Well, there's nothing more for me to do than to start up the next chapter. For once, I don't have a ton of things to say that I haven't already said. Once again, thank you for all the support!

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 18

This week was going way too slowly. That's all I had to say about that. I desperately wanted it to be Saturday already. Obviously, this meant that it was definitely not Saturday right now. Hell, it wasn't even Friday. It was only Tuesday! Dammit, I want this week to end!

Why did I want it to end so badly? Simple. I was still loathing the fact that not only did I have to help the barely sane Haruhi with the setting up and promoting of this Friday's fundraiser, I had to actually participate in it! I'm sure you remember by now that we're having a good old-fashioned mud wrestling tournament. Well, technically it's a mini-tournament, unless by some miracle Haruhi manages to convince enough girls (and guys) to also take part in it.

Fortunately, most of the students in this school are entirely rational people and would never dare humiliate themselves for the sake of the Brigade. Of course, it's perfectly within Haruhi's capability to try and blackmail some of them. I hope she doesn't do that.

I flung my pen into the air and tried to catch it, bored out of my mind. I was successful and decided to toss it in the air again. This time I missed, and the pen bounced off my fingers and landed on my lap. I barely managed to catch it before it landed on the floor.

Oh yeah, incase you're still wondering, I'm in class right now. I'm not assuming that you're too dumb to figure that out or anything it's just…never mind…

I felt a pen or pencil poke me from behind, a clear indication that a certain Brigade commander wanted my attention. I leaned my head back as far as I could until her sharp, glowing orbs met my own. "What's up?"

She then poked my nose with her pen, making me wonder if it was being marked with ink. "Makes sure you talk to those two during lunch."

"Yeah, yeah I know," I answered as I sat back up and rubbed my nose. I checked my finger to make sure that there was no ink on it. I didn't see any ink on my finger, so I had hoped that my nose went unmarked. Why couldn't she use her finger or something? I remembered a few times I've had to use a spot remover on my shirts because she got ink on them. It's so annoying.

When fourth period class was finished, I got together with Taniguchi and Kunikida for our daily ritual of eating lunch together. To be honest, since I already knew that Taniguchi would freak out when I told him that we were going to have him judge a mostly all-girls mud wrestling contest, so I decided I was going to mess with him.

"Yo, Kyon. How's life going for ya?" asked Taniguchi while opening the top to his bento box. "Got any exciting adventures lined up between you and "you-know-who."

By now, I should be used to his teasing over me and Haruhi, but it still irks the hell out of me. Nevertheless, the answer to his question was "Yes."

"Oh, I see," Taniguchi said as he winked at me. Just calm down. Soon enough you'll make him pay for his teasing. "Where to?"

"The Brigade is going to Kyoto next weekend."

"Hey, I've been there," added Kunikida. "It's a nice place to visit. Lots of religious sites all over the place. Wouldn't mind going there again someday."

"Why would Suzumiya-san want to go to a place like that?" asked Taniguchi as he stuffed a piece of fried fish in his mouth.

"Haruhi's hatched some insane plan to try and publicly humiliate as guy named James Randi."

"Who?" asked Taniguchi stupidly. Figures he wouldn't know who he was. Well, I could imagine the average lay-person not knowing about him.

"Never mind," I said in slight annoyance. "It's not important who he is or why she thinks he's such a threat to her and her club. What matters now is the fact that we need money for the trip."

"How're going to get the money for that?" asked Kunikida.

"We're holding a fundraiser this Friday."

Taniguchi gave an evil smile when he heard this. "Ah, fundraiser, huh? Are you guys going to sell revealing picks of Mikuru Asahina?"

"Nope."

"Are you going to have some kind of drawing where the winner gets a kiss right on the lips from Mikuru-chan?"

"No."

"Are you going to dress her in funny outfits and charge money for people to have our picture taken with her?"

"Try again."

Taniguchi continued to wrack his brain for more possibilities but eventually gave up. "Just tell me, man."

Time to set the bait. "We're holding a mud wrestling tournament."

Taniguchi's eyes widened in absolutely, unimaginable, ecstatic joy. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Looks like Suzumiya-san's really trying to outdo herself this time," said Kunikida.

Now for the fun part. "We still need judges for it, though."

Predictably, Taniguchi grabbed me by my shoulders and begins to plead with me. "You've got to get me on the judge's panel. You have to!" I couldn't help but smell the scent of fried fish and wasabi in his breath. "I'll do anything!"

I tried to keep a straight face while he was doing this. I wanted to give him the impression that I wasn't sure. I gave an expression that indicated that I was mulling it over.

Taniguchi picked up on this and upped the ante. "Heck, you can have that magazine I gave you back. I never wanted it anyway. Hell, you can have all of my magazines, even the 'naughty' ones."

That's quite alright. I don't even want to think about the fact that you have those things.

"Or maybe I'll buy lunch for you everyday for a week. That's sounds fair right. Or maybe I'll buy you a bunch of meat buns and you can stuff your face. That's sounds good to you, right?"

I turned to Kunikida, still trying to stay straight-faced. "You want to be one of the judges?"

"Sounds great," answered Kunikida eagerly.

Taniguchi's jaw dropped when I did that. He backed up a bit, not really sure how to react. After a few seconds, I saw his face slowly contort into anger, obviously hurt. "I get it. I see how it is. You've been buddies with Kunikida here since junior high, so you decide to give him special treatment, but I'm not good enough." He then points a finger directly at me. "Well, you can just go to hell, Kyon! You and all your friends! I don't need any of you! I'm perfectly fine by myself!"

I continued to eat my lunch, savoring it just as much as I was savoring Taniguchi's idiocy. He really was a poor dope. I'm starting to see why it is that Koizumi likes to mess with me so damn much. It's a lot of fun, isn't it?

He put his hands on my shoulders again, his face full of desperation again. I found his emotional one-eighty to be extremely amusing. "I take that back. I totally didn't mean it. You're not mad at me, are you? I'm totally sorry. I'll do anything. I swear!"

My eyes darted toward Kunikida. By now, his face was beet red and he had a hand over his mouth, obviously dying from laughter. I could tell that he'd figured out what I was doing and was trying not to blow my cover. To be honest, I was having a hard time, too. It took all of my will power not to crack a smile and bust out laughing. Taniguchi was just way too pathetic.

"Look, I'll even stop messing with you about you and Suzumiya-san. You know I was only joking about you two, right?"

Bingo! Finally! Maybe now I can finally eat my lunch in peace. "…I guess it's okay if you judge, too."

Taniguchi raised both fists in the air in triumph, howling in excitement. He grabbed my shoulders once again, shaking me back and forth. "You're the best! You and Suzumiya-san! I take back everything I've ever said about you two!"

Hey, what have you been saying about me behind my back. I demand answers, dammit!

"Go ahead and tell Suzumiya-san that I won't let her down! Also tell her that she's the most awesome person on the planet!"

The moron then finally sits down to allow us to finish lunch. Well, all we needed was Sakanaka-san to join the panel and we were set on judges. Haruhi insisted that she ask her, saying that it would be easier to get her to join if a girl asked her. I agreed with her reasoning. I would've been way too awkward for me to ask her for such a ridiculous favor.

Haruhi soon returned from lunch about five minutes before fifth period was scheduled to start. I returned to my desk to inform her of the news. "They agreed to help."

Haruhi stared out the window, a satisfied smirk in her face. "Of course they would. Any guy with half a brain would kill for that kind of opportunity."

"By the way, Taniguchi says he won't let you down," I said, barely able to keep myself from laughing. "And that you're the most awesome person on the planet."

"He's so predictable," said Haruhi as she grabbed her notebook and pen from her desk. "And it goes without saying that I'm the most awesome person on the planet. I am the founder of the SOS Brigade, after all." I didn't hear the slightest hint of modesty or sarcasm from her. She glowed with a confidence I couldn't help but admire. Oh man, there it is again. I better turn my head to the front and try not to stare at her again.

After the end of sixth period, Haruhi and I made our way to the clubroom to continue our much needed preparations for this Friday. I would be lying if I said that I was looking forward to any of this. Hell, I didn't even want to go on this stupid trip to Kyoto. I would be much more content to just sit in the clubroom while drinking tea and playing stupid board games. Nevertheless, I knew that even a pseudo-club like ours would have to do something once in a while. I just wish it didn't involve me.

Maybe I'm looking at this the wrong way. After all, this Friday I'm going to get front row seats to watch four gorgeous, scantily-clad girls fighting each other in a pit of mud in a no-holds-bar match to the very finish. And my price for admission? I had to do the same against Koizumi. That shouldn't be too bad, right? I mean, since the girls had to deal with wrestling someone of the same sex, it would only be fair if Koizumi and I sucked it up and did it too. I'll just try and think about pleasant things while enduring the inevitable match between the two of us. I still intended to kick his ass, though.

When we both entered that clubroom, I was surprised to find that Tsuruya-san was already inside waiting for us. She practically bounded towards us like a gazelle that was chased by a cheetah.

"Hey guys! What's up? Mikuru-chan totally told me about what's happening this Friday, nyoro~!"

"I take it that you've agreed to help?" I asked.

She wrapped her arm around my head and pulled me down under her armpit. "Damn right, I'm totally going to help! I'm like totally megas excited to kick some butt!" She then leaned her head in closer whispering to me in an almost purring fashion. "I totally heard that this was your idea! Naughty boy! It figures that you'd be the type to want to see all of us in bathing suits gettin' all rough and dirty, nyoro~!"

Uh, no. Don't confuse me with someone like Taniguchi. I'm not like that at all, I swear. Oh, and by the way, there's a certain someone who's watching us right now who might get a little upset if you don't let go. I'm just warning you now.

She let me go after that and bounced back to the front of the room. I looked at Haruhi after that, immediately noticing a look of suspicion on her face. I could only respond by shrugging, giving her the non-verbal cue that nothing was going on. She seemed to have dropped it after that.

The next couple hours after everyone arrived involved mostly the planning of what was going to happen on Friday. The arrangements were going to be as follows:

1. The event was not going to happen until around the time when most of the clubs were usually dismissed. Doing this would help ensure that as many people would show up as possible. It would also give us time to set up the ring and any tables that would be needed.

2. The ring itself was going to be about 10 meters in diameter and would be completely round. This would give ample room to move around in. No doubt Koizumi and I would be spending the better part of tomorrow digging up as much dirt as possible so we could use as the base for our mud. As to where we were going to store all that dirt until we needed it, I left that part up to Haruhi. I knew I would be loathing the hard work too much to care.

3. Tickets would be sold just before the event. The price of admission would be 1500 yen for a standard ticket and 2000 yen for the front row. There would also be drinks available for an inflated price.

4. Each round would be ten minutes. That sounded like a long time, but Haruhi insisted that these matches were meant to be a show for the audience, and we're not supposed to try and hurt each other. All we needed to do was put on a good show. The judge's decisions would be based on whoever put on the best show. Despite knowing this, I had my suspicions that Haruhi was still going to go all out anyway. She's way too competitive not to.

5. There would be two rounds between the girls, followed by my match with Koizumi. After our match, the winners of the first two matches would square off to decide who the champion was.

"What kind of awesome prizes do we get if we wins?" asked Tsuruya-san excitedly.

Haruhi put her hand on her chin and thought it over. "I hadn't thought about that. I suppose a prize should be in order…" She raised her fist in the air. "Whoever wins will be the Brigade Chief during entire trip to Kyoto!"

"What happens if Tsuruya-san were to win?" I asked. "Is she even coming with us?"

Tsuruya-san shook her head disappointedly. "I gots relatives coming over that weekend. It megas sucks."

"In the event that Tsuruya wins the event, I will stand in for her as leader for the trip."

Of course you would. I seriously doubt Nagato or Asahina-san would want the position of Brigade Chief for the trip, anyway. It's a crappy prize if you ask me.

"I'm curious," said Koizumi. "Is there a prize available to whoever wins our match?"

Haruhi though about it briefly before answering. "You guys can fight over the position of Vice-Chief during the trip!"

That's an even crappier prize than the one the girls are fighting for. Since Koizumi never actually orders anyone around, he's pretty much just Vice-Chief in name only. Not that I still wouldn't mind winning the position from him, even if it was only temporary. No, it's not that I'm jealous of him out-ranking me, I just would like to be able to rub it in his annoying face every once in a while.

"All that's left to decide now is who is facing off against who!" announced Haruhi. To do this, she ripped off four pieces of paper and marked two. They were then folded up and placed inside a tin where all four of them would pick out a piece of paper. The two who had the marked papers would be facing off against one another. Obviously, this meant that those with unmarked papers would also be the facing each other.

The drawing began with all four girls standing in the front of the room. Haruhi told them not to open the papers until she said so. After she put the tin down, she waited a few moments to build up the tension before telling everyone to open them up.

From my angle, I couldn't see what everyone had so I tried to figure it out based on their reactions. Nagato's expression was completely indifferent. That was to be expected. She'd probably react that way no matter who she was paired off against.

The same could be said about Asahina-san. As expected, she whimpered in fear upon discovering who she was paired against. As I said before, Asahina-san was clearly no match for any of the other three girls. Heck, if she were to face off against my little sister in a match, I'd probably bet on my sister winning. No offense Asahina-san. I'm really sorry about all this. Just remember that you only need to put on a good show and not worry about winning.

Haruhi had a satisfied grin on her face upon opening her paper, while Tsuruya-san began to laugh in her unusual way upon seeing hers.

"Oh man, I'm toast!" said Tsuruya-san with a huge smile that made her fang clearly evident.

Okay, the suspense was too much. I needed to know now. "Who got the marked papers?"

Both Haruhi and Tsuruya-san showed their papers, which were clearly marked. It was official then. It was Nagato vs. Asahina-san and Haruhi vs. Tsuruya-san. I was starting to wonder if Haruhi subconsciously manipulated the result because she wanted to ensure that she would have a chance to face off against her. No doubt she likely still harbored some resentment over that stupid hypothetical I shouldn't have ever asked her.

The club meeting was dismissed shortly after that, and we all went out separate ways to go home. While on the way home, I found myself haven't a hard time not want to steal more glances at Haruhi. I had hoped that the desire to do so would go away today, but it hasn't. It was starting to really get to me. I had this sneaking notion as to why this was, but I kept it in the back of my mind. It had to be wrong. I refused to admit it to myself.

Anyway, when the two of us finally returned home, I didn't even have time to put my bag down before Oruki immediately marched up to me. He immediately grabbed me by the collar and began to pull me out the door.

"We need to talk," he grunted without missing a beat.

"Hold on. Stop!" I yelled while trying to resist. Don't I at least get a chance to settle down before you yank me to god knows where? I knew my resistance was futile. Oruki's strength was just as overwhelming as ever, and I soon realized that all I could do was to cooperate. I looked at Haruhi one last time before the car started up and drove off. She had a look of mild concern as she saw us speeding away. She never tried to save me, though. Maybe she knew that her father wasn't actually going to hurt me.

I, on the other hand, was not so sure. Looking at Oruki, I saw an expression of dead seriousness. No…scratch that. He looked pissed. I seriously began to fear for my life again, especially when I realized that we weren't heading in the direction of the dojo. Instead, we seemed to be taking a route that would lead us out of the city.

I know what's going to happen. Oruki's lost his mind, and he's going to murder me and dump my lifeless body out in the middle of nowhere. Then he'll go home and pretend that nothing happened. Sure, Haruhi and Naru-san would probably be suspicious as to what could have happened, but whoever said crazy people were good at thinking things through. By the time they figured everything out, I would be half-consumed by maggots.

I sat motionlessly for about a half-an-hour as we drove further and further out into the country-side. Every time I glanced at Oruki, his expression never changed. What the hell was going through his head right now? I knew for a while that he wasn't dealing with the whole "your daughter is god" thing very well. I expected the worst when the car eventually slowed down and turned onto what appeared to be an entrance to a park.

The road we were now on bended and turned with the mountain we were on, seemingly taking us nowhere in particular. This made me even more nervous, as by now I was starting to think that my earlier suspicions were right. We didn't come to a stop until we came to an overhang where Oruki parked the car.

The place we stopped at had a clear view of the sun slowing starting to set in the distance. For miles on end, we were surrounded by trees and mountains. The overhang had a railing designed to prevent people from falling over. I began to become a bit confused by the choice of location. If this was supposed to be the site of my murder, it was an odd one, unless he planned to throw me over the edge and let me fall to my death.

Oruki stepped out and sat on the hood of his car. He began to stare at the landscape, not making a sound. He sat there, unmoving, for a full five minutes without moving a muscle. His expression softened considerably, a clear indication that he was starting to calm down. When I saw this, I started to realize that perhaps Oruki went here because this place had a soothing effect on him. I had to admit that it was a beautiful, serene location. Just like how laying on the roof made Haruhi feel better, perhaps this place had the same effect on her father.

Realizing that perhaps I wasn't in danger, I slowly exited the car and approached the front of it. I didn't sit down on the car, instead deciding to stand there and stare out into the country side as well. I didn't bother to glance back at him until he finally spoke.

"You knew about the giants, right?"

"Yep."

"You've seen them, too?"

I nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"You're a freak, just like the rest of them," he said before shaking is head and looking at the ground. His voice lacked any real enthusiasm or excitement. I didn't take the insult too personally. How could I disagree? After all the things I've been through, I had no choice but to admit that I was at least somewhat abnormal. I didn't need strange powers to know that.

"How do you deal with it?" asked Oruki.

"With what?" I asked back, not really sure what his question meant.

"With…everything! The aliens, time travelers, espers, Haruhi, all of it!"

This was a difficult question to answer. Indeed, even I am not completely certain with how I managed not to lose my sanity after all I have been through. One thing was for certain, though. I was still sane, and I'm quite proud of that fact, thank you very much.

"I just take things one day at a time," I answered. It was the best I could come up with.

"That smiling guy even told me that on the Monday before that I nearly destroyed the world when I banned my daughter from her club. How the hell am I supposed to react to that?"

I don't know. Tell the Organization that you're sorry? They had a pretty rough couple days after that. Oh and by the way, it was the universe that was in danger, not just the world.

"And let me ask you something else. That night, when you stood up to me, were you only doing it to save the world?"

"It was more than that," I answered honestly. "But that was a primary motivator."

"How can I be a decent father if I have to worry that anything I say could potentially end everything?"

I wish I could tell you. You're definitely not in an enviable position.

"How many times have I been close to ending the world just because I had a shouting match with my daughter? Do you have any idea how disturbing it is to know that?"

I've got a pretty decent idea. I know I've caused a few of those closed spaces to appear, too.

"Hell, that's not even all of it. Just yesterday, I remember looking out the outside of my house, and for half a second, I was sure I saw someone staring at me from a house a half block down the road. I began to think to myself 'How long have we been watched like this?' My every move has likely been monitored for the last four years. I can't get over it."

To someone who wouldn't know better, he may have sounded disturbingly paranoid, but I knew his senses were keen enough for it to be possible that he saw something. Knowing what I know, it was perfectly plausible to suspect that someone was watching him, and likely all of us.

"Just a few days ago, the only things I had to worry about were providing for my family, and making sure my daughter grew up to a productive member of society. Now…" He trailed off, obviously not sure of what to say next. "I just…I just wanted to enjoy a normal, every day life. I didn't ask for this."

"Nobody asked for this," I responded. "But it's how things are. Like it or not."

"My wife thinks that this is all a big game to her. She's loving every minute of it. I don't think he realizes what this really means for all of us. The normal life we had was all an illusion. We'll never have that illusion back again."

Well…I know a certain someone who "could" bring back that illusion, but I've already told her that I was against the whole thing.

"And what about my daughter? There's no way in hell that she'll ever have a normal life now. How could it be possible after all this?"

"That's not true," I retorted. "Look, despite her powers, she's been living a relatively normal life for the last four years. Believe me when I say that everyone involved wants nothing more than for Haruhi to have a normal life, completely and blissfully ignorant of her powers forever." Whether or not this was for Haruhi's sake was unclear, although I couldn't help but agree. Haruhi should never learn the truth.

"I don't think I could ever look at her the same way again," said Oruki. "Every time I look at her, I feel sick inside. It's like I'm looking at a completely different person."

I was a little upset at this, and I had decided to voice how I felt. "How can you say that? Look, I can understand that this was a lot to take in and that you would've probably been happier not knowing it. But that doesn't change the fact that she's still your daughter. Nothings changed about her since you found out the truth. Haruhi is still Haruhi, and she'll always be who she is. You can't just hide from her because the truth is inconvenient. Even if she doesn't know it, she still needs you to be there for her. And I know she loves you, even if you're a pain in the ass."

I shouldn't have said that last part. I cringed for a minute, worried he might hit me, but he didn't. He just continued to stare out into space, his expression completely blank. He was like that for another two minutes before a small smile crept up on to his face.

"You know what? You're right. I am a pain in the ass."

I was relieved to hear that he wasn't pissed of at me. In fact, it seemed like he was feeling better. He lifted himself off his car and stood up. He took a deep breath and took in the sights one last time.

"I need to stop feeling sorry for myself. Hell, if you can deal with this, why can't I?" He then looked directly at me, his mouth displaying a full, toothy grin. "You know what I'm in the mood for? Exercise! What do you say?"

No! No, I'm not in the mood for exercise! Please, anything but that!

"Great!" he yelled as he grabbed me by the shoulder and threw me into the passenger seat of the car. Before long, he was in his seat and driving away, leaving me in a huge pit of despair.

"Oh, and no holding back this time! You can't fool me anymore! I saw what you did to that monster! I can't believe I actually thought you were weak!"

Uh…no! What you saw was a complete fluke! It might have looked like I knew what I was doing, but I was just reacting instinctively the whole time! You believe me right? Right?

I'm now lying on my bed…completely exhausted. It was brutal enough just trying to climb up the stairs when I got back. This was quite possibly the most exhausting "exercise" session I've had yet. To my complete and total lack of surprise, it turned out that it was actually a bad idea to call Oruki a pain in the ass. After a large regiment of brutal exercises and training lessons, I was practically begging him to stop. You know what he said? "I wouldn't be a pain in the ass if I stopped now!" Bastard! See if I ever talk to you again. If there were any saving graces, I could think of two. One, he taught me a few techniques that were useful in grappling (which I fully intend to use on Koizumi for sure), and two, he actually let me dress myself for a change. I can't tell you how happy it made my feel to know I wasn't going to be humiliated like that again. My body might be wrecked, but at least my dignity was still in one piece. There was one problem, though…

I still needed to do my homework…

I managed to lug my school bag into my room and next to the bed. I slowly turned towards it a few inches at a time. I then let my arm fall lazily onto my bag and grabbed the handle. I then stayed in this position for a full five minutes before I finally gathered the will to try and lift it. The bag felt five times heavier than normal, making this task laborious. I had to put my other hand underneath it to left it high enough to get it on the bed. I dropped it right next to me, letting it bounce on my bed a few times before it came to a rest leaning on my belly. So far, so good. Now I need to open the damn thing. It's amazing how the most trivial of things can be so arduous when your strength is reduced to that of a kitten.

Just as I was about to open the bag, I overheard a conversation that was happening in Haruhi's room. Based on the pitch of the voices, I could tell it was Haruhi and Naru-san. I wanted to get up and try and get a better listen to what they were talking about, but I was way too weak to get up. I tried my best to make out what they were talking about. From what I could tell, it sounded like Naru-san wanted to talk to Haruhi about something. I wasn't quite able to make out what Haruhi said, but her responses were rather short and to the point, an indication that maybe she wasn't in the mood for conversation. After a while, I heard Naru-san say something along the lines "sorry to bother you" and then close the door to her room.

A second later, I heard the door to my room open up, revealing a distraught looking Naru-san, whining and pouting in her incredibly cute manner.

"Kyon-kun, help me! She still won't talk to me! I keep trying, but she still hates me! I know it!"

Uh…Naru-san? Yeah…you do realize your daughter can hear you, right? Of course you wouldn't. This isn't your room after all, is it?

Naru-san walks up to me and grabs me by my shoulders. She then begins to shake me like a rag-doll. "You have to think of something!"

Being wore out like I was, I was helpless to stop her from shaking me. "Naru-san…please…stop…and…I'll…see…what…I…can…do…"

She finally stopped shaking me and smiled weakly. "I'm sorry to bother you like this. I'm such a burden, I know."

"Don't worry about it," I said as I forced myself to sit up. My stomach muscles yelled at me for making them flex once again, but I had to ignore them for the time being. "Look, I'll talk to her, okay? I'll assure her that she can trust you."

Naru-san was about to hug me, but I put my hands up just in time, telling her that I was hurting too much for a hug. She understood and nodded, turning around to prepare to leave. As she reached the door, she turned to me one last time. "Oh, I was going to ask. I noticed Oruki-kun looking a lot better when you two came back? What did you say to him? I've been trying to make him feel better for days, and it wasn't working."

"I told him he was a pain in the ass."

Naru-san immediately busted out laughing, obviously finding what I said to be more than amusing. They say there's little that's funnier than the truth, and no matter how you slice it, there was no denying that he was a genuine pain in the ass.

After Naru-san finished laughing, she gave me a quick bow. "Dinner will be ready soon!" She then left my room, closing the door behind her.

No sooner than when she left that I heard sounds coming from Haruhi's room. I knew immediately that in about two seconds that she was going to knock on my…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

I facepalmed the moment I heard it. I painfully got up and approached the window. After opening it, I was once again greeted by the sight of Haruhi's head upside-down. I know I've said this more than once before, but seeing her upside-down like that was always cute. I couldn't get over it. Too bad her expression told me that she was less than amused.

"What were you and my mom talking about?"

Hey, you know what? I just discover this thing called a door. Have you thought about using that? I'm pretty sure you've used it before.

"Shut up, Kyon! Don't give me any smart-ass remarks! Just answer the question!"

I sighed heavily when I heard the question, knowing that what her mother just did looked incredibly suspicious. I knew that it really wasn't that big a deal, though, so I decided to be completely honest with her.

"She's been asking me for some advice on how to get you to open up to her. She thinks you hate her or something."

Haruhi rolled her eyes when she heard this. "She can be such a dummy sometimes. I don't hate her. I just don't feel comfortable talking to her, for reasons I already explained."

"Look, you don't have to tell her anything important, just have a conversation with her once in a while. Just to let her know you care."

"Idiot, I don't need you to tell me what to do." She then lowered her voice a bit. "I want to trust her, but…"

"I already told her she needs to learn to keep things a secret. I think she understands."

"It's not that she doesn't understand. It's just totally against her nature. It's like you trying not to be an idiot."

Hey! I resent that! Just because I'm not as smart as you or Koizumi or Nagato or Kunikida or…never mind. I'm not stupid, dammit!

"Just give her a chance, Haruhi," I said, trying to sound as understanding as possible. "It's not asking much."

Haruhi gave a deep sigh before answering. "Fine…I'll try. But if it backfires, you're in big trouble!"

What else is new?

"By the way," said Haruhi as a large smile crept up on her face. "Did you really tell my dad that he was a pain in the ass?"

"Yup."

Haruhi had a quick laugh at that, which kinda made me chuckle a bit. It was pretty funny, I guess.

"I'm surprised he didn't kill you for that!"

"He kinda did," I said as I rubbed my arm, indicating my soreness.

Just as Haruhi was about to say something else, we both heard someone approaching. Haruhi was quick to duck back into her room before my door opened, revealing Naru-san.

"Dinners ready, Kyon-kun."

After I acknowledged her with a nod, I left my room and made my way to the kitchen. I was happy to see that for the first time in what felt like forever, the dinner session with the Suzumiyas had returned to normal. Both Oruki and Haruhi were both back to being their usual selves at the table, both eating like the pigs that they were. It was kinda nice that everything seemed to be back to the way they should have been all along. I noticed Oruki glancing at his daughter a few times, perhaps finally coming to terms that perhaps everything was okay. I decided to eat as much as I could, too. I figured I was going to need it.

I knew I was in for a rough week…Oh crap, I still need to do my homework…

And so, the next chapter will contain the mud wrestling contest! Woot!

I know this was another fast update, so I hope you enjoy. Sorry if the last two chapters have been a little short. I promise that the next chapter will be a lot longer.

See ya later!