A/N: Thanks to DarkQueen for finding a typo. Tokiwadai is a girls' school, and I wrote "son" instead. Mistakes happen.
Chapter 10:
For no real reason, Rei put on her white, long nightgown. She walked to her room's window and opened it. There was a freezing breeze outside in combination with the already low temperature, but there wasn't much noise pollution for once. Haruhi always reprimands me for opening the windows. I should be more considerate of her sometimes. I'm such a weird child, being able to handle extremely cold temperatures. She closed her eyes and let the window blow her hair back.
After lunch with Accelerator and Last Order, they walked back to the apartment. Rei gathered up her clothes in a poly-bag and left. Yomikawa had insisted that she stay for dinner.
"Come on, jan! Stay! Yoshi will cook dinner!" She urged
"What? I believe it's your turn." Yoshi sharply said.
"Ohhhh no. Not after the hell you put me through with cleaning the entire apartment! I'm not cooking for at least a week!" She shouted. "Or," she spoke softer now, as if saying a disclaimer, "at least until we find out we don't have to clean again for New Year's Day…"
"Thanks for you offer," Rei interjected, "but I really must go and study. I also need to finish some homework."
"Ah, what a good student." Yoshi said. "Well, if you must go, you must go."
"Huh. Wish I was like that in high school." Yomi crossed her arms. "But I'm still not cooking tonight."
Now she was back in her own room, staring out of her own window. Her dorm was oriented differently than Accelerator's apartment. Her room, just like the guest bedroom, had wooden flooring. But her room had more of a rectangular feel to it. When one entered her room, the window would be on the far wall; it was covered with a thick white curtain. There was a bookshelf on the right wall, covered with textbooks and reading books. Rei had little time to read though, but the textbooks were always read whenever she had time. Her twin bed was near the door, and it faced the window. Her long, black wooden desk was near the window and on the left side. A grey wire dustbin was to the desk's left.
Haruhi should be asleep by now. She placed her right hand on the window sill and looked outside at the traffic. When the zooming cars bored her, she looked solemnly to the sky.
She looked behind to the nightstand near the door. 12:01.
Time for bed.
と あ る 臨 時 の 人
Rei was dreaming again. Her point of view seemed shaky, as if the person was dizzy. Not only was the steadiness of the dream sporadic, the focus kept changing from opaqueness to crystal clear sight. The person seemed to be lying down. A bed, perhaps. There was a dim yellow light to the side; the person looked to it. The light came from an archetypical lamp. It sat on a nightstand, and a black digital clock with red numbering showed 3:04 with a small AM on the bottom right side. There was a glass of water behind the clock and next to the lamp, and as the person's pale arm reached for it-
Ping.
The person's arm immediately jerked from the water to down below the bed.
A black laptop was on the floor. The person pulled the laptop up and sat up, placing the laptop on his or her lap. He or she opened the laptop, and opened something on it. A few keys were hit, another page appeared, and the person moved closer to read what was on the page:
We're in Sapporo now. It took us forever to find internet access again, so sorry about the delay in communication. Did your plan succeed? Did anything happen to her? It goes without saying that nothing should happen to her, right? We have to go now. Bye! ~S&Co.
The dream suddenly became clearer as the person clicked something and started typing. The dream's frame also became more stable.
Of course it succeeded. What else did you expect from me? No, nothing has happened to her…yet. And it better stay that way. ~F
と あ る 臨 時 の 人
What a strange dream, Rei thought beginning to wake up from her series of dreams. Maybe Haruhi was right about taking it easy about the online note-taking. I'm getting all sorts of weird dreams with computers. She sighed, still refusing to open her eyes, and turned to the side, moving her hand against the cool wall. Those ESPers with prophetic abilities, maybe they have it easier than me. An ability like that certainly has its uses. Like what questions the teacher has penned for the physics test. If only I could have multiple abilities…I should get up now. She turned to the other side and slowly opened her eyes to read the clock. The shock hit the back of her mind instantly, but it took a few more moments for her to comprehend. 11:00. Her eyes became wide with alarm.
"Crap!" She threw off her covers. "I overslept!"