Author's Note: My thanks for Anon and bcbb1d5d for reviewing. And yes, like Hiromi, I can play the guitar, bass and drums. Though I can't read music. All the tune Hiromi played I can play, with the exception of the guitar solo of 'Freebird'.

It was yet another Sunday, and noticing there are no games to be played, I automatically walked out of the house to greet the rather cold autumn air.

This season is known as a season to read books. So I headed towards the park with a copy of 'Hamlet' that I haven't finished. What I liked about Sundays is the peaceful feeling of the streets. It's kind of like everybody is living a happy life without any problems to solve.

"There he is! That's the guy!"

Well, so much for peaceful… I took a glance at the shouting, and saw a man with his gang, pointing at me. What in the world… oh, wait. That man was the delinquent that I scared the hell out a few months ago. It seems he was hanging around with his friends. Ah, well… I guess I have no choice.

There are around a dozen of them, although they were all shorter than me. I could easily tell from their ugly faces that they're the same type as the delinquent that pointed me.

"HEEAAAA!"

One of them ran up to me, charging with full speed. Bad move, the key to obliterating your opponent is patience. And with that anger stored up inside you, you'll just get blind.

I easily dodged his straight punch and grabbed his arm. I then launched a knee to his ribs, and threw his pained body down to the ground. He was still conscious, so I finished him with a kick to the face.

"All of you, bring it on. You're wasting my time." I taunted the others to build up their angers. Of course, it worked like a charm. They all charged at me at the same time, whilst shouting randomly. There's no path opened, the narrow street was filled with these guys charging at me. Knowing that, I looked around for an item to distract them. I found a stick and grabbed it. As they drew closer, I threw the stick to one of them. The wooden piece got him right on his face, and he was in pain. I took the chance to run up to him and threw a fist to his jaw, knocking him out immediately. The others were all surrounding me, with an angry look on their faces.

Suddenly, someone knocked out one of the delinquent, and threw his body to another. The others turned their heads to the culprit. I could see a familiar yellow ribbon, complete with a matching hairband. It was none other than the fearless brigade chief.

I took the chance to kick one of them in the knee, disabling his movements. With the delinquent in pain, I landed a perfect uppercut on his jaw. I dodged an attempt to grab me, and countered with a punch to the liver, another to the lungs, and the last to the nose, breaking it.

Suzumiya took care of a few delinquents, making my job got easier. It wasn't long until there's only the boss of the gang, the trash throwing delinquent.

"Well, he's yours, Yamamoto." The brigade chief said to me, catching her breath.

I walked slowly to the scared delinquent, it was like every step I took was a step closer to death for him.

I grabbed him by his collar and slammed him to a wall. "If I ever see you do an act of delinquency again, I'll break your fucking neck. Is that clear?" I said through gritted teeth, looking at his eyes with the meanest glare I could muster.

He nodded frantically and I let go of him. He ran away with a wet pair of pants.

I sighed and walked to Suzumiya. "Thanks for the help. Though it's not necessary."

She frowned and pointed at me. "If I didn't help you, you'll be worm food! Look at them, there's at least a dozen of them!"

"A dozen or ten dozens I could take care." I felt guilty for involving Suzumiya in this, I figured I should do something in return. "Sorry for getting you involved in this. Call your brigade, I'll treat them a nice, warm drink."

The frown disappeared from her face and turned to a grin. "You got it, Castanet Café, alright?"

"Sure."

And so, she arranged a meeting at the said place. We walked together towards Chihaya's café.

"Didn't know you could fight, Suzumiya." I said to her to fill in the silence.

"Yeah, my dad taught me to. Said it was necessary to survive in this world."

I liked her father's way of thinking. "Is that so… you have a good father, then."

She scoffed, smiling a proud smile. "Yeah, although a bit overprotective sometimes."

"It's just natural for a parent to be worried of his child. Especially a daughter."

"How about you, Yamamoto? Why did you learn martial arts?" she asked me with a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Almost the same reason as you. My father loved martial arts, and wished for me to learn it." I looked towards the streets. "Influenced by my father, I came to love it too."

"Really." Was her short response.

As we walked for a minute or so, I saw two familiar faces. Yui noticed me walking together with Suzumiya, causing her to make an expression that was unknown to me. Yui's sister noticed our presence not long after, and greeted us.

"Good morning, Yamamoto-senpai!"

"Yo, taking a walk?" I stopped in front of the sisters.

"We're going shopping. And who might this be?" Yui's sister turned her head to Suzumiya.

"Suzumiya Haruhi. Pleased to meet you, Yui-chan's sister!"

"The pleasure's mine, Suzumiya-senpai. Wanna come with us?"

"Nah, I have a promise to keep." I said to the little sister.

"Is that so? With Suzumiya-senpai?"

"Yeah, kind of." I told her. "I promised to treat the whole brigade for her help" I noticed Yui was acting weird. She's never been this quiet.

"Well then, enjoy yourselves! We'll be going now-"

"Wait, Ui! Shopping can wait, let's go with them!"

All heads turned to Yui, with a determined expression on her face, she begged her little sister to come with us.

"Suzumiya, you decide." I stated, looking towards the yellow ribbons.

"I don't mind. The more the merrier!"

And so, we walked towards the café with the Hirasawa sisters. Yui regained her cheerful self back, which is quite pleasing to the eyes.

"How's Yui doing?" I asked her little sister. Yui and Suzumiya were chatting away quite far in front of us.

Little sister smiled a genuine smile, and turned her head to me. "Is it you that told her to change, Yamamoto-senpai?"

Whoa, that was unexpected. I didn't know Yui's sister would be this sharp.

"What makes you think I'm the culprit?"

"Well, onee-chan talks about you almost every day." She turned her head towards her sister. "She told me that you're a nice man, always wanting to help."

If you say it like that, it'll make people think I'm an anime pretty boy that made the girls at school squeal every time I appear.

"So I figured, it was none other than you that made her change. I can feel it."

I chuckled at the hawk eyed sister. "You got a good head on your shoulders. No doubt you'll be accepted in North High."

"Anyway, I must thank you for what you did, Yamamoto-senpai. Nee-chan is getting more and more independent by the day." She turned her head to me with her smile still intact. "Thank you, Yamamoto-senpai."

That feeling again, that feeling of being thanked. It's getting quite buggy. I kept quiet, not knowing what to say.

We reached the café after a few minutes of walking. As usual, the café's quiet. We went inside to be greeted by the robotic voice of the cashier. I wonder if she's enjoying her job, being a cashier without a customer is quite depressing.

"Order what you want." I stated, deciding on a cup of coffee.

Suzumiya ordered ice cappuccino, the Hirasawa sisters went with a strawberry parfait.

"The brigade members should be here any moment…"

"Hey, Haru-chan. What exactly does the brigade do?" Yui asked Suzumiya curiously.

The eccentric girl turned her head to Yui, with an excited look on her face, she gave Yui a thumbs up. "We look for mysterious things! Ghosts, espers, time travelers, aliens, sliders, anything out of this world!"

The Hirasawa sisters were amazed, maybe they've never heard of such a stupid club that would search for the mysterious.

"Amazing! So, have you found anything so far?" Yui pried deeper.

"No, but we will! You can count on us!"

That's some confidence you showed there. No one really knows if those things exist or not. And if they do, I don't think they'll be roaming this city like ordinary people would.

The rest of the brigade arrived a few minutes later. Koizumi with his usual smile, Asahina-senpai looked happy, Nagato being Nagato, and Kyon looked like crap.

Kyon sat beside me along with Koizumi. And the girls were on a separate table adjacent to us.

"You alright?" I asked the weary looking man.

"I just woke up." He replied weakly.

"Well, it's kinda my fault actually…"

Before Kyon asked a question, Suzumiya stood up.

"Let me tell you all the story of how I saved Yamamoto from the depths of hell!"

Uh, no. Getting surrounded by a pack of delinquents ain't no depths of hell.

"I was walking peacefully this morning, when I saw Yamamoto getting surrounded by evil monsters! With my enhanced reflexes, I jumped to the scene and beat all the monsters by myself! And with that, Yamamoto promised me to treat the whole brigade."

"Pretty sure the story didn't go like that." Kyon said to me.

"No. You must have a brain damage if you believed that." I stated, taking a sip of my coffee.

"Amazing Haru-chan! You saved Hiromi-kun's life!"

Of course, the one who said that was… well, I don't need to tell you, right?

"Well, it is very nice of you for doing this, Yamamoto-san. I must thank you for this wonderful treat." Koizumi thanked me.

"Don't mention it. Your leader's skills were pretty helpful, It took half of my work."

"What happened, actually?" Kyon asked me with a hint of curiosity.

"What she said was almost all true. Just replace the monsters with delinquents, and no, she didn't beat them all by herself. Let's say half of them are."

"Really." Kyon had an interested look on his face.

"I wasn't even desperate for help, when suddenly she came and beat the hell out of those bastards."

"What makes you get surrounded by delinquents in the first place anyway?"

"Had a little run-in with their leader a few months ago. Their so-called leader threw a piece of garbage to the streets, had to scare the hell out of him to teach him a lesson."

I took a glance to the girls, and noticed Nagato staring at my table. I looked towards the direction she was looking, and saw the copy of 'Hamlet' I brought. I took it and offered it to the petite bookworm.

"You wanna read it?" I asked.

Nagato nodded once.

"You can have it. I have the e-book version anyway." The lavender haired girl took the book and began reading, not even muttering a single word. I turned my head to the guys of the brigade.

"Is she always like this?" I whispered to Kyon.

"Yeah…"

"I must say, though… Reading Shakespeare's work in its original language, she's something else." I took another glance to Nagato, who was busy with her new book.

"You'll never know…" Kyon said quietly. I raised one eyebrow at him.

The rest of the day was uneventful, with the brigade and the Hirasawa sisters hanging out at the café 'till noon. I eventually went shopping along with the sisters, helping them carry the groceries.

Still, I can't seem to make out the expression Yui held after she saw me with Suzumiya.

Ah, hell, I'm too lazy to think about it. I think I'll just save it for another day.