Okay, time to move on with the story…got nothing new to say…nope…nothing…
Who am I kidding? I'm freaking stoked! Thank you everyone for helping this story reach the top! WWWWWOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOOO! When I started this fic, I never could have imagined that it would be this popular. I would've been happy if I'd gotten 50 reviews. Now such thoughts seem all but silly in hindsight. There's nothing left for me to do now but to finish the story and build upon my success.
Anyway, it's time to continue the next chapter. As I promised, I updated as quick as possible. Hope you guys enjoy it! I really put my all into this one!
Chapter 16
I stared directly at the darkened marble eyes of the wooden turtle Oruki had carved some time ago. I felt the adrenaline began to flow through my blood stream, kick-starting my fight or flight response. This caused a major increase in my heart rate, making it beat with enough force that I could actually hear it. My mouth became unbearably dry, and my nose began to itch. I could also feel my hands becoming increasingly wet with sweat.
This was fear, pure and simple. The real kind. Not the kind where you're afraid of being rejected by a girl you like or the kind where you dread seeing the results of a test. No, this was the kind where you knew your life was in real danger. In the course of the last year, I'd grown quite familiar with this feeling. More than once, I've managed to escape death. Hell, I just had an experience like that yesterday. This isn't fair. Can't I get a break from danger?
As you likely remember, the turtle had begun to move. I was at a loss for why it was doing this. Did Haruhi wish for this to happen? It seemed unlikely. I can't think of any reason why she would want this thing to become animated. Perhaps it's possessed by a demon or spirit, like Naru-san always wanted. No, that can't be it. It had something to do with Haruhi. I was sure of it.
It continued to stare me down with an unbelievably creepy smile. A smile that almost seemed vaguely familiar. I got up from the bed and began to move towards the door. It kept following me with those dark, lifeless eyes. And then that something happened that made my skin crawl. It spoke.
"It…seems…that…you've…got…ten...in…to…some…trou…ble…this…time…"
Its manner of speech was incredibly bizarre, but what made it worse was that the voice seemed vaguely familiar. It was a girl's voice. A voice that now reminded me more of a certain, disturbing, blue-haired girl. I reluctantly answered the turtle.
"R…Ryoko?"
The turtle changed the way it spoke immediately after I mentioned the name. It now sounded exactly like Ryoko Asakura.
"Looks like you're as perceptive as ever, Kyon-kun. I suppose that you're quite surprised to see me."
I swallowed hard and slowly continued to back up towards the door. Just as I put my hand on the door knob, the turtle…er…Asakura spoke again.
"You're wasting your time. You won't be able to get away."
I ignored what she said and turned the door knob. I was fortunate to be able to leave my room and bolt down the stairs. I immediately ran to the front door and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. No matter how hard I tried to turn the knob, it wouldn't turn. I immediately ran into the living room, knowing the door to the garage was there. Once again, this proved fruitless, as this door refused to open as well.
"Are you satisfied? You're trapped. There's no way out for you."
The voice came from behind. I slowly turned around to find that the turtle had somehow made its way onto the coffee table in the living room. How did it do that? Surely it didn't walk there. It's almost like it magically teleported itself there.
"What do you want?" I asked nervously, somewhat afraid of the answer.
"The answer to that is simple. You said that you never wanted to be here, right? As a result, Suzumiya-san then expressed a desire for you to go. Well, I'm here to see to it that you are gone…" The Asakura turtle then closed its eyes and smiled its creepiest smile yet. "…forever…"
I quickly grabbed the turtle with one hand and threw it as hard as I could against a nearby wall. I wasn't sure why I did that. I seriously doubted it would actually work.
I heard the TV next to me suddenly turn on. When I turned to face it, I saw the face of Ryoko Asakura directly in the middle of it, with television snow behind her. She looked directly at me, smiling like some kind of sociopath. I began to back away from the TV, trying to put some distance between me and her.
"How did you come back?" I asked, hoping to stall her long enough to think of something.
"I'm afraid that's not important. All that matters is that you die."
I had no idea how I was going to defend myself. I didn't even know how she intended to kill me. I was all alone. Oruki and Naru-san were gone right now. That means the only ones here are me and…Haruhi…
"Haruhi!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, hoping beyond hope that she would hear me.
"I'm afraid that she won't be able to hear you," said Asakura. "Not that she'd want to see you right now, anyway. She's quite upset with you."
It was then that the television switched from her face to some random scene that had Haruhi and me. In fact, it was the argument we had earlier today, except the image was in black and white. It was weird seeing me in the third person like that. The image then switched to the club room, where Haruhi and Asahina-san were in their bunny costumes with me looking at them. It then moved to the scene with me getting my ass kicked by Oruki almost a week ago. Then there was a scene on the roof where Haruhi and I were talking. More scenes kept showing up, each one progressively further back in time until it came to the scene when Haruhi made me write that message in chalk on her school's athletic field. It then switched back to Asakura's face.
"You've always had a strong effect on Suzumiya-san's emotional state. You have the power to make her upset or happy with merely a few choice words. Right now, your words have angered her greatly. Enough in fact for her to wish you out of her life. And now…"
I then noticed the controllers to the game system under the TV had begun to float in the air. They appeared ready to strike.
"…I'll see to it that she never sees you again."
One of the controllers lunged at me before I could get away. It wrapped the cord around my legs and tripped me up. I looked up to see the other controller about to strike. I rolled over just in time to prevent my face being bashed in by the hard plastic. It lifted up again to hit me, but this time I caught it in my hands. I then smashed it against the wall, breaking it into pieces. I then tried to remove the cord around my legs so I could get up and run again.
It was to my horror that I saw the door to the garage suddenly open, followed by the entrance of a floating ax. The door than immediately shut with a loud slam. In a panic, I began to back away as best as I could while on my back. I thought my life was going to end for sure when I watched it swing down at me. By some miracle, it cut the cord around my legs instead, giving me a chance to escape.
I quickly got up and bolted for the kitchen, but just as I got to the entrance to it, I saw several kitchen knives float up and point directly at me. Reacting by instinct, I darted into the basement door and closed it just as the knives hit it, driving themselves into the wood.
I waited a few seconds before sighing in relief. It seemed for the moment that I was safe. I walked down the stairs and began to look around. I had to think of some way to get out of here. I needed to either somehow get Haruhi's attention, or get to Nagato.
It was then when I realized that going into the basement had been a horrible idea. First, the radio down there suddenly turned on. After a couple seconds of static, Asakura's voice became clear enough to make out among the sounds of crackling.
"I'm afraid that there's no where you can go where you are safe. I have complete control over everything in this house. You should really stop resisting. Suzumiya-san wants you gone from her life, and I'm going to make that happen."
"Since when did you give a damn about what she wanted?!"
There was no answer. Instead, I heard the loud roar of a handheld buzz saw come to life. It, along with a hammer and a carving knife, lifted into the air and began to slowly make their way towards me. In response, I grabbed the only thing I could find to defend myself, a two-by-four. As the instruments of death came uncomfortably close to me, I swung the large piece of would, smacking the saw away from me. The hammer and the knife tried to attack, but I was able to barely duck underneath them. I then ran directly up the stairs towards the door again. Unfortunately, I already knew that danger was on the other side of that door, too. I looked back to find the hammer, buzz saw and carving knife begin to float up the stairs. I was dismayed to also find that the saw continued to spin even without being plugged in. I was trapped, with certain danger on both sides. I knew I only had one choice. I had to take my chances and open the door.
The moment I did, I was greeted by the sight of an ax swinging directly at my head. I reacted by blocking the attack with the two-by-four. The blade of the ax wedged itself into the wood, causing it to get stuck. I fought with the ax for a second before I pushed it off. I then bolted towards the stairs and up them, running immediately towards the door to Haruhi's room. I began to beat my fist on it, desperately trying to get Haruhi's attention.
"Haruhi? Haruhi! Help! Please answer the door! Help me!"
I continued to beat the door as hard as I could, but she never answered. Was she really so mad at me that she would ignore me even when my life was in danger? Or was this the work of Asakura, somehow using her powers to make it so Haruhi couldn't hear me yelling and beating at the door?
I looked towards the stairs to find the buzz saw, hammer, ax and several knives had reached the top of the stairs. The ax had managed to dislodge the two-by-four that it was stuck in before. Seeing no other options, I was forced to duck into the bathroom, locking the door behind me.
This was a nightmare. I was now completely trapped with no way out. At best, I could hope for at least a minute or two of extra time before the door would be broken down.
I then heard that evil voice again. "It looks like you have no where else to run. Now you're going to die."
I looked at the mirror to find that my reflection had been replaced with the image of Asakura. She continued to smile at me as she spoke.
"You look quite scared. Indeed, you must be very afraid of your inevitable demise. I'm afraid I can't relate, though. Even when Nagato destroyed me, I felt nothing resembling that emotion."
"You stupid bitch! Leave me alone!" I then grabbed a hair brush and threw it at the mirror. It shattered into many pieces, but doing so was really in vain. Instead of seeing one Asakura, I now saw several, each at a slightly different angle. They began to giggle sadistically. It was a sound worse than dragging one's nails across a chalk board. Even when I covered my ears, I could still hear it, piercing my sanity.
I then heard the sounds of the door to the bathroom being attacked. I could hear the buzz saw cutting away while the ax and hammer repeatedly swung into the door. I knew it wouldn't be long before the door would be forced open.
In a last ditch desperate move, I grabbed my cell phone. I immediately dialed Nagato's number. I put my ear to the phone, hoping beyond all hope that she would answer. Unfortunately, she never did. In fact, there wasn't even a ring tone. This can't be happening!
I then desperately dialed Koizumi's number. I knew he was likely busy chatting away with Haruhi's parents by now, but I had to try. But just like with Nagato, I failed to get even a ringing sound on the other end. Just silence. I then tried and dialed Asahina-san's number. I knew she wasn't the most reliable of the three, but surely she could do something. Alas, even calling her number only rewarded me with silence.
There was one more thing I could try. I went and called Haruhi's number. Maybe with a miracle she'd answer. She had to. After dialing her number, I put it to my ear and waited…waited for the sound of ringing…but there was nothing. Silence… I didn't give up. I dialed her number again and put it to my ear. Come on Haruhi! Please answer! I need you! Please! But still there was nothing. I could feel tears welling in my eyes from the sheer hopelessness of the situation.
By now, the door was almost completely destroyed. I couldn't figure out how it managed to hold out as long as it did, but I only had seconds now before the door would give in. I went and grabbed the rod that held the towel rack up. I knew the only thing I could do was fight my way through and hope that I didn't get killed.
Realizing this was my only chance, I kicked down what was left of the door. The hammer and the buzz saw were knocked back onto the floor while the ax swung directly at me. I parried the attack with the towel rack and pushed the ax aside. The carving knife shot directly at me. I attempted to evade it. It nicked my shoulder, leaving a small gash before it drove itself into the wall on the other side. Seeing my chance, I ran directly into my room, once again locking the door. I wasn't sure why I kept locking the door. It wasn't like these objects could turn a door knob anyway.
I sighed with relief when I was sure that I was momentarily safe again. But then I felt a sharp pain come from my stomach. I looked down at it before finding myself in complete, unimaginable horror. In my attempt to fight through all the instruments of death, apparently one of the kitchen knives had managed to bury itself directly into my abdomen.
I slowly wrapped my hand around the handle and pulled the blade out. Several inches of it were now coated in blood, and it wasn't long before more began to leak out of me. I felt my hands begin to shake as I started going into the beginning stages of shock. I'd felt this sensation before. It was all too familiar. Funny…I remember Ryoko doing that to me, too.
"That's quite a nasty wound you have there," said the demonic voice once again. I turned to my nightstand again to find that the turtle had managed to make its way into my room again. "It won't be long now. Without medical treatment, you will surely die."
Realizing that my time was running out, I began to beat against the wall adjacent to Haruhi's room in an absolute last ditch effort to get her attention.
"Haruhi! I'm sorry! Please answer me! I don't want to go! I want to stay here! Please Haruhi! I'm so sorry! Please answer me!"
"I've told you already, it won't work. It's too late for that now. There's nothing left for you to do but die."
I glared at the turtle once more. I then walked up to it and picked it up again. Turning towards the window, I threw it with all my anger and hatred. Its wooden body flew towards the glass and shattered it while passing through. It was then I realized that a small miracle had happened. With the window broken, I now had a chance to escape. I looked out the window to see that the turtle had landed on the lawn on its back. It flailed away in a useless attempt to turn itself onto its belly. This did not deter Asakura from speaking to me from down below.
"This won't work, you know. Even if you managed to jump down without injuring yourself, you wouldn't get far before you'd bleed to death."
She was right. When I looked down at my stomach again, I saw that my shirt and pants were now completely stained in red. There were large spots all over the floor, as well. I could also feel myself getting light-headed. This was bad. Really bad.
"Besides…" said the possessed turtle as several knives along with the ax, buzz saw and hammer made their way to the lawn. "Just incase it's remotely possible for you to get help before you died, I'll just kill you right here. You have no chance of surviving. Just give up and let things take their course."
I knew now that escaping was now impossible. There was no way I could take the fall to the ground and get up before I was chopped up, stabbed and bashed into pieces. There was only one hope left. I turned to my left to see Haruhi's window. I then thought that if I could reach it, I might be able to pull myself up to it and look inside. Maybe Haruhi would see me looking through the window and would come to my rescue. It was a long shot, but I had to try.
I had no choice but to act quickly. I was getting weaker by the second. I ignored the pain of glass cutting my feet as I stepped out onto the edge of the window. I then attempted to reach for the edge of Haruhi's window, but it was just barely out of reach. I knew that I would have to jump if I would have any chance.
I leapt towards the window and miraculously managed to get a grip on it. All I had to do now was pull myself up. I began to flex my muscles as I slowly lifted myself up to try and look in. Unfortunately, what little strength I still had was insufficient to be able to pull me up. I looked down to see that the knives had positioned themselves now directly under me, pointing straight up. If I fell from here, I would surely be skewered. It can't end this way. I have to try again.
I redoubled my efforts and tried again to pull myself up. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes incredibly tightly as I tried to elevate myself high enough to look into the window. But once again, I found my strength faltering. It was now too late. I'd lost too much blood to be able to do this. Without the aid of a proper blood supply, my muscles simple had no hope of lifting the weight of my body. No…I have to do this…I have to see her. I have to see Haruhi…one last time…
It was then that my muscles gave out and I was left hanging uselessly onto the edge of the window. I then felt tears roll down my eyes when I realized that I was going to die. There was no hope left now. My grip was rapidly fading, and soon I would have to let go. My body began to become increasingly numb as it no longer even had enough blood to feed my sensory nervous system. I felt a fuzziness overtake me as the last of my grip gave out.
As my body fell, I watched as the window to Haruhi's room slowly drifted away from me. I held out my hand one last time to reach out to it, but this was merely a futile reflex action. No doubt now that my life was over. Just before I landed on the knives positioned below me, my vision completely faded into darkness…
My eyes shot open. I was looking at a familiar ceiling. My eyes darted around the room. I soon realized that I was in my room. More specifically, I was in the guest room that I'd been using as my room for the past two weeks. I immediately put my hand on my stomach. To my surprised, there was no wound there. In fact, I was perfectly fine.
I quickly sat up and looked around. Nothing was out of order. Everything in it was exactly the way it was left when I laid down. Even the homework that I dropped onto the floor. I sighed in enormous relief when I realized that the whole ordeal was nothing more than a nightmare. A horrible one at that. Perhaps the worst one I've ever had. It felt so real, though. And Ryoko Asakura appearing? No doubt that her image must've been closely linked to the part of my brain that registers fear. Thinking about it that way, it was no wonder why she suddenly appeared in my dream.
I looked at my clock. Nearly three hours had passed since I entered the room to try and wait for Haruhi to calm down. Haruhi! She was okay, right?! Calm down…it was just a dream. Of course she's fine.
My eyes then immediately turned to the wooden turtle sitting on my nightstand, looking completely harmless. In disgust, I picked it up and threw it at my door. I probably shouldn't have done that. It left a noticeable dent in the door when I did that. I only hope that Oruki doesn't notice that later.
It was at this point that I realized that now was the time to apologize to Haruhi. I'd waited more than long enough, and the dream was a painful reminder of how helpless I was when I was alone. I immediately got up and walked up to the wall adjacent to her room.
I started by knocking on it. "Haruhi? Can you hear me?" I waited for a minute, but I didn't hear a response. I decided to continue anyway. "Listen, I'm really sorry about what I said! I didn't mean any of it! Please forgive me! I don't want to go! I want to stay here! I only said the things I said because I was upset that I spent most of my money! The truth is that I still owe your dad the rent for living here, and now I don't have near enough to find a place! I realized that I was totally screwed, and I took some of that out on you! Can you hear me? Please answer me!"
Still, she didn't respond. My heart sank in despair. I was worried now that she wouldn't ever forgive me. At that point, I gave up and left my room. I went down stairs into the living room and started watching some TV to try and clear my mind. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and I became rather depressed, only barely paying attention to the TV.
I then noticed my cell phone ringing. My heart was incredibly relieved to find that it was Haruhi. I didn't even care about the incredible silliness of her calling me when I was still in the house. I answered it right away. "Hello?"
"You could have said something earlier, you know? If you couldn't afford to spend all that money, why didn't you say anything?"
I sighed a bit as I took in the question. Dummy. You know damn well why. You would have gotten upset and harassed me about it. Not to mention you would have made me pay you back through indenture servitude or worse.
"…I would have gotten over it…if you really needed it that badly…"
I sighed, realizing that it was partly my fault for not saying anything sooner. I must have accidentally given her the impression earlier that I was free to spend all my money or something.
"I'm sorry, Haruhi. I shouldn't have spent any of it. I just got sick of having it and not being able to do anything with it. It's too late now, though. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do now."
It was then that I noticed Haruhi hanging up on me. I was a bit puzzled at first, but after a minute, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I soon saw Haruhi entering the living room with something in her hand. She turned her head away while holding it out to me. "Take it."
I realized that there was a small stack of yen bills in her hand. "What's this?'
"It's my allowance that I'd been saving up. Just take it already."
I felt a little bad about accepting her generosity. "I can't take all that."
"You need it more than I do. Stop being an idiot and take it. Most of the stuff you bought today should have been bought with my money anyway."
I reluctantly took the money. I quickly counted it and found it to be about 30,000 yen. I still didn't feel right about taking all of it, so I took out ten thousand of it and handed and held it out to her. "I can't take all of it."
"I don't want it. Why are you making this so difficult?"
"Because then I'll feel like I owe you again. I figure this hundred covers what I spent on drinks and lunch for the Brigade as well as what I spent at the arcade for myself. This'll make us even."
"Then consider the drinks and lunch as well as the time at the arcade my treat. Keep it."
I looked at her with both suspicion and confusion. "You? Treating me? That would be a first. Maybe I should upset you more often."
"Idiot," said Haruhi as she crossed her arms and sat down on the couch next to me. "Look, I thought a bit about what you said, and I realized that…maybe I underappreciate the effort you give on behalf of the Brigade a bit."
Can you say understatement? Good…
"And…the whole part where you stood up to my dad…" She saw silent for a minute, as if she was trying to find the right words to say without having to make herself appear too vulnerable. She gave a quick grunt before finishing her statement. "Look, you deserve it, okay? Just drop it before I change my mind. I was getting sick of keeping track of who owed who what, anyway! Let's just drop it and move on!"
While the idea of not worrying about whether I owed her any favors or if she owed me any sounded great, I suspected that somewhere in the back of her mind that she was still keeping a tally of favors. Of course, her favors would always be weighed more heavily than my favors. Nevertheless, I was just glad the fight we had earlier was settled. I was reminded a bit of the awkward conversation I had with her father the day after he manhandled me, where he asked that we forget about the whole thing. Only this time, I didn't feel like Haruhi was being out of line with any of it. Perhaps she has a little more sense than her father. Maybe…
It was then that Haruhi began to look around the room, looking a little puzzled. "Where'd my parents go?"
I'd almost forgotten by this point that the two of them were still gone. I didn't know where that closed space was that Koizumi was taking them, but it must've been pretty far away if they had been gone for this long. I was slightly worried about the two of them, but I figured the probability was low that anything serious had happened to them. Koizumi's usually not so careless as to allow anything to happen to anyone he considered important. "I'm not sure. I thought that maybe they'd gone on a date or something."
"Pfft, yeah right," said Haruhi with serious doubt. "My dad hasn't taken my mother out in years. To be honest, I don't know what my mother sees in him."
You know what? I'd have to agree. What does Naru-san see in Oruki? Surely she doesn't stay with him for his personality. I guess it could be his looks, not that I would really know. But looks alone can't keep a relationship together. Was there a side to him that only she ever got to see? Who knows? Maybe she stays with him because she knows he's the only person on the planet who could tolerate her weirdness.
Haruhi then looked at the clock. "It's getting late. Looks like we have no choice but to make dinner ourselves." She then stood up and looked at me. "Get up, Kyon. You're going to help."
"What do want me to do?" I asked as I lifted myself off the couch and followed her into the kitchen.
"You can prepare the ingredients while I do the rest."
I began to wonder as to what Haruhi would want to make. "Today…isn't it Middle Eastern night?"
"Nah…I'm not in the mood for Middle Eastern," she said as she opened the refrigerator to inspect what was available to work with. Since we'd gone shopping earlier today, there was likely to be plenty to work with. I then watched as she began to pull out various different vegetables and some beef. She then handed me all the ingredients and directed me to where the knives and cutting board were located. When I put everything down, I went to grab a knife from the block it was placed in. It took me a second to realize it, but I suddenly noticed that the knife I was holding was the very same knife that stabbed me in my dream. It took me a moment to get over the disturbing feeling before I decided not to think about it.
I started by trying to crop the cabbage to the best of my ability. The truth is, though, that my skills with a knife were mediocre at best. On a few rare occasions, I'd helped my mother in the kitchen whenever we were celebrating something, and she needed an extra set of hands to help with getting the cooking done on time. I began with trying to chop the cabbage. Unfortunately, I was having a rough time of it as the blade refuse to chop cleanly, forcing me to push down hard to have it go through.
Apparently, Haruhi was keeping an eye on me while I was doing this and decided to butt in. "Dummy. What are you doing? Are you trying to hurt yourself?" She then walked up to me and held out her hand. I handed her the knife and watched as she examined it. "This one is dull. Hold on a sec." She then opened a drawer and picked out a different one. "Try this one."
Following her directions, I used the knife she suggested and was pleased to find that it was significantly easier to chop the cabbage this time. I was soon done chopping it up and was ready to cut a daikon, a rather large, white radish. The vegetable was considerably tougher than cabbage, so I raised the knife high up before swinging it down to try and chop it cleanly.
Once again, Haruhi saw it fit to criticize my incompetence. "What are you an idiot? Stop it!" She then came up to me and grabbed both of my hands. She put my left hand at the base of the radish and my right hand, the one holding the knife, a few inches above the vegetable. She the guided the motion of the knife, showing me the correct motion needed to properly chop it. "This is how you do it. There's no need to raise the knife so high. Okay?" I nodded as Haruhi continued to demonstrate a couple more times.
To be honest, I was feeling a little bothered by the fact that this moment felt way more intimate than Haruhi probably figured it would be. My sympathetic nervous system once again activated, sending signals to my heart to start pumping harder. The supple feeling of Haruhi's hands on mine combined with the sound of her voice close to my ear made me almost lose my concentration. I could feel my face becoming mildly warmer as well. I was somewhat conflicted on whether I wanted her to stop or continue. However, she eventually let go of my hands and stepped back a bit, putting her hands on her hips.
"Do you think you can finish without cutting your fingers off?"
The grotesqueness of her question was enough to snap me back into reality. "Oh! Uh…yeah." I then turned back to my work, this time cutting the vegetables in the proper manner. It's best not to think about what just happened.
When I was finally done cutting up the vegetables and beef, Haruhi got to work putting them together in a stir fry. I decided to grab a soda from the fridge and sit at the table, watching her as she cooked the ingredients together like a well oil-machine. Her eyes were the picture of focus and concentration. Even when she added a small amount of sake to the pan and it burst into flames, licking the tips of her hair, she continued to work away unfazed. I was once again reminded of the fact that this girl was good at almost everything. It seemed inconceivable that so much talent could be crammed into one body.
To pass the time, I decided to ask her a question. "Did your mother teach you how to cook?"
Haruhi eyes swiftly darted in my direction before returning to the food. "Not really. Well, at least not directly. Most of what I learned about cooking came from either watching her or by experimentation. I don't think that cooking is that hard. You just have to understand that some flavors and textures don't go well with others. The only hard part is making sure you don't burn or overcook the food. As long as you pay attention and don't get distracted, that shouldn't happen." She then lifted the pan one last time and shook it before turning off the stove. "It's done. Go set up the table."
I'll be honest, eating dinner without Haruhi's parents sitting with us made for a very surreal feeling. Whether I liked it or not, it was weird not having them in here with us. It made what was usually a quiet moment of time seem even quieter, to the point of almost being eerie, and that didn't even take into account of the fact that the idea of the two of us having dinner alone almost made it feel…romantic? No…it wasn't like that. This was nothing more than two people sitting at a table trying feed themselves. There was no need to look into this any deeper than that.
To remove any of the awkwardness, I decided to make some small talk. "So…we're back in the club room tomorrow. It's been too long."
"Yup," said Haruhi as she finished her bite of food. "But don't you think that you'll be in there slacking. We have a lot of work to do."
I was a bit baffled by this statement. "Why? What are we doing?"
Haruhi looked at me with a small amount of annoyance. "Have you forgotten already? We still need to get ready for our trip to Kyoto. Did you think I'd forgotten about that?"
Honestly…yes. I really did think you would forget about it. I sure as hell did. With all that happened over the last week, it was easy to put out of my mind. I seriously can't believe that we're back to this whole nonsense where you plan to publicly humiliate James Randi.
"Thanks to that little setback that my father caused, we're severely behind schedule with the preparations. For the next couple weeks leading to the trip, our goal will be completely focused on making sure we're as ready as possible to take down that tyrant!"
Tyrant? If anyone is a tyrant, that would be you, missy. Seriously, can you not see how much of a disaster this trip will be?
Haruhi seemed completely undeterred by my obvious lack of enthusiasm. Her eyes sparkled like an ocean of galaxies, and her smile beamed with all of her million-watt brightness. Why couldn't she be this passionate about doing something constructive, like feeding the poor or cleaning the earth? I sighed inwardly as I realized that regardless of the foolishness of this trip of hers, I was going to tag along anyway, dead or alive.
Oh, and did I mention that dinner was delicious? Did I really have to?
When we finished eating, we gathered up the dishes and got ready to clean up. Since it was only the two of us, cleaning up was a lot easier. I asked her another question while I was drying one of the last dishes. "So what do you want to do now?"
"I was going to climb onto the roof and watch the stars. I need to clear my head a bit."
"Okay," I said as I wiped the last glass. "I'll leave you alone then."
"Well…" spoke Haruhi, looking a tad nervous. "If you wanted to come up there too, I wouldn't mind. Just as long as you keep quiet."
There was a minor conflict going on inside of me. I wasn't sure why, but a part of me wanted to take her up on her offer. Ultimately though, I turned it down. "That's alright. I'm going to go watch some TV."
We finished cleaning up after that and split off to do whatever we wanted to do. I sat down on the couch and began to flip through the channels. I was disappointed to find that most of the channels contained nothing but crap. Eventually, I settled onto a channel that had an anime I hadn't seen before. It was the middle of the episode, so I wasn't really able to make out the plot too much. The one thing that sucks about most anime is the fact that if you didn't watch it from the beginning, it was almost impossible to follow.
Unfortunately, this was made even worse by the fact that my attention was somewhat diverted. Despite my attempts, the little voice in my head that wanted to follow Haruhi up onto the roof didn't go away. In fact, it was stronger now, partly because the other voice that fought against it was slowly becoming incapacitated with boredom. I noticed my eyes were constantly darting upward towards the roof. For whatever reason, I was feeling incredibly uneasy being by myself. I tried my hardest to ignore the feeling, but eventually it became too much. In a huff, I turned the TV off and headed upstairs.
I quietly entered Haruhi's room and headed through her window. I carefully placed my foot on the "step" and pulled myself onto the roof. When I got on top, I was greeted by the sight of Haruhi, dreamily staring into the night sky. She diverted her eyes briefly when she noticed that I decided to join her. "Oh, hey."
"Yo," I said as I positioned myself next to her. "There wasn't anything good on TV."
"Okay…" she spoke, her voice sounding almost devoid of emotion. The two of us simply laid there for a while, not saying a word. To be absolutely truthful, I was okay with that. For some reason, it felt right to just lay here without saying a word or making a sound. It was as if there really wasn't anything that needed to be said. I felt…content…And to add to that, the stars were unbelievably bright tonight. Infinitely brighter than the last time I went up here with Haruhi. Somehow, the light pollution seemed non-existent. I began to wonder if this was the work of Haruhi's subconscious. It's almost as if the heavens decided to put on a show, just for the two of us. I really couldn't say as to how long we were like this. I was completely lost in the moment.
It was Haruhi that broke the silence, pulling me out of my trance. She had put her hand out towards the sky, as if she was trying to reach the stars. "It's so hard to imagine that they're really as far away as they say in school."
"Yeah?" I asked, turning my head slightly to look at her.
"They also say that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, not that light is slow by any stretch of the imagination. But…even at those speeds, it takes four years just to reach the closest star. In fact, most of the stars in our galaxy are hundreds, even thousands of light years away. And the closest galaxy to ours is millions and millions of light years away. It's seems so incredibly impossible."
I was beginning to wonder as to where she was going with this. "So? Space is big. What's wrong with that?"
"It's just…that if our galaxy alone wasn't big enough, it's the fact that even moving at the fastest possible speeds makes it almost impossible to ever reach most of those stars in a lifetime. When you think about it that way, it's so unlikely that we'd ever run into aliens. What are the odds that any of them live close enough to visit us without worrying about dying before reaching us?"
Now I understood what she was getting at. I decided to try and reassure her. "Doesn't the theory of relativity state that time slows down the faster you go? Maybe if you take that into account, it's possible to travel from one star to another in a lifetime."
"I guess," said Haruhi, her voice sounding more and more depressed. "But even if that were possible, what are the odds that they'd ever find us. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack that's as large as our sun…maybe larger." She then sat up and wrapped her arms around her legs, still staring at the sky. "I want to believe that they would've found a way to find us, and that they would've also found a way to travel around space in a way that is fast enough to overcome the tremendous distance, but it's hard sometimes."
"They're out there," I said to Haruhi reassuringly. "I'm sure they're closer than you think." I of course already knew I was right. I wouldn't tell her that, though. She had her chance to believe me when I told her Nagato was an alien.
Haruhi smiled lightly, perhaps feeling a bit better after my attempt to comfort her. She then turned to me with a surprising question. "Do you remember the day we first talked to each other?"
I blinked at her as I contemplated the answer. Oh course I remember. How could I not? I find it hard to forget about anything involving you. "Yeah."
"I still had my long hair back then. I used to change its style everyday based on what day it was. And you were the first one to say anything about it."
I remember what she was talking about, but I was a bit puzzled. I thought she was talking about the first time we spoke. If I remembered correctly, she was talking about the second time, not counting the time I went back in time. She still doesn't know that was me.
"Do you remember what you asked me?"
"Yeah," I said as I dove deep into the pit of my memories to remember the exact quote. "I think I said something along the lines of 'Do you change your hair-style to ward off alien invaders?' I think that's what I said."
"Yeah, that's it. I've always wanted to ask you what made you ask me that."
"I really don't know," I answered. "I think I was bored or something, and I remembered your introduction, so I just asked whatever was on my mind. What made you want to answer me?"
Haruhi paused a bit to reflect on the answer. "I think I was mildly impressed by your observational skills, so I figured I'd go and give you the test."
I was confused by this statement. "Wait a minute, what test? I don't remember anything like that?"
Haruhi smiled smugly as she explained. "I went and I stared you down. I figured out back in my last year of junior high that guys that were weak would easily divert their eyes if you stare at them for an extended period of time. I used this technique to try and weed out the losers who I knew for a fact weren't aliens, time-travelers or espers. Any of those three would pass that test with flying colors."
I understood what she was saying, remembering the uncomfortable staring contest we apparently had that morning. "Did I pass?"
"Yup. I wouldn't have kept talking to you if you didn't. I realized too that you looked a little familiar, too. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I was sure I'd seen you somewhere before. Anyway, I figured that you were okay enough to talk to. I had hoped you were something other than an ordinary human, but I was wrong."
"For shame," I said as I decided to continue to ask questions. "By the way, why did you cut your hair the day after?'
"Was it the day after?" asked Haruhi, trying to work her way through the cloudiness of her memories. "It was, wasn't it? Huh…It wasn't for any special reason. I eventually got sick of messing with it every morning. Not to mention that it took forever to wash and dry. I just figured it would save me a lot of time in the morning." She then started to look concerned, stroking her hair a bit. "Why? Did I look better with long hair?"
"You're hair is fine," I answered, somewhat dishonestly. There was a small part of me that would've enjoyed seeing her wear a long-haired ponytail again. I then decided to bust her bubble about the fact that she was wrong that her and I first talked on that day. "I hate to say this to you, but that day wasn't the first time we've spoken."
Haruhi seemed especially perplexed now. "What? Yes it is? What are you talking about?"
I shook my head, smiling smugly. "The actual first time we spoke was during our first week of high school. You had…I think…four ponytails at the time, so I think it was Friday. Yeah…"
Judging from her eye movement, I could tell that she was delving as deep as she could into her memories. She didn't seem to succeed, though. "Are you sure? I don't remember that."
"It's true. I remember asking if your introduction to the class was a joke."
"What did I say?"
"You pretty much put me down and told me to stop wasting your time. You really don't remember, huh?"
Haruhi shook her head, looking increasingly disappointed. "I can't for the life of me remember. I think…there were a lot of different people that talked to me that first week. It's possible that with all those people talking to me that I forgot about who was who. I was kinda in my own world back then."
"And how is that different from now?" I asked teasingly.
Haruhi punched me in the shoulder in response. "Shut up! You know what I mean!" She then sighed a bit, looking at the sky again. "You weren't upset over that, were you?"
"I got over it."
"Knowing you, you probably deserved it, but…Well, if I really did that…it wasn't personal. I was like that to everyone. I was a different person then."
I found it amusing that she felt so bad about what she did that day. "It's cool. I know that you wouldn't be like that now." You're just abusive in other ways now.
I glanced again at Haruhi. I could tell that she was somewhat disappointed that she couldn't remember. It wasn't for a lack of trying, either. I could tell that she desperately wanted to remember. Perhaps she secretly wanted to cherish the memory of the first time we ever spoke. It's like losing a valued heirloom that you threw away because you didn't realize its value.
Eventually, she gave up and a bright smile appeared on her face again. "Hey! Let's have another staring contest!"
"Why the hell do you want to do that?"
"To find out if you still have what it takes," she said, pointing her finger at my nose. "Come on, Kyon! Don't tell me you're afraid you'll lose!"
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. "Fine, I accept. Whatever…"
Haruhi positioned herself slightly closer to me and closed her eyes. "Okay, we'll begin on the count of three. First one to divert their eyes away loses! Ready? One…two…three!"
The staring contest had begun. We stared at each other's eyes intensely. Haruhi had a mischievous grin on her face while we continued looking into each other's eyes. Despite it being dark out, but I could still easily make out the color of her eyes as we continued the contest. Those amber orbs continued to sparkle with an endless magic, and I was quickly absorbed into them once again. This isn't the first time I'd noticed, but I had to admit once more that her eyes were amazingly beautiful.
"You're going to lose," said Haruhi with confidence.
"Sure I am," I retorted in sarcasm.
Another minute passed. We were still staring, but our expressions had become more serious now. This had become almost life and death, neither of us wanting to give in. I realized that this contest was a lot easier than I had thought. Whether I wanted to or not, I couldn't move my eyes away from hers.
"You ready to give in?'
"Not a chance."
The intensity of the staring had become so great that I completely didn't notice that our faces were moving closer and closer, until I suddenly felt her breath on my face again. It was at this point that I became incredibly nervous. I was now only a few centimeters from her face once again. The feelings I was getting from this were becoming incredibly familiar now. The sensation of my neck muscles being in conflict with each other returned, and the ones keeping my head back were losing. I moved in other centimeter. I was quickly losing the will to resist. Was I really going through with this? What am I doing?
It was only when my eyes darted down to her lips that Haruhi leapt up and screamed in excitement. "Ha! I win!"
When I realized what had happened, I turned my head away in shame. I can't believe I did that. "Whatever…"
"I knew my strategy would work," she said with absolute satisfaction.
"What strategy?" I asked in curiosity.
"You didn't notice? I moved my face closer and closer, knowing it would make you nervous and cause you to look away."
"That's cheap," I said, feeling somewhat manipulated. I didn't look away because I was intimidated, but I guess it still had the desired effect.
"I'll do whatever it takes to win," she said proudly. "And don't you forget it." After seeing me sigh, she then leaned towards me again. "So what do I win?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Idiot! I won, so I get something, right?"
"You get bragging rights," I answered, turning away from her.
"Boo! Lame!" she yelled as she put me in a headlock. "I'm sure I can think of something."
"Let go..." I said as I struggled. "You're choking me."
Haruhi reluctantly let go. "Fine…but you owe me!"
"You're not getting a damn thing out of me!" I yelled bitterly. I knew it. The whole speech she gave about not owing anyone anything was a big fat lie. Typical Haruhi…
"We'll see," she said, smiling evilly.
It was then that I felt a chill down my spine when I felt a cool gust of wind hit me. I realized that now was probably a good time to get going. "I'm getting sleepy. I'm heading to bed."
"Okay," said Haruhi, looking a bit disappointed.
I stood up and slowly made my way to the edge of the roof where Haruhi's window was. Just as I was about to reach it, I heard Haruhi's voice from behind.
"Kyon, wait!"
I turned around to find Haruhi also standing. She looked like she was holding something back. "There's something I need to tell you!"
It was then that I felt the flow of time begin to slow around me. My heart, even though it pounded, was beating at a snails pace. My eyes widened with the realization that she was about to say something…something huge! I tried to swallow, but the muscles in my throat where frozen in place. In fact, my whole body was frozen. I knew my fight or flight response was kicked in, but for some reason I could neither fight nor flee. All I could do was stand there and wait for what she was about to tell me.
"Kyon…I…I…" She reached out to me, beckoning me to come back. Her face was the epitome of desire and desperation.
This is it, isn't it? I wasn't sure what to feel about this moment, partly because I couldn't feel anything. I was totally numb, and now I could barely breathe. And the next words from her mouth were…
"…F…forget it…" Her eyes moved away from me and were diverted to the shingles of the roof.
The flow of time suddenly retuned to normal. I was able to move again, much to my relief. "What?"
"I said forget it! It was something stupid…" she yelled as she went and sat back down.
In a state of semi-shock, I decided to get down off the roof and make my way into my room. I don't remember changing into my pajamas before I laid down. It took a few minutes for me to recover my senses enough to reflect upon the day's events.
Today had been much more extraordinary than I had thought it would be, and not for the usual reasons. So much had happened between me and Haruhi, I would have thought a week had actually passed. But more importantly, was she…about to confess to me there? Just the thought of this puts me in a state of near panic. Only a mere eight days ago, I discovered that Haruhi had feelings for me, or more precisely, I found myself unable to deny it anymore. I came to the conclusion that I was fine with this as long as she kept it to herself, but today's events revealed something to me that I could no longer ignore. Sooner or later, Haruhi would no longer be content with keeping our relationship at the status quo. She was going to admit her feelings to me someday, whether I wanted her to or not.
And then there was the question of my feelings for her. I wasn't sure, but I think something was changing…maybe. I don't know what it was, but the damn dream I had was a part of it. And I almost kissed Haruhi yet again. What the hell is wrong with me? Am I that desperate that I'm starting to consider her a potential…girlfriend? The very thought of that set off warning klaxons going of in my head. No. I'm just acting funny because of the dream. Haruhi is my friend. Nothing more. I'm not going to let some stupid dream mess with my head. I'm sure that with a good nights rest, I'll be back to my usual self.
I'd rather not worry about this now. I'll figure it out later…
Okay, that's the end of the chapter. I just spend the entire night writing it. I'm sooo sleepy. And sorry that about the dream. I wrote that partially to mess with your head. Sorry if it did.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. See you soon!