A/N: Here's chapter three!
Haruhi awoke slowly the next morning, singing birds outside her window gently guiding her out from her dreams. Sighing contently, she rolled over on her futon, enjoying it's soft feel and warmth in the few minutes she had before her internal clock dictated that she had to get up. For now, Haruhi relaxed, thinking to herself about what she would have for breakfast.
'It'll have to be more than usual,' her mind reasoned. 'I didn't have any dinner last night, thanks to-'
Her drooping eyes flew open and she shot to her feet like a rocket. In her hurry out the door, she stumbled on a run in the carpet, but latched onto the door before she could fall. After straightening up and taking a few deep, calming breaths, Haruhi slowly pulled the door open and peeked out. There wasn't a single winged man in any direction she looked. Not even a stray feather that could indicate Ozzie's presence. What Haruhi did see was her father, in one of his many dress shirts and ankle length skirts, bustling around the kitchen making coffee. He hummed a little song Haruhi didn't know, oblivious to his daughter's spying and the fact that a Cupid had been in the house not twelve hours ago.
Or had he?
Haruhi groaned, placing a hand on her head and pulling her herself back into her room. She slid to the ground, using the door as leverage, bent her head low and sighed.
"Of course it wasn't real," she said. "Seriously, Haruhi? A man with wings who makes people fall in love and wants you to do his job for him? That doesn't make any sense at all."
She got back on her feet, happy to put the nonsensical dream behind her and get ready for school. She had a test in history class today, an essay to read aloud in Lit class, and, of course, Host Club duties. Preparations for the big party were underway starting this afternoon. They were real, substantial things that needed her attention more than silly fantasies.
Haruhi dressed quickly and packed her bag. Once she'd done a final run through to make sure she had everything, she opened the door all the way and stepped out. Her father still had his back to her, but she smiled in his direction all the same.
"Morning, Dad," she greeted him. "If you want, I can make us some breakfast before I go."
"No time, I'm afraid," her father sighed dramatically. "I have to get to the bar early. One of my co-workers called in sick and they need someone to take over his shift."
"Just coffee it is then," Haruhi said sympathetically.
Ranka poured his cup and turned around, right at the moment Haruhi was walking into the kitchen. She looked at him and stopped. Her hand was caught hovering just above the spice cabinet, her other one frozen at her side. Haruhi stared at her father for the longest time while he ignorantly drank his coffee. Whenever he lifted the cup to his mouth, Haruhi had a full and perfect view of the string dangling off his left hand's fourth finger. It was pitch black and frayed at the end, almost like it had been ripped in half. It hung limp, running down his arm unnoticed by Ranka but clear as day for Haruhi.
"What the…" she trailed off.
Ranka blinked, coming out of his thoughts at the sound of her voice.
"Something wrong, dear?"
Completely dumbstruck, Haruhi was unable to answer. Taking in what she was seeing and what it indicated was slow going, because it just couldn't be.
"Haruhi?"
Her insides jolted back to life and she shook her head furiously.
"I'm fine," she said. "I need to get going before I'm late."
With great effort, Haruhi pulled her eyes away from her father and his string (or 'Life Thread' rather). Her legs started moving on their own, taking her not to the front door, but back to her room. Once their, she searched every little space for traces of Ozzie. This was easy thanks to her enhanced vision; she could see with perfect precision that there was no sign of him. Grinding her teeth in frustration, Haruhi exited the room and went to her father's, not caring if he saw her or what he might think. When that turned up nothing, Haruhi stormed towards the bathroom, then the living room, then the kitchen again. She looked absolutely everywhere a person might hide, but Ozzie was nowhere to be found.
"But it wasn't a dream," she muttered aloud while on her hands and knees, looking behind the couch.
She growled angrily and stood up, only to come face to face with her very concerned father.
"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" he demanded. "Are you alright?"
Haruhi bit her lip. "Yes! I was just looking for something, but I can't find it and it's really not that important anyway so I'd better go now I'll see you tonight."
She darted past him, ignoring the volley of protests he sent her way and jerking the door open.
"I love you Dad! Bye!"
Haruhi closed the door behind her and all but ran across the balcony and down the stairs. While heading to the street, she caught sight of the piled up garbage that had yet to be taken by the sanitation men. It was dented and thrown around haphazardly, exactly as Ozzie left it when he fell.
Haruhi would never be able to figure out what had been worse: walking to the train station, being on the train, walking to the Campus, or being on the Campus. Or maybe they were all equally awful. It was an unsolvable mystery that didn't matter to her in the slightest anyway.
The important thing was the strings. The Life Threads. They were everywhere.
Be they part of a couple or not, every single person she came across had one. The colors varied, but mainly stuck to white, orange and blue. The latter two, if she remembered correctly, indicated lust and false love. There were pinks and reds mixed in as well, and Haruhi had been quite surprised to find the arguing couple from yesterday back in front of that restaurant and battling furiously over something else. A red Life Thread connected them.
By the time she'd gotten to the school building, homeroom was ten minutes away and Haruhi had had more than enough of the Life Threads for several lifetimes. She knew instinctively that it wouldn't get much better from here. Going through the main entrance was like being smacked in the face by bright orange hand. There were maybe two people in the area whose Life Threads were white, but the rest was a cesspool of hormones.
Haruhi pushed her way through the crowd of students, not an easy task considering her petite frame. At one point, someone pink flashed in the corner of her eye, but Haruhi was too busy finding breathing room to turn and see who it was. When she reached an opening, Haruhi pushed her way to freedom, sighing in relief. It was short lived, as she was immediately assaulted from behind by two pairs of arms that entangled themselves around her affectionately.
"There you are, Haruhi," Hikaru and Kaoru said in unison. "We've been looking for you everywhere."
While used to the twins' antics at this point and only mildly annoyed with them, Haruhi was in no mood to deal with it today. She pulled herself away and backed up, noting the looks of surprise and confusion they wore.
"Sorry, guys," she said slowly. "I'm a little tired this morning. Rough night sleeping and all."
She rubbed her back for emphasis and glanced down as she spoke, taking in the white Life Threads both of them possessed. No romance in their near futures, it seemed. She wished she could say the same for everyone else in this school. All the bright colors were making her head throb.
"Are you okay?" Kaoru asked, reaching half-heartedly to her.
"I bet it's that cheap burlap sack you call a futon," Hikaru sniffed. "Why won't you let us buy you an actual bed?"
Haruhi sweat dropped. "Because you'd buy me a king sized mattress with a canopy or something else unnecessarily huge that won't fit in my room. Plus, I'm not going to let you spend money on me like that."
"Well, you should at least let us have our family's personal chiropractor take a look at you," said Kaoru.
"You're family's what?"
Haruhi never got an answer to that question, and her attention was diverted by something bullet-like getting her from behind and wrapping itself around her waist. A loud, child-like laugh took away all doubt of the supposed assailant's identity, along with the abnormally tall shadow hovering overhead.
"Hey, Haru-chan!" Hunny-senpai squealed, coming around to face her. "It's almost Valentine's Day! Aren't you excited?"
"Excited…? For what?" Haruhi forced out through the pain of Hunny squeezing her.
The deceptively strong young man gasped let go, freeing the grateful Haruhi. As she rubbed the pain out of her arms, Hunny stared incredulously at her, like she'd just grown an extra head or two.
"How can you say that, Haru-chan?" he asked, scandalized. "It's the greatest day ever! The day when all the girls give us free chocolates and cakes. I got over thirty last year!"
Haruhi sweat dropped, while her senpai went on daydreaming about the delicious chocolate, cherry, and whatever else flavored cakes he'd be inevitably receiving by the truck load.
'Of course,' she thought. 'Hunny-senpai would be more interested in cakes than romance. But wait…'
Haruhi blinked her eyes a few times, wanting to make sure that her vision was true, and there really was a pink Life Thread hanging off of Hunny's finger. It bounced around with him, yet phased through whatever it hit, like it was nothing but air. Haruhi briefly glanced away at Mori-senpai. The tall third year was beside his cousin, arms flat at his sides, and Life Thread white as the twins'.
'So it's only you, Hunny-senpai,' she looked again at his dreamy expression. 'You have someone around here.'
'It's a Cupid's job to get people together with their Destined Loves,' said Ozzie's voice in her head.
'But how do I do that?' Haruhi argued with herself. 'I don't know the first thing about match-making. Am I supposed to just go up to someone and tell them who they have to date?'
So involved in her conundrum was she, Haruhi didn't notice the weird looks her friends were giving her. The longer it went on, the more bothered they became, until Mori-senpai saw fit to end the awkward silence by loudly clearing his throat. Haruhi was rudely jerked from her thoughts, and felt her face heat up with embarrassment when she saw that they were staring at her.
"Are you alright?" Mori-senpai asked.
"Yeah, Haru-chan, you seem upset," Hunny-senpai added reproachfully, his Usa-chan suddenly in hand. "Would holding Usa-chan cheer you up?"
"She's not upset, Senpai," Hikaru spoke up.
"She said she's feeling sick," Kaoru said.
Hunny-senpai's eyes widened with innocent fear and concern. He clutched Usa-chan tighter.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"That's what we're trying to figure out."
"I still think we should have the doctor take a look at her."
"Guys, I'm still here," Haruhi said when she couldn't take it anymore. "And I'm just fine. I'm not sick."
"But you just said you weren't feeling well," Hikaru protested. The others nodded in agreement.
Haruhi bit her lip. "What I meant was that I… I just…"
"Yes?" everyone barring Mori-senpai urged her on as they all leaned in, as if watching a particularly tense scene in an incredibly suspenseful movie. As it was, they only made Haruhi feel more uncomfortable, and more unsure of what to say.
'Should I tell them the truth?' she wondered, fidgeting a bit from her lack of resolve. 'Oh yeah, that'll work out. A man with wings broke into my house yesterday and gave the power to see whether people are in love or not. That's going to work out great.'
"If you're sick, Haru-chan," Hunny-senpai said with big, quivering eyes. "Maybe you should go to the nurse."
Haruhi broke from her thoughts with a twitching of the eye.
"I already said, I'm not sick," she struggled to keep the volume of her voice level and not accidentally take out some of her frustration on her friends. "Yesterday was kind of tiring, that's all. I don't need a doctor, I just-"
Something sharp rapped against her neck, cutting Haruhi off and making her hiss in pain. She turned her head instinctively, not expecting to find anything that could explain the brief stinging. Something was there, however. So close, that Haruhi's eyes needed a moment to adjust in order to clearly see it.
Or rather him.
The tiny man on her shoulder gave a stupidly wide grin, waving at her like she was little more than a friend he was seeing after a day apart.
"Morning, Haruhi," Ozzie said. "You mind if we talk somewhere more private?"
He made the tiniest of head gestures at the guys, and by extension the crowd of nameless students surrounding them. Haruhi glanced at them, then back at Ozzie, fully understanding and very much agreeing. She straightened her spine and looked again at her friends, putting on the most convincing fake smile she could muster. One that she'd practiced for use on days when she was in a bad mood, but had to entertain anyway. It usually worked, and appeared to be now. At least, Haruhi hoped it was.
"Sorry, I need to use the bathroom really bad. I'll see you in class!"
And she took off before anyone could respond or Hunny-senpai could remind her that they weren't in the same grade, and therefore she wouldn't see him in class. Haruhi made her way through the crowd, all too aware of the person sitting on her shoulder blade in a relaxed position like he wasn't being jostled every time someone knocked into them.
The bathroom door was in sight, and Haruhi made a break for it, entering and slamming it behind her before anyone had a chance to see the supposed male enter the ladies room. It was thankfully empty, as Haruhi saw when she turned around and took in the vacant stalls and unused sinks. She breathed a sigh of relief, but allowed herself no more stalling from the task at hand.
"What are you doing?" she cried as Ozzie slid down her arm onto the ceramic sink. Haruhi noted through her anger that she hadn't felt his movement at all.
"What am I doing?" Ozzie repeated, unreasonably affronted. "I'm trying to do my job! What, you thought I was just going to let you go off with my powers and use them all willy-nilly?"
Haruhi groaned with exasperation. "How do you expect me to misuse them? They're not exactly useful for anything."
Ozzie gasped.
"Well, if that isn't a slap in the face…" he muttered.
"Why are you here?" Haruhi asked, getting right to the point while simultaneously watching the door for someone coming in. "And how are you so small all of a sudden?"
She rested a hand mere centimeters away from the top of his head to further her point. Scowling, Ozzie sidestepped her and crossed his arms.
"I told you, I'm doing my job," he reiterated. "Which, at the moment, I can only get done through you. As for my size, it's just another one of my powers. I'm actually not here physically, I'm projecting my spirit to you in smaller form, and no one but you can see me."
Haruhi contemplated this, then nodded her head, though she wasn't fully appeased.
"Okay, where's your body then?"
"In a safe place," Ozzie vaguely replied. "That's not what's important right now anyway. You were going to tell those boys about me, weren't you?"
"No," Haruhi said with slight defensiveness. She wouldn't have done it, except Ozzie's accusing stare grated hard on her nerves. Not even one of Tamaki's 'father daughter rants' could get her this irritated.
Ozzie raised an eyebrow and placed his hands on his hips. He looked rather self-important for a six inch tall projection with a crumpled wing. When Haruhi didn't cave, he faltered slightly.
"Well good," he said curtly. "Because you can't. Tell anyone about me, that is."
"I figured," Haruhi remarked, looking again at the bathroom door when she thought she saw a shadow coming too close. Ozzie took note of this and waved his arms to regain her attention.
"You don't have to do that," he said. "You're the only one who can see me, remember?"
"I know that," Haruhi hissed back, not tearing her eyes away from the door, where the shadows of passing students had admittedly gone down to a minimum. "Which means that if someone comes in here and sees me talking to the air, they'll think I'm losing it."
"Oh, come on. Lots of people talk to themselves and they're mostly sane."
Haruhi glared at him, one eye twitching slightly. Ozzie didn't give in and stared back. It went on tediously for some time until Ozzie finally sighed and threw his hands up.
"Fine, fine. I'll keep quiet," he said while climbing up her arm and sitting back down on her shoulder. Haruhi still couldn't feel his presence, only hear his soft breathing next to her ear. It didn't even make her hair flutter.
Haruhi would have argued further that he should just go and wait for her to come home, but two things stopped her. One was the realization that she had no idea where he physically was right now and asking him to leave might put him in jeopardy of being found. The other was the five minute bell, signaling that it was time to get to class. Ever the punctual student, Haruhi wasn't about to be marked as tardy for any reason.
She glanced at Ozzie, who smiled innocently. Haruhi could almost see the halo above his head, and it made her wish he were solid so she could flick him off. As it was, she had no other choice besides grabbing her school bag and exiting the bathroom, Ozzie kicking his legs out and humming a meaningless little tune all the while.
It wound up not being a very good day for Haruhi, not in the slightest. Though she made to class on time and listened carefully to her professor's lessons and took detailed notes, by the time her final period came around, Haruhi had only learned one thing:
Ozzie never kept his word.
Haruhi knew this because despite his earlier promise of silence, not a minute could go by that Ozzie wouldn't talk through. He went on about anything and everything job related. Pointing people out, explaining why their blue Life Thread relationships weren't going to work out, stories about his success getting Person A with Person B.
"And all I really had to do was put their horses together in the stable. I wished I'd known that earlier, it would've save me a lot of digging."
And somehow, he never ran out of things to say.
"So that guy two seats over is very staunch about his political views. Now his girlfriend three rows ahead is more of a free spirit type. She's open minded and interested in what he has to say and all that, but he's a changer. He has his vision of a perfect woman and she's not it. So he's going to try and make her into it, and she's not going to like that one bit. All in all, I give it two weeks."
On and on for hours.
"I think compatibility has a lot to do with personal interests. Opposites do attract to an extent, but you also need to have some common ground. Couples who can literally agree on nothing are just as doomed to fail as those who are exactly alike in every way. The only difference is the latter can involve some sort of weird family complex that needs dealing with psychologically speaking."
Only a few his comments were in any way useful.
"You may have noticed that you can't see your own Life Thread. See, part of our rules and regulations are that Cupids can't see the Life Threads of themselves or other Cupids. Of course, since you're not really a Cupid, I can't see yours perfectly. Don't bother asking me about it, I can't tell you. I can't tell you about your Destined Love either aside from that you definitely have one. As for whether you've met or not, my lips are sealed. I can tell you that it is a guy though. So if you've ever questioned yourself, rest assured-"
Haruhi groaned.
The end of the school day brought to Haruhi the promise of her familiar, comfortable home and warm futon. If she could just pretend she was tired and needed a little rest, maybe she could sleep the day away and not have to listen to Ozzie anymore. That might have been rude, and Ozzie wasn't a bad person all in all, but Haruhi was close to smacking her head against something and beyond caring.
It wasn't until the front entrance of the school was in sight that Haruhi remembered she had a Host Club meeting.
She moved quickly, having missed a good amount of prep time thanks to her faux pas. Haruhi could already hear Kyoya-senpai in her head, his smarmy voice telling her that this would be added to her debt while the twins all but molested her and Tamaki screamed incoherently at them. Just another day at the Host Club.
Only this time, she'd also have a tiny man chattering in her ear.
Haruhi gave the painted brick wall a glance and wondered how many times she'd have to bang her head on it before she fell unconscious.
Granted, Ozzie had been strangely silent since the end of her last class. Though they passed several students and teachers with orange or blue Life Threads, not a word was spoken about them. Were he not clearly there in her peripheral vision, Haruhi might have believed he was gone and really had just been a figment of her imagination. Which would mean she was going insane since the Life Threads were still very much there. They were what suddenly drove Ozzie to gasp and point at something up ahead.
"Look! Look over there!"
He sounded frantic, and more than a little excited. Haruhi looked at him, his finger still extended and trembling.
Though not sure where this was going, Haruhi followed it, finding another crowd of orange and white Life Threads. She got up on tip-toes, looking harder, and soon her efforts struck gold.
A girl sat on the sidelines, reading a thin hardcover book against the window and ignoring the vocal populace around her. The Life Thread around her finger was unmistakably pink, the first of it's kind Haruhi had seen in this school since Hunny-senpai. Speaking of which, did Ozzie know about Hunny-senpai? He hadn't said anything before when-
"Hey, hey!" Ozzie snapped his fingers in her face. "Focus. We have work to do now. You have to get them together."
"Them?" Haruhi repeated, slightly distracted.
Ozzie slapped a hand on his face and pointed again, this time at something far away from the girl. This time, it was a boy now, probably in the same grade as the girl. He was across the hall, talking amiably with a teacher about something or other. The girl turned a page of her book and kept reading. The boy said something that made his teacher laugh. Neither of them were aware of each other in any way, and yet the boy's Life Thread was just as pink as the girl's.
"I don't think they know each other," Ozzie was saying, more to himself than to Haruhi. "That's not the right shade of pink. This'll be a bit more difficult then… well, I'm sure you're up to it!"
"Me?" Haruhi whispered, careful around the barrage of students closely within earshot.
Ozzie gave her a flat look. "No, that one guy over by the water fountain picking his nose. OF COURSE YOU!"
Haruhi narrowed her eyes, highly unamused by his tone and shouting. Even if no one else could hear him, it wasn't something she felt was necessary when his mouth and her ear were in such close proximity. When he grew tired of waiting for her to move, Ozzie began tugging hard at Haruhi's hair. She gasped at the sting, and also out of surprise that she could feel that at all.
"Come on," he ordered her. "Go and set them up before they get away!"
"How am I supposed to do that?"
Ozzie thought for a second. "Well, normally when I'm at work, I set up a romantic scenario and use persuasion to help one of them, usually the more outgoing of the two, make the first move… but that won't work here. I wasn't able to give you my persuasion powers."
"Well, thanks for the help," Haruhi answered, a vein popping out of her forehead.
"Anytime."
Haruhi sent a glare his way and was ignored. Forcing her aggravation into a more manageable state, she focused on the task at hand. Luckily, the potential couple hadn't moved since she last saw them. That was subject to change, however, as the boy's teacher had excused herself, and he was only still hanging around because his bag needed rearranging. Haruhi watched him fumble with it, getting down on his knees to make it easier. Deciding it would be best to start with him, Haruhi flexed her fingers a few times, took a deep breath, and started towards her first job as a Substitute Cupid.
With his head down, the boy didn't see Haruhi coming until she was directly in front of him, her shoes right in his line of sight. He paused, head tilted to one side before looking up at Haruhi, who smiled.
"Hello," she greeted him. "My name is Fujioka Haruhi."
The boy furrowed his brow and frowned, not a very friendly look at all, Haruhi noted.
"Hi," he answered awkwardly. "Can I… help you with something?"
Haruhi eyed the girl one more time, making sure she hadn't left. Once that was confirmed, she went back to the boy. Ozzie clung to her hair and leaned in, waiting with anticipation for her next move.
"It's about that girl over there," Haruhi motioned at her. "I was just thinking… you should ask her out."
Ozzie made an odd, strangled sound and almost slipped off of her shoulder. While he struggled with not falling, the boy blinked dumbly. He looked at the girl for a second, then back at Haruhi.
"Why would I do that?"
Now it was Haruhi's turn to feel the tension. She felt like walking away, and really wanted to in fact. She instead remained in place and nodded with resolve.
"I think you may like each other if you try."
The boy opened his mouth wordlessly. He glanced from side to side a few times, then stood up tall, much taller than Haruhi could ever hope to be. Judging by the way he held himself, like he was ready to defend against any perceivable attack one could throw at him, Haruhi doubted her efforts were paying off.
"Okay, I have to go," he said. "Nice meeting you, Fujioka."
He turned on a heel and left, sparing not a glance at the oblivious girl by the window. As fate would have it, she stopped to check her watch right as the boy disappeared around the corner. She put her book away and stretched, walking away in the opposite direction and leaving Haruhi alone with one very unhappy Cupid miniature.
"What was that?" he raged, kicking at her neck to create a light stinging.
Haruhi swatted at him, but her hand sailed harmlessly through him. She considered asking him about that later when they were both calm, or at least she would have, were she not so busy being affronted by his sorry attitude.
"I did what you told me to do," she argued.
"Oh no, don't you pin this on me," Ozzie raged, poking at her accusingly. "I said get them together, I don't recall 'freak the guy out and send him running' anywhere in that statement."
"Look, how many times to I have to tell you: I don't know the first thing about this," Haruhi didn't realize that she was shouting now. "I don't know how to make people fall in love, I don't even really care about Valentine's Day. This is your job, and if you're so amazing at it, how about some actual help next time?"
Ozzie let out a loud, frustrated groan. "Alright, forget it. We'll try again later, so just get to your club already."
Though still fuming, Haruhi knew he was right and that they had to stop fighting now. The clock tower outside showed that she had barely five minutes to get to the third music room. Every second she wasted was another couple of yen that could be added to her ever growing debt. Kyoya-senpai would not be getting that satisfaction if she could help it.
Haruhi broke into a run. In the empty building with everyone either in their clubrooms or offices, no one was around to make her slow down. Ozzie was unaffected as ever by the shaking of her shoulder. He sat with his head lightly smacking into her neck and eyes sliding over the passing walls and windows, taking nothing in. His mind was currently elsewhere.
"We've got a long way to go," he muttered.
A/N: So, Haruhi's first job as a substitute Cupid didn't go very well. Will she improve? Find out next time.