I'm loving the support this story is getting, and I still can't believe that this story is doing so well. I haven't even gotten to the best parts yet ^_^'
Anyway, I'd like to respond to Anonymous482000's question about changing this story to a Kyon X Naru fic. Not going to happen…Kyon would be murdered by Oruki, and I would be murder by the Kyon X Haruhi shippers. And since I'm one of those shippers, I'd have to kill myself. It is flattering to know that you like the character enough to want her to be paired with Kyon though! ^_^
I wasn't expecting this chapter to be that long, but instead it turned into the longest one yet. Dammit! I just keep wanting to cram so much stuff into every chapter. Oh well…hope you enjoy it anyway!
Chapter 7
I can't believe it's Saturday already. I honestly didn't think I'd make it this far. Everyday has had its own new set of trials I had to overcome, and although I was able to triumph over them in the end, I'd be lying if I said that I was adjusting to my new surroundings. To be honest, I was actually starting to loose it a bit. I was still able to keep my cool, but internally I was pulling my hair out.
The chores I had to do the last three days definitely were less than fun. First, I had to help Naru-san with her garden. It wasn't a terribly large garden, but it definitely was the kind of garden only the Suzumiyas would want to keep. There were none of the usual plants you'd find in a typical garden. This was not a vegetable garden, or a flower garden. No, this was a carnivorous plant garden. Every plant in it survived by devouring bugs in some way. There were several pitcher plants, plants that caught prey with sticky goo, and of course the famous Venus Fly Trap. To be honest, I actually thought it would be bigger, but the Venus Fly Trap is actually pretty small. I found the pitcher plants to be the most disturbing, seeing all the dead bugs floating inside them. I even saw one of those Japanese Giant Hornets inside one. Those things freak the hell out of me. Wouldn't want to be stung by one of those. Although Naru-san told me that her choice of garden was definitely motivated by trying something different, she was glad to find that it had the added benefit of reducing the amount of bugs they had to deal with around the house. She was actually quite proud of it.
There were of course other chores as well, such as cleaning out the basement. There I discovered that Oruki had an interesting hobby that he liked to work on while Haruhi was at school…wood working. Oruki apparently got very bored during the early part of the day, and he needed something to help expend all the extra energy he had. I was amazed a man at his age could be so restless, but nevertheless that pent up energy was there, and it needed an outlet. Oruki made all kinds of things, from dressers and chairs, to whittling animal figures or some other weird folk art. It didn't matter to Oruki, as long as it was wood. He would eventually put some of his stuff for sale to some small retailers that thought they could make money on his stuff. Anything he couldn't sell usually got stored in the basement…and there was a lot of stuff down there…
Oruki finally decided to get rid of most of it, since it was taking up too much room for him to continue working, and it was my job to remove all that was going out the door. To no surprise, Oruki refused to help me with any of it and made me do all the work, which really sucked since some of the furniture he made was pretty heavy. This of course did nothing to prevent Oruki from reminding me that I needed to work faster. It was really starting to piss me off.
I remembered noticing a turtle that Oruki had carved. It was pretty cute looking, and Oruki had even gone through the effort of putting black marbles in for its eyes. Oruki was going to throw it away, so I asked him if I could keep it.
"Sure, why not. You two have a lot in common anyway. You're both slow!"
After taking another insult to my work ethic, I put the turtle to the side, remembering to bring it to my room when I was done. I couldn't help but notice that Oruki was a little less callous towards me afterwards, even allowing me to have a break. Was he happy over the fact that I liked a piece of his work? Perhaps he does have a shred of humanity…
It took me nearly all day to remove the furniture, wood sculptures, scrap and wood chips from the basement. I had to admit that when I was done, the place looked quite professional. Oruki never did thank me for a job well done though. I guess I that would be too much to expect from a Suzumiya. Well, that's not fair. Naru-san is nice enough to thank me and has done so before, so she's an exception I guess.
Weirdness be damned, Naru-san was the one thing keeping me going. To be honest, I'm starting to find her quirks rather charming. If Haruhi were half as sweet as she was, I would have definitely asked her o…never mind that thought. I think the stress is getting to me.
Speaking of Haruhi, of course she herself had stuff for me to do as well, although she didn't ask that I do them until after her father was gone to go to work. Pretty much any chore she was supposed to do was now my responsibility. If I made any protest, she would guilt trip me by reminding me of all the favors she did for me during the last week. She even made me clean her room while watching me like a hawk to ensure I didn't see or touch anything that was off limits. I had hoped that I would find something incriminating during my cleaning, but Haruhi was sure to prevent that. Her computer was especially off-limits. Hmm…I might have to sneak in to her room and check it out one of these days. It would be nice if I could extort something out of Haruhi for a change, just to give her a taste of her own medicine.
If there was a positive to the last three days, it was that dinner was great every time. It seemed that there was nothing that Naru-san could not cook. Wednesday, which was Hispanic day, we had burritos with Spanish rice. Thursday, Italian day, we had ravioli stuff with some kind of cheese. Finally, last night, we had a South African dish known as "Bobotie", which was some kind of meat dish that had curry, spices and dried fruit. I had to admit that before I moved here that my understanding of food was quite limited. I think I might have to try and be more open-minded to other cultures in the future.
Anyway, now it was Saturday morning, and I was still sleeping. The night before, I was looking forward to being able to finally sleep in, since the Brigade wasn't meeting today so Haruhi could "help" me while I looked at apartments. I should have known better.
SPLASH!
Oh my god that was cold! I bolted out of my sleep the moment I felt my skin scream in agony from the ice cold water hitting me…water? What the hell?
I looked to my left to find a prideful and mischievous smile on the one and only Haruhi, who was holding a bucket.
"That worked really good!"
To be honest, Haruhi had been experimenting to try and find the best way to wake me up in the morning. My sister had never had the sophistication of doing anything more that beat the crap out of me until I was awake. Haruhi on the other hand had been refining her technique, trying to find a method that was effective at waking me up without the need to exert too much effort. On Wednesday, she tried grabbing me by my hair and bouncing my head up and down until I woke. Thursday, she tried to tickle me awake with a feather, which failed miserably, causing her to lose patience and beat the crap out of me again. Finally, yesterday morning she used an air horn, which worked great and hurt like hell, but her parents were also woken up and she got an ear full from her father shortly afterwards.
From her perspective, today was probably the most effective experiment yet.
"I guess I'll have to use this method from now on."
"What's wrong with you?! You got both me and my bed completely soaked!"
"Oh quit being a baby, Kyon. It's only water."
"And how exactly do you expect me to dry out all of the sheets and my bed?"
"Not my problem…"
Of course, typical Haruhi.
"And why are you waking me up so damn early? It's not a school day."
"I refuse to let you sleep your life away, that's why! Haven't you heard of the term Carpe Diem?"
"Carpe Diem? Yeah, I've heard of it. It's Latin for seize the day, right."
"Exactly! I cannot let you waste your life away sleeping when it's a beautiful day outside! We should be out there making the most out of the day!"
I finally gained the urge to step out of bed, water starting to drip from my soaked clothes.
"You do realize that we're supposed to looking at apartments today, right?!"
"Duh, I know that. I'm not stupid, Kyon."
Brass, inconsiderate, loud, obnoxious? Definitely. Stupid? No. Although sometimes I think her intellect can be selective.
"I'm going to wash up now. Do you mind?"
Haruhi turned around and walked out the door. "Just don't take all day."
Of course. Wouldn't want my master to wait on me…
After Haruhi and I had finished our breakfast, we went out to take a look at the first apartment on the list. It was in a more run down part of town, and I had to admit that I wasn't terribly comfortable walking around in this part of town. I kept my eye on Haruhi, but she seemed completely unconcerned about where we were. Now that I think about it, if anything were to happen, she'd probably be able to take care of herself better than I could.
The apartment we first went to was perhaps more run down than the neighborhood. The carpet was old and stained, the rooms were tiny and cramped, and the place had a horrible stink to it. It was cheap though, and a roof over my head, so I could only complain so much.
Haruhi on the other hand… "There's no way you can live in a place like this! I wouldn't allow a dog to live in here!"
I opened the cabinets to inspect them. I saw a couple cockroaches crawling inside and I noted the rats droppings as well. I then turned on the water in the bathroom. The water was a delicious brown color.
"Okay, this place is definitely got a lot of problems, but what can you expect for forty-thousand yen a month? Personally, I'm fine with it was long as the roof on my head doesn't collapse."
I then leaned on the wall with my hand. It was only moments later that the dry wall itself collapsed from the weight of my hand, allowing a hole the size of my hand to break though. When I pulled my hand out, I spotted a couple roaches crawling out of the hole I created. I turned to Haruhi, who had a look on her face that said "I told you so."
"Okay, you win. We're out of here…"
So the two of us moved onto the second apartment on the list. It wasn't too far from the first one, but the apartment itself was considerably nicer than the last one. It was more than spacious enough for one person. In fact, it was good enough for two people if they shared a bed. It came with its own refrigerator and stove, and best of all the water was clean.
I turned to the apartment manager, a short, nerdy looking middle aged man, and asked him a question. "Only forty thousand yen a month, huh?"
"Yep"
I was definitely tempted. This seemed like an unbelievable deal, but before I could decide, Haruhi grabbed my arm and pulled me to the other room.
"You can't move in here."
"Why the hell not? It's perfect!"
"I got a bad feeling about this place. Why would such a nice apartment come so cheap? The manager of this place must be hiding something."
I'm starting to get the feeling that Haruhi was just trying to find any excuse she could to keep me from moving out. "Like what?"
"Maybe there was a murder that happened here, or maybe the manager is a serial killer who's trying to lure in fresh victims!"
"You're being paranoid."
Before Haruhi could respond, the manager walked into the room.
"By the way, if you're both are moving in, I'll need you both to sign the lease agreement."
I guess I could see why he would misunderstand. I looked at Haruhi briefly. I could see a light blush on her face. The thought of the two of us living together alone…yeah right, like that would ever happen.
"She's not moving in…"
Before the manager could say anything, Haruhi approached him while pointing an accusing finger at him. "So tell us the truth, why is the rent so cheap here?"
The manager started to look a little nervous. "N…no reason…"
Haruhi narrowed her eyes as she leaned towards him in an intimating manner. "You're lying! What are you hiding?"
The manager pulled on his collar nervously while swallowing hard. "Well, there is a tiny little reason why the rent is cheap."
"Spit it out!" commanded Haruhi. I had to admit she certainly knew how to get people to talk. She could definitely be a detective or a police interrogator.
Before the manager could say anything, a small rumble could be heard from the distance. Soon, the rumble became louder and louder until it was right next to the apartment, causing the whole place to shake. Looking out the window, I noticed that a train was speeding by right next to our window. It was incredibly nosy and disturbing.
The manager scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, there is a bit of a problem with the train…It only comes by once in a while though…"
With that I heard another train come the other way, making a huge noise and rattling the apartment once again. Haruhi turned to me immediately afterwards and spoke.
"You can't live here!"
"Why the hell not?"
"How can you possibly expect to live comfortably with all that racket? Even you couldn't sleep through all that! You need to be rested for both school and Brigade activities!"
I sighed deeply and nodded my head. I told the manager that place wasn't what we were looking for. He was disappointed but understood. We soon left and went to the last apartment on the list. Things weren't looking good…
The last apartment on the list was at a building that was familiar. It took me a minute, but I realized that it was the same apartment building that the Computer Club President lived at. This relieved me slightly since I had already been inside his apartment once when the SOS Brigade investigated his sudden disappearance for his "girlfriend" Emiri Kimidori. I was also reminded of the giant camel cricket that Koizumi and Nagato defeated. Good times…
The manager showed us what the studio apartment looked like inside, and it was no surprise that it was very similar to the one the President of the Computer Club had. It wasn't wonderful or anything, but it was definitely not shabby. Definitely enough for a guy like me to handle, it was also within my price range as well, which is always a bonus.
I couldn't help but notice again that Haruhi was less than satisfied with the place. What a surprise.
"This won't work either, Kyon."
"Why the hell not?"
It could see on her face that she was struggling to find a reason. "It's…it's too small…"
Is that the best you could do? Why don't you just come out and say that you don't want me to move out? I knew that bringing you along was just going to make things harder.
"It's fine, Haruhi. This place is more than enough to meet my needs." I then turn towards the manager. "I'll take it."
The manager smiled and nodded. "Good, I'll meet you at my office and we'll take care of everything." He then left the apartment.
I turned to Haruhi before getting ready to go to the office. I could see that her face looked incredibly disappointed. Was she that lonely at home that she wanted me to stay? Whatever…
We headed back downstairs to the office. The manager got all the paperwork ready and handed it to me along with a pen.
"Just fill all this information out, and give me your first and last months rent and we'll be good to go."
I blinked in confusion for a moment when he said that. "Wait, what do you mean first and last months rent?"
"You have to pay for two months rent in advance before you can move in. That's our policy."
My eyes widened in horror. "Are you kidding me? I only have enough for one month's rent."
The manager sighed in disappointment. "That's too bad, but rules are rules. We have that policy implemented to prevent people who miss a month of rent from being evicted without still owing a month of rent. We can't make exceptions."
I hung my head in defeat. I guess I was naïve when it came to renting apartments. I had no idea that such a policy existed. I apologized to the manager and left with Haruhi. I noticed a look of relief on her face as we left.
So in the end, our search for places to live ended in glorious failure. The sun was starting to get hot, and I was starting to get hungry. Haruhi apparently read my mind, because she too brought up the idea of finding something to eat.
"I can't spend any of my money, Haruhi. I need to hold on to whatever I have in order to find a place to live eventually."
Haruhi made a visible frown when I said this. "That sucks…I didn't bring my money with me, either."
Fortune seemed to smile on us though, since only moments later, we ran into both Tsuruya-san and Asahina-san.
"Hey you guys! Fancy meeting you here, nyoro~"
The two of them ran up to greet us.
"Hi Kyon-kun, Suzumiya-san," said Asahina-san politely. "How are you doing?"
"We were looking at some apartments for me to move in. It was a failure, though. What are you two up to?"
"Oh, Mikuru-chan and I were doing some window shopping." Tsuruya-san then became sudden excited. "That reminds me! Mikuru-chan told me that you moved in with Haruhi-nyan! I can't believe it, nyoro~!"
I scratched the back of my head after she said this. "Yeah, I did…"
"You have to totally tell me what that's like! I wonder what her parents are like! We should get together somewhere and eat while you tell me! My treat!"
I was thankful of Tsuruya-san's generosity as the four of us started heading to a good place to eat. If you were wondering as to why Haruhi was so quiet, it was because she kept staring at Tsuruya-san and myself suspiciously the whole time. Was she thinking about my answer to that stupid hypothetical question she asked me the other night? I really wished I hadn't asked her that question first.
We did eventually find a bistro to eat at, so we gathered at our table and made our orders. Now on the surface, you might think that having a meal with three beautiful women at the same time would a dream come true, but in reality, it's a guy's nightmare. The three of them started talking about a wide array of topics that only girls would want to talk about. There were boring topics, like fashion and diets, and then there were topics that were really awkward for a guy to listen to, such as menstrual periods and shaving their legs. It was times like this that made me wish Koizumi was here. I least I could converse with him about something I could relate to.
"So like, I'm getting sick of having to shave my legs all the time, and I don't want to wax them cause that would be like megas painful. So I wanted to try that stuff they put out that I heard removes hair without having to pull it out!"
"Oh, I don't think I could try that," said Asahina-san. "It sounds like it could be dangerous."
God, this conversation makes me want to pull my hair out! I mean, the thought of both Asahina-san and Tsuruya-san shaving their legs wasn't an unpleasant image by any stretch of the imagination, but for some reason it made me really uncomfortable. These are the kinds of thoughts you'd rather have when you're alone or hanging out with some guy buddies while girl watching, but not when you're right next to the girls you're fantasizing about. This was made worse by the fact that the image of Haruhi shaving her legs also kept popping into my head, since I was reminded of the yellow colored razor she had for that very purpose. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep that stupid image out of my head. I couldn't wait to finish my food and get out of there.
"Hey Haruhi-nyan! You shave your legs too, right?"
Dammit! There it is again! Thank you so much Tsuruya-san!
Haruhi paused for a moment before nodding.
"You do?! I'm surprised that you even go through the trouble. I thought you weren't looking for a guy."
"I never said that," said Haruhi. "I'm just trying to find someone who meets my standards."
It was at this point that I finally felt the need to interject for the first time since we entered the restaurant. "What, you mean like an Alien, Time-Traveler and Esper? You're still hoping for that, huh?"
Haruhi crossed her arms and looked away. "Maybe I am."
"What if they preferred a girl who didn't shave their legs? What would you do then?"
Haruhi appeared stumped momentarily by my question. She became visibly frustrated before she finally answered. "I just know that they would, okay?"
Tsuruya-san moved closer Haruhi and put her hands on her shoulders. "Maybe she shaves because she already has a guys she's after, nyoro~!"
"I do not!" yelled Haruhi with a very visible blush on her face.
I could see that this point that Asahina-san was becoming visibly nervous that Tsuruya-san teasing might upset Haruhi. "Um, Tsuruya-san…"
Tsuruya-san then wrapped her arms around Haruhi and hugged her tightly. "Come on! Tell us who it is! We won't tell!"
It was at this point that I decided to go to the bathroom, for no other reason other than the fact that I really didn't want to know who Haruhi wanted. "I'll leave you girls be for a bit. I'll be right back."
"You don't have to go anywhere, Kyon! I'm not telling them anything!" She then pushed Tsuruya-san off of her.
Tsuruya-san pouted after being pushed off. "You're not going to tell us? You're no fun, Haruhi-nyan." She then put on a bright smile again, allowing that cute fang of hers to be seen. "That's okay, I'm pretty sure I know who it is anyway."
Who? Wait, never mind. I don't want to know. It's information that would only complicate my life. Some things are just best left unknown.
The four of us soon received our food and began to chow down; all remnants of the conversation forgotten…still have that stupid image of Haruhi shaving her legs in my mind. Think about Asahina-san…think about Asahina-san…
Eventually, we finished eating and we went our separate ways. I looked at the watch that Koizumi gave to me about a week ago and found that it was two o'clock. As Haruhi and I started walking toward home, Haruhi had a bizarre request…well it was more of a command really.
"Kyon, carry me."
I gave her a strange look when told me to do this. "What? Why?"
"I'm hot and my feet are getting tired. No more questions! Do as your Brigade Chief commands! Any and all objections will be seen as an act of treason!"
I facepalmed for a second, realizing how unreasonable she was being. I was hot, too, and carrying her would only make me hotter. Unfortunately, I knew that I was going to do it anyway, since I knew she was going to guilt trip me into it, and if that didn't work, she would use threats and punishments next. Sometimes it just wasn't worth the effort to fight with Haruhi.
"Fine, whatever…climb on my back."
I started carrying Haruhi as I made my way back to her house, which was definitely not fun in any way. Granted, Haruhi wasn't a heavy girl. I figured she must have been some where between 40 to 45 kilograms, but even this amount of weight would become very heavy eventually, especially when walking uphill.
Haruhi had her head on my shoulder and her arms around my chest. She was surprisingly quiet. I started getting the feeling that maybe she was feeling melancholic. I really couldn't figure out why she would be though. Was it about what Tsuruya-san said when we were at the restaurant? Or maybe it was something else. You can never be terribly sure with Haruhi. Her mood can change on a whim and her reasons were always a mystery.
I managed to walk about a kilometer and a half before I could feel myself becoming exhausted carrying her. I reluctantly stopped and told her this.
"I'm spent. I have to put you down…"
"Already? Dammit, Kyon! Can't you do anything right? To think you could only go this far before stopping. It's pathetic!"
I was really getting annoyed. The truth be told, the stress of the entire week before combined with my frustration that I couldn't find a place to stay was really getting to me, so the fact that Haruhi was down my throat was really starting to irk me.
"I don't know what your problem is, but if you think you can just go can step all over me just because you're in a bad mood, I'm not going to stand for it! I'm already taking enough crap from your dad, and the fact that my search for apartments failed had only made things worse. Not to mention that you were really rude to Tsuruya-san earlier. What did she do to you?"
Haruhi turned her head away from me and grunted in annoyance. "Of course you come to her defense. She's your favorite, right?"
"What are you talking about? You're not still hung up over that stupid question we asked each other the other night, are you? Would you have been happier if I'd picked you instead?"
Haruhi was quiet after I asked the question, which started making me confused. "You're jealous, aren't you?"
"I am not!" she screamed. She then started walking faster as if she was trying to get away from me. "I'm done talking!"
I rolled my eyes and let her get ahead of me, since I was also sick of arguing with her. After about ten minutes, she'd developed quite a lead ahead of me. It was large enough that when I received a call on my cell phone, she couldn't hear it. I quickly checked my phone to see who it was. To my surprise, it was Tsuruya-san. I sighed a bit before answering it.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Kyon! What's up?"
I hate it when people call someone and asked them pointless questions like this, especially when they have an actual reason for calling. Just get to the point, dammit!
"Not much…"
"Hey, I wanted to ask, like, what was up with Haruhi-nyan? She seemed really mad at something. Was she mad at me?"
I sighed deeply before answering her. "Don't worry. Haruhi just being an idiot. You didn't do anything."
"Okay, I just wanted to know."
It was then that I remembered something. "Oh, by the way. Since I'm not moving away and all, do you want that coat and stuff you gave me at the party back?"
"Huh? Oh, don't worry about that. Let's just call it an early birthday present. Oh, and I never did get a chance to find out about Haruhi-nyan's parents. Oh well, we'll talk about that some other time. Anyway, talk to ya laters."
I sighed deeply as I hung up the phone. This day was really starting to suck badly. I'm sure I'll have to deal with Haruhi eventually. It's times like this that I wished I still lived at my old place. My life was so much easier then.
Haruhi made it back to her place before me, so it would come as no surprise that when she barges inside that her parents would notice her bad mood. I was almost certain that I would be to blame. When I came to the front door of their home, I seriously contemplated not going in. I half expected Oruki to charge up to me and pound me into a pulp. At the same time, I knew that the longer it took for me to enter the house, the worse it would look for me. I put my hand on the doorknob and slowly turned it, expecting the worst.
When I opened the door, I was surprised to find that no one was waiting for me at the door. Maybe they didn't notice Haruhi in a bad mood. Maybe if I'm lucky I can sneak into my room and avoid all of them.
I overestimated my luck. Just as I was trying to reach the stairs, I heard a voice from the living room call out to me. "Kyon-kun! Come here!"
God dammit…
I walked into the living room to find Oruki sitting on the couch watching TV. He never bothered to look me in the eyes before he spoke.
"I noticed Haruhi-chan looked upset when she came home. Know anything about that?"
I could feel myself getting sick to my stomach. I knew this was going to end badly. I knew that only thing I could do was tell the truth and hope that the ensuing pain that came my way wasn't too excruciating.
"I honestly wish I knew. She's been moody all day, especially when we were eating lunch with some friends of ours. She's mad at this one girl for reasons beyond me, and I think she mad at me, too. I can't for the life of me figure out why…"
Oruki turned his head away from the television and looked at me directly. "Oh really?"
"Yeah," I said before swallowing hard. "Don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes your daughter confuses the hell out of me."
He turned his head away from me and stared at the TV again. His expression slowly changed and contorted. Strangely though, it was not an expression of anger but…laughter? He started chuckling lightly before eventually starting laughing hysterically. After a minute, Oruki coughed a bit when he was finished laughing.
"Ain't that the truth? Women…"
I stood there dumbfounded. Only a couple minutes ago I thought I was going to die, but instead it seems that I'm going to be spared. Am I off the hook? Or maybe he just thinks that Haruhi was going to give me enough hell later. More than ever I'm starting to really find the Suzumiyas a confusing bunch of people.
It was then that Oruki turned to me again. "Do you watch baseball?"
This question seemed a bit out of the blue. Do I like baseball? To be honest, I would consider myself to be a casual fan of the sport. I don't watch it religiously, only when there wasn't really anything better on TV.
Oruki pointed to an empty spot on the couch. "Take a seat. The game's about to start."
Did I hear him right? Did he just ask me to watch baseball with him? Actually it was more like I was being ordered to watch it with him, but still. I think I'm losing my mind.
I reluctantly took my seat and began to watch the game. I was reminded by all the baseball paraphernalia in the living room that Oruki was obviously a huge fan of the sport. And looking at the team name that all the paraphernalia had pasted on them, I knew which team I was supposed to be rooting for.
The team Oruki was a fan of, whose caps bore the color red, was going up against a team that bore green color caps. The red team was up at bat first. I watched curiously as Oruki was at the edge of his seat whenever the pitcher was about the throw the ball. It was as if the tension of not knowing the outcome of every pitch, every swing, was the sweetest, most savory feeling life could offer. Personally, I thought he was nuts.
The first inning ended with the red team scoring nothing. Two batters were struck out; two were on base but never made it home; and the fifth batter hit the ball right into the outfielder's waiting glove. It was now the green team's chance to score. They were more successful, scoring two runs before the inning ended.
Now it was quite obvious where all the energy in the room was focused, and it wasn't me. I was lazily sitting back with my head resting on my hand. I wasn't completely bored, but I didn't have the enthusiasm of Oruki. This was something that was bothering him quite a bit, and by the time we got to the third inning, he finally decided to call me out on my lack of spirit.
"Dammit, Kyon! Just look at you! How can you possibly expect our team to win when you just sit there acting like none of this matters?! Sit up and show some god damn spirit! Don't you realize that the key to victory for any team is for the fans to channel their energy to the players?"
That doesn't make any sense. How the hell can you make that kind of argument? We're not even at the stadium. How does our energy channel to the players?
"That's not the point!"
Then what is? You're confusing the hell out of me.
"I demand that you sit up and start participating, if you know what's good for you!"
Knowing that I didn't have a choice in the matter, I slowly sat up and feigned enthusiasm while watching the rest of the game. To be honest, it was actually a pretty intense game, as the score went back and forth several times during the course of the game. Naru-san was also kind enough to give the two of us drinks while we enjoyed the game. She never stayed to watch the game with us, though. I guess she's not a big fan of baseball.
Eventually, the game ended with the red team narrowly defeating the green team with a score of 8 to 7. I was glad that our team had pulled through despite being behind in the beginning, however Oruki seem less pleased with how the game ended.
"It wouldn't have been so close if a certain someone hadn't been faking his enthusiasm."
Even if I could believe that my enthusiasm could affect the outcome of a game, I can't help the fact that I'm not hyper and over the edge like you are. It's like blaming a snail for being slow.
"Whatever," said Oruki before sighing and sitting back into the couch. I got the feeling that the game had actually exhausted him emotionally. I found it bizarre that people could put so much of themselves into a game. "Oh yeah. How'd your search for apartments go?"
I paused momentarily before I answered. I was somewhat surprised that he cared, but then I thought he probably wants me out of the house as soon as possible. Too bad. "Not so good. The one place that was decent was out of my price range. I didn't know that I needed two months worth of rent up front to be able to move in."
"Have you looked into becoming a roommate?" asked Oruki. "It would probably be cheaper, and you'd probably be able to move in on only one months rent."
I hadn't thought about that. "Oh, thanks. Where's the paper?"
After Oruki handed me his paper, I took the classifieds and ran up stairs to my room. I was please to find that most of the water from earlier had dried out and my bed wasn't soaked anymore. I began to once again search the classifieds, only this time I looked for anyone who was looking for a roommate. There were plenty of people asking for a roommate, but most of them were either asking for too much money or were too far away.
I had managed to find two possible places to look at when I started to hear voices again coming from Haruhi's room. She's talking to herself, again? I figured she would've been more careful about that after I embarrassed her earlier this week. Maybe she doesn't know I'm in my room.
My curiosity got the better of me, and so I moved closer to the wall adjacent to her room. I put my ear to the wall and tried to make out what she was saying.
"…shut up, Kyon…"
Is she pretending she's talking to me?
"…I'm not jealous of her!"
Sure you're not.
"…okay, I know I was being a jerk…I'm sorry…"
What? Did she just pretend to apologize to me? Is Haruhi even capable of apologizing?
"…Yes, I did apologize. Stop making fun of me about it!"
Does she think I would tease her if she apologized? Actually, now that I think about it, I probably would.
"…That it! I'm never apologizing to you again, Kyon! And you're getting a penalty for your treasonous behavior towards your Chief!"
Is this the reason why she never apologizes to me? She must think that apologizing would make her look weak and make others lose respect for her. Personally, I think that's a load of crap, but for someone who's not used to apologizing, this is probably something that they think would happen if they ever did. One thing was clear though. She was actually sorry for how she acted earlier. I was finding this moment incredibly insightful. For the first time, I was seeing a bit into how the mind of Haruhi worked without her telling me. True, I had to do it by rudely eavesdropping, but what she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?
I finally decided that I'd heard enough and I went back to looking for places that I could become a roommate. I had managed to find two more places before I heard from Naru-san that it was time for dinner.
It was European night, and the menu was a roast beef, roast potatoes, and Yorkshire pudding. I was beginning to wonder why it was called a pudding when it looked nothing like any pudding I've seen before. Eating it was more like eating a bun as well. Anyway, it was another really good meal, so I've got no complaints. Haruhi was quiet and wasn't able to look me in the face. If I hadn't heard what she had said earlier, I'd probably still think she was mad at me. I need to talk to her when I get the chance.
That chance came after dinner was finished and Haruhi and I were forced to clean the table and the dishes. Haruhi was still quiet while we were doing this, and I was starting to realize that she probably wasn't going to be the first one to say anything. Maybe she thinks I'm upset at her. I really wasn't, though, since I knew Haruhi did feel bad about what happened earlier. I had to make her aware that I wasn't still mad at her, so I thought for a minute on what to say. It hit me eventually, so I finally spoke.
"By the way, thank you for helping out earlier today."
Haruhi's eyes widened a bit, obviously not expecting the compliment out of nowhere. Her eyes turned towards me, so I gave her a light smile. She turned her eyes back to the dish she was cleaning. I noticed a light blush on her face.
After about a minute, I noticed she was trying to say something, but was obviously struggling to find the words.
"I…I…just want you to know…uh…that I wasn't really mad at you…If I made you mad…"
She was silent for quite a while. I was starting to think that she wasn't going to say anything else, but I was in for quite a surprise.
"I'msorry"
She said it so fast and so low that I almost missed it. She looked away from me, expecting me to take advantage of her sudden vulnerability, but I knew better. Nevertheless, I was still in shock. She actually said it. Haruhi Suzumiya actually apologized. This was a miracle. I know for a fact that a mere six months ago Haruhi would have never apologized for anything. Before that, she'd probably never think there was anything to apologize for.
To think she'd come this far in a year was really something, and I suddenly realized that I should probably say something before too long.
"Apology accepted, Haruhi."
Her eyes widened again. During her conversation with herself, she must have convinced herself that I was going to make fun of her for apologizing. And the fact that I didn't caught her even more off guard. She was probably a bit bewildered. Her blush had grown another shade redder, too. It was incredibly cute, and even I couldn't deny it.
However, after about a minute, she seemed to regain her senses, and she became much brighter and cheerier. She wasn't talking to me quite yet, but I could notice a definite increase in energy as she finished the dishes.
I finally finished and went back to my room. I was no longer in the mood to look through the paper, so instead I started looking through my boxes for something to occupy me. The first thing I found was a Thermos which still had Asahina-san's tea. It'd been in there for a week now and I'd forgotten all about it. I opened and smelled it. It still smelled fine, even though I knew it would be cold. I decided to drink it anyway, if only to satisfy my guilt for not drinking it sooner. And you know what? It was still pretty damn good. Damn that Asahina-san could brew a great cup of tea. I found the bag of tea leaves afterwards, making sure to remind myself to try and brew them later…or maybe I should try and have Asahina-san brew it instead…
Putting the bag aside, I continued to dig and found Nagato's book of Haikus. I opened it briefly and scanned through it, but I wasn't really in the mood for poetry at the time, so I put it down and continued to search. I eventually found a certain magazine still in wrapping paper…Taniguchi's gift. The one he wants back. I facepalmed as I looked at it. I still hadn't looked through it, and I originally wasn't going to. However, I was bored, and curiosity finally took its hold on me, so I opened the wrapping paper.
To my surprise, it wasn't one of "those" magazines, but it wasn't far off. I guess it could best be described as the male equivalent to those girl magazines. Of course, it still had plenty of women in it, just no nudity. I started skimming through it. There were a few images of some famous actresses or models along with interviews of those same actresses and models. Of course I never even read a single word of what was on the pages since it seemed boring. There was also an article of girls mud wrestling in the magazine as well, which I had to admit was pretty awesome.
I was maybe halfway through the magazine when I heard my door being opened. Crap! I quickly tried to hide the magazine behind my back as the door suddenly swung open. It was Haruhi, who looked excited.
"Kyon! Guess what! I did some research and…"
She then noticed that I was hiding something. Dammit! Just where the hell does all my bad luck come from? She started looking behind me suspiciously.
"What are you hiding?"
"Nothing!"
I'm such an idiot…Did I honestly think that was going to work? A two year old would be able to figure out I was hiding something.
Haruhi marched up to me. "Show it, Kyon! What is it?!"
She jumped on me and started reaching behind me. I tried to struggle with her, but it wasn't long before she got her hands on it. I held onto it for dear life, but my hands were a bit sweaty, and it wasn't long before she ripped it from my hands. I was surprised that we didn't rip it. Of course, the condition of the magazine was the least of my concerns, as its contents were much more of an issue.
It didn't take long after she snatched it from me before she realized the contents of said magazine. She narrowed her eyes at me.
"Oh…I see…"
"Give it back!" I yelled as I tried to snatch it back. I failed as she quickly evaded me and continued to look through what was inside.
"I didn't think you were such a pervert…"
"It was Taniguchi's gift from the party," I said as I decided to give up trying to get the magazine back.
"Sure…" said Haruhi, obviously not believing me. She continued to look though the magazine, her expression hanging somewhere between unamused and pissed. She flipped through the pages in rapid succession, skimming through it faster than I had earlier. It was only after a minute that she spoke again.
"So which one do you think is the prettiest?"
I was thrown a little off guard by the question. I was more mentally prepared for a verbal assault, but I figured that was probably coming later.
"I don't know. I hadn't had the chance to look through the whole thing."
She went back to the beginning of the magazine and went to the page with the first girl on it and showed it to me. She was a petite brunette with long, wavy hair and fairly tan skin. "What do you think of her?"
"She's okay, I guess."
She then went to the next girl and showed me her. She was a red-head with short hair and blue eyes. I think I'd seen her in some TV shows recently. "What about her?"
"She's pretty cute, I guess."
She then went to the next girl in the magazine and showed me her, who was a girl with green hair with pig-tails. I was starting to get annoyed. What the hell is she doing? Why does she care about what I think about any of these girls? "And her?"
I rubbed my eyes in frustration. "She's cute too, okay? Why are you asking me what I think of all these girls?"
She stood up and slammed the magazine down on the bed before leaning towards me. "Because as your Brigade Chief, I want to know why you would want to waste your time looking at this smut! To think that you'd spend your free time doing something so low! I thought you were above that, Kyon!"
"I was only looking at it because I was bored, and it's the only one I have. I told you that I got it from Taniguchi. I was going to give it back to him anyway. I was just curious as to what was inside."
She sat back down on the bed and crossed her arms. She then made an audible grunt while turning her head away from me.
I decided to continue defending myself. "And even if I did look at those kinds of magazines all the time, so what? I'm a guy, and I don't have a girlfriend or anything, so it would perfectly normal for me to need an outlet."
Haruhi's mood started to change after I said this. She started looking at the floor and her expression softened. She was silent for about a minute before speaking again, her voice sounding almost nervous.
"Do you want a girlfriend?"
I suddenly felt extremely awkward when she asked this question. Do I want a girlfriend? Well, to be honest, I kinda do. But with the events of the last year, a lot has happened, and I wasn't really sure I could handle a girlfriend along with all the other stuff that goes along with being a member of the SOS Brigade. At the rate I was going, I'd probably have to wait until after high school before I finally started dating. In the end, I decided to try and avoid the question.
"Isn't dating against the rules of the Brigade?"
"Let's just say, hypothetically speaking, that there was no Brigade, and you could go out with any girl you want. Who would you want to go out with?"
Not another stupid hypothetical. I was really starting to hate these. I had a feeling that giving her a specific answer would definitely not be a good idea, nor did I really have anyone I truly had my heart set on. Sure there were plenty of great candidates to choose from. Asahina-san, Nagato and Tsuruya-san were all options. And whoever said it had to be one of them? There were tons of girls at my school to choose from, some of them are even…normal! Hell, a normal girlfriend would be awesome, right? And of course if I was really insane, I could, in theory mind you, maybe contemplate, reluctantly, the very thought of perhaps, maybe, possibly going out with Haruhi…yeah right…
"I don't know…"
Haruhi wasn't convinced. "Come on! Tell me! Is it Mikuru? I've seen you drool over her before. Or maybe Yuki. Or it could be Tsuruya. Or maybe my mom!"
"What?!" I yelled, dumbfounded by her remark.
"Don't deny it, Kyon! I've seen the way you look my mom. You totally have the hots for her don't you. I don't really blame you. She's quite the looker for someone her age. We could just pretend she's not married. Would you go for her if you could?"
"No!" I said, feeling really exasperated. "You're mom's a little too old to be girlfriend material."
"Then who?"
"I really don't know," I said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. "I won't deny that there are a lot of girls I wouldn't mind dating, but I'm not really infatuated with any of them enough to choose one over the other. I think I'd rather wait till I find someone I actually really have feelings for before making that decision."
Haruhi fell silent again after that. Her expression was a mix of relief and disappointment. Just what was she thinking asking me such a dumb question? Why is it so important to her?
I suddenly saw her eyes widen as she quickly turned to the magazine. She picked it up and slipped it in between the bed and the wall. Just two seconds after she did this, the door suddenly opened. On the other side was Oruki. My heart leapt to my throat when I saw him. Oh man I'm dead! I'm just glad he didn't see the magazine. Damn Haruhi's ears must be pretty good if she heard him coming.
"What are you two doing?"
"We're just talking about club activities," said Haruhi. I somehow doubted he'd believe her.
He stared at the both of us suspiciously before speaking. "Just make sure that if you two are going to talk to each other in your rooms that you keep the door open." He then turned around and started walking away. Wait a minute, you mean he's not going to kill me? He sure scared the hell out of me, though.
I decided to take advantage of the interruption to ask Haruhi a question. "So why did you come in my room in the first place?"
Haruhi blinked for a second before remembering what she originally wanted to talk to me about. Her face suddenly beamed brightly in excitement before she spoke. "That's right! I wanted to give you a sneak preview of an upcoming announcement I was going to give to the Brigade on Monday!"
"About what?"
"I was doing some research on the James Randi Foundation earlier, and I came across some awesome information! I found out that James Randi himself is planning on speaking publicly at a convention being held in Kyoto three weeks from tomorrow!"
Oh no…Please tell me you're not planning what I think you're planning. You're really serious about this whole war thing you're planning against them, aren't you?
"We're going to confront him face to face and publicly humiliate him! We're going to come to Kyoto on the Friday of that week right after school. We're then going to spend the rest of Friday and all of Saturday going on a huge, city-wide search for mysterious happenings. When we find it, we're going to record our findings and bring it directly in front of James Randi!"
I can't believe she's planned ahead this much already. And now it sounds like we're really going to come face to face with the internationally known skeptic himself.
Haruhi gave her million-watt smile before continuing. "The SOS Brigade is going to be world famous! We might even win that million-dollar prize, too! How much is that in yen? Isn't that like 120 million?!"
Although I knew it'd be a cold day in hell for we won that prize money, I couldn't help but smile when she brought it up. To be honest, I just hoped we don't become the ones publicly humiliated. The fact that we'd be spending a day and a half randomly searching a huge city sounded torturous enough as it is.
"What happens if we don't find anything?"
"Don't worry, we'll find something! Kyoto is one of the spiritual and religious centers of Japan! I'm certain we'll find something!"
"Well, I have to admit your ambition knows no bounds, Haruhi."
Haruhi's face beamed with obvious pride. "I bet we'll finally be able to achieve our goal of having a branch of the SOS Brigade in every school afterwards!"
You mean your goal. I personally think it's bad enough we have one SOS Brigade.
Haruhi sat for a little while longer excitedly day-dreaming before she finally got up. "It's getting late. I'm going to bed."
I said something just before she left. "Oh by the way, Haruhi. You're dad suggested I look for people wanting a roommate. I found four people that I wanted to check out tomorrow. If you want to tag along again, it'd be cool with me."
Haruhi turned towards me with a look of surprise for a second before she gave another huge smile. "Okay, sounds great, Kyon!" She then walked out and closed the door. Just before I got ready to go to bed, she opened it up one last time a glared at me.
"By the way, Kyon. I want to remind you that it's still illegal for all members of the Brigade to date anybody!"
Yeah, yeah whatever…She then closed the door after that. Before I got ready for bed, I went under my bed and grabbed the magazine and placed it in my school bag. This thing has caused me enough trouble. I'll be more than happy to be rid of it. I then got dressed in my pajamas and laid down to go to sleep. To be honest, it was another rough day, but at least it ended on a high note. Haruhi's not upset anymore, and for the first time since I got here, Oruki is treating me like a human being. I didn't have to do any back breaking labor, either. Overall, it was probably the best day I've had here since I moved in.
It was now about two hours after I'd lied down to go to sleep. I was definitely at the point where I was quickly approaching dreamland when I heard my door being opened. Oh no, did Naru-san start sleepwalking again? I opened my eyes slightly to see what she was doing.
I was wrong. It wasn't Naru-san. It was Haruhi! Wait a minute! I've never known Haruhi to sleepwalk. Of all the times we went on overnight trips with the Brigade, she never once walked in her sleep. Then why is she now?
I watched her with my eyes narrowly open as she moved slowly towards my bed. It was then that I noticed that she wasn't sleepwalking at all. The way she was moving was too deliberate. She was tip toeing towards the bed. What the hell does she think she's doing? After a few more seconds, she finally was right next to my bed. She stood next to my bed for a minute before she carefully kneeled down, put her elbows on the bed, and rested her head on her hands.
It was dark in my room, and my eyes were only barely open, so it probably looked like I was still sleeping. In reality, my heart was pounding away like crazy. I was absolutely terrified as to what she was planning. Was she planning on doing something to me in my sleep? I can't tell. She just kept kneeling next to my bed staring at me. I was totally freaking out!
She then stood back up. Good, maybe she'll leave now and let me sleep. Unfortunately, I noticed her looking around the room nervously. What the hell is she up to? She then started leaning over me. She leaned far enough the she eventually had to support herself my resting her hands on either side of my head. Okay, now I'm really starting to freak out! I contemplated opening my eyes all the way to let her know I was awake, but I was afraid of what she might do if I did that. She stayed like that, staring down at me for a few more minutes.
And then she started to lower herself. I watched as her face came closer and closer to mine until it was only a few centimeters away. She was now close enough that could feel her breath on my face. It was fast and heavy, an indication that she was feeling very nervous about what she was doing. I tried my hardest to slow my breathing in order to hide that fact that I was only feigning sleep, but it was hard to do. My heart was racing like crazy! I'm surprised she didn't hear it pounding away…
And then it happened. She slowly closed her eyes and lowered her head one last time. A moment later, her lips came into contact with mine. Haruhi was kissing me.
My eyes shot open as soon as she starting kissing me. I was shocked over what she was doing, but the sensation of her lips on mine…it felt really, really good. Her lips were so incredibly soft and warm. Eventually, I gave into what she was doing. I closed my eyes and started to kiss back. She was startled at first when began moving my lips, probably scared that I'd woken up, but I continued to feign sleep, so she eventually started kissing me again. We were making out like this for about a full minute she finally decided she'd had enough. She got off of my bed slowly tiptoed out of my room, closing the door behind her.
My eyes shot right open the moment she left. That moment was totally surreal. I could feel my hands were shaking a bit from the whole experience. It took a full ten minutes before I'd finally calmed down enough to register in my brain what had just happened. Haruhi had just kissed me and not just an ordinary kiss, either. We were literally making out just then.
It was then that everything started to click in my brain. The time we were stuck in the closed space together, all the times she acted jealous whenever I ogled some other girl like Asahina-san, the time when she freaked out when she found a confession letter I had wrote to Nagato (which was done for Nakagawa. I wasn't the one confessing), the time when she freaked out when she found out I spent the day with Asahina-san doing favors for her (and helping her save the life of the boy who would one day discover how to time-travel), the time when she wanted me to write a romance story of the literary clubs yearly journal, the way she acted when she found out I was moving, the sound of her voice the night after the party as she said goodbye, thinking that she would never see me again, the fact that she asked me to move in with her, the way she kept trying to find excuses for me not to choose an apartment, the way she acted when we were hanging out with Tsuruya-san, her behavior when she found me reading the magazine, and finally the kiss…I had my suspicions for quite a while, but I always tried my hardest to leave myself in a state of denial. But there was no way I could deny the truth any more…
Haruhi had fallen for me…
I turned onto my stomach and began to bang my head against my pillow. This was not what I wanted to think about when I should've been sleeping. My mind was racing like crazy. I was feeling somewhat frustrated by the whole ordeal. Damn you, Haruhi! Thanks to you, I'm probably going to be up all night!
Unfortunately, I was right. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the thought of that stupid kiss out of my head. By the time I had finally fallen asleep, it was almost dawn.
Damn you…Haruhi…