I am out here once more on my day off. It's a nice Sunday morning, not a cloud in the sky. The warm April sun graced myself while a gentle breeze had the refreshing scent of early cherry blossoms. Personally, this is the perfect day off to spend outside. Maybe I should thank the gods for this perfect day.

I stifled a yawn as I stretched my arms. I reveled in the enjoyable feeling of renewed life in my arms. Sitting here in the park, I feel I can ignore all my troubles and bask in the bliss of the morning sun.

It's rather comfortable to be dressed in casual clothes rather than my school uniform. If you aren't one of those who were ever made to wear a school uniform, you probably wouldn't know the feeling. The feeling of a loose pair of khakis and t-shirt rather than the stiff suit and tie is something else. I wore an unbuttoned button-down shirt over my t-shirt, the breeze playing with the front flaps of the shirt.

I rested my head back against the bench as I stared at the morning sky. I didn't know days as perfect as this existed. This is the kind of weather that makes one want to sit in an open tatami mat room with a little summer charm hanging in the walkway.

I wasn't the only one outside this crisp morning. From where I sat, I could see a few couples meandering their way through the park paths. I wonder if I'll ever be like that some day. There were also a few children playing near the pond across the field. I could see a few pink blossoms peeking out through the trees as if they were testing the air to see if it was time to appear.

There were some individual people wandering around as well. Over there I could see a student, I'd have to guess, wearing his school uniform sketching on a pad. The uniform doesn't look familiar, so I can assume he isn't one of my schoolmates.

There's a girl walking down the path towards the bench. I stop. She is definitely an eye catcher. With her navy blue knee length skirt fluttering in the wind, she stepped lively as if enjoying the atmosphere. Moving up, we find her in a stunning cream colored sleeved halter top. Her hair was tied off in a striking ponytail that, although a bit short, still would get any man riled. She definitely had a good figure, and her complexion fit for a beauty such as her.

At this point, let me explain something. I don't know why I did it. Perhaps it was a temporary lapse of insanity, maybe the stars aligned themselves in such a way, or maybe I was possessed. Yes, the last option sounds most believable, considering present and past company. It must have been that. I know it, Koizumi must have used some hidden esper power, or perhaps I was shot with a mind control ray by Asahina-san, or just maybe I was under a spell by Nagato. I just know it couldn't possibly have been by my hand that drove me to this. It has to have been one of them, perhaps all of them working together to bring my life to an abrupt end.

"Kyon! What are you staring at!" I could hear the stark voice of some unruly person yelling at me. Where is the voice coming from? It sounds like its coming somewhere around the beautiful girl standing before me.

I sat dumbfounded trying to assess the situation. A gorgeous girl is standing before me as I sit with a stupid look on my face on this bench. However, at the same time, I can hear the unbeautiful voice of someone I know very well yelling obscenities at me from somewhere near this person. I blankly look up at her.

"Come on, Kyon! You suggested it, so let's go!" The noise was coming from her mouth, or so it seemed. Her arms were crossed across her chest and her eyebrows knit together fiercely. Despite all outwards signs of irritation, she still seemed to glow with radiant beauty. This can't be, can it? She reached down and grabbed my arm. I could feel the soft skin of her palms caressing my arm as she pulled me to my feet. It felt like the embrace of an angel.

"Idiot! Wake up! Stop staring at me, it's creeping me out!" The words rang out of her lips glossed over with a soft garnet. The paradox begins to hit me. An angel of this level sings with the voice of a demon.

Blinking a few times, I begin to return to reality. "Haruhi, good morning," is all I can manage.

"Good morning? That's all? You're the one who suggested we go out today to look for supernatural entities. You even made it a point that it would be just you and me. Honestly, Kyon, I do have other things I could be doing right now." She glared at me before turning her gaze. Geez, if you had such a problem with it, you didn't have to go and dress yourself up so much for it.

"Would you prefer it if I was still in my school uniform?" Haruhi glanced at me unimpressed out of the corner of her eye.

I sighed; there was just no way around it. Haruhi is Haruhi. I remembered back to a memory of a time almost a year ago. 'I don't know why, but apparently she doesn't turn anyone down. That's why I'm warning you before you get any weird ideas. Give it up' or so that idiot Taniguchi told me. And here I am, pursuing my happiness…with Haruhi?

"You have a problem with that?" she rebuked like a slap to my face. "Come on, the day's wasting. I don't like wasting my time." And with that, she stomped off pulling my arm along with her. Ah, the perfect way to start a day.

00000

Well, allow me to recap what's happened so far today. So far, we wandered around town talking about whatever came to mind, I spent some time window shopping, asking Haruhi what would look good and whatnot. Of course, it seemed like she couldn't care less. We went around by the station and, per Haruhi's request, no, her demand, handed out fliers requesting information about any supernatural happenings.

For the most part, people would see us and think that we were your normal couple going on a normal weekend date. Well, I guess I had a sense of that feeling as well. If I hadn't gotten used to Haruhi's eccentric behavior, I don't suppose I would feel comfortable at all chasing after every stray animal we saw, or discussing the possibilities of time-traveling aliens who could use psychic powers and slide between dimensions, or handing out fliers to every random person by the station. I thought nothing of it.

Well, here we are, its lunchtime and we're sitting at a fast food burger shop, my treat of course. I watch her nimbly take a French Fry as she complains about our lack of discoveries. "Kyon, why don't these things appear in front of us? It's so frustrating knowing they are out there but don't want to be found!" She tore the fry in half and threw half at me.

Picking up the thrown fry, I take a bite of it. No sense in wasting food, after all. "Things aren't always easy in life, Haruhi. These things take time," I proclaimed sounding as knowledgeable as I could. I took a sip of my drink. "Hey, Haruhi, let's relax a little. Since we're out here, let's go watch this movie I've wanted to go see."

"Oh?" Haruhi sounded unimpressed again. "Making demands on your club president now? How bold of you, Kyon-kun" She's making fun of me. I expected it. "Fine, fine, we can go watch your movie. I'm getting a little tired myself from wandering around town."

"It's my treat, just so you know." I suggested trying to enhance the offer. God, why do I sound so desperate? This is just Haruhi, after all.

"Your treat? Of course it's your treat. You expect to drag the SOS Brigade leader out and then expect me to pay for it on top of it? How bold of you, Kyon-kun." I'm not sure, but I think I saw a glint of a smile there. For a moment, Haruhi actually seemed cute there. For a second.

00000

I actually enjoyed the movie. It was about this guy, a clone, who was trained to be the greatest assassin ever. I felt it moved kind of slow, but it was still an enjoyable way to spend the time. You know, now it really feels like a date. Haruhi made me buy her popcorn, a hotdog and a drink. She makes it seem like we didn't just have lunch right before the movie; some girl. After today, I'm liable to be broke…again.

"Kyon, that was actually a good movie you wanted to go see. Don't you think the prospect of cloned assassins seems plausible?" A glint formed in her eye. I don't like the look of that. "Kyon, how about we try cloning you and teaching your clones to be pro assassins, don't you think that would be neat? Then we can…"

I stopped paying attention to her. I get the feeling that taking her to watch that movie may have actually been a bad thing. I mentally punch myself for not thinking of the consequences and prepare myself to: one, take the fall and, two, prepare a contingency for the possible outcome that could happen from such an act.

For the moment though, we're still out here on this pseudo-date. Haruhi still seems a bit restless. "Kyon, what should we do now?" As if to prove that point, Haruhi makes that comment. I suggest we just wander around and see what there is to do. Surprisingly, Haruhi accepts the proposal and we leave the theatre.

It isn't long that we come across a game arcade. Couples visit such places on dates, don't they? Anyway, Haruhi pulled me over from across the street saying there was something that caught her eye. Thinking it was nothing more than a cute UFO catcher game, somehow that seems fitting, but at the same time not, for Haruhi, I allow her to pull me over.

Huh? She pulls me past the UFO catchers at the entrance, I guess it wasn't them, and over towards the back of the arcade. A pounding bass reverberates through my body as she drags me around a few arcade machines; it feels like the premonition of evil.

"Show me your moves!" I hear an announcer screaming. Looking up, I see a machine unlike any other I've seen before. There was a big screen with speakers all over. Laid out on the floor were a set of pads with arrows everywhere. Did I mention the lights? All along the machine were lights, flashing, blinking, glaring. What in the world kind of machine is this?! "Let's dance!" the machine yelled again.

"Hey Kyon, what kind of game is this?" Haruhi asked. Her expression gave a look of utter amazement and awe, a rare expression for her. She actually looks…normal…and cute that way.

"I'm not really too sure. I think it should show how to play it if you wait just a---"

"Give me some coins, Kyon." A hand was thrust in my general direction. Great, she's not listening again. I sighed and reached into my pocket. Luckily, the machine operated on just 100 yen. Haruhi should have her fill of this after a little. She pushed the little coin into the slot, and I began to form another one of those "If only I hadn't done that…" feelings.

The screen popped up with a display asking how many people were participating. Selecting the "Single" game play, the game proceeded to the next set of options. "Choose your difficulty!" the game yelled.

"Hey, Kyon, which do you think would be best?" Looking over her shoulder, there were three available options on the screen: Light, Standard and Expert. It seems this game allows the participant to select a difficulty grade depending on their expertise; rather convenient.

I looked over at Haruhi who, in turn, was looking back towards me expectant of an answer. "Haruhi, why don't you try it out on the easiest difficulty to see how it is?" I suggested.

She turned back towards the machine and pressed the buttons a few times. "Expert mode!" the game cried. Figures, I should have expected that of her even though she did ask. Haruhi, after all, isn't one to beat around the bush and go easy to hard like normal people. I sighed.

A watched as a big list of songs filled the screen with various pictures and marks indicating varying difficulties of different things. Air, Freeze, Chaos? I stared at them all in amazement. What do they all mean? Below that there's a little gauge, for lack of a better word, indicating difficulty based on the number of feet on it? This is all rather confusing to me.

Tentatively, Haruhi chose a song set with seven feet worth of difficulty. Is that a lot? Hmm…what's it called? "Hare Hare Yukai" I think I've heard a song called that before. With a press of the button, the screen clears out and the announcer yells out once more. "Okay! Let's start!"

I watch intently interested in this game. Let's see, at the top of the screen are arrows and, oh there's more arrows. Arrows are coming up from the bottom of the screen. I guess you're supposed to step on the right pad on the ground that corresponds with the correct arrow at the right time? Wow, complicated. Haruhi is just stomping on the pad at random.

Accompanied with the "boos" the machine is making at Haruhi, the song comes to an end. A sudden "Failure" message flies across the screen followed by a "Game Over". A shake my head in a mocking fashion. "Have you had enough, Haruhi?"

Expecting a pout and angry lash from Haruhi, I am instead greeted by her outstretched hand once more. "Give me another, Kyon." Reluctantly, I give her another 100 yen coin.

"Do you understand how to play it now, Haruhi?" Now, I'm not very video game inclined, so I can only assume that my guess earlier was correct as to the actual game play, but I can at least try to explain my theory to Haruhi.

"Yeah, yeah." She replies stuffing another coin into the slot. Again, she goes straight to the Expert difficulty and scrolls down, once more to the same song. It's definitely a catchy song, something I may actually like to listen to now and again. I have to say, the person singing the song has a nice voice and the accompanied video in the background is entertaining. Now, if only Haruhi could play it decently so that it doesn't continually boo at her.

Another failure and another 100 yen later, I decide to speed things up. Now this may be the worst decision I've made all day, but it seems better than having to give up 100 yen every time she fails. Making my way to a change machine, I put in two 1000 yen bills and collect my return. Haruhi is still struggling her way through the song but it seems she's beginning to get the hang of it as she is able to get upwards of twenty to thirty hit combos before missing a step. You know, watching her, this game actually seems like it may be fun…if I was interested in it.

"Oy, Haruhi. Here, this way you can keep going without having to stop and ask me for a coin every time." I dump the coins on the ledge of the speaker closest to Haruhi. Without a word, Haruhi continues to step to the beat giving me a slight nod of acknowledgement. Well, at least she noticed it. Sitting back down, I watch the little arrows float from the bottom of the screen towards the top.

00000

Hmm…something's brushing up next to me. Shaking my drowsy head, I realized I had dozed off while Haruhi played. She was sitting next to me sweat dripping down her face; she must have been going at the game quite intently. "Satisfied now?" I asked staring down at her.

Panting, Haruhi forced a nod. She wore a slight smile on her lips as if attaining a peace of happiness she had lost. To see this side of Haruhi, I guess today wasn't a total waste of time. I think I enjoyed it somewhat.

I stood up and stretched my arms taking a glance at my watch. It had become late evening, time to leave. I felt a tug at my shirt. Looking back, Haruhi had grabbed hold of the corner of my shirt. "Kyon" she panted. "Help me up."

With a sigh feigning irritation, I reached out my hand to hers. She literally fell into my arms as she attempted to balance herself on her tired legs. With an unbalanced step, she looked ready to fall over. I did what was expected of me, the only thing I could do; I put my arm around her and helped walk her towards the exit of the gaming arcade. I'm sure anyone who saw us how we were would immediately come to the decision, as wrong as it may be, that we were a couple. I'm glad nobody I know is around; if they were, I'm sure I'd see pictures of Haruhi and me floating around the school starting as early as tomorrow. At least there's that little bit of comfort from the lack of recognizable people.

"Excuse me, miss." The attendant calls over to us. Pushing herself off me, Haruhi struggles her way over to the desk. Something tells me that I should stay behind and just wait for her return. I can see the arcade employee talking to Haruhi; I can't make out anything that they are talking about over the music and sounds engulfing the arcade. Haruhi nods to the attendant, I kind of want to know what they are talking about.

I see the attendant pull something from behind the counter, some paper. Fliers perhaps? Folding a few, Haruhi puts them into her pocket and motions. With a nod, the attendant walks by the register and walks back with something I can't make out. Haruhi leans over the counter for a moment then bows slightly to the attendant. I wish I knew what it was she was doing.

I take a tentative step towards the counter. Knowing Haruhi, it's probably going to be something I'll regret for not stopping whatever it is. Most likely, it is too late now, but any effort put in is infinitely better than no effort put in. Well, in Haruhi's case, effort or no, once she decides on something, the chances of changing her mind are slim, at best.

Before I can even get two steps towards them, Haruhi turns back to me with a brilliant smile and a gleam in her eyes; now I know something is up. I sigh inwardly as Haruhi strides back towards me with renewed strength. "Alright, Kyon, it's time to go," and with that, she pulls me out of the arcade without looking back.

"It's getting late Kyon. We didn't find anything today, but we'll look again another time. For now, we'll end things with this and I'll see you tomorrow." With a slap on the back, Haruhi turns and heads down the street towards the station. My back stings, she may, or may not, know it, but Haruhi is stronger than she looks. With a shrug, I turn and begin to walk down the other path; my bike is parked closer to the park than the station, which happens to be in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Kyon!" I stop. Looking over my shoulder, Haruhi turned. It might just be the neon lighting from the arcade or perhaps from her overworking herself at that game, but it looks almost as if Haruhi is blushing. Must be the lighting. "Here, take this. I almost forgot." She pulls one of the papers from her pocket and holds it out towards me.

"What's this?" I walk over and take the paper from her outstretched hand. It's neatly folded with firm creases. Yep, definitely a flier of some sort.

"Look it over, I've got copies for the other members as well. See you tomorrow," with a quick wave, Haruhi turns and runs off. That's odd for her, to give an actual farewell of sorts. Not unheard of, but odd nonetheless. Turning, I walk off as well, if I'm out too late, it'll be even harder for me to get up in the morning.

Unfolding the paper, I try to make out what is printed on it. Under the waning sunlight, I can barely make anything out on the page; it'll just have to wait till I get home. Folding the paper again, I stuff it into my pocket and walk on.

00000

It's a nice evening. The moon has just begun to brighten the night sky, but the stars are shining in full. A slight breeze greets me as I arrive at my bike. Soon it'll be time for the cherry blossoms to embrace the town. I enjoy cherry blossoms, the mid-Spring when the blossoms bloom is perhaps one of my favorite times of year.

Maybe I'll see if someone will want to go see the blossoms with me. I try to picture Asahina-san going to watch the blossoms with me, I'm sure she's the type who would love to see the blossoms blooming. Nagato would be indifferent about them, I'm sure. And Haruhi? Well, with her eccentric personality, it seems hard for that to happen.

Wait, why Haruhi? I try to shake that image from my head. It must be because I was with her all day today. Almost like a … date? Nah, even though that's what it felt like, I'm sure Haruhi thought differently of it.

00000

It's late. I finally arrive home. It was actually nice biking in the clear evening with the streets lit by the full moonlight. Rather serene, a beautiful night to compliment how exquisite the daytime was. Parking my bike against the side of the house, I shuffle my way up to my room. Dragging my feet, I collapse onto my bed. Why do I have to have school tomorrow? Maybe I'll just play hooky tomorrow and go out to town again, I mean, skipping school every once in a while is okay, right?

Oh yeah, Haruhi gave me something, a flier of some sort. I stand back up and reach into my pocket. I tend to pace when trying to prepare myself for things Haruhi related, it's become a habit.

"Second Annual Dance Dance Revolution Tournament. All players eligible, tournament to run all difficulties: Light, Standard and Heavy. This weekend at …" the flier goes on to say. I let a slight groan escape as I notice the big red circle around the word "Heavy" in the difficulty selection. She can't possibly be serious, can she? Knowing Haruhi, she is. With a sigh, I sit at my desk. Oh well, I smile. I kind of expected this.

And that's when I saw it. At the corner or my eye, I notice my desk mirror. There's a mark on my cheek. Rubbing at it doesn't do anything. Leaning in to take a closer look, my inspection reveals a mark; a mark very much resembling the color of the lipstick Haruhi wore that day. … It couldn't be…could it?

I drop the paper on my desk in amazement. As it flips around, I see more writing. Huh. Haruhi's handwriting.

Today was fun, Kyon.
Thanks.

– H

I stare at the page in awe. Turning my gaze back to my cheek in the mirror, Haruhi's face comes to mind. A slight smile naturally surfaces to my face. Well, I guess she can be cute, after all.

Today has been one beautiful day.

00000

One Beautiful Day

- by ShinMasaki