It was just me and Haruhi in the room. There was an aura of silence which, surprisingly, Haruhi did not pierce. My mind began to frantically wander, imagining what she could possibly have in store for me.

The first thing I thought of was this scenario:

"Kyon!"

"I suppose this is where you order me around, eh?"

"Damn right it is! Now, I want you to clean the bookshelf. I don't care how it's done, just be finished before the others get back or there'll be a penalty for you!"

Or another scenario, like this:

"Kyon!"

"What?"

"You're going to take Mikuru-chan's costumes to the cleaners today. Every single one of them. And you're going to pick them up tomorrow."

Obviously, my mind was wandering now, and my musing was broken by Haruhi's voice.

"Kyon! I know exactly what we're going to do today."

"What?"

She did not answer me; instead, she went to the radio perched on top of the refrigerator, and inserted a CD into it. An unfamiliar song suddenly began to play, and if I were to classify what genre it was, itthis would be the kind of song that would be used either for falling asleep, or in a romantic setting.

I was stunned. "What is going on here?"

She responded by saying, "You know Kyon, I've noticed how you always kept an eye on Mikuru-chan."

"Gah! I never thought Haruhi would state this out in the open. I hope she won't shape reality or something."

She continued, "I guess that's a testament to how good a Brigade chief I am!" She laughed heartily. "I've made Mikuru-chan into the best mascot there is. Next cultural festival, the two of us are gonna dress up in bunny suits and distribute more flyers for the screening of 'The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina: Director's Cut.'"

I vaguely thought about protesting against that. Seeing Asahina-san in a bunny suit might be part of my fantasies, but I didn't want to see Haruhi use her that way ever again.

"Well Haruhi, haven't you given up on that sequel?"

"Of course not! What the Brigade chief says, goes," she said smugly.

"sigh There's no way I'm going to get her to change her mind."

She continued, but her voice became slightly somber, "Well, sometimes, I admit, I don't want to be such a good Brigade chief."

Hah! You, a good Brigade chief? You've got to be kidding me. But then again, all the supernatural occurrences aside, most of our activities would have been nice. For instance, the summer coed. Nothing supernatural happened, but I guess in the end, we all had a good laugh about Koizumi's detective setup. As for the summer after that, all the activities would have been fun to do with friends, if it weren't for the fact that Nagato said that everything had occurred for around 15,000 times, more or less.

"Sometimes, I feel like I've done too good a job on Mikuru-chan."

"I agree," I said. "Who knows what kind of men would be lurking for her the next time you two go distribute flyers wearing bunny suits?"

"I guess," she conceded.

Haruhi Suzumiya conceding to me, Kyon, under no pressure whatsoever was a very abnormal act. Something HAS to be going on here.

"So Haruhi, why exactly do you think you've done too good a job on Mikuru-chan? What's your point?" I asked.

"It's because you never seem to notice me."

"How could I not notice you?" I said scornfully. "With all the orders you give me, only someone as absorbed as a hardcore gamer could possibly not notice."

"I meant notice me, for me."

"Huh?"

"Damn it Kyon, you're so slow! I mean that you don't notice me as a girl."

I was stunned. Here was a topic I thought Haruhi and I would never, ever, discuss.

And yet, here we are.