Okay, here goes: my first REAL chap here! It's what would happen if Kyon would just freaking DO SOMETHING! I haven't read the light novels, but I read enough forums to know that the real solution is his homework.
Any~way, here goes. This is my first TMoHS fic, and I'm not too sure about writing from Kyon's POV but, well, enjoy! (or not...)
DISCLAIMER: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is property of a very blessed someone who, unfortunately, is not me.
~~~ENDLESS EIGHT: EMBRACE~~~
And very quickly, August the 30th arrived.
"Well we've finished it off now. I wonder if this was enough," said Haruhi as she stared at the list thoughtfully. "But I guess that's about it. Hey, is there anything else you want to do?" she asked us, wearing a slightly hopeful look.
Our sullen faces answered her through silence.
"Well that's okay," she said, with a slight tinge of disappointment. She stood up to leave. "We got to do a lot of things this summer, so I guess that's enough."
No it isn't! You're not satisfied yet are you!?
"Okay, that's all for today. I had tomorrow set aside, but stay home and rest if you want. We'll meet in the clubroom the day after tomorrow."
Wait Haruhi!
"Okay, that's all for today. I had tomorrow set aside, but stay home and rest if you want. We'll meet in the clubroom the day after tomorrow."
There it is again! And with a strength I haven't felt until now. I can't let her go here. If I do, we'll end up repeating these two weeks how many thousand times again.
I left my seat, and ran for Haruhi. But as my hand reached for her, I figured out that I had no idea what to do.
What should I do? What should I say?
"Embrace Suzumiya-san from behind, and whisper into her ear 'I love you.'"
I caught up to her, she heard my footsteps. But just before she turned around I had her in my arms. I heard her gasp, a small sound that made my insides turn in delight. I angled my face close to her ear, and whispered, "I love you."
I knew everyone was watching us, and I couldn't stop the blush from rising to my cheeks. But I didn't care. No, more like, I chose not to care.
My grip on her loosened, and I allowed her to turn around. She had on a vulnerable expression,one that I felt I have seen before, or will se in the future. I leaned closer, intending to kiss her, when she did something that, maybe, I should have expected.
No, she didn't move to kiss me back. She punched me, right in the nose.
"Are you retarded!?" she practically shouted, then turned around and left.
Damn. How can a girl punch so hard!?
Leaving me with my throbbing nose, the rest of the customers there were whispering to each other. I was staring at her retreating back, when I heard a chuckle from the direction of our table.
Itsuki, that damn bastard.
Feeling inclined to give him the bad finger, but still having enough control not to, I stalked over to him and hissed, "What the hell!? You said this was supposed to work!"
"I never said such a thing," he said with his usual annoying smile. "But then, again, who knows? It might work."
"How the hell is it supposed to work if I have a broken nose, dammit!"
He just smiled mysteriously and replied, "Let's wait for tomorrow, then."
~*~*~*~*~*~
August 31st. Homework: untouched.
Looking at the clock, the time was 11:55.
I don't care anymore. If we're just going to loop again, there's no point to doing homework anyway. Whether tomorrow comes or not, well, I'll just leave to the me at that time.
11:56, turned off the light.
11:57, lay down on my bed.
11:58, stared at the ceiling.
11:59, fell asleep.
12:00.
~*~*~*~*~*~
August the 30th arrived, too quickly in my opinion.
"Well we've finished it off now. I wonder if this was enough." She looked a bit thoughtful, then immediately perked up. "But I guess that's about it. Hey, is there anything else you want to do?" she asked us, her eyes shining.
Our sullen faces answered her through silence.
"Well that's okay," she said, her tone taking a sudden drop. She stood up to leave. "We got to do a lot of things this summer, so I guess that's enough."
No it isn't! You're not satisfied yet are you!?
"Okay, that's all for today. I had tomorrow set aside, but stay home and rest if you want. We'll meet in the clubroom the day after tomorrow."
Wait Haruhi!
"Okay, that's all for today. I had tomorrow set aside, but stay home and rest if you want. We'll meet in the clubroom the day after tomorrow."
There it is again! And the intensity's greater than it ever was... I can't let her go, not here, not now!
I left my seat, and ran for Haruhi. But as my hand reached for her, my mind drew a blank on what I should do.
What should I do? What should I say?
"Embrace Suzumiya-san from behind, and whisper into her ear 'I love you.'"
I caught up to her, and held her in my arms. I heard her gasp, a small sound of surprise and what I believed was delight. I moved my lips close to her ear, and whispered, "I love you."
I ignored the staring eyes of the other costumers. What mattered now was the end of this loop, not what the rest of the world thought of me.
I loosed the arms around her, and gently guided her to face me. Her expression was one of vulnerability, one that was rarely seen on that confident face. I licked my lips, and leaned closer to hers, when she did something that surprised the hell out of me.
No, she didn't move to kiss me back.
"Are you retarded!?"
She practically shouted inside that café, and after punching me right in the nose, she left.
Damn. How can a girl punch so hard!?
Leaving me with my throbbing nose, and the customers whispering about what just happened, I heard a chuckle from the direction of our table.
Itsuki, that damn bastard.
Feeling inclined to give him the bad finger, but still having enough control not to, I stalked over to him and hissed, "What the hell!? You said this was supposed to work!"
"I never said such a thing," he said with his usual annoying smile. "Suzumiya-san is unpredictable, after all. But, it might work."
"A might is gonna pay for my broken nose!?"
He just smiled mysteriously and replied, "Let's wait for tomorrow, then."
~*~*~*~*~*~
August 31st, 11:00 pm. Homework: untouched.
I really got to get started on this...
With a sigh, I got my pencil and started doodling on my math notebook. Five minutes later, my eyelids were drooping. My head was on a crash-course with the desk, and was just about to hit, when I suddenly remembered my throbbing nose.
Not that it mattered, I was too late.
"OOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!"
"Kyon-kun! Are you okay?" said a very worried voice.
Asahina-san?
Through my not-so-tearful eyes, I saw the vague shape of an orange-haired person. Trying to stop looking like an idiot, I casually wiped the not-so-tears in my eyes and said, "Never been better, Asahina-san."
"I see you still haven't recovered from Suzumiya-san's punch yet," said that annoying smile as its owner, without hesitation, entered my room.
Koizumi!? What the hell are you doing here!?
"Based on my data on Suzumiya-san's athletic ability, and the analysis of how much your nose has been damaged, I must say that she never truly wished to hurt you. If so, then the acute sprain you have right now should be triple the pain and damage."
Even Nagato? What do you think my house is? A meeting place? And... what? If she didn't want what I did so badly, then why didn't she hurt me as much as she you say she should? Is she saving her power? So that she could torture me more when September actually comes? Is that what you're trying to say? Dammit. And stop doodling at my notebook, Koizumi!
"So? what are you guys doing here?"
Koizumi dropped his smile for a second, his expression turning serious. "It seems something else has come up." Regaining his irritatingly, plastic smile he said, "Basically, we've entered an even shorter endless recursion of time."
Haven't we already talked about this? Wait, what? Even shorter?
"What do you mean by that?"
"Remember how I told you that the future has been cut out? That we are experiencing the same time frame over and over again."
"August 17th to August 31st, yeah."
"Well, that has changed. Instead of the 17th to 31st, we are now repeating the 30th to the 31st."
What the hell?
"It appears that something has happened in the 30th to make Suzumiya-san have regrets about it." He stopped speaking and looked at me straight in the eye. "I think we all know what that is."
"So what you're saying is," I said, "Haruhi's original regrets, whatever they may be, have been replaced with whatever she wants to do after I hugged her!?"
He nodded. "I see no other possibility."
Goddamit.
I turned to Nagato, who was regarding my doodles with a tiny hint of interest. "Nagato, is this true?"
"Yes."
"And... how many times have we repeated this new loop?"
"This would be the 213th time."
213? What are you saying, 213? You mean, that many times, I've hugged Haruhi? That many times, I whispered to her 'I love you'?That many times I-
"That many times, I've broken my nose..?"
She looked at me blankly, then shook her head. "That hasn't necessarily been the case. In the last 213 cycles, there have two different patterns of hitting you. She would either first say 'Are you retarded?' then hit you, or hit you, then say 'Are you retarded. There has also been-"
I cut her off, raising my hand. "I think I get the point."
Then Koizumi spoke up, "I think you might want to hear what she has to say next."
I turned to Nagato, a question in my eyes.
"-six variations of where she hit you." She continued as if I never stopped her at all. "Besides punching you on the nose, Suzumiya-san has also slapped you on the cheek, pulled your hair, poked you in the eye, stepped on your feet and-"
Oh God, I'm getting depressed.
She stopped for a moment, looking at Koizumi questioningly. I noticed this strange interaction between them and said, "What is it?"
Nagato turned to me and said, in the same monotone, but with a bit of hesitation, which was unlike her, "The sixth way of damaging you was... kicking you in the 'balls.'
...
"But," said Koizumi, interrupting my train of thought which was now focused mainly on pitying myself and my you-know-what, "giving note to the time right now, telling you about it probably wouldn't change a thing. There's not much we could do with just a minute left anyway."
"Then why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"If we had figured it out then, I would have."
I stared at the members of the SOS Brigade minus the leader. Mikuru-chan, silently sobbing at the corner. Koizumi, that fake smile still annoying the hell out of me. Yuki, holding my pencil and adding to the doodles I wrote on my notebook.
It's not like there's anything we can do anyway.
12:00. Zero hour.
~~~ENDLESS EIGHT: EMBRACE end~~~
Well? What did you think? Reviews are welcomed!
