The Vapor of Haruhi Suzumiya
Chapter 4: Refraction
A/N: There's actually a method to my madness. I'm also going to respond to every review, to keep it classy. ^.^
Rinako: Thanks, it's appreciated!
DemonRaily: That's explained in this chapter. And it's Tetris theme B that really sets off the psycho alarm. :D
anon: Season 2 happened! Just...a couple years late...
Anyways, on with the story!
Monday morning: 24 hour time-skip
When I awoke on Monday morning, I was surprised to see Shamisen curled up next to my uniform. I woke him up with a scratch behind his ears. He jumped up in fright, but upon seeing me, he settled down, jumped to a nearby bookshelf, and resumed a perch on top.
Then he began to speak. In a heavy British accent no less.
"I say young fellow, my owner has become downright dastardly as of late! He kicked me whilst wearing a metal boot not a couple hours past!"
He turned to his side, showing a large bruise right below the black spot on his back. After proving his point, he curled up on the spot he stood in and resumed his sleep. I simply left him there, for I was not going to attempt to scale the high bookshelf to retrieve him, and there was no reason he couldn't stay here if Kyon was being abusive.
Speaking of which, Kyon has been moody the past two days. Yesterday, when I inquired if he would accompany myself and Koizumi to the local library to read modern history books, he rebuffed me with a nasty look and claimed he was going to go to the park. The other SOS members have noticed this as well, and he seems to only act in a malicious way, or otherwise out of the ordinary, when he is wearing his large suit of armor. We believe it is a sort of effect that is imbued into the armor.
Yesterday, we did not make plans, and therefore, as stated previously, Koizumi accompanied me in an excursion to the library closest to my abode, which had changed very little; it had been constructed in the late 19th century and only differed in furniture. We had collected a myriad of history titles from the shelves and skimmed them for important information. I wrote it down on a large scroll of parchment, which I will review before I turn in for the evening.
I changed out of my sleepwear and into my uniform, which I was now used to, and adjusted my pauldron so it would not appear off-kilter. I walked into the next room, retrieving a sword to place into my sheath. However, as I determined the day before that I rather disliked the grip on the sword I was using, I picked up two large, white chakram and placed them on my back. They were agile and through some enchantment applied to them, when thrown, they would always return to my hands. I hooked them onto a strap on my back after I removed the sheathe, grabbed my bag, and was about to go out the door to a relative unknown of school, when I stopped. It felt as though someone were watching me from within the room, but casting a glance around the room, I determined it was my imagination and set off to North High.
As I began walking to school, it became grossly apparent who was on their way to North High and who was not. It began was two people on the street ahead of me carrying broadswords and chatting about something or another, but before long, I was almost completely encased in enough heavily armed and armored people to lay siege to a city.
I saw people carrying staffs that glowed with fire and ice, armor suits that made Kyon look small, a girl dressed in the same North High uniform I was used to, but was carrying a massive crossbow on her back, and had boxes of bolts hung from a bandolier made out of what appeared to be green leather. Another girl who I ended up walking alongside was humming Beethoven's 5th while shouldering a hammer that must have weighed at least twice her weight and was almost 2 meters long. It also had a large spike on the very top, which was covered in stained blood. She saw me glancing at it, and just winked with a cheerful smile accompanying it. I looked rather normal compared to some of the students, but I was not going to judge.
After the short walk among the crowd, we arrived at the school, and I quickly headed for the SOS room, as we had agreed to meet up there. I was the first to enter, so I quickly removed the set of chakram from my back and laid them on the table in the middle of the room, before moving to the nearest chair and settling down to wait for the others.
I needn't wait long, for Miss Asahina arrived in a few minutes, sidling through the door and sighing in relief as she closed the door behind her, stifling the sounds of the hallway outside. She began busying herself with a stove in the corner, making several cups of tea. Old habits die hard I suppose. I noted that she did not have the longsword nor sheathe on her person. It appeared I wasn't the only person who disliked the excessive weight of the weaponry on us.
Next to come through the door was Koizumi. He looked identical to his appearance on Saturday, except for a helmet that appeared to have a telescope mounted to it, on an arm that was attached via several small springs. He took off said helmet when he entered the room, nodding at both of us and flashing a smile as Mikuru sat down to my left with a tray of tea.
"I can see you're staring at my new toy. It has multiple levels of magnification in the magnifier, allowing for a sort of binoculars effect. I think this will be useful with my presumed role as an archer."
He sat down on the right of me and helped himself to her tea, thanking her as he took a small sip. We sat in an awkward silence until Haruhi arrived, almost 10 minutes later, after the first bell had rang. Or rather, the miniature fog horn that echoed through the halls, causing us to all cringe.
Miss Suzumiya surprised all of us with her entrance. We were all focused on the door that we failed to look anywhere else. Without warning, we heard a window slide open behind us, and a crackling sound get louder. Without warning I was flung out of my chair and into a headlock by none other than Haruhi Suzumiya. Her hands were covered in what looked like dark spider webs, continuously coiling around themselves. The window was open all the way, and a dirty footprint graced the windowsill.
"Yuki-chan! I caught you off guard! You need to improve on that okay?"
She sounded incredulous that I had been "off guard", and released me from my choke hold on the floor. She had thoroughly startled Mikuru and Koizumi as well, but the tea was not spilled. I reclaimed my seat so as to get a better look at Miss Suzumiya, in the flesh, sitting on the table in front of us.
She could be best described as a mage who liked battle armor instead of purses.
She wore a red trench-coat that was cut off at the knees. It was adorned with black buttons that glittered in the sunlight streaming through the open window. Her hair was held up iin the usual fashion, but was kept in place not by ribbons, but by thin brass pipes that looked vaguely like the shells of scarab beetles. Her skirt was a myriad of colors, mostly browns and maroons and blacks, as though it was meshed together from a myriad of various pieces of various materials. She wore black leggings, coupled with matte black greaves that were jagged and somehow giving off an aura of malice. She wore a set of blood-red pauldrons on her shoulders, each topped with a large spike that pointed in opposite directions. On her arms were a mismatched set of bracers, one being black with a hand-guard, the other a gunmetal gray and covered in small holes. She had a small book in her hands that looked to be covered in a fine green mist.
She smirked when no one said anything for several seconds, before pushing herself off the table and performing a small pirouette.
"No need to be so loud you guys. I'm going to have to give Kyon the death penalty for being late again however."
Haruhi leaned over the table backwards, looking at myself while her head was upside down, before dropping the book she was holding onto the table. She walked over to her desk in the back and looked over its contents. She looked at me sharply.
"Yuki, why have you been looking at the Manifesto? I thought you would've memorized the whole book by now."
I shrugged, and she took it at face value. The conversation would no doubt have continued, if not for the violent interruption of Kyon, who slammed the metal door off its hinges and sent it flying across the room, or more accurately directly at my face. I dropped to the floor and missed taking a door to the face by less than an inch, due to it flipping haphazardly over the desk, coming to rest wedged partially inside the bookshelf behind me.
Kyon looked especially pissed off, holding his sword in one hand and squeezing the door-frame for all it was worth, before breaking off the chunk he was holding from the rest of if and whipping it at Haruhi. Haruhi parried it away with the bracers she wore, now getting mildly irritated herself.
Kyon charged at Haruhi, who sidestepped his lumbering form and slapped his back with her hand, which was covered in a fine mist of white. His back became encased in ice, limiting his movement, but he simply shattered it against the wall before going after Haruhi again. I jumped up at this point, grabbing my set of chakram and standing to the side of Kyon. Haruhi looked thoughtful.
"So Kyon, looks like a ward cursed your armor again, eh? Such a naughty boy." She said this in a condescending tone, enraging Kyon, who charged at her.
I felt myself spurred to action, and I took out his leg as he went, before sliding underneath him and grabbing his neck as I popped back up, bringing him with me. In less than a second, I had my chakram resting against his jugular, and Haruhi pinned his arms with more ice magic.
Haruhi stood in front of him while staring at him, hands cupping his cheeks. He attempted to spit on her, but she avoided it, or rather, the saliva stopped in mid-air, before dropping to the floor. A luminous mist began to form in Haruhi's eyes, while Kyon began to quiet down.
In an instant, it sounded like glass was beginning to shatter, before being blown away entirely. Haruhi let go of Kyon, who remained in the same position . I took away my chakram, feeling safe to do so, when the unexpected occurred.
His armor disappeared. It was slow at first, black particle rising up into nothing, but began to quicken at a constant rate, and before long, was left standing in...a smaller suit of armor. One that fit him much better. Kyon's dazed look began to recede, and he began to shake his head vigorously.
He looked around, and cursed. "Damnit, what the hell happened?" He looked to Haruhi for an explanation, who had taken a seat at her desk and had her feet up on it. She shrugged. "You got cursed by a ward again, apparently. This time it made you a raging asshole, but at least that's better than a suicidal, raging asshole, right?"
Kyon's sweat-drop was so large I could feel it through the Force. He blanched, before looking at his armor. "This is NOT what I remember wearing...but I like it."
Haruhi simply sighed.
"Of course Kyon, you're training to be a Paladin, not a Beserker. The ward had corrupted it, but it should be fine now. And Yuki-chan, why is a Rogue like yourself carrying chakram?"
I looked over the chakram in question in response, noting all of the unique angles of them, before turning to her and shrugging.
"I guess I just wanted a change. I'm comfortable with them, anyways."
Haruhi just looked at them for a while longer, before turning to Mikuru, who had sat there, silent, for the entire confrontation.
"Mikuru, I got this absolutely adorable outfit for you to wear! The pauldrons are made out of kitten fur!" She smiled happily, but Mikuru's face was one of absolute shock.
Haruhi pulled the clothing piece in question out of...I'm not sure, actually, but it didn't matter, as Miss Asahina made a quick exit, with Haruhi going after her.
We all gave a heavy sigh of relief.
"Okay, that was quite interesting, I must admit."
Koizumi smirked as he said this, having watched the entire course of events unfold without moving a muscle. Kyon gave him a dirty look, which Koizumi did not see. I looked between them, before settling on speaking to Kyon first.
"Why were you so violent these past few days?"
My question was simply, but we were all wondering it.
Kyon sat on the desk with his foot resting on a chair, sword facing down, his hands leaning on it.
"Well, after we met up on Saturday, I went back home. I was looking through the stuff in my room when I found a chest that was marked "Exp. Brown". I was curious in the nature of its contents, so I attempted to open I mention it had runes all over it? Yeah, they started to glow, and after that I felt like I hated everybody, especially Haruhi. And I've been messed up until she did whatever that thing was to me just now. The chest wouldn't open, by the way."
We both just nodded, as it sounded plausible, and no one really knew what would happen in this alternate world, so there wasn't anything to say.
Haruhi walked in through the empty doorway, as the door was still in the bookcase, dragging Mikuru behind her. She was in a suit of pink armor with furry pauldrons and a hat with bells attached to it. She was obviously embarrassed beyond all recognition, but wolf whistles and jeering calls could be heard from outside the room as people walked by.
Haruhi stood with her hands in a V shape.
"Victory is mine!" She looked at Mikuru before grinning crazily.
"Isn't she adorable?" She asked us,.
I said nothing, Kyon protested and blushed, and Koizumi agreed. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
We ended up spending the rest of the school day in the club room,. Not once did a teacher come looking for us. We were forging new weapons on the club room's anvil and crafting tables. Haruhi blamed our apparent inability to do so as nicely as she could on the time we spent off before the beginning of the term (which had started on this day). I managed to craft a finely shaped rapier, which now hung proudly from my hip. It was short for a rapier, more of a curved dagger, and Haruhi enchanted it so that it would cloud the perceptions of all who were pierced by it.
Kyon made a pair scythes that could attach end to end to become a hybrid scythe-quarterstaff. Haruhi was impressed with the concept, marking it in a notebook as a prospective design.
Koizumi made a single oversized tonfa, which appeared to be modeled after a large tooth. The side that faces outward and was usually blunt was razor sharp, serrated, and covered in a white enamel-like substance to enhance rigidity.
Mikuru surprised everyone, including herself, in what she created in 7 short hours. It was an oversized war-ax. She had initially decided to make a naginata, but malformed the blade, resulting in an oversized ax head. Instead of starting over, she created another one to result in a double-sided ax. It was much too large for her to wield, but Kyon tested out on some training dummies Haruhi summoned using her magic, and claimed it was impeccably balanced.
Haruhi allowed us to leave at 3 o'clock, as everyone was exhausted and sweaty after standing in the crafting section of the clubroom all day. Haruhi refereed to it as "the head room" however, and she seemed suspicious when we called it "the clubroom", so I will begin calling it the head room in my own personal telling, to reduce confusion.
After I arrived home, I was greeted by Shamisen, who seemed a little displeased when I told him it would be quite alright for him to return to Kyon's place of living, and that his bad mood had been resolved. After Shamisen departed, I couldn't help but get the impression that he does not like Kyon particularly much.
Casting the thought aside, I made myself some rice and ate dinner. I saw that some rice had been spilled on the floor, but assumed I myself had done it and thought nothing of it. I bathed once I was finished, noticing that the bathroom was identical to what it used to be, complete with lights that seemed to run off of magic of some type, which I do not even begin to understand yet.
Getting ready for bed, I saw the parchment which contained my notes. I was much to tired to review them however, deciding to wait until the next day to do so.
After I climbed into bed in my pajamas, I felt the presence of another person. This time, I was still conscious enough to tilted my head up to see the end of the room.
There was a shadow in the doorway, a female silhouette with long hair. It stood there for a second, before taking a cautious step into the room. The moonlight peeking through the blinds revealed the lower body, clad in the summer uniform of North High. As the figure approached, their head came into the moonlight.
It was Emiri Kimidori.
A/N: I just went there. Who else would it have been? What's that? Thought it would be Ryoko for sure? NEIN.
A review would be awesome, it's like the crack for crack-addicts...you know you want to sponsor my addiction! :D
Until next time, keep it gritty enough to grind pumice smooth on.