The Next Day
Haruhi sat on the bench with her bag. Everyone was shocked when she showed up with such light luggage. Unaware of how she sold most of her belongings. Well, ones she didn't absolutely need. She only said that the rest was still to be brought over.
This was what gave her the amount of money necessary to get an apartment, and buy her time to get a job before she would have to worry about rent.
That morning, after she left her father's place, she received another message from Hikaru. Asking if she wanted to talk more and meet up.
Haruhi couldn't help directing her attention to the memory of a scar on Hikaru's palm, and how he once joked it was the closest he'd get to having a tattoo. An idea coming to mind.
"Maybe I can get a tattoo. None of them need to know."
She could almost feel her own eyebrow raise.
"No, how would they not find out?"
Haruhi shrugged. She was glad she was alone so she could think. It wouldn't be the worst thing they learned about her.
"But what if they found out the worst?"
This thought made Haruhi pause. Nervousness finally creeping up on her.
What would she do in that situation? Sure, Hikaru didn't react badly, but that was likely the best reaction she was going to get.
Haruhi glanced around, eventually seeing Hikaru walking up.
"Hi."
Haruhi only waved. Having underestimated how shy they would be talking to each other after they had confessed their feelings and made out the night before.
Now that both of them could see each other more clearly, they noted the differences. Haruhi was about the same hight as Hikaru now, as Haruhi had a growth spurt during her time away, and Hikaru didn't get any taller since high school.
Hikaru was the first to speak again.
"Do you need any help?"
Haruhi didn't need Hikaru to elaborate to know what he meant. She shook her head.
"No, I'll get by. I want to try and go through school again. A smaller one where I can get a degree with what I want to do. That'll probably be held off for now, though."
Hikaru lit up a bit.
"Like the one you applied to previously?"
Haruhi nodded.
"I want to try applying again after I'm stable, if they'll still take me after however long this'll take. I just hope nobody finds out. They still think I'm doing lawyer stuff."
Hikaru laughed.
"In that case. Do you want me to help cover it up?"
Haruhi raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
"You know, like make up cases for you to show them. I don't think they'll try looking deeper if they think you gave them all the details."
Haruhi smiled.
"I think I've got that covered. I just need to come up with excuses as to why they can't come to my "work"."
Hikaru hummed.
"Make a plan, then?"
Haruhi nodded.
One Week Later
"Everything covered?"
Haruhi nodded, maintaining her focus. Now it was her turn to hide her energetic glee at what they were doing.
"Yeah, I've applied to every possible restaurant I could, now I just need to wait for a reply."
Hikaru beamed.
"I'm cheering for you—ow!"
Haruhi directed a smirk at her partner.
"Don't move your head like that and it won't hurt."
Hikaru didn't protest further.
"Weird question, is it normal that my head is still itchy?"
Haruhi nodded as she got ready to take the tins out. Glancing at another bottle meant for her.
"It is. It should clear up after I rinse your hair."
Haruhi leaned down to look at him.
"Weird question from me, have you never used bleach before? I would have expected you to know more than me about the itchy head, thing."
Hikaru shook his head.
"I haven't needed to before because we never dyed our hair much. When we did bleaching wasn't necessary because of the specific dye we used."
Haruhi hummed.
Once done, Hikaru dried his hair the way he normally did, although, instead of a full head of orange hair, the tips were a deep raspberry color.
Then it was Haruhi's turn. Dying the roots of her hair a deep red. And trimming it back to being an inch longer than her high school hair style.
At least they both clarified to their respective job/potential jobs that they would look different. As for everyone else? They'd find out whenever.
Three Months Later
"My job application got accepted! It was the really fancy restaurant I was nervous about!"
Hikaru had forgotten how excited Haruhi could get when the situation called for it. Pulling her into a tight hug.
"I knew you'd make it!"
Haruhi nearly teared up from joy. Hugging back as tightly as she could.
"Thank you, thank you!"
Just as the reply was thought to be over, another phrase escaped her lips that surprised them both.
"I love you!"
The pair paused, pulling away from the hug slightly to make eye contact. Haruhi's eyes slimmed from concern.
"Too soon?"
Hikaru shook his head, smiling and pulling her close again.
"I love you, too!"
The pair made eye contact again, heat returning to the room as Hikaru found his hands awkwardly holding Haruhi's hips. And especially as they recognized what the other was likely thinking.
"Do you want to?"
Hikaru nodded faintly, Haruhi taking the lead after his reply was left to hang in the air.
"Please."
One Year Later
Haruhi glanced back at Hikaru as he laid sprawled out in bed. She had an early shift that day, and eagerly woke up and got ready. Unlike in Boston, where the only reason she got out of bed in the morning was to try and keep herself up as the perfect student.
Ranka didn't react well to her wanting to change before payment was made, giving up after the payment was made was out of the question. It didn't mean that she wasn't going to pay him back.
In fact, the reason Haruhi forced herself to stay in Boston with no visits home was so that she could pay off everything. After all, Ranka wouldn't be unaware of the change in career plan forever. The least she could do was lighten the blow that she knew was coming.
"They don't know yet, though."
That thought both relieved her, and killed her ability to stand straight and not lose energy.
For the moment, yes. She was happy to avoid them finding out while she put her life back together. But she knew how long it would take for her to put it back together. If she took too long to fix her problem, any effort of hers would be ignored or insulted. If she took too long to tell them, the same could happen.
Haruhi felt sluggish all of a sudden. Some small part of her wished that she had somehow stuck through the law plan anyway. But it was trampled by the sheer, sharp fact that it wasn't a possibility. It wasn't a matter of making a choice. It was a matter of her simply not being ready and able to handle what she thought she was signing up for.
But nobody would see it that way. They would assume it was a decision. She was Haruhi Fujioka. The perfect student. How could something as minuscule as stress tear her down away from the finish line they set for her? So early on as well? How could someone as intellectual and reserved as Haruhi be taken over by home sickness?
How could she wind up needing anti anxiety medication? How could she be diagnosed with depression from something as stupid as loneliness?
She had no reason to be sad. She was on the path of being a successful lawyer, just like her mother. She was the one in her neighborhood who had the chance to make it out of that life. What reason would she possibly have for not being happy?
Haruhi was tough!
Haruhi slumped down, about to get a cup of coffee to help wake herself up.
There was no way to win.
She was a liar.
She wasn't tough. She broke down as soon as she got to the campus of Harvard.
She wasn't reserved. She wanted friends so badly. She wanted to try her luck with relationships. She would have started a serious relationship with Hikaru much sooner if she was able to. They were going to when they started college in Osaka. But she was always too busy, and she knew her father would scare away anybody who would have had the guts to ask her out. She was lucky that she was able to maintain friendships with the Host Club.
Yes, she was lonely.
Yes, she did lose herself to stress.
But that stress had been building for over six years. Snowballing into a cloud of smoke that burned her every time she tried to push her way through.
Haruhi shook her head. She had known since her first year in Boston. She had known how hard it would be to break the news to everyone. She knew that there was no way she could lighten the blow. Or help dissipate the disappointment coming her way. She herself had forgotten who she actually was. And was completely blindsided by what happened.
How could she admit that she was a college dropout?
