I wasn't hungry that night, for several reasons. Miss Asahina's unsettling little speech still had me on edge. No-one could possibly ignore something like that. Despite being classified information, she had painted a clear enough picture of the future; an all black canvas. She definitely said the future is painful, I'm certain I didn't mishear that. But how far into the future is this disaster? Does that mean our fate has already been predetermined no matter how hard we try in this competition?!
Regardless of how hard I wracked my brain around it I just couldn't figure it out.
The other reason I wasn't hungry was a much simpler one.
Hotel food is really expensive...
Since I apparently cheated in our race to our room earlier Haruhi demanded I pay for dinner for the entire band. At the very least if I didn't eat it would spare me about 2000 yen. But considering the fact this is a punishment handed down by Haruhi she would be quite likely to order something ridiculously expensive, chewing into the money I would have likewise saved had I not eaten. Not only that, Nagato's voracious appetite may set me back even more.
It's safe to say I'm screwed financially no matter what I do...
I decided to leave to the restaurant downstairs early ahead of Miss Asahina, unable to stand the awkwardness that had grown between us.
The place was quite busy, but everything is busy in Tokyo I suppose. It would be strange if it wasn't.
I waded through a small crowd fussing over their table arrangements on my way to the booths on the far wall. Finding a free spot I sat down and perused the menu in the absence of anything else to preoccupy my disturbed mind.
I soon lost myself in the world of overpriced food, somewhat forgetting Miss Asahina's warning. It wasn't too long before I heard the thunder of footsteps approaching my table. I glanced over the top of the menu at a rather stylishly dressed Haruhi. A thin black cocktail dress hugged her fine figure but left little to the imagination with its low cut collar revealing what existed of her comely cleavage. Her long legs stretched on into a pair of platform heels just high enough to earn their name. She pouted her ruby painted lips and crossed her arms immediately upon her arrival.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Oh my god are you really that stupid?! How do I look?!"
"Aren't you a little over-dressed? I know this place is pricey but it's not that fancy."
Haruhi scowled at me and slid into the seat across from me with an expression suggesting she was looking upon road kill, "Humph! I'll take that as a compliment." She looked pretty down about the whole thing, perhaps because I denied her the pride of having spent the last few hours getting ready for this dinner.
"Oh my, Miss Suzumiya, I must say you do look lovely!" Koizumi exclaimed as he arrived at our booth. He was dressed in a formal yet functionally casual clean crisp shirt and pants which ruined my image of him turning up in a full tuxedo.
Haruhi perked up at his arrival and pointed emphatically at the esper boy, "See, see? That's how you're supposed to do it! Thank you Koizumi." She ended her weird little lecture with a bow and shuffled over so he could sit down, but he ended up sliding along next to me instead.
"..."
Nagato arrived shortly afterward in a dark blue dress with a frilled skirt and black leggings. A black vest hung over her narrow shoulders and tapered out into a forked coat-tail. It was a shock to see her in something other than a school uniform and only raised the question of where the outfit came from. Haruhi eyed her like a lusty businessman and grinned seeming pretty satisfied with herself.
"Aha! It looks great on you Yuki!"
So you're playing dress-up with Nagato now?
"Just this once! Poor Yuki doesn't have much of a wardrobe so I thought I'd doll her up a bit!"
Not much of a wardrobe? As far as I know Nagato has the same uniform she's been wearing for the last three years and possibly some spares, but that's about it. That's not limited, that's just about non-existent!
Still it suited her really well. I think my cheeks are heating up.
Nagato looked to me and I offered a smile, "You look very nice Nagato."
Haruhi picked up on the fact I complimented her little pet and not her and it most definitely won't surprise you that she started fuming. Fortunately she ran out of steam real quick on account of her rumbling stomach and was left giggling like a mindless child about it until Miss Asahina arrived.
Considering the other girls I almost expected her to turn up in a full evening gown but she simply wore a close fitting red dress which clung to her curvaceous form to the point she looked like a fashion model from a magazine.
Unfortunately, or perhaps more fortunately the girls sat across from us guys making it less suspicious of me to get a closer look at them. I wonder why they put so much effort into such an inauspicious occasion but honestly I'm not complaining.
"So...What do you guys want?" I asked tentatively, hoping that putting them on the spot would make them hastily choose something like one of the specials or one of the bargain meals. It ended up failing and everyone took their time browsing the menu, especially Nagato who took a full fifteen minutes to decide.
I alone went up to the counter to order. As I turned around another throng of people had begun to clog up much of the room so I had to navigate the perimeter of the restaurant and almost walk a full lap of the place to get back to our seat.
Along the way I had to pass near the entrance, spotting a group of young girls as they strolled in. I took about five paces before doing a double take.
It was the girls of the light music club, bar Mio however.
Yui who was nose-deep in the menu spotted me in the periphery of her vision and started waving and shouting like a drunken fan at a baseball game, rousing not only my attention but just about every patron of the entire room.
"Kyon! Hey! Kyon! It's me! Yui! Hello!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose and waited for her to skip up to me, stopping so abruptly I was sure she was going to fall, but instead just made her hair bounce around fervently. She hummed some sort of tune and giggled, a message I don't quite understand but took in good favour regardless.
"Hi Yui...What are you doing here?"
Yui looked genuinely confused by my question and looked around uncertainly as if desiring one of the patrons to help her. After a while she stared blankly at me and murmured, "To eat..."
I felt some brain cells die.
"No, I mean why are you here at this restaurant?" I reiterated hoping she would understand this time.
"Oh, we're staying here for the competition! We're on the third floor, it's so high up! Ha ha ha!"
We're on the third floor...Does that mean-
"You stalked us all the way to Tokyo?!"
I glared at Ritsu who bounded up beside her strange friend. She offered a beaming smile, but after yelling that last thing out and garnering stares from the other guests I was already angry at her presence.
"Hello Ritsu..."
"Hello!" she cheered in English. "How are you? Fine? Wonderful!" Her English wasn't the best but I can't really talk when it's one of my worst subjects. Her words were disjointed and for no apparent reason overly loud. But shouting her faulty English didn't make it any difference.
"Ritsu-sempai stop it! Behave yourself!"
Strangely enough the motherly tone came from the youngest of the group, the junior member, Azusa whom I met at the hospital the night before. She bowed to me a shared a thin smile. "Are you staying here too Kyon-sempai?"
"Uh yeah..." I stammered, scratching the back of my head. "I'm here with a few friends and-"
"Hey! Kyon, what's taking so long?! You better not have messed up my order!" so said the one person I didn't want to hear at that moment. I winced and waited for the storm clouds to start gathering.
Haruhi stomped up next to me and glared at the other girls as if they had mugged her grandmother. "Who are you guys?" she demanded, "Are you waiters? If so then where is my food?"
Ritsu laughed at that and grabbed Haruhi by the shoulders, leading her to one of the empty tables nearby. "I'm sorry mademoiselle," she said, once again in English. She then reached into her pocket and pretended to pull out a dish which she balanced on the palm of one hand while miming the action of lifting the lid with the other. "Bon Appetit madame!"
While Yui laughed and clapped, Azusa quietly shrank out of sight. I remained dumbfounded by the remarkably bad French accent and needless use of English and Haruhi slapped Ritsu's hand aside and stabbed an accusing finger at her.
"Who are you? The waiters here aren't French! This is Tokyo!"
"Oh no! Yui, our cover is blown!"
"Ah!"
…
Please tell me I'm not the only one who isn't following this at all...
"Kyon who are these people? Are they spies? Alien assassins?"
"They're none of that. They're members of another band in the competition tomorrow."
"So they're trying to sabotage us by abducting our bass player? Unforgivable!"
I punched Haruhi's arm and sighed. "That's not it either."
Ritsu laughed boisterously and grinned, "Yeah you don't need to worry about us stealing you bass player. Ours is the best in the world!"
"Well my band in the best in the universe!" Haruhi snapped.
I rolled my eyes and dragged Haruhi back to the counter to collect our meals since the buzzers I had in my pocket were already going off. On our return to our booth I was shocked to find the girls of Houkagou Tea Time sitting at the table next to ours. Yui waved like a lunatic all over again, spilling her glass of water and earning a stern warning from Azusa about proper table manners.
"What a bunch of freaks!" Haruhi snarled, staring down Ritsu like a feral cat in a territorial battle.
I ignored the blatant irony in her statement and watched everyone eat.
Our dinner was considerably quiet and despite our bumpy start things progressed quite well. I dare say it was almost a good night and a welcome relief from the lingering fear of Mikuru's pessimistic predictions earlier. Even she had apparently forgotten her foul mood and had returned to her usual bumbling clumsy self while Haruhi pondered different outfits to force upon our delightful little mascot on our first album cover.
Ritsu and her gang (I suppose the word 'band' would be more appropriate here...) kept to themselves, but Yui had gotten unbelievably giddy about something and had laughed a storm fit to make even the mighty Tsuruya stand back in amazement. Ritsu was also overly loud and having experienced it several times before it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would but the others had no immunity from her...Well let's say charms...
Koizumi smiled and pretended not to notice as Ritsu swung her glass of water too wildly and spattered it over his shoulder. Mikuru tried to shrink away from the occasional stares of the overbearing drummer and Nagato simply sat still and devoured the mountain of plates set out before her. Haruhi ignored them for the most part, more often than not too absorbed in her own eccentricities to notice those of others, but every so often she would glare at the other table as if they were all smoking.
"Honestly, what is wrong with those guys? Kyon why don't you say something?"
"Huh?"
There, I said something.
"To them you idiot!"
"Why? Just ignore them. Remember they are more afraid of you than you are of them."
"I'm not afraid of them!" Haruhi snapped, proving my point exactly.
"See, there you go."
"What did you want to tell me?"
"Ah!"
That cry wasn't just me, it was pretty much everyone at our table. Ritsu had dragged her chair over and planted herself at our table. It seems Ritsu's hearing is better than I thought, having overheard everything we'd just said before. Nonetheless she didn't seem at all offended by Haruhi's anger; in fact it seemed to make her oddly overjoyed. With a genuinely curious smile she leaned forward and awaited our answer.
Is she serious?
"Uh...We were just saying how excited we are for the competition tomorrow."
"I know right!" she beamed, drumming on the table, "I don't think I'll be able to sleep at all tonight! I didn't last night either. I'm running on fumes! Ha ha ha!"
I nodded despite not paying enough attention to understand what she'd said. Haruhi's sour expression had only gotten worse.
"You don't stand a chance against us! We're gonna win for sure!"
Ritsu's expression screamed 'challenge accepted!'
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously!"
And so they had a verbal trade-off for an unnaturally long time while both groups watched on confused and somewhat frightened. Each time Ritsu roared what should have been a rhetorical question in her face, Haruhi would scream back with matching force. There was more spittle flying than at a boxing match. Chances are they won't stop until they're out of breath and I know Haruhi's a born athlete so that ain't no easy feat. This will take a while...
And so I laid my head on the table and closed my eyes, dreading the long night to come...
