Food For Thought
January 4
After my sister's routinely assault every morning, I somehow found myself hauling towards the school doors now. Weird, I could have sworn I was brushing my teeth less than a second ago. Whatever person had said: "time flies by"; really knew what they were talking about. It's too bad they didn't mention how fast time flies by then maybe I could solve the real mystery to time traveling. Then again, I wouldn't be caught dead doing such a thing; considering recent events, I really don't want to know what's going to happen in the future.
Or maybe I've finally reached hysteria.
Stepping into the school, it was as if all hell had finally risen. No, not really. Everything's just as you would expect after finally finishing a long holiday. I strode down the hallways, small fragments and pieces of conversations dancing within my ears. However, it was good enough to give you a headache, to me at least. I didn't want to be here anyways. But I had to; after all, the world could be at stake anytime now since it wasn't for the last following days.
Upon arriving at my homeroom, I glanced through the glazed window on the door as I stood there. My eyes slowly made its way to where my seat was supposed to be. It was vague; but much to my dismay, I noticed the very silhouette of Haruhi Suzumiya seated right behind my own.
Why am I suddenly seeing my own life flash right before my eyes?
Swallowing hard, I slid the wooden door open. I could already feel an overpowering sensation of unpleasantness crashing down from across the room. And before I knew it, I was in my seat, facing forward. Haruhi didn't say anything.
My God, could she have planted some kind of demolition device in my desk?
I shuddered as I shook the random thought off. I silently told myself that it's not that I wanted to talk to her but I needed to. I slowly turned around.
I could feel the veins in my temples pulsing and my fists clenching in anticipation. I tried to find the right words to say. But they all ended up in a horrible train wreck.
"Hey Haruhi."
Shit, what the hell was that?
Haruhi, whose dismal gaze was fixed on the snowy winter land outside, didn't look at me. In fact, she didn't seem to show any acknowledgement I was even here.
Dammit. What do I do?
Just then, the last late bell rang and crowds of students began proceeding in. Class has finally begun and I couldn't even get Haruhi to acknowledge my very existence in this classroom.
As class had commenced Haruhi did nothing but give her extra special attention to the sparkling, white sky outside.
January 4
Lunch Time
As usual, Taniguchi was full of bullshit fit for an outhouse.
"Dammit! There were no decent chicks this holiday! It was as if they had all disappeared off the face of the earth!" he complained with his mouth full. "I feel like I wasted an entire Christmas holiday."
I shoved my lunch into my mouth (without hurting myself), since I don't even remember having breakfast this morning. My mind concentrated on the food being taken in rather than Taniguchi's pointless rants and complaints.
Just before my lousy mood could turn into venting frustration, Kunikida cut in.
"Hey, Kyon? Shouldn't you be at Suzumiya's club, right now?"
For some reason, I was really beginning to feel the need to kill someone right now. The moment the last period bell rung, Haruhi had immediately left the classroom without a word. In fact, I don't even know if she had gone to the clubroom.
Realizing no one paid heed to Taniguchi's verbal rant, he irritably turned his attention to Kunikida's question.
"Well, she did look pretty shitty today," Taniguchi commented and looked at me, " As in really pissed."
Kunikida piped in, "Yeah, what happened?"
So what do you guys want to know? Why I'm not at the clubroom slaving away at Haruhi's unreasonable demands or why Haruhi is in such a bad mood? Either way, there's no way in hell I'll be giving any of you guys an explanation. I'm pissed too. Why aren't you guys asking about that?
My food begun to lose its taste as I heard nothing but 'Haruhi' and 'Haruhi'. Taniguchi and Kunikida had started rambling on about something else, while I was stuck in my own world. I was angry all right; angry that I had done nothing to deserve this, that I had been used in some sick plan to promote data evolution and that Haruhi probably thinks I am some kind of rapist now. But most of all, I felt so helpless. So helpless that I couldn't even begin to imagine what would happened within the upcoming future.
Nagato's words from the day before replayed themselves in my mind.
"…You are capable of triggering another being that has the possibility of possessing the equivalence to that of Haruhi Suzumiya's powers."
I almost choked on my food at the thought. I immediately shut the rest of my lunch into my lunchbox and stood up. Kunikida and Taniguchi looked at me questionably.
Oh, what the hell.
"Sorry, but I'll see you guys after lunch."
I didn't have to look very hard to find Haruhi. She had been in the clubroom doing something on the computer. More suspiciously but not surprisingly, she was the only in the room at the time.
"Haruhi?" My voice echoed a tiny bit throughout the room.
It was hesitant, but Haruhi had averted her attention away from the monitor and looked at me.
"What?"
Haruhi's demeanor grew cold as I stared back at her uneasily. I summoned all the will and guts I had in order to utter words to her face.
"You weren't at the brigade meeting the other day."
This was probably the only thing I could say to her without being thrown out the window. Then again, there wasn't anything I could say to make this situation any better.
"Hmph." Haruhi returned her attention back to the computer.
I stood there, knowing full well as Haruhi why she wasn't at the brigade meeting. I even remember myself regretting coming there, fearing that I would see her at the meeting. I wasn't ready to see her. And it's clear that I'm still not. But Nagato, Asahina and Koizumi were counting on me as of now. Why else wouldn't they be here?
"Haruhi, you need to listen."
It sounded almost like a demand. I don't think I had ever been so firm with Haruhi before. But that was mostly because I had to not be. And believe me, this situation is completely the opposite than our usual quarrels.
Thankfully, Haruhi looked at me again. However, she still wore that grave expression of hers.
"Then what is it? Whatever, it's probably not worth hearing anyway."
I felt a tight tension at my chest. If I didn't know any better, I would say it would have exploded anytime soon.
"That one night ago, I don't know, it was a complete blur to me." I said almost muttering. I felt like a child whose parent had forced them to give an apology to another when they didn't even sincerely mean it. But I continued on my mini speech.
"But I wanted to thank you for bringing me back to that hospital!" There, finally, it's done and over with! It was shit, but at least it was a start.
Haruhi didn't look the least bit impressed. But she replied.
"I should have given you the death penalty right on the spot. But since I am a forgiving leader, I decided to give you the fine instead!"
I sighed. Just as I had thought things were beginning to get a bit emotional, she just had to blow it all up. Typical Haruhi.
"You owe me for that alarm clock you broke."
I stared in utter disbelief. What the hell?
Before I could say anything, Haruhi stood from her seat and made her way towards the door. She didn't even look at me for a brief second. Wait, did she not believe anything I had said just a few moments ago? Why is it that she can't look at me anymore?
Feeling confused and somewhat cheated, I stood aside and watched her leave without saying anything. I didn't know why I didn't stop her. But for few seconds, I briefly glanced at the lower part of her body. It may be a bit early for any signs to show, but I had to be cautious. What would I do if she actually were?
Why is it everything's happening so quickly?
I spent the rest of the day sulking about nothing in particular. As long as I didn't turn around in my seat or turn my head, I wouldn't have to look at Haruhi. But she had swiftly left the classroom the moment the day had came to an end. I watched her disappear from my sight.
Have I just made things worse?
Shaking these depressing thoughts away, I got up from my seat as well. It could be habit or maybe impulse, but I found myself slugging my way over to the clubroom again. Hopefully Nagato or Koizumi were there so I could tell them how suicidal this mission I was doing is.
Stepping into the clubroom, I was greeted by an unlikely yet likely person. She stared back at me with an eased expression.
Giggling softly, she spoke in her tender voice.
"It's been a while something like this has happened, Kyon."
Author's Notes
Hopefully no one was out of character, especially Haruhi.
Well, Kyon just got handed out by Haruhi...poor guy and I really apologize for throwing so much crap his way. But anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was interesting to write.
Thanks for all the great feedback too! I really appreciated it, didn't really expect to get much out of the last chapter...heh. But thanks for reading I'm really grateful.