made them all alone."
A little girl, all alone, drawing lines. Hardly imaginable. Didn't she get any help?
"Well, there weren't any security camera or something. And if I remember right, then she too..." Kenji muttered then fell into silence. He pondered something. Hey, what is she too?
"Well, what he did was thankfully not that bad, but it was as weird as that. One time, he wrote 'I'm waiting' on his desk. Sounds normal, right? But besides Japanese he wrote it in English, German, Italian, French, Chinese," She counted on her hands the amount of languages she mentioned. "Korean, Spanish, Icelandic, some other nordic languages and Esperanto."
You seem quite knowledgeable, that you remember all these languages.
"Well, of course. Because the next day," Megumi spoke harshly, "they were written on every single table in class."
What?
"And they are all written the same, as if he had copied them with a scanner."
You know where I come from that's not that impossible. Wasn't he punished?
"Of course he was! The school made him clean all the tables. He used permanent marker, so it was quite difficult, but he made it in one day."
So that guy did something stupid and got reprimanded, but the way you were talking made him sound more weird than that.
"Oh, it's far from over!" Megumi reminded us. "The thing is that this made him extremely unpopular with the boys from the upper classes. Don't ask me why. That's when Sanagayama, the biggest school bully, decided to teach Suzumiya a lesson. Do you want to know what happened?"
Of course, I told her. Megumi smiled and punched in my direction. I reflexively closed my eyes and jerked back my head, but only air hit my face. I opened them back again and saw her stretching out her arm, as if she was wanting to give a brofist to my face.
"Boom. Suzumiya punched him once, after taking multiple hits from him, and Sanagayama went down like a sack of potatoes. From then one nobody ridiculed Suzumiya anymore. He was a fucking beast is human form."
Good God. Strong. Smart. Excentric. Bea... Handsome. What is this guy not?
"At least that was what the boys believed. But the girls immediately loved him. They finally had the hero that beat Sanagayama the Terrible. From then one he had a new girlfriend every few days, the longest one lasted a week, the shortest only five minutes. He always dumped them after some time with the sole justification 'that they were not interesting.'"
Megumi paused, looking at Kenji. "Why are you looking at me as if one of them was me?"
I'm sorry, I think there is a story I should hear. And Kenji, stop grinning.
Megumi turned back to me, and continued, "Anyway, by the end of second grade everyone knew what to make of him, and in the end it was simple, as long as not one bothered him, he bothered not one, well, aside from the usual things. And that's my advice from me, as your friend. Forget it. Ignore him and move on. You just even can't make proper conversations with him. You noticed it too, how he evades everyone trying to be his friend. He is a lost cause, society wise.
I initially planned on doing that, but because of you I think I am going to try something.
Three minutes before the end of lunch break, Hikaru came back and sat down on his seat. Since he was so near, I wanted to do something, just to prove Megumi wrong.
"Do you do that on purpose?" I began.
"What?" came his response. Perfect. Let's see if Megumi is right.
"The stuff with your uniform. It changes everyday. At first I thought it was random, but there actually is a pattern."
Why would you pay attention to such a thing?, would have been my response in his place, he instead asked, "When did you notice?".
"A while ago, but I didn't realize it until today."
"So..."
He was silent for a while.
"I feel like that every day of the week has to be somewhat different. On Monday you come in full refreshed from the weekend, and every day you get more casual until you are full casual on the Weekend."
I could understand what he was saying. I tried to come up with a good response, but you know Okabe-sensei's timing, and this time it was my fault for waiting until he came so shortly. But that wasn't the end of that day, no, I actually managed the impossible.
Walking home with Hikaru. Or, well, until the station where I left my bike.
It happened entirely random, I just happened to be as fast as him going out of the building. At the beginning I just walked alongside him, waiting for him to notice me. When he did that, he just turned his head back and continued to walk.
"When was the last time a girl walked home with you?" I suddenly asked him. I just wanted to get him to talk. Maybe I could break his shell. So much for "can't make proper conversation."
"The last time a girl went home with me was..." Hikaru began, then he stopped and turned to me. "Look, if you want to confess to me make it quick and now. Don't call later asking for a date."
Why would I do that? Confessing, I mean.
"Then that's good." he muttered, then resumed walking.
"I have heard about that you once had a lot of girlfriends, and that you dumped every one of them."
I did not give up.
"Oh, did you hear that from Taniguchi, that wannabe Virago? I know she tells everybody about it. Yes, it's probably all true what you heard, even if I don't know what exactly you heard. They just weren't interesting. I'd wasting my time with such a girl. They just wanted a boyfriend for the sake of having one, they weren't allies for my cause."
But they loved you after you punched Sanagayama. Surely one of them must have been of the 'Senpai' shrinking violet variant. Surely, you didn't want to break their heart.
"Sanagayama was an idiot that just tried to beat me up, so I defended myself. That's all."
We reached the point at which is was clear we had to part. However, he stopped after two steps, turned around and asked me something.
"Say, have I met you before? You seem so familiar."
No, I'm pretty sure we haven't.
"Okay." was all that he said as good-bye, but I could feel how there was a crack on the hull of his AT-Field.
From then something started between Hikaru and me, that some may call friendship, but I like to think that I was just the only one who actually tried to talk to him like the person he was, not a 0815 person. Daily we started some kind of conversation. It was mostly him ranting about society, and me sometimes agreeing and sometimes pulling up my own beliefs as a means of debate. Some time later, we were changing seats. In order for them to be all fair, we drew cards out of an old cookie box. My number was assigned to a seat that was in the last row, one seat right of the windows. Goodbye, Hikaru.
I was too hasty in making a comment on that matter. I don't think I have to tell you who was the guy who got the seat left from me, right beside the window.
"I heard you were thinking about joining a club. Were there any interesting?". I cautiously asked him in one lunch break.
"None. Absolutely none."
None. He seems to like this word. But in all these clubs, there have to be some interesting, right?
"There were some who sounded interesting on paper, but when you actually visited them you realized they were full of shit."
Supernatural club?
"Batshit insane ufologists. They have a picture of the Flatwoods monster hanging in their room, how screwed up is that?"
Look who's talking. Hikaru, you're not better than them, or are you one of those that thinks everyone more devoted to it is mentally sick and everyone less devoted is a fillty casual, who doesn't really believe?
"That's exactly it. We are humans, and it is important you don't lose your touch to society. If you lose your way trying to find aliens, time-travellers or espers, you are not better than Scientology."
That's a bold statement. And what's with people from other worlds? Didn't you want to search for them too?
"Occult Research Club?", I asked.
"A group of Highschool DxD Otaku posing as an Occult Research Club."
Lovely. Mystery Club?
"These are only interested in theory, but when I asked them to search for mystery, they all chickened out."
So, none at all?
"Totally none. And it's beginning to drive me mad. If that will continue, any semi-unnormal club will be enough in the end."
I somehow pitied him.
Alright, Suzumiya, let me tell you a story. In 1876 The Western Union Telegraph Company was one of biggest and richest companies in the whole USA. They had a telegraph network, the only one that properly worked, so in the end, for all intents and purposes they had a monopoly, Now okay, not just practically speaking, they had a complete monopoly. They were the king.
Then came along a small man. His name was Gardiner Greene Hubbard. You probably don't know him. He contacted William Orton, the president of said company. He said "Hey, we have the patent for this new invention. It was done by Alexander Graham Bell, the husband of my daughter, I just helped to fund it. It is really a bargain: 100,000$" In that time, 100,000$ was a fortune, 'how incredible from them to demand that' thought Mr. Orton, and he replied to Bell, I can quote exactly "Mr. Bell, We have come to the conclusion that it has no commercial possibilities... What use could this company make of an electrical toy?". In other words, they rejected an invention, that was perfectly compatible with their current telegraph network, and allowed to transmit voices. The telephone.
In response, Alex Bell and his acquaintance said, "Screw you", and founded their own company, which eventually was named "American Telephone and Telegraph", or short AT&T. In only an ant of time Western Union needed, AT&T became the biggest telecommunication company in the USA, and while it's had been eventually dethroned it still is larger than what became of Western Union - a global money transferrer.
"And what's the moral of this story supposed to be?" Hikaru asked, bored. It seemed he had actually listened.
Hey, they say you're so smart. Find it out yourself, it's not really that hard.
Hikaru thought for one second, then he looked at me in disbelief.
"You say that if I want an interesting club, I should just create my own club?!"
I will not say it out loud, but, yes, I was telling him this story specifically to bring him to this idea. Why I didn't think of my own role in that club is still beyond me.
"That's an awesome idea." he declared, suddenly having found his grin back.
He stood up on the chair, putting his right foot on the table, and I could feel how everybody moved their head to him.
"I WILL CREATE MY OWN CLUB." Hikaru announced proudly, and the whole class was looking at him as if he just declared himself the emperor of china. Even Okabe-sensei, who just had entered the room with a "Sorry, I am late" was standing there, dumbfounded.
"Suzumiya-kun?" Okabe-sensei said with monotone, quiet voice. His face had lost all colour. I wondered why this teacher was so uncomfortable with Hikaru.
"Yes?" came the half-hearted response, still not moving an inch.
"Sit down please, class has started."
"Yes." he responded and set down.
After class that day, Hikaru didn't just wait for me to put everything in my bag, he actually filled it for me at lightning speed, before he just took it and me by the hand and dashed somewhere who knows where. We went through hallways, stairs and doors until we finally came to a halt in front of a room.
"This will be our new clubroom!" Hikaru presented proudly.
What club? Our club? No. Your club. I never said I wanted to be part of this.
The room was empty. Well, not really empty, but a lot emptier than I expected a room to be. The room's layout was that of a rectangle. On the right and left sides, a few cupboards were lined in front of plain walls. The front side had the door, while almost the whole back was window. There were two tables lined up to be one in the middle with a smaller, square table on its end and a total of six chairs, one behind the small, four around the two big, and one at the windows.
There was a girl sitting in one of the chairs, the one right by the window. She apparently had been reading in a book until the moment the door opened, now she look at us, a bit scared. She was slim, and smaller than average. Her hair was a grey that had a light blue-ish tint.
"I said, 'From now on this will be our new clubroom!'"
He would allow no buts from me. Where even are we?
He pulled up his index finger, and closed one of his eyes.
"This is called the new building. You know some clubs like the Wind Ensemble and Art club have their own club rooms. All other clubs are in this building of the cultural department. It was actually being renovated for two years until it opened back this spring. That's why it's new."
Two years? In Tokyo such a renovation would have taken a few months at max. Goddamnit, comparing Tokyo to this town is like comparing Academy City to the rest of the world. Not as extreme, but it certainly felt like this sometimes.
I leaned to him, held my hand in front of my face and whispered, "And who is she?"
"Kongou Hyou. Class 2-6. I am the president of the literature club. Nice to meet you."
The little girl stood up and bowed before us. Now that she stood up, I could definitely recognize that she was about 155 cm. She was holding a book tight to her chest, the title read 'Hyperion'. I recognized it as it was a book I wanted to read for a long time, but never got to it.
She had heard me.
"Literature club?" I mumbled. Wait, doesn't that mean this room belongs to the literature club!?
"Of course it does. But that will be no problem, right?"
Won't the other members be mad that you just hi-jack their room.
"Do you see any other club members?"
The way we dashed to this place makes it hard to believe any casual walking person had any time to arrive here.
"There are none. The Senpai all graduated and now I am the only one left." Sempai said with a bit of sadness in her voice. It was a very soft voice, as if she was a wallflower talking to the gardener to not cut her.
Then why didn't you make any advertisement for the freshmen? I might have joined.
"I didn't have the power to do it alone. And Sensei said he was too busy with his work and his family."
With Sensei, I think you mean the advisor of the club, right?
"Who is the advisor for the literature club?" Hikaru asked, still having not lost his grin.
"My home room teacher, Tadamichi Kyousuke-sensei is."
Oh dear- it was Papa. Please don't be here, the conversations would be so awkward.
"And where is he now?" I asked her.
"I don't know." Senpai said, and I saw in her eyes it was the truth. Well, for a literature club, what was there to advise? 'Oh, hey, Hyou, watcha readin'?' would be said by nobody sane. Whatever the last Literature Club did, this one will probably only read books.
"So, Hyou, we can use this room, right?"
"Of course, feel free too. If I can still read, it's okay." she smiled and bowed again. Then she turned around, sat down on her chair again.
Incredible. This little girl accepted this so easily. Well, when you are all alone in this room, any form of company might do, and it doesn't seem like she would actively pursue social contact.
"So that's that! Kori, from now on visit this room every day after class, if not, heads will roll! But for now, you will go to the teachers and find out the requirements of forming a club, while I'll go scout for more members! We'll see us tomorrow!"
And with that he was gone.
"That will be unnecessary." I said out loud and whipped out my phone. A few tabs on the display later, I had a copy of the student handbook on it. I bet Hikaru either knew this, and just doesn't care, or he really doesn't know.
"Requirements for the founding of an association: A clubroom, five members, a teacher as advisor and an idea that is in accordance with the school's philosophy ", I read aloud a condensed version of said rules.
Oh, that will not end well. If you count me in, which Hikaru will certainly make happen, then we still need three people, a teacher and some idea on what we're actually doing. And then there's Papa and his confrontation with me. It's one of these things were you just know it will happen.
On the next day, Hikaru already went out during lunch, so I sat down with Megumi and Kenji. The two of them were already talking.
"I tell you, my father warned me. Sooner or later, they are gonna involve me in some weird project." Megumi snarled while taking a bite out of an apple.
Who will involve you in what?
"Oh, nobody. On another topic, what the hell did you and Suzumiya do yesterday. He was so on about this 'I'M A GONNA MAKE MY OWN CLUB, WITH BLACKJACK AND HOOKERS.'"
Megumi did her best at sounding histrionic like Hikaru, but it sounded too fake.
"Well, did he now? Tell us please, Kori." Kenji branched in.
Well okay. He got me to create a club with him. It doesn't seem to me that he ever intends on giving me a choice.
"Ahh, that sucks. Does that mean you won't hang out with us anymore?"
Oh, I'll still hangout with you, just not as often.
"Oi, Class Rep Yokomizu!" Megumi shouted. A girl in the most left column turned her head to us. "Do you wanna hang out with us?! Kori is joining a club and just two people is boring."
"I'm sorry, Taniguchi, but I am too busy. You and Kunikida are the perfect couple already, I would just feel like a third wheel."
That's what you are supposed to be! Megumi and Kenji must never realize their true feeling for each other!
"See, nobody wants to hang out with us except you. If I only had Kenji it would be way too boring."
Then talk to Suzumiya. I bet he'll listen to you.
Megumi scowled. "If that's your last word," Megumi said while finished her lunch. "then it was nice knowing you."
Don't say that as if I'll die.
"So, what are you reading"
Yes, I realize the irony.
It was already after class, Hikaru has run off to who knows where, and I was stuck with Senpai in the room that was apparently now ours. I thought that maybe I can start a few conversations with her, but I can't understand her. Yesterday, she was a shy, but friendly girl, but now she seemed like a doll, just with a little more emotion.
"Hyperion." she answered monotone. She held up the cover "by Dan Simmons." she added, this time I could hear some emotion, I wasn't sure which.
Is it any good?
"Unique." she said in English.
Okay, now I get what kind of girl you are. So you're primarily interested in Science Fiction?
"Yes." came a weak reply.
So, tell me, Senpai, do you have any books you can recommend me.
"Please call me by my first name."
"You mean like, Hyou..."
While in my time, pretty much any suffix in the japanese language has been made unpopular among young people, with only a few exceptions, I was uncomfortable calling her yobisute.
I decided to use an old honorific dedicated to friends of female gender.
"...chan?", i completed my sentence
"Yes. I prefer that." she said, and while her body did not move one bit, her lips curled upwards like touched Mimosa to form a smile like I had seen yesterday.
Can I go home already? I want to play with Arashi.
BAM!, went the door.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. It did take some time to find him." Hikaru announced after he had pushed open the door rather violently. He was not alone, in his hands was the left arm of-
"May I introduce to you? Asahina Masaru."
He was holding a boy. A small boy, only slightly bigger than me. His hair was blond and tidy, he wore the usual uniform buttoned and his tie was tight.
And he was cute. No seriously, I have no shota complex or something, but this guy was the living embodiment of that.
"Where am I? Why did you bring me here." Masaru Asahina wailed.
His face was full of fear, his eyes wide, and his mouth whimpered as much as much a dog puppy who had eaten a part of a BluRay and now was punished for it.
So, Hikaru, why did you bring in this shivering of a human being?
"He's a trap!"
A what? Why do you use English?
"A trap, Kori, trap! In every anime that relies on moe, you have to have a trap, an ultra cute character that looks and acts like a girl, but is actually a boy."
Oh, he means those.
"I mean look at him" he basically commanded me to, before he turned to him "Masaru, are you in any clubs?"
Shouldn't you ask that before you recruit him!?
"I a- I am in the Drama Club."
"Then you'll have to quit there, their time-table overlaps with ours!"
As if he is going to do that.
Masaru looked around, then suddenly his eyes seemed to fall on Hyou-chan before locking back to us.
"Okay, I'll join the...". he began. "emm...I think this is the literature club."
We, as much as I hate to refer to Hikaru and me as "we", are not the literature club, but an unnamed group that temporary uses this clubroom as his base.
"It is not unnamed." he corrected me.
Ladies and Gentlemen, everyone, please gather around, for Hikaru Suzumiya has to declare the name of this newly formed club. And it is...
"SOS BRIGADE"
That's a very silly name. It stood for "Saving the world by Overloading it with fun through the Suzumiya Brigade". Yes, he wrote it in full English. Apparently using Japanese was too common for him, so he needed to use English. What a pain. It was clear that the people in this backwater town actually knew only a handful of english, and instead chose to use it to pep up their everyday speak. It was stunning to see him actually using correct grammar. The second problem was the name "Brigade" implied that we were some kind of militaristic organization, which, given Hikaru's altitude, I think it's not that far off.
As it turned out however, was that 'Brigade', or at least its Japanese translation as 'dan', was an acceptable club suffix, and thus such a name would be accepted- given we had a purpose. Hmm, SOS implies to save somebody. 'Save our souls' or something, I think it stands for. We could be a club that generally deals with student's problems of any kind. We could be their SOS, saving their souls before drowning in the endless sea of school related problems.
Can somebody save my soul?
It didn't take long for Hikaru's next idea.
"We need a computer!"
We have a computer. See that thing standing there. It's a desktop. Suzumiya, surely you hillbilly must know what it is.
"I do." He said sternly. "And I am not a hillbilly, I was born in Tokyo. Anyway, I already checked it. It's freaking old. Windows XP, and the school domain blocks any outgoing packets from this and older Operating Systems, you know because viruses. We can't use it, it's best if we get a new one right away."
We don't need a new one. Like I said, we already have. In fact everybody in this school owns a computer in one form or another. I prefer my phone, others use tablets or laptops in this school. You have one too, don't you.
"I know and I do, but can we access the internet on those devices?"
Hikaru stomped knowingly through the room, while I sat there voicing my opposition.
I am pretty sure the school has its own WLAN.
Hikaru quickly turned to me and almost shouted.
"Exactly! But it's not available to the general student body, only to people who can prove that they'll need it."
You mean like clubs and classes?
"Yes! And do you know who has administration over the WLAN?"
Hmm, I suppose if it's not the teachers it's either the student council or the computer club.
I suddenly remembered which room was next to us. Hikaru, what are you planning?
"Kori, Masaru, we're gonna pay the computer club a visit."
Hikaru threw open the door and stormed in, Masaru and I had followed him, but stayed at the entrance, while he went into the middle and asked everyone,
"Good day everybody, how are you? Who's the boss here?!"
With a smile that was very warm, as if there was no malevolent intent at all.
"That's me. Who are you guys, anyway?"
The president of the Computer club was a little guy, even smaller than me, though only barely. Hikaru stepped before him, put his hand on his own breast and proudly declared.
"We are the SOS Brigade, I am the leader Suzumiya Hikaru and these are my followers Kori and Masaru."
Idiot! Don't give him our names!
He smiled. It was not a pretty smile, but rather a smile one did after it turned out everything went according to keikaku.
"Oh, I know exactly what you want! Sorry, but this time you'll fail!"
He sat up and pointed at the room's corners. In each of them one could see little black lenses attacked to boxes, whose cables went down the walls and disappeared somewhere behind the girl that was sitting in most remoted point of the club.
"You won't get away if you try to frame me for sexual harassment! Come on! Throw me to the ground! Take my hands and place them on the non-existent breasts of your friend!
Hey!
"But I'll have everything on video and it will show your plan! Ha. Haha. Buwahhahahha."
He turned into a laughing madman. It reminded me of those that evil people do all the time, but it sounded a lot more genuine than anything I could.
"Well somebody has a complex."
"Hahaa- eh, what?" The computer club president stopped laughing. His face was as if you just told them he is fired while making fun of the new guy. He eyes between us and asked, "What did you say?"
"I said somebody has a complex. I have no clue what you are talking about. No one in their right mind would do something like this. We are just here to get the WLAN password, we need it for the literature club activities." Hikaru repeated
"What? You're not here to..." the computer club chief shouted, with open eyes and shaking voice.
What... did he seriously expect us to frame him? That ppor soul that actually happened to...
"The WLAN password is all we need." Hikaru repeated.
Oi, computer club chief, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost, or are experiencing PTSD.
A cat smile emerged on the chief's face, he stumped across the room, before almost throwing open a cupboard, putting his hand in and pulling out a piece of paper.
"Here!" he shouted. His eyes were wide, he was breathing heavy. "Take it. And please never come back."
"Thank you." Hikaru said politely, took it, and went out of it. Masaru and I followed him.
How does Papa always say it? "Yare yare", I think it was. Yep, definitely applicable here.
The next day, Hikaru immediately stoop up when I entered the classroom. He was holding his hand on his chin as if he was planning his next plan.
"Do you know what kind of members we need?"
Sane ones.
"I think it's quite obvious."
Hikaru smiled and put his hand in the air, his index finger pointing to the sky.
"According to proper technique, we already have the cute moeblob and the Rei Ayanami clone, so next we need is mysterious transfer student."
I am a transfer student, and if you want I can pull a mysterious. Does that count?
"Of course not, we need one that transfers in during the semester. People who transfer in so fast have to be mysterious."
Never assume malicie behind something that could very well be attributed to stupidity. The same is for supernatural and natural. There are tons of reasons people could just suddenly transfer, like sicknesses or work, or anything.
"And I already have someone as my target..."
Hikaru wasn't listening to me anymore, and after class, I once again went to the literature club- or rather the SOS Brigade's room now. Why? I don't know why. Papa had gotten wind of my suddenly joining a club made by Suzumiya. Yesterday evening he actually had a talk with me.
Papa was sitting in the living room, reading what seemed to an old book. I didn't know how I should react, Papa usually had to work late, seeing him early was a surprise for me.
Oi, Papa, why are here so early?
"I have received something."
Lovely. What did you receive? Somehow, I could imagine what it is.
"Information, Number 6."
Why would choose to reference that?
"I had to do one, otherwise my role as a not boring parent would wipe away like-"
I get it, I get it, Stop these comarisons, I said. It wasn't hard listening to Papa and the stories and monologues he produced like a sometimes fine, sometimes broken record. He had the talent to produce fresh entertainment on a whim but usually decided to rehash the same, now boring, stories. He said that, were he not a teacher, he'd be an author. And I must admit his stories were fit for a sci-fi book, or, you know, Twilight Zone.
He put his book away and gestured me to sit down on the couch chair opposite of him. I hesitantly followed his suggestion, but chose a separate seat right of his couch. He probably wanted to talk to about something, he was always the one to endless talk. I wondered if-
"I heard that you and a boy named Suzumiya started an inofficial club a few days ago, in the room of the literature club."
I knew it. One week. I was recruited by him only a few days ago! How does he know?
"I have connections."
He folded his hand before his mouth and rested his elbows on his hands. "Did Hyou-senpai tell you this?" I asked him, because it was clear that it was her who supplemented him with this information. He flinched, and gave up his sarcastic façade.
"Yes."
What? I can understand that a parent is worried about the situation of their children, but please Papa, I can handle an idiot like him alone, no need to worry.
"It's not really you I worry about..." Papa laughed.
So who are you worried about? Please don't say Hikaru.
"How did Suzumiya make you join the club?"
Ignoring my question, eh? He dragged me by my hand. If I had a tie, or, worse, a ponytail, he would have used that for sure.
"So against your will. Will you stay in this club?"
He said that heads would roll if I don't. I like my head where it is. Also, to be honest, some change in my life might result in positive development.
"So." he lowered his head, and looked at the table as if he was deep in thought.
"But you don't date?"
Oh, no, definitely not!
"Hah. Okay." He stood up and made up to go to his room. "If Kongou is fine with, then I'll allow it. Just don't do anything stupid that I'd have to bail you out of."
Before he went to bed, he asked one last thing. "How do you feel around Suzumiya? Does he not annoy you? Or is that it would just embarrassing for you if I were to intervene?"
Suzumiya has just this thing about him. He makes me curious. I know next to nothing about him, and still I want to observe more.
Papa looked on the floor. In hindsight, I should have asked what's wrong, but back then I didn't have the knowledge that every little misunderstanding could lead to terrible fates, and that the more people talk together about their problems, dreams, and past, the more someone is prepared for anything.
So, I guess, there is your reason for me staying here.
Hikaru Suzumiya was interesting. So much I am willing to admit.
But just because something was interesting, doesn't mean it would only bring good. Nuclear bombs are a good example.
I was sitting in my chair, Masaru sat opposite me and played Chess with me. I was white, and I was winning. He had already lost both his rooks, one bishop and his queen, as well as five pawns, I only had lost one knight and two pawns.
"Rook to f6. Check." I declared. It was the third time in a row I was declaring Check, and now I was systematically hunting his king down.
"Oh, no what do I do now?" Masaru wailed.
I was pretty confident that I could now have a solid opinion on Masaru. He was everything Hikaru imagined him to be. A feminine boy, both in looks and his way of acting. An incredibly cute mascot. It's a miracle that Hikaru hasn't gotten any cosplay for him yet. Oh, well it has just been a few days, pretty sure every second Hikaru will come in and declare that he had found another member for the club and has gotten cool new outfits.
The door was, like always, being violently swung open.
"Hello everybody, meet the newest member of our brigade. Last week's transfer student for class 1-9 and her name is..."
I had been partly correct, at least. But wait, another girl?! Is he Makoto Itou, or something?
"I am Koizumi Joko. Nice to meet you." the girl next to Hikaru said.
She was a goddamn bishojo. Bigger than me, long brown hair done in a pony tail and huge breasts. She was smiling with a warm smile, one that you see in the faces of maids and butlers when they greet their masters, and follow their order in every way without complaining.
"Welcome to the SOS Brigade. I am founder and leader Suzumiya Hikaru. And these are my members Kori, Masaru and Hyou."
A great introduction, you just pointed at us one after another. But wait, Hyou-chan belongs to this club too?! When did this happen? It all goes too fast!
Hikaru didn't wait for her to continue.
"I think you already heard my name. I am new in this school and not perfect in every point, therefore I would find it great if you could show me everything. I look forward to working with you." Joko said, as she moved to me.
Ah, yes. You too heard my name. Can I call you Shoko?
"It's Joko."
Indeed, it was only the second time that I properly heard her name, the difference was minimalistic. 'Joko'. Now that sounds pretty unusual.
"Not more unusual than 'Kori'."
Oh, I have the feeling we will either be best friends or arch-enemies.
Joko turned around and asked Hikaru "So what is the objective of this club?"
"Hehe" Hikaru took a deep breath and proudly exclaimed, "To find aliens, time-travellers and aliens and befriend them."
I think that the term 'the world stopped turning' is an overused expression, but I swear, it exactly felt like that.
"Oh, I see, then I understand.", she said, and was still smiling as if Michelangelo had carved it in her stone body.
Don't act as if you are one of them!
"With that we have five members. Now the SOS Brigade doesn't have to hide itself among normal people, from now on we will shake the school's society to the core."
Oh no, what do we have to do this time? I am just waiting for the one thing that will launch us into utter doom, the point of no return, the moral event horizon, the thing that Papa'd need to bail us out of. The thing with the computer club could have escalated into something horrific. You probably were perfectly willing to do whatever he expected, if he hadn't expected it.
"Everybody can use the time to get to know each other better. Sorry but I have to go prepare things. Don't worry, I'll be back tomorrow."
What? Now it was my turn to speak quiet and slowly with open eyes and shaking voice. I guess his declaration just took me by surprise, as soon as he was gone for two seconds I changed back to my normal self.
"You're playing board games?" Joko asked, walking over to Masaru's side.
No, we're doing homework!
There is pretty much nothing else to do. The whole computer thing is still on standby, having access to the School WLAN and not having to use my contract data was great, but other than that we didn't use the password for anything. So far, nobody of us has any real purpose here, even Hyou-senpai over there is just reading.
"Masaru, was it?" Joko spoke, while putting her hand to her chin.
"Eh, yes."
"If you want to escape check you need to beat the rook currently holding the king in check with this bishop here."
Masaru looked around, probably mentally playing out scenarios on what would happen after he'd do that, then he finally touched his bishop and beat my rook with it.
I won that game and all that followed, though only barely. Joko and Masaru alone were challenging enemies, but the moment they teamed up, they could crush me into pieces. Thankfully, they never really did, it was more that one gave the other advice.
It was almost evening now. Joko and Masaru began to pack their things for the day and left one after another, I stayed behind because I wanted to discuss something with Hyou-chan.
"Hyou-senpai, did you notice that Suzumiya already counts you as a member of the brigade?"
"Yes" she answered, her head tilting a bit to the right. "Why?"
"Don't you think it is rude to just include you into a club that was made in the room that belongs to you?"
"No. In fact, I have never met someone as funny as you guys."
Her smile was warm enough to melt the ice deserts of Antartica! I felt a sweat drop. Just how loving is this girl?
"I have a request. Could you please visit me today, around 20:00 in my apartment."
She handed me a piece of paper with an address and a room number. Wait, can't we just go home together?
"It is needed." she said in serious voice.
Okay, Okay, I'll do it.
Hyou's house was an apartment building I have never visited before. I dialed the room number for her apartment that was written on the piece of paper.
708.
It stayed quiet for bit, until I heard her soft voice answer. "Hello?"
It's me, I came. I am waiting in front of the door for you to open it, I told her.
As if she only was waiting for the "It's me", the door immediately opened and the connection to the apartment was cut. I entered the building and it took me a while until I found the elevator. I entered it and rode it up the top floor. I felt reminded of my apartment back in Tokyo, it too was on the top floor, and you usually have a pretty nice view from there, given that the world you can see from there was nice. Hyou-chan was already waiting when I exited the elevator.
"Good Evening, Hyou-chan.", I said, and smiled.
Hyou-chan said nothing, instead she just signed me to follow her. Her footsteps were, as if she wasn't there at all, but now and then you could notice she was human. Sometimes she tripped lightly, sometimes she eyed the rooms around her earnestly, sometimes she licked her lips or sneezed.
We were about to enter the apartment, as I looked inside. It was like a normal flat you'd see everywhere. In the middle was a table, I think in winter it would serve as a Kotatsu, an old TV set was on one side, a desk with computer on another. Bookshelves and cupboards were there, but they were few, but I couldn't see more, so I assumed that more of them were in other rooms.
"This is where Senpai lives..." I muttered.
"Yes, welcome." she spoke with a smile and sighed me to enter.
"So why did you tell me to come, Sen- I mean, Hyou-chan?" I asked.
"Sit down, please." she said with a stronger voice than I usually know from her.
I sat down on one side of the table. It was a low table, I had to sit on the floor, something I didn't have to do at home.
Hyou-chan went to the other side of the room and disappeared behind a door, then she came back with a tablet with tea. She gave me one, but I only drank half of it before I turned my attention to something different.
"Where are your parents?, I asked Hyou-chan.
"They are not here" came her weak reply
"I can see that, did they go-" I tried to say but-
"They did not go out." she interrupted me with a downcast face, yet serious voice. "They do not exist."
Wait, what? Everybody has to have parents. We are humans. The only person who would not have human parents, would be a clone or something, and I am pretty sure the complete cloning of humans has been banned, and only the cloning of specific cells for research purposes is permitted. I am not that knowledgeable on that matter.
"No. I am not a clone. I am an alien."
A what now?
Author's Notes
The chapter title comes from a line in the song 'God of Romance', made popular by Dance Dance Revolution. It immediately follows the line "Boy meets girl.", which holds true for this chapter.
The "Ancient astronauts" theory is a real theory first proposed 1919 that claims that humanity couldn't have evolved into today, weren't it for various aliens that descended from space. It is built on text passages in the Bible and Ramayana, as well as artwork which seem to depict astronauts or similar.
0815 was the short labelling of a German Machine Gun in World War I. In German it is a synonym for something that is so common and normal, it's bad.
The Flatwoods monster is a monster that supposedly appeared on 12 September 1952 in Flatwoods, West Virginia. It is described as being "man-shaped and clad in a dark pleated skirt; later described as being green. Some accounts record that the creature had no visible arms, while others describe it as having short, stubby arms; ending in long, claw-like fingers, which protruded from the front of its body." Today it is commonly believed the witnesses saw an owl.
Keikaku means plan. It's a Death Note inside joke.
Despite common, and Kori's, belief does SOS not stand for anything. It was purely chosen because it was easy to remember.
Makoto Itou is the protagonist of the Visual Novel School Days, and is generally known as the biggest douchebag and the biggest womanizer there is. In the Anime adaption, as well as some routes he proceeds to have sex with every girl in his class, and more, but gets this paid back to him in the most satisfying way. Well, for the viewer at least.
I still have issues with this story and as I think of too much and don't really know when to full let stuff happen or explain it. Note that not everything will be explained. The Canon series is known for not giving full explanations or only speculations, but I think when all is said and done you can figure everything out, it just won't be spelled out for you.
Update, Jul 2014: I haven't forgotten this story, it's rather that I already wrote everything I could write witouth the extensive planning I need for the rest. The next chapters are in production, but I am having so much to do with work, that it probably will delay itself a lot.
