AN: Whaddup people! Long-ish chapter this time round. Any harsh criticism or flames mucho appreciated.

X
No.1 Prince of Crimson Ice, Jim Kisaragi!
X

Walking to school. Uphill. Cloudy. Not too bad.

'Hey! Kyon, wait up!' A familiar call rang out from behind me. I turned to see my good friend running at me...

What the hell?

Nagato jogged towards me, skidding to a halt; her backpack whipping around crazily.

'Morning, Nagato-san.' I greeted her calmly, trying to hide my surprise. I don't recall ever seeing her take this route to school. Her apartment building was way over in the other direction.

Nagato tilted her head. 'Hm? Kyon, what's wrong? You look a little spaced out.'

'It's nothing.' I waved my hand, resuming my walk. 'Let's head to school.'

She picked up her step and moved beside me, swaying her bag as she walked. It was hard not to stare. I did notice several other students gawking at us as they went by, some girls even whispering to eachother.

'Nagato,' I whispered to her. 'This is a little suspicious, don't you think?'

She continued walking, but fixed me with a stern look.

'He's close.'

Oh. Great. At least let me get to school. He wouldn't attack while I'm in class. Right? Maybe I'm hoping for too much.

'Stay close to me, Kyon. I won't be able to interfere too much, but I can still protect you.'

I smiled, feeling reassured. 'Thanks Nagato, you're the best.'

She chuckled, grinning cheekily.

X

'Like this, right?' Haruhi yelled excitedly, throwing out a mean roundhouse kick that smashed one of the classroom chairs into a wall.

'Woah, what're you doing?'

'Whoops. Well, show me how you do it then.'

'Not now.'

Morning period was about to begin. Though, Haruhi made sure it wasn't a quiet one. After everyone was seated and the teacher present, school officially started.

Random teachings flew by like pale mist. I could barely pay attention. Half the time I didn't even know what subject I was supposed to be learning. I kept thinking of recent events, of Haruhi...and Nagato.

Whenever I started to daydream too much, Haruhi would poke me in the back with her pen. I would turn in my seat to retort, only to see her hunkered down and working, doing a poor job of masking the cheeky grin on her face.

Urgh, Haruhi. I'm trying to worry here.

Mercifully, the first break period arrived before my brain melted of sheer boredom. Haruhi and I ate our boxed lunches together in the classroom as normal. Though I didn't have the time to even chew my food, let alone answer her ceaseless questions.

'How'd you move that fast?'

'That uppercut. Hya! Right?'

I explained in whatever way I could without sounding completely stupid. In other words, I just mumbled "I dunno" a bunch of times. What else was I supposed to say? The truth wasn't an option. And I was no good at telling intricate lies, especially to people like Haruhi who spotted this kind of thing a mile away. From myself at least.

Hang on. There was something I wanted to ask.

'Haruhi.'

'Eh?'

She's more focused on finishing the remaining contents of my own lunch.

'Tell me about Jim Kisaragi.'

Haruhi paused her devouring of my food for a second, mildly surprised.

'Oh, him.' She grumbled. 'Well, he asked me out about two years ago. I accepted. He was boring. I ended it.'

Ouch. No wonder the guy was so pissed off.

'Any clue as to how he pulled off those crazy tricks?' I pressed further. Whatever I could dicern about him that would be critical in a moment of not dying would help a lot.

Haruhi shook her head. 'I don't remember anything like that.'

Nothing? Well at least tell me...

'How many guys asked you out in your previous school?'

That particular question seemed to ignite something behind her already fiery eyes.

'That's not important, Kyon!' She yelled, slamming her chopsticks down on the table. 'They were all a bunch of boring, perverted potatoes!'

Potatoes?

'Allight, I get it, calm down.'

'Why d'you care anyway?'

'Well, one of those potatoes tried to destroy me for starters!'

That last one came out a little too loud. Haruhi was surprised, and maybe even a little hurt. Argh, can't we ever have a normal conversation?

'Hmph!' She suddenly shot out of her seat. 'Who do you think you are, berating your Brigade Chief like that?'

I wasn't berating! Stop making so much noise!

Haruhi growled something incoherant and left the classroom in a hurry, slamming the door behind her so hard that a few bits of chalk from the teachers desk clattered to the floor.

Honestly. All I did was ask a few questions about her past. What was the big deal?

Taniguchi strode over to me, taking Haruhi's now-absent seat. I was even more annoyed.

'Heh, what's up her ass I wonder?'

Ever the poet, Taniguchi.

Class started once again a few minutes later, but to my geniune surprise, Haruhi didn't return. She'd never leave during the middle of a school day. Heck, she never skipped school at all. I immediately became worried, but Okabe-sensei pressed the lesson on, Haruhi or no.

If it was hard to concentrate before, it was beyond impossible now. Okabe-sensei may as well have been making random noise. Haruhi's empty seat was yelling silent behind me.

My arm too...it was burning. I wouldn't be surprised if my sleeve caught fire now. Damn it stings! What the heck does it mean?

I couldn't take it anymore, so I just stood from my seat and headed for the door; ignoring my stunned classmates.

The intercom suddenly blared to life, just as I was about to exit. I almost ignored it, but the insipid and narmy voice that screeched through the room stopped me cold.

'Hello all you mindless drones of North High...'

...Are you kidding me?

'This is Jim Kisaragi. And I have an important message for one of you.'

Oh gee, I wonder who?

'Will Just Kyon kindly make his way to the roof for a fight to the death? And just in case you think of not showing up...'

Another, much more familiar voice rang out.

'Hey you JERK! Let go! Kyon! Get up here and kick him right in the-!'

The intercom shrieked in feedback protest.

'Don't keep me waiting, loser!' *CLICK*

Haruhi was in danger. Was that even possible? Whatever the case, I was more pissed off now than that time Koizumi actually beat me at checkers.

I didn't wait for Okabe-sensei to say anything as I threw open the door and ran for the stairs.

Everything blurred with speed around me. I could barely see where I was going, but all I could think about was Haruhi...and punching that Jim bastard in his stupid face.

I reached the rooftop door, not caring wether it was locked or barred shut, and slammed right through it, popping the thing right off its hinges.

The door itself flew end-over-end and flew off into the afternoon sky, never losing speed. I wasn't surprised.

Jim Kisaragi was waiting for me allright. He sat on the far side atop a crude throne composed of crimson ice, glaring down at me. Haruhi was next to him, arms crossed and fuming, locked away in a prison of shards that surrounded her. When she saw me, a devilish smile crept onto her face. She thrust her hand to the side and pointed at Jim.

'Kyon! Show this idiot how it's done! That's an order from your Brigade Chief!' She yelled boisteriously.

How about that? An order from Haruhi that I'd more than happily carry out.

'Well, well, well...' Jim paused awkwardly for a moment. '...well!'

He leapt upwards, spun in the air like a ninja, and landed hard on his feet in front of me. His ice throne shattered behind him in tune. How dramatic.

'This time it's just you and me.' Jim started pacing randomly, flicking his hair. 'We're gonna settle our score for good.'

Is he reciting a script? Yare yare...

'Let Haruhi go. She may have dumped you in the past, but that's no reason to want to do something like this.'

Jim smirked.

'You'll have to defeat me first.'

Woah, didn't see that coming.

'Sheesh, whatever.'

I took a fighting stance. Jim followed suit. In a flash, he leapt at me and unleashed a combo of furious left and right hooks at my head. I blocked and parried easily, nullifying the tremendous force behind his punches with swift movements. When Jim's assault slackened, I rushed in and returned the favour ten-fold; punching and kicking at every unguarded spot in his defense.

'Yeah, do it! No, left, no RIGHT! Watch his feet!'

Haruhi screamed at me from the sidelines. At one point, she accidently gripped one of the ice shards in her excitement.

*SSST!*

'YOW!'

A lunging roundhouse kick flew right over my head, grazing my hair. I thrust an uppercut into his face, but with his insane speed, Jim actually caught my fist.

I blanched when that horrible pain from the other day returned. Jim's ice was encrusting over my caught fist with ludicrous speed.

Oh crap, not this again!

Without thinking, I ducked low and swept out my left leg, hooking Jim's feet in one swift motion.

'What the-!'

Without his momentum, the grip on my fist slackened. And as the bastard fell to the floor, I took my ice-encased fist and slammed it into his nose, driving his entire head down to the ground.

Concrete shattered under the gut-wrenching impact. For a second, I was again worried that I may have taken it a bit too far.

I stepped away from the dust cloud that had formed over Jim's body. When it cleared, he was definitely still there, lying limp with a huge crater behind his head like a halo of pain.

'Ugh...gahck...' He sputtered, rising slowly. His hair was tussled and dirty now, and his nose a little off center. Not so bishi now huh?

'So...you're learning to control it.'

My arm, I guess. Now that he mentioned it, his attacks and movements had felt much slower than before.

Jim was standing now, albeit shakily. The look of pure hatred that he shot my way unnerved me...almost.

'Not surprising. I'm only the first of the League of Evil Ex-Boyfriends.'

I'm gonna call it LEEB if you don't mind.

'However...'

A maniacal smile crossed his battered features.

'I think I'll take her down with me!'

As he said this, Jim raised his arm like he was reaching to something. My stomach tightened in fear when I realized he was pointing towards Haruhi's ice cage.

'Say goodbye, Haruhi.' He laughed hysterically. 'You'll regret the day you dumped Jim Kisaragi!'

Oh no. No! Do something! Move! She's going to-!

I watched in petrified horror as the ice cage around Haruhi near-instantly closed in around her, razor sharp shards of ice knifing towards her at every angle. She didn't even realize what was going on, it was happening way too fast.

Somehow, in that moment of time, I knew what I had to do. An epiphany it's called, I think. There's no explaining it.

I raised my Godhand over my head and brought it down in a vicous slicing karate-chop. A burst of raw energy tore away from my hand in a projectile shockwave that ripped its way across the floor in blinding speed.

The ground was shredded apart around it as it closed in in nano-seconds and smashed the Jim's ice prison apart in a seismic blast of crimson shards and taxpayer dollars.

Haruhi just stood dumbfounded as the tiny splinters of her cage sprinkled outwards around her like glinting snow.

Jim was at a loss. He couldn't comprehend what I'd just pulled off. His now-fearful eyes rested on me, completely void of that pompous arrogance.

'This is...' He stammered. '...impossible.'

Then, finally, Jim Kisaragi fell forward and landed hard on the floor.

As the dust settled over the destruction, Haruhi bolted towards me with reckless abandon.

Oh, here we go. Another round of praise and-

'What the hell were you thinking, Kyon!'

Huh?

She stood almost nose to nose with me, glaring admonishingly into my eyes.

'You almost killed the Brigade Chief with those reckless moves! And you deserve a penalty for taking so long to get here!'

...What did I expect? A hug? Was that really so much to ask for?

'But...'

Her voice softened suddenly. She averted her gaze to my shoes.

'...I'm glad you came. You were awesome, Kyon-kun.'

Well, that's better.

Wait a sec.

She called me, Kyon-kun.

'Haruhi,' I breathed.

The very air shifted it seemed. For that split-moment, Haruhi was a just a shy highschool girl.

My heart raced. She was so close. I could see the pale-tinge of pink on her cheeks.

This is it. Even I could tell. The moment of truth.

I mustered my bravery, and gently placed my hands on her shoulders, pulling her closer.

'Kyon-kun, I- Oh!'

A voice from behind annihilated the moment. I whirled around and saw Nagato in the stairway door, looking both relieved and extremely uncomfortable.

'Yuki!' Haruhi greeted her cheerily, moving away from me. 'You should've seen it. Kyon was amazing!'

'I'll bet.' She replied nervously, her eyes flicking to me momentarily. 'You guys ok?'

'Yup. We're good. C'mon, let's head back to class. A climatic battle is no excuse to skimp on your studies!'

Damn, she's resilient. How can she brush this off like it was nothing?

'Umm, can you go on ahead, Haruhi? There's something I need to say to Kyon-kun first.' Nagato asked timidly.

I half-expected Haruhi to blurt out some suspicious query.

'Oh, sure. Probably wanna discuss your secret techniques, huh? Don't take too long though.'

She left through the doorway, leaving Nagato and myself alone.

Nagato quickly moved over to Jim's unconscious body and held her hands over his chest. Then she stood up and faced me, breathing a sigh of relief.

'I've over-written Jim Kisaragi's data. He'll no longer have powers. Plus, I took the liberty of removing his memories associated with Suzumiya Haruhi.'

Is she allowed to do that? Oh wait, she didn't answer to anyone anymore. Thanks to that whole "incident" from a few weeks ago. No, I'm not going to recite it here.

'It's strange though...' She added, moving to my side, cupping her chin with a miniscule hand. 'His data was very irregular. Nothing I've ever seen before.'

'What does it mean?'

'I'm not sure. But there's definitely an outside party involved.'

Urgh, I really don't want to worry about it now.

'I'll take care of the mess up here, oh and one other thing...'

Nagato approached me warily. That look in her eyes again...

'...Take care...Ok?'

This sudden melancholy again. She kept watching me as a silent breeze tussled her hair gently.

Oh man. Nagato, please...

'Seeya...' I muttered, walking back through the stairway door. I could still feel her eyes on me.

Why was she doing this? Haruhi and I were together now. Yet she seemed insistent on getting closer to me. I like you Nagato, but you of all people should know it wouldn't work.

Right? This is how it's supposed to be.

I was with Haruhi because I liked her. I wanted to be with her.

...Yeah.

Of course.

...

I can wait, Kyon-kun. No matter how long it takes, I can wait.

What am I going to do?

X

(OMAKE!)

Nagato quickly moved over to Jim's unconscious body and held her hands over his chest. Then she stood up and faced me, breathing a sigh of relief.

'I've over-written Jim Kisaragi's data. He'll no longer have powers. Plus, I took the liberty of removing his wallet from his pants.'

'Nagato, what are you doing?' I ask incredously. 'That money belongs to me!'

She dropped the wallet and faced me, eyes shining with sheer power and malice. The sky above darkened into choking black clouds. Thunder cracked and rain poured down in torrents.

'Bring it on, Kyon-kun.'

(SCENE MISSING)