—Hikaru and Haruhi—

Chapter 6:

Country— Japan

Population—127 Million

Date—Wednesday—February 1—2017

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The group was starting to feel very nervous.

They had now officially been in the club room for four and a half weeks approximately. And it had been ten days since the group learned of the other unborn member that they'd need to worry about. They already had suspicions about Kanako, so they weren't surprised when they knew for sure. Haruhi was surprising. And the fact that there were two people in the room with that condition added more urgency to stay alive and out of sight. And especially to leave eventually.

Yet there was no sign of anything changing. No sign of help arriving anytime soon. The power was bound to go out within the next week or so. Then to top it off, the group was starting to get disconnected from any communication methods.

They'd managed to maintain battery life on their phones successfully, as well as with chargers that a few students had on hand, but they had lost the ability to reach out to friends and loved ones due to the school's connection dropping. Which made it even more difficult to reach out for help and alert anyone about their situation. Some thought that this meant the government had no idea they were there in the first place.

The group was still trying to figure out what was happening with what they had, but with the disconnect, it was becoming increasingly difficult.

Haruhi was trying to help Ayanokoji and Renge as they tried finding something. But for the most part, the three were unsuccessful with getting anywhere. This was starting to both terrify and irritate the three.

The other people in the room drew connections with Hikaru and Haruhi's banter, especially as they got closer and more comfortable being affectionate in front of others. Haruhi didn't bother putting the blazer or tie on anymore, so she just wore the dress shirt, which hugged her upper body a bit more and made her breasts and light muscles slightly more visible. Not super defined, but they were visible.

This led to Hikaru flirting with Haruhi a little more. Actually, the group had a feeling they were probably flirting the same amount, they were just more comfortable having their banter in front of other people. They had nothing to hide, after all.

A lot of those classmates felt slightly dumb for not figuring it out sooner.

Renge had noticed Haruhi's muscles for a while, but kept forgetting to ask about it. A part of her also thought it would be rude to ask, and she was afraid of appearing judgmental. However, Haruhi at one point brought up how she actually got a small injury on her back from the private beach incident. But it wasn't something she noticed immediately, and she didn't want to escalate things.

Renge spoke up hesitantly.

"Uh, what happened there, anyway?"

Haruhi noticed Renge seemed hesitant to ask about something else, and tilted her head.

"Um, I guess after I let the girls go to get the others I fought those guys. I don't know, I kind of forgot some of the details."

"You didn't look like you had any injuries aside from the one you got from being thrown in the water. Were you just dodging them, or...?"

Haruhi suddenly laughed.

"Oh, are you also wondering about my muscles?"

Renge nodded with a small blush.

"Actually, it does kind of have something to do with them. One of the reasons I've known Arai for so long was because we practiced martial arts together when we were kids. Even before we got locked in here, Hikaru and Kaoru had started practicing with us. That's where the muscles came from, I've been doing it since I was a kid. And, yeah, that's how I was fighting those guys at the private beach. I think the only reason I got thrown off the cliff was because Tamaki was yelling and it distracted me. But again, I can't remember some of the details. Hikaru might remember it better."

Renge looked down.

"Do you think you don't remember as well because you hit your head?"

Haruhi nodded after thinking about it for a moment.

"Maybe, but it must not have been that bad, because I can remember everything else a lot better. It was probably just immediate memory of what happened. And I'd rather not bring it up with the rest of the hosts when we see them again. I know it'll just give Tamaki more leverage to point out why it was a stupid idea for me to fight those guys."

Kanako blinked.

"He still brings that up?"

Renge and Haruhi nodded.

"Not entirely often, but he makes it known he's still upset about it."

Kanako frowned.

"Jeez, he sounds like my brother and dad when they remember how I once went on a walk alone with Toru..."

Haruhi tilted her head.

"What was bad about that? Did it happen during school or something?"

Kanako shook her head.

"No, he just didn't like how close we were getting because of the whole "wait for marriage" thing. Toru and I hugged, and we even kissed during the walk and dad didn't like the idea that it could have been going somewhere. And, I'll admit if we weren't cut off it probably was going somewhere. But they just didn't like how we were being "inappropriate" alone like that."

Haruhi looked down.

"I guess we have more in common with that kind of thing that we realized. I always needed to be super careful when I went out with Hikaru so nobody found out. Cause I knew it would lead to Tamaki, dad, and everyone else getting all overprotective and stuff. But, your family still likes Toru, right?"

Kanako nodded.

"Yeah, they're just really persistent in making sure we didn't try anything. It didn't really work, at all... But it was really important to them. It's part of why I'm so scared of them finding out how early this happened between Toru and I... Kinda like you, Haruhi..."

Haruhi patted Kanako on the back, looking down.

"Yeah, I don't really want to admit it... but as happy as I am that Hikaru and I have this chance. And as scared as I am of the current situation... I'm more scared of what everyone will think when we eventually have to tell them. I'm worried about whether or not what happened last time will happen again... I really don't like to think about how what happened might have changed me... but the more people point out how quiet I've gotten, how I seem easier to anger, how I'm less trusting... It's getting harder for me to ignore it. I brushed the changes off at first because I figured that it was just a phase like what was going on. But, I dunno... Do I act differently to you...?"

Renge and Kanako nodded sadly. Kanako spoke first.

"I mean, I didn't really notice much of a change. But you've definitely been more quiet for the last year. If not a bit more irritable."

Haruhi couldn't argue with that. Especially since she distinctly remembered being annoyed just from participating in club activities. Occasionally nobody even had to say anything to annoy her.

"And that's not to say I don't understand why you were upset after how they treated you. Especially after you suffered a loss like that. Wait... how did you get them to stop bothering you...?"

Haruhi wasn't sure how to respond. Not even she remembered, either it just faded out, or...

Haruhi guessed that a few could pinpoint why she got so quiet. As the previous term, the upperclassman learned about different coping mechanisms people use to combat trauma. Suddenly one stuck out to her, reaction formation. At least a little of it.

As she remembered the end of what happened, it actually ended rather suddenly. Something must have happened. Whatever it was, it was possible her brain had made her forget what happened. How bad was it then...? Haruhi wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Hey, Haruhi?"

Haruhi and the others turned to look at Hikaru and a few other students, pointing at his phone.

"We managed to get to a few news websites, but not only are they saying that the situation is contained... but that there are no survivors in our area."

"What? Do they not know we're here...?"

Toru shrugged.

"I'm not sure. But it seems like nobody is coming to get us. We might need to prepare and make a run for it ourselves."

Haruhi walked over to the windows, it was possible to open a couple with some difficulty. And there was a bunch of snow covering the first floor.

"Hmm... maybe we can make snowshoes or something to get across. Once we get out of the gate I think we'll be fine, right Hikaru?"

Hikaru shrugged.

"Maybe... but when I was coming here initially, there were people approaching me like the police officer was in the hallways. We'll likely need to prepare to run into them when we get to the main road. But I don't think we'll be far from a safe zone."

Haruhi narrowed her eyes looking out the window.

"Well, we can't wait forever, nobody's coming to get us. We should start getting ready to go."

Everyone nodded in agreement, now using their phones to see how to make proper snowshoes. And people started scouting around the school for supplies and potential weapons to defend themselves.