I'm sorry this chapter wasn't finished sooner. Some things came up that slowed me down. I did write this chapter as fast as I possibly could, seeing as you guys waited far too long for the last chapter. Sorry again…

This chapter will be more focused on character development than the last few chapters had been. Hopefully, this one will be as much for you to read as it was for me to write.

As always, please enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 21

It is now Saturday, and all thoughts regarding that stupid fundraiser are now ancient memories that will forever be buried as deep inside my subconscious as possible. I will forever wonder what could have been had I had the brains to keep my mouth shut. Now, thanks to my idea, we have more than enough money to fund the trip, which means that now it was definitely going to happen.

I could barely believe it, but in less than a week, the whole Brigade was going to be trudging away all over a city looking for things I knew we weren't going to find just so that we could shove it in the face of some elderly guy whose only crime was being the symbol of everything Haruhi and the Brigade stood against.

Wow, try saying that last sentence with only one breath. It's almost impossible.

Anyway, none of that was terribly important as of right now, since at this very moment I had other things to worry about. Right now, I was in the kitchen. Why? Well, I was tasked with the responsibility of cleaning it from top to bottom, with the condition that it would be "spotless" when I was done.

This was my punishment for lying to Oruki, or at least part of it. For most of the day, I would be forced to clean anything and everything that bastard saw fit. That was okay, though, because I wasn't the only one. For once, Haruhi was forced to do some cleaning around the house as well. Right at this very moment, she was washing the bathroom. I filled my soul with a strange sense of satisfaction knowing that she was up there scrubbing her life away.

The both of us had to clean whatever Oruki wanted us to clean or else the money we earned would be taken away. Of course, Oruki was actually bluffing about this, since he knew the dangers of upsetting his daughter now, but fortunately, Haruhi took him seriously. Oruki was originally worried about punishing her daughter, and he asked me later if there would be any problems. I assured him that while she would obviously not be happy, I doubted the world would be in serious jeopardy because of it. At most, a relatively small closed space might open, which would be nothing more than a mild inconvenience to Koizumi and his esper pals. Upon hearing this, he seems satisfied. In fact, he seemed almost amused by the idea of making "Mr. Smiles" suffer a bit.

I was currently undergoing the task of scrubbing the kitchen floor. I personally would have preferred to use a mop, but Oruki insisted on me getting on my hands and knees, saying that "a mop would make things too easy on you." I grimaced a bit as I scrubbed the hell out of a stain on the floor that refused to come out. I was incredibly bored with this task and wish nothing more than to be done with all of it.

It was then that Haruhi entered the kitchen, carrying a bucket. She was wearing a light green, flowery bandana on her head, which I had to admit looked really cute on her. I wanted to laugh at her a bit since seeing her actually working was a real treat, but I held it back when I noticed the sour look on her face.

"Stupid Kyon!" she said as she walked up to the kitchen sink.

What are you mad at me for? What did I do?

"I can't believe you knew my parents were there, and you didn't say anything."

"Hey, what could I do?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders. "What would you have done if I had told you? Cancel the event? It was way too late to do that. I knew if I had told you, you would've been embarrassed and the show wouldn't have been nearly as good."

Haruhi didn't respond. Instead, she went and dumped the bucket full of dirty, brown water down the sink. Some of it splashed onto the counter and floor, which annoyed the hell out of me since I just cleaned those areas.

"Did you really have to do that?" I asked in an irritated tone. "Couldn't you have dumped that down the shower drain?"

"What? I'm not doing that! I just cleaned it!"

Oh, so it okay then to make me clean everything all over again just because you didn't want to do it up there? Thanks.

"Whatever," responded Haruhi as she started to fill the bucket with fresh, clean water. "We're only doing this because my parents found out about that stupid tournament. You have no idea how embarrassed I am right now."

"Hey, at least they enjoyed themselves watching it, and they paid for the tickets, too."

Haruhi looked at me in exasperation. "And that's supposed to make me feel better? How would you feel if you knew your parents were there?"

I'd probably want to die. Hell, I'm pretty sure if my sister heard you call me Kyonko she'd probably call me that from now on.

"Exactly!" yelled Haruhi as she shut the water off. She them picked the bucket up and marched out of the room, spilling a bit more water on the floor. Damn you, Haruhi! Can't you have a little consideration?!

When I finally finished cleaning the kitchen, Haruhi and I were forced to wash all the windows in the house, vacuum and dust all the rooms, and cleaned a few other things that needed it.

Eventually, Haruhi stood in front of Oruki while he made his final inspection of the house.

"Hmm," said Oruki as he nodded the house slowly. "Looks like the house is pretty clean."

We gave a sigh of relief. I knew we were both sick of cleaning.

"Now you can wash and wax my car."

I slumped my shoulders in defeat, but Haruhi was more vocal. "What? Are you kidding me?"

"I didn't say you were done. Go wash my damn car, or that money of yours is mine!"

Haruhi and I reluctantly went outside where the car was parked with what we needed. When we were ready to start, Haruhi decided to divvy up the responsibilities.

"Kyon, you're going to do the outside while I clean the interior."

Great. Give me the hard job. Since Oruki was good at making sure the car stayed clean, there wasn't much for Haruhi to do except wipe down everything and vacuum, which I figured would only take fifteen minutes at most. What Haruhi planned to do after that, I'm not sure. I'm certain she won't help me finish, unless her father told her to.

After about ten minutes, I found myself rinsing the car down after I gave it its first scrubbing. I saw Haruhi leaning inside the car, her butt sticking out of the door. I felt a tremendous urge to aim the hose right at there. I waited about a minute before I decided to do it. I put my thumb down on the opening to the hose and allowed to water to start shooting forward. I then quickly aimed the stream direct at her butt and pulled it away.

Haruhi screamed briefly before getting out of the car and staring daggers at me. "How dare you?!"

"Oops, sorry," I said, obviously not sincere. "It was an accident."

"Liar!" yelled Haruhi as she went to the bucket filled with soapy water and pull out the large sponge. "You're going to pay for what you did?"

She then threw the sponge at me. I tried to dodge it, but Haruhi's aim was perfect, and it beaned me square in the face. I retaliated by spraying her some more. The two of us completely forgot about the damn car and started having a water fight. Haruhi grabbed the bucket and splashed all the water on me, leaving me drenched in water and soap. Within a minute, we were both completely soaked.

"Quit goofing off!" came a voice from behind us. I turned around to find Oruki staring at us angrily from the window. "Don't make me have to come out there!"

Haruhi and I sighed before finally returning to wash the car.

It took an hour and a half to do the whole car, and that was mostly because of the waxing. Waxing a car sucks, by the way. I definitely wouldn't want to do that again. I can still feel my arms aching from how hard I had to rub the wax on.

Oruki finally let us off the hook when we finished the car. When we were done, I asked Oruki for his newspaper, telling him that I needed to look for places again. After getting another classifieds page, I went up to my room to start reading. Haruhi took the opportunity to go out and take care of all the expenses that would be needed for the trip, and Oruki left to go to work. This meant that it was only Naru-san and myself in the house.

I spent the next hour trying to find a place, but I wasn't able to find anything affordable that I hadn't looked at already. It was frustrating not being able to find anything. At this rate, I'll be out on my ass by the time I got back from the trip (assuming Oruki actually decides to kick me out).

I decided to go downstairs to grab a drink. After walking into the kitchen and grabbing a soda, I noticed something odd in the living room. It was Naru-san, and she seemed to be staring out the window. I wasn't able to see her face from the angle I was standing, but it was obvious to me that her energy level was way lower than it usually was. I began to feel a bit concerned.

"Are you okay, Naru-san?"

Naru-san immediately turned her head towards me, looking a little surprised. She then put on her usual honey-sweet smile. "Oh, I'm fine Kyon-kun! Couldn't be better!"

I didn't buy it. She is after all a terrible liar. "Are you sure? You didn't look fine a second ago."

"It's nothing," said Naru-san as she tried to get herself up.

"Talk to me about it," I said. "If it's something that could make you stop smiling, it must be pretty bad."

Naru-san's smile slowly disappeared, almost as if she instantly knew I wouldn't believe her. She then sighed a bit and sat back down on the couch. She then leaned herself against the couch's armrest.

"You're right. I'm not really okay. I've been depressed ever since I made a realization this morning."

"What was that?" I asked as I took a seat on the couch next to her.

"I just realized that…well…my daughter recreated the world so that aliens, time-travelers and espers existed, right? If that's true, then that means that ghosts, spirits and demons don't exist in this world, since my daughter didn't shape the world so that they would exist."

"I see," I responded trying to think of something to comfort her. "What's wrong with aliens, time-travelers and espers?"

"Nothing. It's just that those are the things that interest Haru-chan. I was always more interested in the traditional occult stuff, while she was more into more new-age things. I've spent a very large part of my life trying to find ghosts and such, and now I feel like I've wasted my time. It's like a part of me has died…a little."

I wanted to say something in response, but I couldn't think of anything. The energy in the room appeared to have dropped into the negatives, and I was helpless to do anything other than listen.

Naru-san continued to speak her heart out. "When I was a girl, I used to delight in reading stories about famous haunted houses or buildings. Sometimes, I'd spend an entire day in a library reading about old European castles with supposedly ghostly dungeons, or I would read of huge, beautiful mansions that someone died in. Their spirit would still reside inside those places no matter what happened. I told myself that when I grew up that I would travel the world and visit those places to see for myself all the supernatural phenomenon that would reside there. For me, there was nothing more exciting than the nature of a person's soul. I wanted to find proof that it existed and that it lived forever after our bodies died."

"But then one day, I…" Naru-san paused for a bit, obviously trying to gather her thoughts. "…I found a different kind of book. This book, rather than telling me about different kinds of haunted houses, set out to debunk them. I was reluctant to read it at first, since it set out to try and ruin everything I believed in, but I ultimately convinced myself to read it. I thought that perhaps I would see through its lies and say 'ha, but what about this? You can't disprove that!' But when I started to read it, I found out that many of the supposedly haunted houses that I had read about weren't actually so. Some of the houses had charlatans living in them that would fake supernatural events. Other houses merely had poor construction that resulted in strange noises that were the result of the house moving from the wind. The book also talked about the relative ease that people could be tricked into thinking something was there when it wasn't. Finally, it talked about haunted locations that in fact didn't even exist and were merely the fanciful creations of people who wanted to get attention. By the time I finished the book, I was devastated."

I couldn't help but have my heart go out to Naru-san. This was the first time I'd ever seen her this way. "So what happened after that?"

Naru-san smiled lightly at me, appearing appreciative of the fact that I was listening. "I was very depressed for about a year after that. I began to wonder if I'd just been a foolish girl my whole life believing in fairy tales and ghost stories. Reading that book caused a chain reaction in my thought process. I stopped believing at a lot of things that I thought were true. I gave up on childish things like Santa Clause, stopped believing in superstitions, and stopped looking at the supernatural as anything other than a bunch of silly stories or events that people either made up or misinterpreted. I guess you could say that I became a realist from that day onward. And yet...no matter how much more realistic my world-view became, I was always miserable. For whatever reason, I somehow needed to believe that the world was more interesting than it appeared to be on the surface."

Listening to Naru-san, I was reminded of the time when Haruhi had her epiphany at that baseball game all those years ago. I definitely could see the connection between the two. It's sad that the two of them don't talk more.

"At one point," continued Naru-san. "I realized that it wasn't enough for me to accept the world as it was. I had to find something supernatural. I had to see a ghost, spirit, demon or anything like that. I knew in my head that I was being silly, but my heart was happy that I found purpose in my life again. I didn't care what other thought of me, I was going to find something. I told myself that one day I would visit those castles out in Europe, venture into every haunted mansion I could find, leave no stone unturned until I found what I was looking for, but…then I met my husband."

"What happened then?"

"My husband and I were still quite young when we met. It was a long story, but I guess you could say we were high school sweethearts. I'll never forget the first time I met him." She then stopped herself, perhaps a bit embarrassed about the details. "But that's not important, really. The truth is that when I met him, I would drag him around to all sorts of strange places against his will. I think at first he was anxious about being around me, but in time he was happy to come along on my excursions all over town. I knew he wasn't so much interested in ghosts and such as he was in spending time with me, but I was so happy that someone was willing to come along with me that it didn't matter. It took a long time, but eventually I realized that I was in love with him, and I was happy to find out that he felt the same. I had hoped that we would be able to search the whole world together when I was done with high school and college, but…"

Naru-san paused again as she briefly looked down at her stomach. She then rubbed it gently, almost nostalgically. "…I became pregnant with Haru-chan shortly after high school ended. I was then left with a very difficult decision. Was I going to put aside my aspirations so I could become a mother and wife? In the end, I did just that. I missed out on college, even though I had good enough grades to go, and I decided I would devote my life to supporting my husband and baby. I…don't regret my decision to do that, but sometimes I wonder what could have been." She then sighed deeply, staring at the ground. "Not that it matters. Now that I know that ghosts and stuff really aren't real, I at least know now that I didn't waste my time exploring the world for stuff that didn't exist. I should be happy that this world does have some interesting things in it, but for some reason I can't. I…I just want the comfort of knowing that when I die, that everything that makes me...well…me won't just disappear. I don't want to not exist when I die."

I was still speechless. This was easily to most that Naru-san had ever spoken the entire time I'd known her. She'd always be so busy taking about others that she rarely said anything about herself. It was only now that I realized how selfless she was. She gave up so much to become a wife and mother. I personally think it was a great thing that she did that. After all, Naru-san was the glue that held the Suzumiya family together. She was the calming presence that tried to enliven her husband's and daughter's day in whatever way she could. I felt really bad for her. I knew I had to say something to make her feel better.

"Listen," I said, fumbling a bit with my words. "…I…uh…well, how can I say this? The truth is that when Haruhi remade the world, she only made it so that aliens, time-travelers and esper 'also' existed in it. It's still entirely possible that ghosts and stuff existed in the universe beforehand and still do now."

I noticed Naru-san head perk up when I said this. She blinked a couple times as I continued. "And who's to say that once Haruhi's out of the house and living on her own that you can't go back to school and do all the things that you've wanted to do. Hell, you're still only in your thirties, so you still have lots of time left in you life to go out and enjoy yourself. Go ahead and travel the world looking for whatever you want. You deserve it! Hell, I'm sure Haruhi might even be tempted to join you once in a while. We both know how much she likes adventure. And if your husband knows what's good for him, he better let you go, or I'll be the one to kick his ass." That last part was a joke, of course. There's no way I could ever hope to kick that man's ass.

Naru-san looked at me for a few more second before her eyes began to well up. Moments later, she began to cry. I was a bit concerned that she was upset, but her next words fixed that. "Oh Kyon-kun. You're just a wonderful young man. You're the only person beside my husband and daughter that's ever understood me." She then gave me a big hug, burying her face in my shoulder. At first I felt a bit uncomfortable in this position, but when I remembered that both Haruhi and her father were out, I regained the courage to hug her back. And no, it was just an innocent hug, okay? There's no way I'd ever take advantage of a married woman, especially when I knew that her husband and daughter would murder me brutally if I ever did such a thing.

After a minute, Naru-san let go of me and sat back up. She began to wipe her eyes to remove the excess tears from her eyes before smiling again. "It's been a long time since I've had a friend. I know I can be a handful sometimes. I was considered the black sheep of my family. Most people just think that I'm a nut case and never talk to me. I'm so glad that you're not the type to judge people like that."

I scratched the back of my head and smiled. "Well, compared to the people I usually hang around with, you're a breath of fresh air." Naru-san and I had a good laugh after I said that.

It was then that Naru-san finally got up again. "Thank you, Kyon-kun. I feel much better now. From now on, I will consider you an official member of the Suzumiya family."

Uh…should I be thankful or scared?

"I'm going to go cook dinner now," said Naru-san. "I'll give it my all just for you." She gave me an innocent wink as she then frolicked into the kitchen.

Feeling pretty good about myself, I got up and headed back up the stairs. However, I was back to thinking about the fact that the newspaper classifieds were not helping me in my search for places to live. This was a bit disconcerting. If the newspaper wasn't helping me find a place, where else could I look? It was then that I came up with an idea. Why not look it up in the web? Hell, using newspapers is old-fashioned, anyway. Most people post stuff online this day and age. There was only one problem…

…the only computer in the house was in Haruhi's room.

Crap. Decision time. Haruhi's already told me that I wasn't allowed in her room without permission, and I definitely wasn't allowed to touch her computer. Then again, I knew she was likely to still be out for a little while, and if I only used her computer to look for a place to live and nothing else, there would be no harm done. Oruki was out, and Naru-san was busy in the kitchen, so there was little chance of me being caught. Then again, I could just wait until Haruhi got back and asked her if I could use her computer, but I knew she'd likely deny my request. I honestly don't think she wants me to find a place of my own. She proved that when she sabotaged my efforts to find a place a couple weeks ago. I could wait until I'm back in school and use the computer there, but then again, if I wait until Monday to start looking, I probably wasn't going to have the time to go see the places. Not to mention the fact that Haruhi was likely to have me busy all week preparing for the trip to Kyoto. Dammit, what do I do? Should I go for it? Or not?

I'm in Haruhi's room, booting up her computer. Her computer was actually a piece of crap compared to the one we had in our classroom, likely something she's had for quite sometime. As a result, it was incredibly slow to load compared to most of the other computers I've used. After what seemed like forever (or actually five minutes) I found myself face to face with the log in screen, asking for my password. Crap! Haruhi has a password on this thing?! Give me a break! What could she be hiding on this thing that she didn't want others to find? Was she trying to make sure her parents weren't able to look through her computer? To be honest, I somehow doubted that either of them were computer savvy enough to know where to find all the bad stuff in her computer. Hell, Oruki still relied on newspapers, which are quickly becoming outdated.

Anyway, I was now stuck at the log in screen, and I had no idea what her password was. I took my first stab at it and typed in "SOS Brigade." Nope. Next, I tried typing in her name. Nope. I typed in my name and my nickname. Nope and nope. Eventually, I found myself becoming frustrated. What the hell was the damn password? Think! If I was a whacked-out teenage girl with an obsession with aliens, time-travelers and espers, what password would I use?

I went and typed in a few more guesses, but they came out wrong, too. Dammit, why can't I figure this out? I leaned back into Haruhi's chair and probed the depths of my mind. The answer was there somewhere. I knew it! I tried to think about everything I knew about her. I looked up at the ceiling and remembering how the paintings on it reminded me of the time nearly four years ago I helped a very young Haruhi draw those weird marking on the school lawn on…that's it!

I immediately sat up and typed in the word "Tanabata" in as the password. Success! I can't believe I figured it out. How scary is it that I knew her so well that I could literally guess her passwords. That couldn't be healthy.

When the desktop finally loaded, I was greeted with the image of the SOS Brigade's very own tapeworm logo…thing. It figured that Haruhi would actually think that something as hideous as that thing would make a decent desktop wallpaper. Trying to ignore the image, I went and opened up the web browser. To my complete lack of surprise, the home page for her web browser was the SOS Brigade's very own (and very lame) website. I'll admit that I was less than enthused to see the horrible excuse for a web page once again. Trying to ignore that too, I went and typed up the web address to a search engine. After that, I began my earnest search of places to move into.

At first, I was frustrated with a lack of success, since most of the classifieds online were for places in the major cities. It took a while, but eventually I managed to find a website that allowed me to narrow my search to the local area. Once I did that, I began the arduous task of reading through every ad that I could find. Much like the newspaper classifieds, most of the places were way too expensive for me to be able to move in. There were also a few places on there that I was sure I'd seen on the newspaper, too. Eventually, I started to lose hope that I'd find anything until I spotted one that really caught my attention…

Looking for a roommate! My last roommate moved out to live with his girlfriend, so I need someone to move in with me to help pay for the rent. I'm only asking for 35,000 yen a month. The apartment complex has its own pool and gaming room. Very nice place to live with very friendly neighbors!

I couldn't believe my luck. This place sounded perfect, and the best part was that it was close to where I used to live, so I would already be familiar with the neighborhood. Plus, if the place had its own pool, then maybe that could mean that I could look out the window and ogle any of the beautiful girls that would go swimming there. That would be awesome. No doubt that Haruhi and the rest of the Brigade would likely visit often to take advantage of the pool and gaming room whenever possible, which was fine by me as long as she stayed out of trouble. I excitedly wrote down the address and any other information I figured I would need and stuffed it in my pocket. After that, I continued to look around for any other places I could find, but I couldn't find anymore. Oh well, I guess I'll have to bank on this one place. Hopefully it's everything I want it to be.

I eventually closed down the web browser, knowing that I was finished with whatever I planned on doing. The smart thing would have been to shut the computer down right there and then, but the smart part of my brain must've been struck unconscious by Mjolnir, because I found myself increasingly tempted to dig around in Haruhi's computer. Haruhi wanted me away from her computer for a reason, and I was sure that if I looked around I'd find that reason.

The first place I looked was the "My Documents" folder. Inside of there I was surprised to find it filled with only text documents, all of them labeled with a date. The very first one was dated in April of last year…Hey, it was the first day of high school, wasn't it? I clicked on the document to take a look at it. It read like this:

Today was the first day of school at North High. So far it's been completely boring. I introduced myself by saying that only aliens, time-travelers, sliders or espers would be allowed to talk to me. Since one no approached me, I could only assume that everyone was a dull, pathetic, ordinary human. It better not have been a mistake to go to this school. Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to look into the clubs that are available at the school like I promised to dad. Hoping at least one of them would be interesting. I'd rather not have to bother, but I don't want to have my idiot father riding my ass about it. Anyway, that's all I feel like talking about. Bye.

I couldn't believe it. I just struck freaking gold! I found a jackpot of all sorts of juicy tidbits in the form of an electronic diary. There appeared to be dozens and dozens of entries, possibly more than a hundred. This was actually my chance to perhaps really get to learn for myself how that girl's brain worked. The temptation was now far too great. I had to look at another. The next one I picked was about a month after the first one, since I knew I didn't have time to read through every one of them.

Still bored as hell. I'm starting to think it was a mistake to go to this school. I tried out of the rock club. It was boring, too. What a waste of time. The only thing even remotely worth mentioning was this guy I talked with a bit who sits in front of me in class. I can't remember his name, but everyone calls him Kyon. He asked me a question about my hair, and for some reason I felt like answering him. He looked familiar, but it's probably just me. I'm pretty sure he's nothing more than an ordinary human, though. Well, I'm getting my hair cut today. It was getting to be too much of a hassle messing with it every morning. Not much else to say, so I'll talk later.

It figured that Haruhi wouldn't remember my real name. Heck, I wasn't even sure she knew my real name now. Anyway, I decided to pick one from a couple weeks later.

I JUST HAD THE GREATEST IDEA!!! I can't believe I wasted so much time in all those stupid clubs where I could've made my own this whole time! I got the idea when I was listening to that idiot Kyon go on some tirade about how we should let geniuses make the innovations of the world. At first I was like "Are you saying I'm not a genius?" and I was getting a bit pissed off, but when I thought about it, I realized that if I was as smart as I thought I was, shouldn't I be the one innovating? And then it hit me! I'm so excited! I can't wait to get my club started! I already got that idiot to help me out with it. Not sure what the club will be about, but whatever. I'll figure that out later! Talk to you later! Bye!

I'll never forget that day. I was finding all these diary entries incredibly interesting to read. Just as I thought, reading these really was like looking into a window into Haruhi's head. The next one I picked was more than a week later.

Sooooo booooooorrrrrrreeeeeed! I got this club together, but nothing's really happening. I got a cute mascot and a mysterious transfer student, but still nothing. I was really hoping that with all five of us that there would be something interesting that would happen, but…nothing. When I found out that Asakura girl disappeared, I tried to go and investigate it, but I wasn't able to find anything. Really, though, what's been bothering me the most is Kyon. For some reason, I keep thinking about him. I don't know why, but I feel better when he's around. There must be something wrong with me. I mean, he's not really anything special. He's just some average, ordinary guy. He's not even as good looking as the transfer student. Maybe I'm tired or something. I'm going to bed. Maybe something interesting will finally happen.

Strangely enough, there was another entry made on what appeared to be the same day. I decided to read that, too.

I know I should be in bed right now, but I can't sleep. I had the freakiest dream last night. I was at the school and the whole world was grey. I couldn't leave the school, either, because there was some weird barrier around it. That wasn't even the weirdest part. Kyon was there with me. Anyway, we searched the school to find help or a way out, but there was nothing we could do. After a while, these blue giant things appeared. It was so amazing! They were the most awesome things I'd ever seen. I wanted to keep watching, but Kyon grabbed me and ran out of the school and out into the field. He kept saying something about wanting to go back, but I wanted to stay. I hard to explain but for some reason, I was so incredibly happy. Seeing those giants, I was drawn to them, but Kyon wasn't. For some reason, he didn't want to be there. At first, I was really upset that he didn't want to stay there with me, but then it happened. He told me something about him liking me wearing a pony tail and then he kissed me. And for some reason, I liked it. I'd completely forgotten about the world around me and was absorbed into his lips. It felt so real that I was almost sure it was actually happening. I then woke up on the floor. I had no idea how I managed to fall off the bed like that. All I could think about was how vivid that dream was and…why did I like that kiss so much? Am I…I don't know. Anyway, I had hoped that writing this out would help me get some sleep. I'm so restless right now. I'm going to try to go back to bed, but I doubt I'll succeed. Night.

That was the first time Haruhi and I had kissed, and a lot had changed since then, including Haruhi herself. The memories of that night had faded a bit, but I could still remember that last moment with surprising clarity. I tried not to, though, since every time I did, this uncomfortable sensation kept up in my head. It appeared that perhaps this was the moment Haruhi finally started to realize her feelings for me.

For the next hour, I continued to skim through the various diary entrees, seeing her reactions to each of the different events that the Brigade was involved in, including the baseball tournament, the trip to the private island, the times we had during that infamous last two weeks of summer, the cultural festival when we made the movie, and so much more. By the time the entries got to November, she was no longer in denial about her feelings for me, but she kept insisting to herself that it was best not to push the matter, stating that it would likely ruin things in the long run. One of the more emotional entries came during the day I flipped out at her during the time we were filming the movie. She was wondering if I hated her now and if our friendship was ruined. She was pretty distraught and appeared genuinely sorry for the way she treated Asahina-san that day.

Another very emotional entry came the day after I returned from the hospital in December. She went on about how easily we all took life for granted and how she'd have to make sure that nothing like that ever happened to me again. I continued on with the entries until I came up to the more recent ones. The next one here was on Tuesday of the week I found out my family was moving.

Today was another typical day, which kinda sucked. It's been too long since the Brigade's done something big. I've been trying to think up ideas for us to do, but I'm a bit stumped for now. I already know what I want to do for Tanabata, but that's two months from now. We need to find something to do in the mean time. Kyon was acting a bit weird today. He told me he couldn't sleep last night. I was on cleaning duty today, and when I was finished I was surprised to find that Kyon and Koizumi-kun were out of the club room. When they came back, Kyon insisted it was only boy stuff they were talking about. I can't help but get the feeling that something was wrong. He's hiding something. Whatever, maybe it's nothing. I talk again later. Bye!

I regretted not telling Haruhi the truth sooner. I was being an idiot then. I noticed an entry made the very next day, so I decided to read that one, knowing it was likely her reaction to the fact that I was moving.

I knew it! Something bad did happen to Kyon! Or at least will happen. I had to threaten him to get him to talk, but it turns out that he's moving. Yes, you heard me. MOVING! I not even sure how to react. I don't think it's really hit home yet. I mean, I know what this means, but I can't help but feel like it must be a joke or something. He's moving…He's really going away, isn't he? There has to be something I can do. I can't let such an important member of the Brigade leave. Actually, he's more than just a Brigade member to me. I think it's starting to sink in now. I'm starting to feel depressed. I'm going to go now. I'm losing the will to write. Bye.

She didn't bother to write another entry until the night before I was supposed to leave, right after the end of the party.

So, this is it. Tonight was the last night we spent together before he leaves. I feel sick inside. I…I wanted to tell him how I really felt about him, but I couldn't. He tells me that he'll visit, but I'm certain he was just trying to make me feel better. He's gone now. I don't know what to do. I can't stop crying. This sucks so bad. Should I go to his place tomorrow morning and see him off? Maybe I can tell him then how I really feel. I can't let him go like this. I just…

The entry stops abruptly here before the tone of it changes dramatically.

…THAT BASTARD!!! How could he possibly put me through such turmoil?! Guess what! Apparently he's not moving after all! Can you believe it?! After all the effort I went through to throw a party for him and help him pack, it's all for nothing! He's so getting a piece of my mind when I see him tomorrow! Anyway, I told him to meet up with the Brigade tomorrow morning. I have to call the others and let them know. I'll talk later. Bye!

I couldn't help but laugh at that part. It was so typical of Haruhi. She wouldn't even admit to her diary that she was happy that I wasn't moving. Knowing that the next entry was both the day after and the first day I moved in with Haruhi, I read that one next.

Okay, you'll never guess who's currently sleeping in the guest room right now. It's him! I convinced Kyon to move in with me. He needed a place to live for the time being so I offered my place. The hard part was convincing my dad to let him stay. I was going to ask him ahead of time, but then I realized that I'd have more success if I brought Kyon here first. It's harder to say no to someone when you see them face to face. And with a little help from mom, I was able to convince him to let Kyon live here! He can only stay a month, and he needs to find a place of hid own, but that's fine with me! It sucks that he's sleeping, though. That's all he's done since he got here. Well, I guess I can't blame him. I'm pretty sure he hasn't slept very well this week, and to be honest, neither have I. *yawn* I think I'm going to go to bed, too. We have school tomorrow. I bet that idiot hasn't done his homework. Anyway, talk later. Bye!

So that was the reason why Haruhi didn't tell her parents until I got there. I had to admit that it was pretty crafty of her to do that. There were a lot of entries for that week, but I decided to skip to the one that was written on Saturday of that week. It was a long one.

Today was a weird day. I was supposed to go with Kyon to look at apartments with him. I knew that he's supposed to eventually find a place of his own, but I didn't really want him to leave. At the very least, I figured the place he moved into had to be pretty damn nice for me to allow him to move in. Anyway, I was a bit relieved to find that none of the places were good enough, except for the last one, but Kyon didn't have enough to money to move in. But then we ran into Tsuruya and Mikuru-chan. Well, I already told you that I suspected that Kyon liked Tsuruya. I mean, he did say that he'd pick her if he had to be on a deserted island. That's practically a confession, isn't it? Anyway, I got pretty moody being around her, especially when she started teasing me about why I shave my legs. It's none of her damn business why I shave my legs!

Well, I took my moodiness out on Kyon and we got into an argument. He then accused me of being jealous of Tsuruya, and I got mad and stormed off. Thinking about it now, I was acting kinda dumb, and I guess I was jealous. I'd never admit that to anyone, though. Anyway, when I had time to cool off, I started to worry that Kyon was mad at me. I wasn't really sure what to do, though. I thought about apologizing, but I was so sure that he would make fun of me about it. I even rehearsed it in my head and everything. Well after dinner, we were cleaning up and…well, Kyon actually thanked me for helping him. When I heard him say that, I was really relieved to know he wasn't mad at me. It was then that I decided to apologize. It was really hard for me to do that. I keep feeling like only weak people should do that. And I was so sure that Kyon would see my weakness and take advantage of it, but I was wrong. He just smiled at me and accepted my apology.

I was almost floored. I was so sure that he was going to tease me about it. It felt really good to know that things were okay between us. And that smile he gave…*sigh* Anyway, after I figure things were okay between us, I decided to let Kyon in on my battle plan against James Randi, but when I opened then door to his room, I found him looking at a girly magazine. He tried to hide it, but I got a hold of it and started looking through it. /I found myself getting jealous again, since the girls in the magazine were beautiful. I kept thinking about which one he liked the most. I kept asking him about the girls in the magazine, and he was like "Why do you want to know what I think about these girls?" I couldn't tell him the truth, so I made up some bull crap. He then told me that he needed some kind of release and stuff since he didn't have a girlfriend. So I asked him if he wanted one. He tried to avoid answering the question, but I could tell that he did. I started teasing him a bit about it, hoping he would tell me who he wanted to go out with, but he didn't say. I want to know! Would he ever consider going out with me? I shouldn't think like that. I said before that the two of us dating was a bad idea for a lot of reasons, but I can't stop thinking about him. I want to pull my hair out!

I'll be right back. I want to look at him while he's sleeping. I won't be long.

I facepalmed at this moment. I knew exactly what happened next. That damn kiss. Our second one to be exact. The memories of it came flooding back. The warmth, the softness, the taste. Dammit, why was it that this kiss felt so different from the first one. Was it because she kissed me? Or maybe it was because my feeling towards her had changed since the first time. I didn't know. All I knew was that there was a part of me that wanted to experience it again. No! Stop thinking that! Go away, stupid thoughts! I decided to finish the rest of the entry.

OMG, what have I done?! Why the hell did I do that?! I kissed him! And not a regular kiss, either! I don't know why, but when I was looking at him sleeping, I just felt the need to kiss him. And it felt sooooooooo good! I'm so glad he didn't wake up, but…he actually kissed back. I was scared at first, but when I realized he wasn't awake, I kept kissing. I bet he thought he was dreaming. I wonder who he thought he was kissing. Wow, what a day. I need to lie down. I doubt I'll be able to sleep, though. I just hope he doesn't realize it was me. Anyway, I got a lot to do tomorrow, so good night!

If only she knew. She'd probably die from embarrassment. This was just too good. I skipped over the Sunday entry and went for Mondays, knowing exactly what happened on that day. I knew the entry was not going to be a positive one.

This is this worst day of my life. It's gone! The SOS Brigade! My parents found out about it, and my ass$%# of a father said I wasn't allowed to go to it anymore. When Kyon and I came home, my father bullied Kyon into spilling the beans. Now, everything's ruined. I can't believe Kyon could be such an idiot. He fell right into my father's hands. For the last year, I told my parents I was in the Literary Club because I knew my dad would never accept the SOS Brigade. I should have known that he'd find out about it eventually. I hate my father! I hate him! I hate this stupid world! Maybe it would just be better if…be right back. Something's happening outside…

I can't believe it. Kyon got into a fight with my dad. Kyon actually went and stood up for the Brigade…or maybe it was for me. I take back every bad thing I've ever said about him. He's the most wonderful guy I've ever met. I mean, my dad kicked the crap out of him, and he still kept getting up. He was so awesome! Well, I guess it would've been more awesome if he could've won, but still. God, I love him! I feel a little better now. I'm still upset, though. My father said he'd talk to us later about the Brigade, so I'm not sure what's going to happen to it. I feel bad for Kyon, too. He's going to get a black eye for sure. It looked really painful. Anyway, I can't think of anything else to say. I'm really depressed about everything else. I really hope I won't lose the Brigade. It means the world to me.

Seeing the words "I love him" on the screen and knowing that she was referring to me made my heart skip. I could feel my self growing increasingly anxious. I began to imagine her saying the words "I love you" to me directly, her eyes shimmering innocently. I felt my face becoming warmer again. I had to move on to another one. I was getting a bit overwhelmed.

The one I picked just happened to be the one from last Sunday. I remembered what happened that day. Breaking into school, spending money I didn't have, the fight with Haruhi, the horrible dream, the dinner we had, and then what happened on the roof top. I read the entire entry all to way to the point where I decided to go to bed. The entry there said this:

When I watched Kyon begin to walk away towards the window, I felt this incredibly strong compulsion hit me. I felt myself getting caught up in the moment. The dinner we had together and the time we spent on the roof talking, it was really romantic. At least it felt that way to me. I was so happy to be with him like this, I knew I just had to say something. I called out to him. I wanted to desperately tell him how I really felt. I wanted to tell him "I love you" so bad. But I didn't. I got scared and held back.

Why am I so afraid to tell him? I kept trying to rationalize it by saying it would ruin our friendship, but I know now that I can't keep this up anymore. At first it was enough just to be his friend, but my feelings have grown too strong. I desire so much more, and I can't settle for just being his friend anymore. But I'm scared. There's a small part of me that's worried that he'll reject me. I'm such a hypocrite. I remember I used to mock the guys I'd gone on dates with for confessing to me on the phone, and here I am acting just like them. I just don't know what to do. I can usually read Kyon's thoughts pretty easily, but I'm never able to read how he feels about me. Was it a mistake to hold back? I wish I knew. The only thing I know now is that sooner or later, I'm going to tell him how I really feel. I just don't know when.

I was right. Haruhi was going to confess to me. I felt myself becoming weak from reading that. The thought of her confessing to me scared the crap out of me. Why? Because I had no idea what I would say if she did. Do I love her? I couldn't say. By brain was in constant conflict with itself. The answer was eluding me, and I wasn't sure why.

There were only a few more entries left, so I looked at the last one. Over all, I would say that I was quite surprised with how normal Haruhi's thoughts really were. I guess Koizumi was right that on the inside that she was a rational human being and wasn't crazy. Anyway, the last entry said this:

Well, tomorrow's the big day! I never thought I'd ever participate in a mud wrestling contest. It sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. I also can't wait to see Kyon wrestle. I'm actually really curious as to what he'll look like in a Speedo! He he he! I just hope the turn out is high. We need the money bad.

Well, I've also made a decision. Now that I think about it, I'm really glad I didn't tell Kyon how I felt the other night. A confession is a big deal and the moment has to be just right. I should not fall victim to my compulsions. Instead, I must pick a moment that's as romantic as possible. That's why I've decided on the perfect time and place to do it. I've already planned it out. I'm going to…

Before I could finish reading, I heard someone coming up the steps. CRAP! In a panic, I did a hard shutdown of the computer and opened the window. I quickly climbed out of the window and onto the roof. Just as I got up there, I heard the door open. I peeked my head over the edge of the roof to see if I was in the clear. There was one major problem. The window was open. I was worried that Haruhi might notice that it was open and get suspicious. My concerns were justified when I saw Haruhi's head pop out of the window, looking around. I immediately moved away from the edge of the roof and tried to carefully crawl away to the other side of the roof, but I slipped a bit and my knee hit the roof, creating a rather loud thud. Without a doubt Haruhi heard that, and my worst fears were confirmed again when I saw her hand grab the edge of the roof.

I moved as quickly as I could to the other side of the roof, hoping beyond hope that I could find a way down on the other side. To my chagrin, when I got to the edge of the roof on that side, there was no way down. I squatted down and closed my eyes, begging the gods that Haruhi wouldn't climb over to the other side of the roof and find me there.

The gods have forsaken me…

I heard Haruhi moving closer and closer to me, until she was right next to me. I slowly opened my eyes and looked up at her. It wasn't Haruhi. Instead, it was a demon that happened to take the shape of Haruhi. She stared down at me with vileness so great that I could feel my skin trying to run away. I swore for a second that her eyes turned red.

"What were you doing in my room?"

Never in my whole life had I been asked such a scary question. She asked that question calmly, but there was a hint of rage in it, like she was a pot of water only seconds away from boiling over. I stupidly tried to lie. "I…wanted to get some fresh air so I went up to the roof."

"Wrong answer!" screamed Haruhi as she grabbed me by my collar and lifted me up. I wasn't sure, but I thought she might have been so angry that her strength must have doubled, even tripled. "How many times have I told you that you were not allowed in my room without permission?!"

I swallowed hard, unable to answer right away. Her rage had grown so much that she was literally…grinning. Her expression reminded me of the time she accidentally found that confession letter to Nagato and thought it was from me. It was like her brain forgot that you're not supposed to be smiling when you're angry.

"Now tell me, what were you doing in my room?!"

"Using your computer…" I said meekly.

Haruhi slammed me down onto the roof shingles. "Bastard! I specifically told you that you're never, EVER allowed to touch my computer! How dare you defy your Chief this way?!" I could see her right eye twitching as she looked like she was about to beat the living day lights out of me.

"I was just using it to look for places to live online! Honest!" That was technically the truth, even though it wasn't the whole truth.

"Liar!"

"No, I can prove it!" I said as I pulled out the piece of paper from my pocket.

Haruhi snatched it from me and began to read it. She blinked for a second before her eyes widened. "Wait a minute! How did you know my password?!"

"I guessed," I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. "I remembered how important Tanabata was to you and though maybe that was it."

Haruhi calmed down a tad upon hearing this, perhaps a bit happy to know I remembered that. She was still pretty peeved, though. "Whatever! The fact of the matter is that you didn't ask for permission to use my computer, and that's a violation of a direct order! I can't believe you didn't even ask!"

"I didn't ask because I knew you'd say no," I responded.

"So how does that make it okay to sneak into my room and use my computer?!"

"Look, I didn't see anything if you're worried." Blatant, blatant lie.

Haruhi merely grunted before she crumpled up the paper in her hand and threw it at me. Fortunately, I was able to catch it. However, Haruhi started to walk away towards her window. I was surprised that she didn't issue a penalty or punishment of some kind, but upon realizing that, I suddenly became even more afraid. "Uh…Haruhi?"

She didn't answer me. She kept walking towards the corner, and when she reached the edge, she started to climb down.

"Haruhi, wait!" I ran up to the corner to follow her. But when I got there, Haruhi had already climbed back into her room and closed the window. I then saw her lock it. "Hey, Haruhi! Haruhi!"

Crap! She left me up on the roof! How the hell am I going to get down now? Just as I said that to myself, I felt a droplet of water hit me hand. I looked up to see the sky turning into a darkened grey color. Moments later, it started to rain like crazy. The sky was completely clear only minutes ago, without a cloud in the sky. Without a doubt, these clouds were the manifestation of Haruhi. Now was stuck on the roof, becoming completely soaked as the rain continued to pour on me. I swear if I catch pneumonia I will so cough on Haruhi to get her sick.

About a half hour later, I saw Oruki come back in his car. After he parked in the driveway and got out, I began to yell down to him for help.

Oruki looked up at me for a few seconds, shook his head and went inside.

Hey you bastard! Come back! Damn you Oruki! I swear I'll make you pay!

It was only after the rain stopped that Oruki finally brought the ladder out and helped me get down. He asked me how I got up there, and I merely answered "Haruhi." Oruki dropped the question after I said that. I was glad he did, because I didn't want to tell him about how his daughter liked to go up onto the roof a lot.

Dinner was extra delicious today, just like how Naru-san promised. Haruhi didn't talk to me for the rest of the night, but I wasn't too bothered with that. I knew she'd get over it soon enough. What did bother me was what the last diary entry said. Haruhi not only knew she was going to eventually confess, she even had a time and place picked out. This made me extremely nervous. For all I knew, it could have been tomorrow. It wasn't likely, but I couldn't be sure. I cursed my luck that Haruhi came back just as I was about to find out when and where it was. Actually, I already had a sneaking suspicion that I knew when and where it was really going to happen…

…I began to look at this trip to Kyoto with more dread than ever before…

Ooo, more foreshadowing. Hehehehehe.

This chapter was a lot longer than I thought it would be, but it was a lot of fun to write. I hope you guys enjoyed it!