The Scare

Chapter 4: The Discovery of Nuances

•••

Point of View: Music Room Group

"Wait, wait! You two were—are—together?!"

Haruhi and Hika nodded nervously as they saw Renge freaking out. Hikari holding Haruhi in a side hug to reinforce the point.

When they'd been found sleeping together on the couch, people were beginning to wake en mass.

Most notably, Seika had woken up and brushed her matted hair through a low grumble. And Renge offered to try cutting it so she didn't have to keep putting it up and brushing it.

Renge enjoyed being the "manager". But her favorite part was being given wigs to style for each respective host.

Similarly, she was angry with Tamaki and Kyoya's unwelcome return as the ones in charge.

She was looking forward to being able to get more creative and design costumes—some of which could then be used as auction items to hold up the budget—with Hikari.

But, it wasn't even possible to entertain the idea, at this point.

So she was all too eager to offer cutting Seika's dark red hair.

It wasn't a lot, mainly cropping her hair a centimeter above her shoulders and shaping her bangs to frame her face more.

Still, she wished she could do it more often.

"Yeah, yeah we are..."

Ayanokoji laughed to herself as she watched Renge go into theatric mode. Barely restraining herself from activating her loud, mechanical podium.

"Oh, wow! How blind was I to not notice? Then again, I suppose it makes sense that you would hide it, especially with Hikari being a woman. He's made it—uncomfortably clear how he feels about that... I'm so sorry that Tamaki has to be such a suffocating buffoon!" She spat out a vague summary of that club "value" with such venom that it was made clear why she took it personally.

Haruhi winced. "We're used to it."

Renge paused, visibly deflating. "Wait, so... Last year was before the... So it was...?"

Hikari and Haruhi just nodded and felt light blushes fade onto their faces as they got bear-hugged by Renge. "I'm so sorry for being so oblivious! If I had known I would have stood up for the two of you! Especially last year!"

Haruhi's throat tightened a bit. "Thanks, Renge. That means a lot. The others don't know yet, and we can both still use someone to talk to."

Renge beamed, though the mention of the events of the previous year made her eyes visibly glassy.

She had spent that time protesting everyone's treatment of Haruhi by refusing to take part in club activities aside from interacting with Haruhi. And now it was clear that she had shunned Hikari when she was as innocent in the situation as she was.

And was grieving the same as Haruhi.

It was completely night time now, and the snowstorm had calmed, but was still going. Now there was no way more dangers could get in. Or law enforcement when it came down to it.

A pro and a con, but nobody necessarily minded the negative side of it when it meant less danger.

Since it was dark and likely that the violent creatures in the halls were asleep, four students—including Kasugazaki and Haruhi—went out to find food. The fewer trips they had to make outside the room, the better.

But, that didn't entirely matter right now. Once again, everyone had been thoroughly drained from that day's events.

Haruhi sat on the windowsill beside Hikari, who was trying to find a style with her shorter hair that she liked.

"Hey, you can probably grow it out and Tamaki won't notice. He's more concerned with me, anyway."

Hikari glanced at her partner. Who looked away in embarrassment.

"You don't blame yourself for Tamaki staying, do you?"

Haruhi nodded. "How could I not? He was recruited by my dad behind my back to watch me because I'm so untrustworthy and I'm suddenly five again!"

Haruhi rested their chin on their raised knees. Thighs pressing uncomfortably hard against their chest and stomach.

"I just wish that you and Kaoru didn't have to hide. I wish that I could have just given Tamaki a negative test and avoided this whole thing!"

Hikari leaned over, pulling Haruhi in close to her as Haruhi stopped themself from continuing.

"What else?" Haruhi immediately caught what Hikari just said to them, really.

Haruhi had nowhere to vent their bottled up emotions. Hika had just reassured them that it was finally safe to do it.

"I wish I wasn't so stupid. I'm not even sure if my dad really sees me anymore! He won't look at me the same way he did before what happened! He won't talk to me! And yet he gets mad at me whenever I leave any room for suspicion! If I don't record myself studying the entire time? If I show up home even a couple minutes late? I get yelled at! It wouldn't even be so bad if it wasn't obvious that he thinks of me as some kind of whore! Tamaki thinks of me like that, now! Kyoya probably does, too! I haven't seen Hani or Mori enough to know if they think the same!"

Haruhi's throat tightened sorely, as if they were choking.

"I—I know it was selfish of me to try ending it... But what else was I supposed to do? Keep being watched like a one year old? Go to Boston when I don't want to? Never find love because dad has made it very clear that he doesn't want me to have any "distractions"? Never have a family when I want one...? Never move on with my life?"

Hikari was barely holding herself upright.

How could she not have known how bad it got?

They tried to...?

This didn't seem real.

Hika wished it wasn't real.

How was Haruhi able to tolerate this for seven months?

"Besides, I'm just a—that's what everyone sees me as... So why would someone like me be worth so much trouble...? Why could I be considered worth the effort everyone puts in?"

Hikari was more than alarmed by those words. Pulling away enough to make eye-contact with Haruhi. "Why are you so worried about how they are affected? They're doing this to themselves! You said it a few seconds ago, they don't really love you! Why should you worry about burdening the people who don't care about you? If they have all of this knowledge of your whereabouts and everything, how could they not notice how miserable you are unless it was them deliberately ignoring it?"

Haruhi blinked. "I—I didn't say they don't—... Sorry."

"Don't say sorry! None of this is your fault! You shouldn't be responsible for fixing this! They were the ones who wrecked everything!"

"Well what am I supposed to do?! There's a reason why I felt so hopeless! I had nobody around to help me!"

Hika swallowed, trying her hardest not to cry after Haruhi began sobbing.

She couldn't make this about her.

Not when Haruhi had just opened themselves up as much as they could before losing all composure.

"You have me. You have Kaoru, and Renge." Hika lit up, hazel eyes sparkling with an idea. "After the lockdown, you can stay with us!"

Haruhi blinked.

"What?"

Hikari nodded with stars in her eyes.

"Run away! Kaoru, my family and I will help you. Ideally, by the time they realize where you're staying, you'll be of legal age and you can decide to stay with us! And if we need to, we can make a case against them."

Haruhi swallowed. "I—I don't want to press charges on them, though..."

"We might not need to? Haruhi, that's your call. If you decide to stay civil, any conflict related to them will be self-inflicted. Listen, we have the time to plan this out."

Haruhi's head stayed low, staring at their connected hands.

"Maybe."

The Next Day

The group had apparently been mistaken when they thought they had enough water, so a couple groups had to go out and get some. Kanako went with Haruhi and another two students went in a different direction.

As they rounded a corner, an infected spotted them, the pair holding back from screaming as they began sprinting away. Taking another route and hoping they wouldn't get cornered.

Only to meet the other two students who went the same way as them, having been cornered. Haruhi moved them and Kanako into one of the classrooms with a second entrance. Locking the door, and catching the attention of a second infected person.

Haruhi only needed to tilt their head to the side to alert Kanako to what the plan was, the pair rushing to the other side of the room and taking that door to go on their original path.

Just as the two infected figured out what they were doing and turned the corner. This time a much farther distance away with the additional advantage of the students having given themselves a head start.

While descending a flight of stairs to reach the main hallway to the kitchen area, one of the infected slipped and cracked it's head open on the bottom step. Leaving one left still chasing them.

Kanako got tired a little faster than Haruhi did, resulting in Haruhi grabbing her hand and pulling her to make sure she didn't slow down too much. Eventually turning the right corner and bursting into the kitchen.

Kanako nearly fainted, initially panicking that an infected was in the kitchen, only to find it empty.

Haruhi got to work immediately, locking and barricading the doors, using their sky blue blazer to hold them shut further and leaving them in their dress shirt.

A mass slammed into it only a moment later and forced a surprised yelp from both of them.

However, they weren't going to make it in.

The two took a moment to have a breather and calm down a bit. Which was when Haruhi noticed Kanako looking sick.

"Are, you okay?"

Kanako shook her head and quickly paced over to a trash bin. Dunking her head in to avoid a mess and vomiting at least three to five times. Arms shaking as her elbows stuck in the air.

Haruhi went up to her hesitantly. Something in their stomach churned with unease.

But, in all fairness, they had turned a corner to watch their classmates get torn apart only a moment ago. And they were just chased through several hallways.

Although, that didn't seem to be the issue.

The main one, anyway.

Once it was done with, Kanako didn't say anything. Slumping down until she was on her knees while she pointed to her stomach, as if to say, "Hey, there's something in here!"

Haruhi nearly heard a click echo in their head, but ignored it in favor of kneeling beside her. And gently patting Kanako on the back. Understanding clear in every one of their features.

"Oh... Are you, feeling okay about it?"

Kanako shook her head slowly. "No... it's not that I don't want this, but this already started a week ago, there's no way to make this look like Toru and I conceived this child after we make the marriage legal...! What are we gonna do?! What if they force us to get a—?"

Kanako was crying now, and Haruhi quickly hugged her.

She didn't even need to say the word to send a chill of instinctive panic up Haruhi's spine. "Hey, you're going to be fine, you just worry about keeping this baby alive while we're stuck here. You and Toru have time to figure out what to do. And I'm not judging you and Toru for getting intimate, Hikari and I have been doing it since second year. It's not reasonable for your families to expect you to stay at arms length from each other for at least four years when the entire time you've been engaged. Doing that sort of thing is important before you get stuck in any way. It's a way to gauge how comfortable you two are with each other. I promise, there's nothing wrong with doing that. Don't feel bad about it."

Haruhi cooed, trying to comfort Kanako, which worked. But then they looked down. "I know that won't change the issue with your family. I'm sorry you'll have to deal with that... but Hika and I will support you. You shouldn't be so scared of your own family. Just know you have people on your side."

This made Kanako smile and hug Haruhi back.

The group made it back to the club room without incident and had plenty of water to last a few weeks.

Though, it was hard to break the news about the two classmates they lost in the process. The room felt more empty and lifeless afterward.