Pre-story A/N: If you have not read The Melancholy of Sora Kazano, I would suggest that you do. I will not be explaining some of the things that I will be referring to. But, if you've read The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, you should be fine. Enjoy the sequel
Chapter 1 – New School Year
To say that the SOS Brigade did absolutely nothing over the summer break would be a gross understatement. Surprisingly, none of the SOS Brigade members had gone out of town. Doubtlessly, the other three couldn't because of their individual assignments regarding Sora Kazano. My parents didn't have any plans for the great beyond away from Radiant Garden since my dad was, in essence, not a veteran of his company, so he couldn't possibly take long vacations.
As such, I stayed in Radiant Garden for the entire summer save for a couple of trips to Twilight Town here and there with my brother to visit his university. I even took up a summer job to pass the time.
Of course, one way or another, Sora had managed to organize one SOS Brigade event at least once every two weeks.
Actually, in his own words…
"The mysteries of the world do not sleep or lie in wait for someone to come along to acknowledge it! We have to go out and search for them and bring them to light! No one can have a break!"
I didn't know that I had signed up for this non-paying position. In fact, I didn't even know that this is a job. I mean, seriously, what other high school clubs out there meet up over the summer?
Wait, I'm pretty sure there are plenty, but that's only because they have a competition or something!
For us, there is no such noble goal to compete in a prestigious setting.
Oh yes, I can just imagine my entry under "extracurricular activities" on my college application.
"The SOS Brigade – general manager; serve as the errand boy/servant of a deranged, but brilliant student at Radiant Garden High"
I guess it's a good thing I'm working part time this summer; even though I really hated being a cashier for McScrooge's.
So, when the new school year started, I embraced the event with open arms. I longed for the regular routines of going to school, snooze in the boring classes, going to the clubroom, going home, and repeat on the day after.
Granted, seeing how it was a brand new school year, I had almost completely embraced the fact that I would have no more business to deal with Sora Kazano.
How wrong could I have ever been?
The hill loomed over me with familiarity and I stood at the bottom looking up, not caring as students—some that I recognized, others not—passed by and continued their merry way up the hill. I realized at that moment how much I detested the hill. How it made me sweat and tired before the day even started.
What brilliant architect had the bright idea to put the public high school on top of a god forsaken hill!?
Oh well, it can't be helped. That's life after all. Just like me being stuck in the SOS Brigade. Here's to semi-praying that I would be put into a class with either Naminé or Riku, and not Sora. After all, what's the point of entering second year if there wasn't a change in class make up!?
"Roxas, my merry friend!" came a familiar voice followed shortly by a familiar laugh.
I turned around to see Axel and Demyx walking up toward me. Now that I think about it, those two seemed to be everywhere together since they met in our first year. What the crap?
"'Sup, Axel?" I greeted with a nod of my head.
"Ready for a new school year?"
I shrugged.
"Here's to hoping that we're in the same class!" my red-haired friend raised his free hand in mock toast.
"Here's to hoping that we're not in the same class," I joked as I pretended to clink his glass in the air.
"Oh, Roxas. You wound me!" Axel replied. I think he's been hanging around Tidus too long.
"Yeah, yeah," I waved dismissively.
"Alright, you two," said Demyx as he wrapped an arm around each of us. "Quit goofing off and let's get going."
"Yes, mother dear," Axel and I replied simultaneously.
The three of us laughed.
Just like last year, on the first day of class, we were to report directly to the auditorium for the start-of-term ceremony that bored the hell out of everyone. Only the bright-eyed freshmen appeared to be hanging on each word the principal was uttering.
Was I like that a year ago? No, I wasn't. I remember now; I had "overslept" and so had to essentially run up the hill to get to school on time. That meant that I basically "slept" through the entire ceremony. How nice.
The principal droned on and on about his expectations for this upcoming year and the basic rules of the campus. Having heard it once already—not to mention the weekly pounding of said rules into our heads by Mr. Leonheart, I scanned the student populace for no apparent reason and found my eyes locked onto the cold eyes of Sora Kazano.
I blinked in confusion as I stared at Sora, who gave me a look of accusation. I could only reply with my own look of "What? What'd I do?"
He continued to glare at me as if I was the reason why his life turned out this way. I frowned slightly at the thought. I hope that wasn't actually the case. Resisting the urge to shrug outright, I broke the eye contact and forced myself to look forward, hoping that Sora would do the same.
Somehow I doubt it since I had the creepy feeling that I was being watched for the rest of the boring speech. You know that creepy-crawly feeling you get when you go into a haunted house? Yeah, that's the exact feeling I'm getting right then.
It's really not pleasant to be standing with the hairs on the back of your neck standing up for thirty minutes long.
I can safely say that the speech must be the principal's way of torturing his students before the school year even started.
Will it discourage our troublemaking?
Ha! You wish.
Argh!
What the crap?
What the hell?
What the f- Okay, I promised myself that I wouldn't cuss that strongly, even though it is in my mind.
As it turned out, whether by coincidence or by obvious design—I believe the latter, Class 2-G had simply become Class 1-B transplanted onto the second floor. Originally, Class 2-G was supposed to be the Honors class, with the students getting prepared for the private schools like Midgar University (best engineering program), University of Nibelheim (best chemistry program), and Atlantica University (best biology program). Speaking of Atlantica University, it was founded by the same company that started up the record company with which the Gullwings had signed a deal with. Just in case you forgot.
But I'm rambling.
Maybe there was no Honors class for my year; everyone opting to be boring and stick with the easy stuff rather than work extra hard so they can be guaranteed a place in the prestigious schools. Maybe everyone in Class 1-B wanted to work extra hard and thus was placed in the Honors class.
I never remembered signing up for this…
Now that I think about it, I doubt Axel would've wanted to join Honors. Demyx, knowing his parents, would've probably been forced into Honors. And Sora… Well, whether he joined Honors or not, he probably would have had the same amount of time he had to search for mysteries and the wonders of the world.
So I shall deduce that there was no Honors class. Or maybe Honors got moved. Whatever.
In any case, yes, Axel, Demyx, the posse that surrounded Zexion Walters in the old world and the new, and everyone else who had made up 1-B were in my new class.
And, of course, he is in the class.
"What the!?" he exclaimed upon entering the room none-too-softly. "And here I thought second year would be different! This is just like first year!"
Yes, Sora Kazano is in my class. Again.
The urge to give Sora the evil eye is difficult because somehow my seat ended up unofficially in front of his. Again.
And as Mr. Leonheart entered the room for homeroom, stilled for a bit before backing up and rechecking that he got the right room, called roll, and assigned the seats via a cup, I knew that nothing has changed at all.
I think Mr. Leonheart thought so too, because he didn't even bother with the introductions and went straight into the boring stuff we needed to deal with for homeroom before lessons started.
I could only sigh.
After class, out of habit, I went directly to the clubroom. Sora had seemed to disappear to nowhere. He had basically screamed "See you tomorrow!" at me before running out of the classroom.
And here I thought he was still interested in keeping the SOS Brigade busy with mundane things. I guessed wrong.
When I got there, Naminé was already there, reading a book that she had borrowed from the library the previous Saturday. I was amazed to see that she was almost done with the book already. A second, equally thick, book sat underneath the book that she was currently reading. Undoubtedly she would be reading that as soon as she was done with her current one.
I pulled out a folding chair from where they rested over the summer and sat down in it, wondering why the heck I was here in the first place. Neither Naminé nor I had greeted each other; a mutual understanding had passed between the two of us: if Naminé was reading, it's best not to interrupt. That understanding came shortly after the entire episode where she changed the world. I supposed that the Data Integrated Thought Entity took my words to heart and programmed some manifestations of frustration into Naminé. As such, even though she is still her usual subdued self, she at least will voice her annoyance at us when we're being idiots.
Speaking of idiots…
"Good afternoon!" greeted Kairi as she entered the room with her bookbag slung over her shoulder.
"Oh, Sora isn't in here?" said Riku as he followed the third year girl in.
Ha, did you really think I really thought those two were idiots? I'm just kidding of course.
"Sora went home right after class," I said before opening my bookbag to pull out my Gamestation Compact to play Fantasia Knights 358/2 Days. The handheld and the game were my birthday present from Tidus and Yuna over the summer and I found myself replaying the game many times in the course of the summer.
"Playing that game again?" said Riku as he peered over my shoulder.
"Get me another game then," I replied before pulling out the stylus and began a random battle against a level 45 creature by the name of Bloomer.
Riku looked thoughtful. "I hear that 'The Day of Sagittarius' is really good."
Ha, you stinking creep, take that! Victory dance time…
I looked up at the silver-haired psychic and raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that game a strategy game?"
"Yeah, real-time strategy. You should give it a try."
I shrugged. "Maybe."
"Here, coffee," said Kairi as she placed a mug of the dark liquid in front of each of us. A bowl of sugar cubes and a creamer was also placed on the table and each of us went about adjusting our own flavors for the caffeinated drink.
The first day of class was—how shall I phrase it—utterly dull and normal.
Off to the next day!
Class, was, as boring as it can be. However, it would appear that the second year teachers are either really dense when it comes to class disruptions or they'd just rather overlook such incidents because they're jaded or whatever. Every single class, people would keep passing notes to each other.
Sora was no exception.
Every five minutes, he would poke me in the back with his mechanical pencil. I would have to turn and get the note from his desk or he'd just keep poking me. I would then have to read the note, which usually said something about "Why is this class so boring?", "When's break?", "Why can't we go outside yet?" and other complaints.
If I had mind-reading, precognitive, or the usual psychic powers—like the psychic hotlines you see on the television, maybe I would know the answers to all of your complaints. But since I'm neither a psychic in the "traditional" sense, nor a know-it-all data being, I don't know why. So stop asking!
Strangely enough, part of me wished that Zexion Walters wasn't destroyed and that he was in class right now. He would've put a stop to all this shenanigans that's going around in Class 1, er I mean, 2-G.
Though, I seriously doubt he could've stopped Sora from jabbing my back every five minutes even if he tried.
I can just see the new entry on Wikipedia under "Torture". Jabbing your victim in the back repeatedly with a mechanical pencil. Damn you, Sora.
So, when the bell rang, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.
However, before I could do anything else, Sora grabbed me by the collar of my jacket and proceeded to drag me up from my seat.
"What the hell, Sora!?" I exclaimed as my tormentor continued to drag me out of the classroom and down the hall. I know we got plenty of weird looks from students who were out during lunch break, but Sora didn't seem to care. I was too busy trying to free myself from Sora's iron grip on my jacket, but let me just tell you this. Trying to free yourself when someone is holding onto your jacket collar is as hard as tying a piece of floss onto your taste bud.
"Sora, let go!" I said exasperatedly, but of course, Sora refused to give in to my demands.
"Where the hell are we going then?" I asked.
"Field," he said simply. I heaved a huge sigh and allowed myself to be dragged across the school campus to the empty soccer field.
Once there, Sora let go of my jacket and I slumped to the ground without support, having allowed the energetic teen pull me like a dog on a leash. I breathed a sigh of annoyance before propping myself up on my elbows.
"What the crap, Sora?" I muttered with irritation. Sora stood over me with a wide grin but didn't answer. I looked behind him and…
Lo and behold. A familiar sight.
"No," I said.
"Why not!?" he exclaimed.
I opened my mouth and was going to say that I had already helped him with his alien symbol nearly four years ago, but remembered that he doesn't actually know that I'm that John Smith that had helped him. So, instead, I said:
"Look up, Sora. The sun is still in the sky. I would rather not get suspended for drawing graffiti under broad daylight."
Sora crossed his arms and harrumphed. "It's not graffiti. It's a message to outer space!"
"I doubt the administrators would accept that excuse." I said.
"You're no fun!" he screamed as I walked away.
Yup, Sora had managed to procure another chalk drawing device and was going to "draw graffiti" on the Radiant Garden High School field.
"Now if you had thought to do it at night, I might've agreed," I shouted back with a slight grin on my face.
That afternoon, I paid for my "insolence" by working on the SOS Brigade website with Sora breathing down my neck, dictating every single thing he wanted the website to say, etc. etc.
As I worked on the site, Naminé had read halfway through the other thick book that I saw her reading the previous day; Kairi was flipping through a costume magazine, courtesy of Sora—who stole it from the fabric superstore in the marketplace; and Riku was being his plain old self: laid back, seemingly carefree, and always ready to be sycophant.
A really tiny part of me wondered what would happen if Sora died.
Bad train of thought. Chances are Armageddon would occur if that happened; right, Riku?
At the end of the hour, I managed to add seven more pages to the website that were all linked to the front page. One of them had the SOS Brigade proclamation on it, another was dedicated to the movie we made last year, while the rest had information about the each of us as a SOS Brigade member.
Well, as it pertains to the movie anyways.
"We need to put these pictures on there too," said Sora as he reached for the mouse and opened a folder that has been hidden amidst all the stuff that was in his special folder. My eyes bugged out when I saw the thumbnails.
"We're not putting that on there," I said.
"Yes, we are."
"No, we're not." And for the next hour, I lectured Sora on the perils of putting personal information, especially provocative pictures that Sora had taken of Kairi on that fateful day last spring, on the public domain and how we were already in the danger zone by putting our profiles on the website.
Sora, of course, wasn't phased by this lecture and proceeded to argue his case. I argued that those pictures are only going to make our site look more like a porno site than a legitimate student group website.
"So?" was his awesome reply.
Heaving a great big sigh, I realized that Sora wasn't going to let this one go. "Fine, how about this. I'll make a hidden link from the movie page and put the pictures on the hidden page. Would that be fine?"
"That's good," he replied simply.
Resisting the urge to sigh again, I did was I said I was going to do and published the new website onto the page.
"Now we have got to get more traffic on the website!" Sora exclaimed cheerfully.
I can only pray that we don't. Maybe I should go ask Olette and see if she can get Pence to make me a flash game so I can further hide those pictures.
Sora then kicked me out of the swivel chair and I went back to my designated seat, looking over to Kairi who didn't seem embarrassed by the fact that she had really suggestive pictures on the website now. She had, like Riku, started on her homework. I guess I'll do the same and pulled out my books to work.
The day came to an end rather quickly.
As we got ready to leave…
"Roxas, you're coming back to the campus at 8 tonight," he said.
"No," I replied.
"You said you would help at night."
"I refuse to be a part of your scheme. We're in high school, Sora," I glared at the frowning teen.
"So?"
"I don't want to get suspended. We have the Preliminary College Admissions Exam coming up, remember?"
"We won't get suspended," he replied.
"I think we will. Everyone knows about your alien message from middle school. I wouldn't be surprised if the administrators go for you tomorrow morning."
Sora looked thoughtful and realized that I was right. He scowled with annoyance.
"Fine," he muttered distastefully before storming out of the room.
"I think my job's going to be hard this week," said Riku with a slight frown.
"Sorry," I replied, feeling a bit guilty for the poor guy.
He shrugged. "It's expected. Sora's been unusually merciful this past summer."
"Ah."
"Hey, let's go to McScrooge's," said Kairi with a smile. "I think we deserve a start-of-the-term celebration."
"Without Sora," added Naminé.
"Right."
"I'm good with that," I grinned. A gathering without Sora dominating over us is nice.
Still, I wouldn't have minded Sora coming along.
With my refusal to help him perpetrate another transgression, it came as no surprise then when Sora began on his daily rounds through the school campus again during break. Maybe his spidey-sense is tingling and he thinks there's a mystery on the campus but has yet to find it.
That mystery would soon be found in the two weeks that he spent investigating without any of the SOS Brigade. Thinking back on it, it would make sense that Sora had spent such a long time looking for the source of mystery.
After all, the mystery was to become another member of the SOS Brigade.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and Haruhi Suzumiya do not belong to me. This piece of work is purely fictional and free to readers. That doesn't give anyone the right to post this on a separate website without my permission though.
A/N: Woohoo, the long-awaited sequel to Melancholy! This will, of course, detail their second year. Some of the chapters will be based loosely on what happened in Haruhi Suzumiya novels while others will be original. So who wants to guess why I'm going to add a new SOS Brigade member? Anyways, thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter.
On a side note, I come up with the lamest things... Preliminary College Admissions Examination!? (PSAT), Gamestation Compact!? (Gameboy/PSP), and Fantasia Knights 358/2 Days!? (Uh... you should know the references). Man, I need to be original. TT