Disclaimer: The novel series of Suzumiya Haruhi that began with 'The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi' is the creation of Nagaru Tanigawa. No disrespect is intended by the posting of this fanfiction, as I do not own the characters or settings involved. I'm merely dabbling with another set of paints. TVtropes(dot)org is part of the public domain, I think? I actually couldn't find a 'legal' section on the site! Additional characters are borrowed from Higurashi, which is the creation of Ryukishi07.
Notes: Count the tropes! Save, collect, trade for swell prizes!
"Chapter One: Threats and Allies"
"Not every threat is physical. Really, it's the more subtle ones that are the scariest ... but maybe they shouldn't be. If you can't handle it yourself, and you're tired of running away (who wouldn't be!?), then you need to find good allies and stick with them! At least, you'd have to find one really solid ally, and then make sure you're there for them enough so that they can be there for you too! It's not optional -- so do it!"
"Mirror, Mirror" -- T.K.
Humming Trope-tan's image song to herself, Kanae trotted into the school's shoe locker area early, spotting a fellow classmate and waving before she changed her shoes. "Good morning, Kanae-chan," the other girl said, smiling brightly.
"Good morning, Mitsuki-chan," Kanae answered, nodding. She'd met several instances of the girl through her time sliding; most of them were genial and friendly. She put her outdoor shoes in her locker and gave a cautious smile back. "How's everything today?"
"Oh, not too bad," Mitsuki said, giggling. "Um, say, you're on good terms with that sempai, right?"
She blinked, uncertain. Technically, everyone in the SOS Brigade was her sempai. Of course, only Sempai was her sempai, in her mind, but Mitsuki didn't need to know that. "Which one is 'that' sempai?" she asked cautiously.
"I don't know his real name," the other girl confessed, giggling again. "But he's called Kyon-sempai, I hear?"
Kanae found herself at a total loss for words. Why did this girl want to talk to her sempai!? Still, at just that moment, as though summoned by mention of his nickname, he appeared behind Mitsuki. Despite herself, she called out to greet him. "Sempai!" she cheered.
The other girl's eyes widened, and her face flushed. "K...Kyon-sempai!" she echoed.
"Oh?" her sempai managed, raising an eyebrow, then shaking his head and managing a smile. He seemed distracted, Kanae thought. Was something else bothering him? He had enough to worry about as things were, these days. "Good morning, Kanae-chan. You're here a bit early, aren't you?"
"Yep!" she answered, nodding. "I didn't have any real reason, though."
He nodded at her and glanced at the other girl. "Oh, sorry, are you Kanae-chan's friend?"
"Yes!" Mitsuki blurted out, nodding vigorously.
"Well," he said, before she could continue, "I'm sorry to be abrupt, but I needed to talk to Kanae-chan about something." He nodded politely to the girl, and Kanae felt her heart skip a beat as a smile she couldn't keep down formed on her lips. "If that's alright," he added quickly.
"Y...yes, of course, Sempai!" Kanae said quickly, giving an apologetic glance to Mitsuki. To Kanae's surprise, the other girl was holding a pink envelope with heart-shaped stickers on it, as though to offer to the oblivious sempai. As much as she felt for Mitsuki, she couldn't bring herself to tell him to turn back for it. After all, Mitsuki had only just shown up; he was her sempai!
"But..." the other girl managed in a quiet, forlorn voice, as Kanae followed her sempai eagerly into the school.
He stopped on one of the external stairwells leading up toward her classroom, leaning on the concrete banister and giving her an appraising look. "Sorry if this is so sudden," he said, glancing across the city. Even from the second story, the view was very good, thanks to the school's location on the hilltop. "Um ... let's see, you've been here about a week, right?"
"What? I.... Er, yes," she agreed, realizing he was addressing her ability to slide. "That's right. I slid here on Sunday of last week, so a week and two days."
"And you don't think anyone who's chasing you will appear for at least ... three more weeks?" he asked hopefully.
She nodded. "I don't think so," she said. "But ... I don't really know. Maybe they could get lucky?"
"Maybe," he said, frowning. "Well, as long as it doesn't happen until after Golden Week. Okay, good. I've been distracted by the investigation ... so I haven't really had time to think about it very much. Hopefully that's enough time to arrange things with Nagato ... to prepare for whatever is going to happen next."
"I'm optimistic," she told him. "It's ... really hard, but with Nagato-san's help, I'm much more confident about how sliding works, now! I haven't tried doing it in the real world, because I'm still afraid of getting lost ... but...." She trailed off, suddenly at a loss. Why did he need to worry about that right now? "You have other things that are bothering you, don't you?" she asked. After all, she could just run away again, if she had to. Not that she wanted to give up on this world, which was the best she had seen in a very, very long time, but she wanted to cause a problem even less.
"Kind of," he admitted, giving her a wry smirk. "But I don't know if you want to hear about them."
"If it's anything I can help with, I want to help!" she insisted. "I may not be like your other allies, Sempai, but I still want to do everything I can to pay you back the help that you and Nagato-san have given me!"
"Well, it's thanks to your help that Nagato is able to manage the error-data or whatever that she's generating, because of the Entity being difficult," he pointed out. "That's worth quite a bit already."
She giggled, reassured. "Thanks, Sempai! But I meant things that are bothering you. You're very good at making other people's problems your own, too, but what about things that bother just you?"
"Hmm," he mused, frowning. "Other than my parents, I don't really have many problems that are just mine, and ... well. Maybe you can help me out a little bit. Did Haruhi seem upset yesterday?"
She felt her face color at the reminder of the bathing incident, and what she had carelessly blabbed in front of everyone else. "Um, yeah," she said, nodding. "She seemed to mostly get over it, though.... Well, maybe not completely. But Tsuruya-san said that it wouldn't happen again without Suzumiya-san's permission, and that seemed to trouble her a lot less!"
"She...." He trailed off and looked at her oddly. "I have to admit that even though I think I know her about as well as anyone does, I have a hard time understanding that girl," he confessed. "But then ... I guess you'd probably know pretty well? How well did Haruhi and I usually get along in other worlds where you saw us?"
She thought about that for a minute. "Actually," she admitted hesitantly, "she seems the jealous type. S...so if you didn't know me before I slid to a given world, you tried to keep her from knowing about me. Um ... this world, where you are so open with her ... seems to be very different from anything I've seen, except for worlds where she had no power."
He raised an eyebrow at that, then checked his watch. "It's sad that honesty is unusual, in retrospect," he commented.
Unable to keep from giggling, Kanae shrugged her shoulders. "You say it a bit funny, Sempai, but maybe that's true."
"Alright," he allowed, smirking at her. "If you don't want me to worry about the alien invaders for a while, I'll trust you that we can put off worrying about it for now. I guess it's actually a relief to only have to worry about normal things for a while. Still ... if you do want to talk about it, let me know; we'll probably have to trouble Nagato yet again, but I'd like to put that off as much as possible. She's reliable, but I don't like to make her shoulder so much responsibility."
Kanae grinned at him. That was her sempai, alright, trying to help, reluctant to demand help from others. "Okay," she said, nodding. "Um, Sempai, if it's not too much ... um ... can we trade cell phone numbers? That way, if there's an emergency...."
"No problem," he agreed, pulling his phone from one pocket. "We should have enough time for that before class starts."
The school day had not started off particularly well. First, Haruhi didn't see Kyon at the train station, the gates, or the school entrance. In fact, she was irked to see the edges of a great number of envelopes sticking out of the sides of his shoe locker -- even though he didn't seem to be around. A surreptitious peek showed that his indoor shoes were missing, but his outdoor shoes were inside. It also caused quite a few envelopes to fall to the floor, but she didn't particularly care to put them back.
Still, if his shoes were in the locker, that meant he had come to school early. So she raced to the club room, but it was empty. Then she dashed to the classroom, but he wasn't there, either. Annoyed, she waited until class started -- he arrived just barely in time for class representative Goto to order the class to rise, bow, and greet Okabe.
She was pleased he was there, and evidently unharmed and unshaken. He even gave her a weak smile while he was sitting down. Then again, it took a lot to shake him up, generally. When the first break finally came around, instead of running off to investigate the school (all the better to be aware of things changing, were that to happen), she prodded his back with her mechanical pencil.
"What's up?" he asked, turning to look at her and raise an eyebrow.
"Where were you this morning?" she pressed, curious.
"Ah, just taking care of some stuff," he said, looking uncomfortable. "You remember what happened yesterday?"
"Of course!" It was hard not to yell at him. As if she'd forget something that important!? "What about it? You'd better not be trying to change your mind! If you do, it's the death penalty!"
"Yeah, yeah," he said, looking mildly amused. "That was this morning for me. Remember?"
She felt her face heat up. Well, it was time travel.... "You didn't specify when!"
"Wouldn't it have been embarrassing if it was this afternoon, and not this morning?" he teased, smirking.
"Pfft. You're supposed to be good at that; I'd be surprised if you screwed things up that badly," she mumbled.
His smirk was replaced with a surprisingly pleased smile. "Praise from Haruhi," he mused. "Well, thank you for having that much faith in me, then. I hope I don't disappoint you."
"You haven't so far," she said, not meeting his eyes. "Not in the important ways."
"Hmm," he replied absently. Further conversation was prevented by the arrival of the next teacher, and the beginning of their lessons. Taniguchi and Kunikida moved to speak with him during the next break, so she decided to explore the school again, giving herself a little space to think about things.
By the time lunch rolled around and she got to the clubroom, she was not surprised to see Yuki there, as always. Koizumi was absent for the moment, and Kyon had gotten slowed by Taniguchi -- again. Tsuruya and Mikuru came together, with Kanae in tow -- Tsuruya took her promise to escort Kanae seriously, but Haruhi was beginning to understand that matters of personal responsibility were very important to the green-haired girl, given her background.
"...and, anyway, what's 'healthy' mean otherwise?" Tsuruya chuckled, as she opened the door and gestured the other two into the room. "Oh? No Kyon-kun today?"
"O...or Koizumi?" Mikuru asked curiously after she stepped inside.
The usually cheerful slider's eyes were wide, but she took her seat quietly and took out her sketchpad, occasionally shooting wondering glances at the two senior girls. Mikuru appeared troubled, while Tsuruya looked on the verge of bursting into laughter. Well, those outlooks were fairly typical, and even though Kanae was usually cheerful, she also wandered into strange daydream-like states, so that seemed normal, to Haruhi.
"I'm sure they'll be here soon enough," Haruhi said, making a vague gesture. "Kyon's probably trying to get Taniguchi to help him out with the notes he ended up getting." She sighed, shaking her head. "He could have just asked me."
"Notes?" Kanae and Tsuruya asked together.
Yuki flipped to the next page of her book. Haruhi glanced at the title, 'Snow Crash'.
"Mmm. His shoe locker's overflowing with them," she explained, nodding. "What's so great about leaving a message in a shoe locker, anyway? The last time he got one, it was actually for Mikuru-chan anyway. I guess it makes sense for time travelers, but if someone else has something to say, isn't the way to say it in person?"
"Oh, one of my classmates wanted to give Sempai a note," Kanae mentioned belatedly, looking away from her study of Tsuruya. "I think after rescuing the school from the evil perverts, he's got something of a following, now!"
Haruhi felt one eyebrow twitch, and stared at the computer monitor before her, even though she hadn't turned it on.
"Well, that's true," Tsuruya commented leaning back in her seat next to Mikuru and rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "But, really, they don't know some of the most impressive stuffs he did!"
"Like what?" Haruhi asked, curious. She'd gotten the receipt from Tsuruya, but the details had been something she hadn't gotten a chance to hear.
"He talked down an angry oyabun from the Sumiyoshi-rengo," the heiress said proudly. "Fujiya wanted a fight to the death, but Kyon-kun made him see reason! When he has to be, he's good at negotiations!"
Kyon stepped into the clubroom, one eyebrow raised as he glanced behind him. "Careful," he admonished Tsuruya, taking a seat at the table next to Kanae, where Koizumi usually sat. "People might overhear when the door's left open."
"Ah, my bad," Tsuruya chuckled. "You're right."
He shook his head in a dismissive manner, setting a bento on the table and grimacing at the contents when he unwrapped it. "If I could negotiate with anyone, I wish it was my mother," he said, somewhat mournfully.
"Sorry I'm late," Koizumi said cheerfully as he entered the room, shutting the door behind him after seeing everyone else was there.
"Making a report to your creepy stalker organization?" Haruhi asked him, moving from the desk to hand Kyon the spare bento she had made that morning. Koizumi watched Kyon accept the offered food with a bow of his head. She tried to pretend it hadn't happened as she returned to her seat behind the monitor.
"Um, well, yes," the esper allowed, his smile fading slightly.
"Hey," Kyon jibed, glancing at her, "wasn't your Tanabata wish to be the center of the universe?"
Mikuru suddenly sat up straight at that, for some reason. Haruhi frowned, nodding at Kyon grudgingly. "I guess, but they're not the universe, and I hardly feel I earned that as much as I just got it," she muttered. As much as she was glad to have reduced the ambiguity between herself and Kyon, something felt ... off. Usually he stole glances at Mikuru, as though she wouldn't notice. He spent a good bit of time studying Yuki, too, and he still seemed to be doing that, but with the time traveler, there was no eye contact.
Then again ... Mikuru insisted that it wasn't possible for her to have a relationship with anyone from the current time. And she had goaded Mikuru to try. And, though she wasn't certain she wanted to know the details beyond the limitation she had recently imposed on Kyon yet, Yuki evidently needed some level of ... interaction with Kyon.
Kyon had also told her that he wasn't looking for a relationship with Tsuruya, but there was no mistaking the fact that the green-haired girl was obviously interested in him -- to say nothing of the fact that she'd gotten him entangled in her organized crime syndicate as her chief advisor. And she had a hard time seeing Kyon doing everything that he had for Tsuruya just out of friendship, despite what he said.
Okay, she had admitted that she liked Kyon. She wasn't about to complain about the kiss she'd gotten. But she also liked having her friends. Yuki, dependable as always. Mikuru, charming and unbelievably cute. Tsuruya, excitable and energetic. Kanae, too, though she didn't know the slider as well yet.
Sure, she'd started forming friendships with others, too, like Sakanaka, and the members of ENOZ.... But they weren't as close as the friends in the room with her. The same friends that liked Kyon, probably as much as she did, if not more, in some cases. And what had she done? She'd gotten worked up and depressed -- so much so that Kyon had gone back in time, just to cheer her up and tell her how he felt about her?
"Earth to Haru-nyan!" Tsuruya caroled, waving a hand before her face. "Whatcha got on the computer that's so distracting?"
She snapped herself out of her reverie. "Ah," she managed, "I...I'm just thinking about things." She shook her head and turned her attention to her unfinished lunch. Kyon was looking at her in bemusement, and Mikuru seemed lost in her own world. "The computer's not even on. I'm...." She trailed off, then realized that she could say something true after all. "I'm working on a plan to bring the SOS Brigade back to what it should be," she explained, grinning. "We've been distracted by all these things that are keeping us from having fun!"
"Great!" Tsuruya cheered, grinning. "What can I do to help? I wants to be part of this, too!"
"You will," Haruhi promised. "And Mikuru-chan, Yuki-chan, and Kanae-chan, too," she added. There were still things she'd need to figure out, but she was confident that she'd find a way.
Some strange half-dream memory echoed with her, something half-heard from somewhere.... "Find happiness," it said. And she knew she would, but finding happiness for herself was easy. Finding it for everyone, now that was going to be a worthy challenge!
"I suddenly have the strangest sense of foreboding," Kyon commented, frowning into his empty bento boxes.
"You worry too much," she chastised him. "Everything is going to work out great!"
After arriving home to find his father already there, grumbling about 'restructuring' and all of the paperwork required to complete his transfer to his new position in the Tsuruya Corporation -- a legitimate company, not merely a front, as far as Kyon could tell -- he returned to his room. He was still somewhat haunted by the inevitable reaction Mikuru would have, but felt better for being honest with her.
He wasn't at all sure what the overly affectionate older Mikuru had to say about it ... but was glad that he hadn't thought about her until after the fact. That meant that he had acted out of genuine intent, not knowledge that -- seemingly -- he could do absolutely anything with or to the younger Mikuru and get away with it. He hoped she forgave him sooner than later ... but at least he was confident that he wasn't going to make things actively worse.
Finishing his homework, and helping his younger sister with hers, he managed to convince her to move the house's one game system to his room, so he wouldn't die of boredom. Of course, that meant playing a few rounds with her, but that was a small price to pay. Especially given that she was the family's most supportive member, at the moment.
It wasn't until after she sleepily called it quits that he noticed an e-mail on his phone, frowning at the size of it. Two e-mails, he observed, both with attachments.... Curious, he opened the first one, seeing it was from Mikuru: "Kyon-kun, if it's a gift, it's okay to keep, right? So, don't feel bad about this!"
He blinked, then scrolled to the attachment, which was a picture. A picture of Mikuru wearing practically nothing, her face timidly smiling, marked with an intense blush as she winked at the camera. She was laying on her side on a futon somewhere, propped up on one elbow, leaning forward. A man could get lost in that view, he thought, rounded globes barely contained in semitransparent strawberry pink patterned--
He felt a sudden urge to kill the cameraman who had gotten to take such a picture, and hurriedly scrolled to the next e-mail.
From Tsuruya? Her message was very simple, punctuated with smileys both before and after: ":3 Kyon-kun~! I can't let Mikuru-chan get too far ahead, can I? Enjoy this picture of me~! :D"
Tsuruya was unabashed as always, and even though he'd actually seen more of her in a bath.... Sitting upright on the same futon as in Mikuru's photo, also winking, but without a trace of shyness as she gave the camera a victory sign. Her assets weren't as bountiful as Mikuru's, but she was still amazingly shapely. Concealed in a blueberry colored lingerie set not that different from Mikuru's.... Moreover, with her hair in a fan behind her, her paler skin was brought into sharp relief, highlighting her shapely legs--
Well, fine, then. If it was Tsuruya and Mikuru taking pictures of one another, then no cameraman needed to be killed. Switching between the two images in astonishment he murmured aloud, "I am keeping these pictures." Yes, he decided. With such things, given to him freely, he could die happy.
Best make sure it wasn't by Haruhi's hand for discovering them, though.
After Haruhi's thankfully brief bout of melancholy, and an equally brief echo of it from Kyon, Koizumi was happy to see that the entire brigade had more-or-less come back together. Everyone was more cheerful, with none of the forced falseness that stressful 'investigations' or unwelcome mention of Sasaki in Haruhi's presence seemed to engender. Kyon was still grounded, and Haruhi herself was a bit more subdued, thoughtfully planning some secret thing she wasn't sharing details on -- with anyone.
But those things suited him; even though he probably didn't know it, quite a bit was dependent on Kyon holding things together. Even though Mori and Tsuruya had openly discussed things, they were still some distance from having a working partnership between their organizations. That step would have to wait until after Golden Week, but that was hardly the worst thing in the world, in Koizumi's mind.
The school schedule had undergone a slightly alteration in light of the upcoming holiday, too, which signaled an early start to the highly welcome vacation. The Friday before Golden Week -- Showa Day -- was technically a holiday, but school was still to be held, and the observed holiday would be on Saturday, giving the students and staff nine consecutive days off. Even though it was a full day, unlike the typical Saturday half-days, the atmosphere in classes was jovial and inattentive.
So when they met for lunch, the only person with diminished cheer was Kanae, staring mournfully at a heavily marked sheet of paper. "What's wrong, Kanae-chan?" Mikuru asked, leaning close to the girl and patting her shoulder comfortingly. "Did you get a bad grade?"
"I got a forty two," the slider answered glumly, sniffling. "I'm so bad at history, because it's different everywhere I go! I have to start over from scratch every time...."
"Aw," Mikuru soothed, "I often do poorly in history, too, since my information isn't always accurate."
"That's not as surprising as it probably should be," Haruhi mused. "Well, that's easy to take care of. Kyon still needs constant study help, since there's no way I'm letting his grades drop enough for him to get stuck in cram school. You can join us!"
The younger girl brightened instantly. "I can?" she asked excitedly. "That would be great! Thank you, Suzumiya-san, Sempai! I got assigned a bunch of extra vacation homework for Golden Week, since I scored so poorly. C...can you help me out?"
"I can't," Kyon said apologetically, shaking his head. "In fact, I have to run to make it home quickly enough to make it to the train station once school lets out. I should be in Hinamizawa by ... a bit before midnight tonight."
Haruhi grimaced. "You'd better not forget your vacation homework," she warned him. "But I meant in general, not just right now, Kyon."
"She's a slave driver," Kyon told Kanae, "but your grades will improve."
"Hey!"
"Well, if it makes you feel better, you're my favorite slave driver."
"Aw, thanks-- HEY! Sheesh, you'd better make sure you do something useful with your vacation time, Kyon!"
"Aside from finishing my homework?" he asked, smirking.
She narrowed her eyes. "No, but it's a country village, right? Learn your family's ancestral sword style, or uncover a legacy artifact, or something. I'm sure there's a sealed shrine or something with a legend of an ancient demon! Make sure you do something worthy of the SOS Brigade while you're there!"
"...right," he said, rolling his eyes. "Of course."
The train station was crowded with people preparing for their trips for Golden Week, evidently everyone having the same idea to head out early in the afternoon and 'beat the rush'. Kyon's figure was obvious, bearing his luggage and most of his sister's; the small girl had only one very large backpack.
As much as Haruhi wanted to say goodbye, maybe even demand a hug from him on the train platform before he left.... Well, his mother and father were there, giving him a list of warnings or instructions. She couldn't make it out, as far apart as they were. Kanae stood at her side, bouncing on the tips of her toes and trying desperately to see over anyone's heads, and Yuki stood next to her impassively. Mikuru stood behind Haruhi, peeking over her shoulder and uncomfortable with the crowd.
Tsuruya had been invited, but apologetically declined; she was visiting family in Switzerland again. Koizumi had already left for a different train station, headed to Tokyo to see his own family.
So, it was just the four of them. While she suspected Yuki was aware of Kyon's presence, anyway, Kanae was unable and Mikuru was too shy to try to see through the crowds milling about....
Kyon nodded at some final command, withstood a hug and a kiss on the cheek from his mother with stoic nobility, and then took his sister's hand in his and shouldered his way through the crowd to board the train.
And just like that.... No, she decided with determination, she wasn't going to have it end like that. She quickly pulled out her cell phone and sent a simple text message, before stowing it in one pocket. "Alright," she ordered, "to the end of the platform!"
Yuki fell into step behind her wordlessly, while Haruhi herself took Kanae's and Mikuru's hands, towing the other girls through the unwilling crowd until she found a thinner spot toward the front of the train. "Yuki-chan," she said, glancing at her figure worriedly, "I know it might be hard for you, but can you please make sure Kyon's ... okay while he's on vacation?"
She blinked in response, then nodded slightly. "Understood," she answered.
A minute later, the train noisily lurched into motion. Standing right on the edge of the safety line, Haruhi studied each window intently as it picked up speed, until she saw Kyon. In typical Kyon fashion, he looked annoyed, trying to sit comfortably in his seat while his sister had crawled atop him to press her nose to the glass and wave frantically at the trio.
Haruhi smiled, waving along with with Kanae and Mikuru ... and Kyon's irritation vanished long enough for him to smirk and wave back.
"Bye, Sempai!" Kanae shouted, even though there was no way he'd be able to hear it. Haruhi and Mikuru added their own yells, anyway, echoing the other girl's. Not everything she wanted, but enough, for now.
"Okay," she announced, realizing with a start that Yuki had disappeared somewhere. "Huh. Anyway, come on, Kanae-chan, Mikuru-chan, let's finish our homework before the vacation really starts, okay?"
"Right!" Kanae said cheerfully, watching the train pick up speed and vanish around a nearby curve, while Mikuru nodded wordlessly.
"Honestly," she murmured, glancing at her husband as he drove their car down the quiet, poorly lit road. "Is she that desperate for free time with Yuuto-kun, or is she upset with Kyon?"
"Eh, well, you know Imouto," he said with a half-shrug. "She burns bright, but even when she's mad, it's only because she loves her family."
"Even so," she countered, glancing at the clock set in the dashboard, "they easily could have left at a much more reasonable time tomorrow. I suppose the real point is we both know that she's upset, or she wouldn't have had them sent out of town so quickly."
"Maybe not," he said, flashing that heart-melting grin he'd refined over the years from his boyhood at her. "Yuuto-kun mentioned he got a promotion. She might want to 'celebrate', you know? Yeah, let's be optimistic, and believe it's that!"
"You'd better watch yourself and your language," she warned him, unable to restrain her answering smile. "Kyon is one of my very favorite nephews, and Nonoko-chan is one of my very favorite nieces. I won't have you corrupting them with careless words or bad ideas!"
"When am I not on my best behavior?" he asked with a chuckle.
"You only have one behavior."
"That's not true! At night, beneath the light of a full moon ... in fact, a few nights ago ... and a few times this week, if Kyon's willing to watch the kids...."
Her cheeks lit up, and she playfully smacked his shoulder. "You're a big old pervert, Kei-chan," she insisted. "None of that around the kids, or I'll sacrifice you to Oyashiro-sama!"
"Understood, my lovely Rika-sama!" he answered, slowing the car as they pulled into the parking lot for the Okinomiya train station.
"Oh, you," she said with a giggle.
They fell companionably silent as they strode into the terminal, the old digital display notifying them that the train they were waiting for was two minutes behind schedule. He put one arm around her waist and pulled her closer in a half hug before making a thoughtful noise and spotting a vending machine. "We've got about seven minutes ... does Kyon-kun drink coffee? I'm thinking of getting one for him."
"At this hour?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Her face fell, and she shot him a dour look. "Are you working tonight?"
"Nah, nothing like that," he said, shaking his head quickly. "I mean, not for Mion-chan. Rena-chan gave me another manuscript and wanted my feedback on it. Looks like it's going to be the final volume in her 'Brave Detective Sasha' series. Might end up being a long night for me."
She nodded thoughtfully. Lately, Rena had been down, irked by her long-estranged mother's side of the family asking her to take in a nephew that had gotten into some trouble at his school. Rika didn't know all of the circumstances, and Rena insisted that she didn't want to know ... because family that only showed up to rely on you wasn't true family, and why would she want to take in a delinquent boy who she'd never even met before? Of course, more likely than not, she hadn't talked about that with Keiichi yet.
Mentally rescheduling things, she asked, "Are you doing anything for Mion-chan or Satoko-chan this week?"
He broke from their half embrace and scratched his chin with one fingertip as he gazed at the terminal's overhanging raincover thoughtfully. "Wednesday is Greenery Day," he said slowly. After a glance around, seeing they were the only people in the terminal, aside from a security guard, dozing in his chair at the far end, he continued, "Mion-chan is meeting with a representative from another family on Thursday, from Kansai or something. That and Rena's manuscript are the only work things I really have this week. Not a whole lot of call for a motivational speaker on holidays, you know?"
She nodded. "I didn't mean 'work'," she elaborated.
He blinked at her and then grinned knowingly, spreading his hands in a shrug. "Tonight I'm home, obviously," he said, "as well as Sunday night. Saturday and Thursday are Mion-chan, Tuesday and next Saturday are Satoko-chan, and Rena-chan has Monday and next Sunday. But, you know all that; it's on the calendar in our closet."
"Wouldn't last night have been Rena-chan's?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Would have been," he agreed, "but she said she was focusing on her writing, and needed to work something out. You know how she gets. She just called this morning to say she'd finished and ran the manuscript over."
She gave him a hard stare. "And you just left it at that?"
He grimaced. "You know how she gets," he reiterated. "If I pushed, I knew she wouldn't open up about it to you, because we talk about these kinds of things. I'm guessing she finally mentioned something to you?"
The smile that came to her lips couldn't be held back. "True," she allowed. "Alright. After we get Kyon-kun and his little sister home and in bed, go to Rena-chan."
He raised an eyebrow at her and looked at the clock on the station wall, then shrugged. "Well, if it's instructions from you, the light will be on in her study when I get there," he acknowledged. "Good. I'm glad she's ready to talk about it, then."
"Ah," she said, smiling as a light appeared in the distance down the tracks, and the rails began to hum. "There they are!"
After taking the express to the north end of Honshu, Kyon led his sister and all of their luggage to a transfer line, using a much slower and more rickety train. The first leg of the trip was spent doing his homework, instead of putting it off (for once), while his sister napped. The second leg left him half dozing from the rocking motion of the older train, and his sister bouncing excitedly while she looked out the window.
Where had the convenient energy that had kept him going ever since.... He felt oddly chilled to realize that he had started waking earlier ever since the last time he found himself in a closed space with Haruhi.... But when he really stopped to think about it ... she could have done far worse.
That was something he could cope with. The need for such energy was gone though, and he was looking forward to a relaxing week of nothing more than babysitting. Especially after everything that had been going on, and especially the excruciating effort that Haruhi demanded he put into studying....
When the train finally pulled into the Okinomiya station, the closest stop to Hinamizawa, he nudged his sister to grab her backpack and picked up the rest of the luggage. Only a handful of others were on a train to such a location, and the only people waiting were his aunt and uncle.
Keiichi was a lean man of very slightly taller than average height with brown hair that wasn't quite shaggy or unkempt, but he took no obvious care to style or comb it. Kyon didn't spend a lot of time cataloging the features of other men, but wouldn't really call him handsome -- or ugly -- merely decent looking. Still, he had a natural, eternally pleased grin, and Kyon couldn't remember a time he'd seen the man look worried, upset, or serious about things. Even despite that, and his typically lackadaisical attitude he seemed responsible. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans with a worn but obviously cared for red vest, despite how cold the spring was so far north.
Beside him was his wife, Rika, her dark blue hair swaying behind her to the small of her back. Neatly trimmed bangs reminded him uncomfortably of Asakura Ryouko, their hairstyles and colors were so similar. Rika's eyes, though, were purple, and her smile felt more genuine than anything he had ever received from the interface that had tried to kill him with a knife on more than one terrifying occasion. He also wasn't in the habit of looking at his aunt in the same way as a girl his own age, but she was somewhat taller, with elegant fingers and a certain grace that he'd never really seen matched. She at least wore a light sweater over her sun dress in concession to the chill.
Even though he knew he shouldn't dismiss his own parents so easily, he was instantly reassured by the warmth he felt from the pair. His sister, too, as she leaped directly at Keiichi, and the man caught her, spinning. "Haha!" he chuckled, before setting her down so she could glomp onto Rika's side. "A fireball, as always!"
"Auntie Rika!" his sister cheered. "Uncle Kei!"
"It's good to see you two again," Rika said, smiling at the pair. "My, my, little one, you haven't been eating your vegetables, have you?"
Kyon smirked as his sister allowed an indignant squeak to escape, then pouted fiercely. "Maybe not," she mumbled.
Rika ruffled the small girl's hair and shook her head before turning her gaze to Kyon. "Oh, my, Kyon, you're becoming quite handsome now, aren't you? I bet you must have girls after you constantly!"
"Not normal ones," he slipped, before realizing what he had said. "Er...."
Keiichi laughed, taking half of the luggage from Kyon. "So, you have a steady girlfriend, then?" he asked, elbowing Kyon in the ribs lightly, his eternal grin widening.
"It's really complicated," he said, offering a wry grin of his own, before a sudden yawn came over him. "Sorry," he managed, "long week."
"Have you eaten?" Rika asked, taking Kyon's sister's hand and leading the way to the car.
"I'm not hungry," the little girl answered.
"Mom gave us bentos," Kyon added, as they stepped outside, and the chill air made him wish he'd thought to bring his coat, as worn as it had gotten over the winter. "So we ate on the train."
"That face says my sister's being unreasonable," Keiichi deduced. "Or still hasn't learned to cook. Well, if you're tired we'll get you home so you can sleep. But in the morning, you'll have to tell us all about it, alright?"
"Thanks for having us over," Kyon said. "It's nice to be in the country again."
Keiichi chuckled, opening the trunk of his car and helping Kyon stow the luggage. "I may not drive as fast as your father, but you'll be able to sleep soon enough."
He nodded absently, mumbling pleasantries and inconsequential things after taking the seat behind Rika. His sister was talking animatedly with Keiichi about her classmates and her upcoming school field trip, and he felt himself dozing again, even when he leaned his head against the glass of the window. Just before he completely fell asleep, he thought for some reason he heard his aunt whisper, "As long as she isn't trying to hurt him, Hanyuu-chan...."
Hanyuu's life was generally happy and uncomplicated. Outside of a few painful centuries that she tried not to dwell on, anyway. After surviving that unfortunate disaster with Rika, finally arriving in a world where they could overcome that terrible fate....
Since then, Rika had built herself a very happy -- if very unorthodox -- lifestyle. Having no physical form to interact with the world directly, Hanyuu instead followed her closest friend, advising of unfortunate events in advance when possible, and enjoying the physical world vicariously through Rika on occasion. Keiichi really was adorable, and these days, people were constantly inventing intriguing new sweets to taste. Both were delectable, in their own ways.
Still, Rika meant that she wasn't alone in the world; she was the precious link Hanyuu had to the world around her, the reason she could consider herself more than a phantom, outside of some occasional uses of her power. And she loved Rika -- they were closer than sisters ever could be. Naturally, when Rika had set her strange plan in motion, Hanyuu realized that who Rika loved, she too loved.
And that meant that even though she was not, strictly speaking, related by blood to Kyon and his sister, she loved them, too. She didn't see them outside of their visits to Hinamizawa, but just like Rika's children, and the children of their friends, they were precious to her.
So when she found a strange girl as ethereal as herself watching Kyon and his sister, she had to do something about it. Rika wasn't very concerned, yet ... but she was curious. And for her family, Hanyuu would keep an eye on the strange girl.
She was scared to the point of crying and waking Rika up in the middle of the night when Kyon -- somehow -- suddenly vanished into nothingness, leaving no trace behind. The mysterious figure that had been following him likewise vanished, but before Rika and Hanyuu could press into the situation and investigate further ... he reappeared just as abruptly! As far as Hanyuu could determine, he either slept through the entire thing, or had simply fallen asleep again before reappearing.
The girl had reappeared, too, watching distantly, her eyes studying Hanyuu curiously. And even though she could tell Rika about the other girl, Rika herself couldn't see her.
Naturally, that was why she was watching Kyon soak in the tub the morning after he arrived. She had no ulterior motive to keep an eye on him, or admire his surprisingly toned physique as he patiently watched over one of his younger cousins -- Rika and Keiichi's son, Shutaro -- while they soaked. She was just ensuring he was okay, unhurt after the mysterious events, and that was the only reason she was staring at him so closely!
Shutaro decided he had enough soaking and climbed out of the bath, and as he finished toweling off and headed out, Hanyuu realized uncomfortably that the other spirit was there, too. The quiet girl with short, light purple hair, staring fixedly at her. Fine, then, if it was going to come to spying on her loved ones, Hanyuu was willing to use force!
"I am a being that has gone beyond man," she warned the smaller girl, raising her hands threateningly.
"Interesting," the girl remarked, her own hands shooting out lightning-fast, and seizing Hanyuu's.
She had to fight to restrain her shock; she hadn't expected to actually be able to touch the other spirit so easily! Kyon, naturally, was aware of neither of them, just leaning back in the tub and staring at the ceiling.
"I will not let you hurt him," both Hanyuu and the girl insisted, staring at one-another, hands linked.
"Right," Kyon announced to no one in particular, standing up in the tub, water sloughing off him. Hanyuu and the other girl both found their heads turning, eyes flicking to the young man as he stepped out of the bathtub and looked around for a towel. From the vantage of the doorway, Hanyuu bemusedly thought that their linked hands might provide inadvertent modesty to him, covering up the most interesting areas.
From the vantage of her and the other girl, such a thing was not an issue. After a few gloriously silent minutes, holding hands and watching Kyon search for a towel, Hanyuu finally wrenched her attention back to the other girl. Her intentions weren't absolutely clear, but 'harm' didn't seem to be on that list.
"We have just shared a wonderful experience," Hanyuu stated. "We should use this opportunity to become friends."
The other girl slowly raised her face, her eyes tearing from Kyon to study her appraisingly before she released the held hands and gave a single, terse nod. "Wonderful," she agreed.
After drying and redressing, Kyon ambled into the living room of his uncle's house, running his fingers through his hair and realizing that he generally had the same style as Keiichi. For whatever reason -- Kyon wasn't clear on it -- the man had to run out and attend some errand, and as a result, had returned home shortly after sunrise. He probably wouldn't be waking up before the afternoon, but judging by the low murmur from the kitchen and the sounds of pans being rattled on the stove, his aunt was already awake.
His sister was sitting on the couch, staring avidly at the television as an overly-cute anime character with watery eyes screamed, "Chekhov ... BEEEEEEAM!" and obliterated some enemy with a blinding salvo of beam-spam. Shutaro and his older sister Matsuri watched just as raptly, 'ooh'ing softly as the watery-eyed character added, "No one could survive that!"
"I think Dark Lord Skweeniks will live," Matsuri predicted, nodding.
Sure enough, a moment later the enemy reappeared, gloating darkly, and boomed out, "Now you must face my next form!"
"But," the watery-eyed girl protested, holding a quill of some sort in one hand, "don't you mean true form!?"
"No!" the enemy roared. Then the anime cut to some upbeat ending theme, and Kyon decided to step into the kitchen before any of the younger family noticed him.
Rika was busily preparing some eggs, almost everything else finished cooking, but nodded at him and pointed one finger to the ear-piece she was wearing. He shrugged and moved to the cupboard to collect a stack of clean dishes. His own phone got such terrible reception at his uncle's place that he briefly wondered what carrier she had.
"If you're certain she means well," Rika said, her tone doubtful as she turned off the stove. "No, of course I respect your opinion; don't be silly. Well, just ... keep an eye on things for the moment. I'll discuss it with him later, but I have a good sense that today isn't the best day for it." She finished turning off the last few burners and rolled her eyes at something, a smile coming to her lips anyway. "I am not dismissing a person suddenly vanishing in the dead of night, but all the same, he's back now. Thank you, Hanyuu-chan."
He wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but thought he understood well enough; Rika obviously hadn't heard all of the details behind Keiichi running out to take care of his errand, either. It also meant whatever he'd heard in the car had happened, but it was just his aunt speaking to a friend on her cell phone.
She sighed and removed the ear-piece, tucking it in one apron pocket. "Thank you, Kyon," she said, eying the stack of dishes he was carrying. "I think the kids should have finished watching their anime, so could you ask them to wash up before eating, please?"
"Sure thing," he agreed, walking into the living room. The preview for next week's episode, promising an exciting new character, was just finishing. "Okay," he called, "let's get cleaned up for breakfast!"
The young ones obediently trooped to the washroom while he set the dishes at the table and turned the television off. His aunt brought out most of the platters, and he hurried to grab the rice pot so she wouldn't have to strain herself. "Thank you again, Kyon," she said cheerfully. "Would you care for coffee?"
"Sure," he answered. "I mean, please." She giggled, puttering back into the kitchen and returning with a mug of coffee for him, and hot chocolate for herself.
It was peaceful, he decided, once his sister and the cousins returned, swarming the table. He couldn't help but smirk at the extra portion of vegetables on his sister's plate, and Rika's sharp-eyed gaze, ensuring she finished everything.
His phone only got reception occasionally, which meant he didn't imagine he would get any phone calls unless he went all the way back to Okinomiya, but text messages and e-mail would eventually get through. He wasn't precisely trying to avoid Haruhi, or any of the other girls -- in fact, he didn't need any kind of connection at all to check the pictures that Tsuruya and Mikuru had mailed him, but somehow ... it was nice having a small aura of calm space around him.
"Kyon," Rika said suddenly, when they were finished eating, and his sister and Shutaro were assigned the task of clearing the table, "your uncle Keiichi and I were going to see about visiting your other aunts for a bit tonight, Satoko-chan, Mion-chan, and Rena-chan." Technically, they weren't really his aunts at all; just very close friends of the family for Keiichi and Rika. But they were so close that frequently they traded around the tasks of babysitting, and their children were still considered cousins to himself and his sister.
Rika turned to Matsuri, who was staring at him for some reason with a wide grin. "Matsuri-chan, put away the leftovers and wash up the dishes that have been collected," she instructed. The girl pouted, but did as she was told, slinking off into the kitchen.
Kyon watched her leave in bemusement. She was only a year older than his own sister, but she reminded him of the only 'cousin' older than himself. In fact, Kyon's first crush had been with her, the girl he called 'Nee-chan', Mion's eldest daughter before she eloped with some worthless.... Not that it was worth obsessing over; that had been a few years ago, traumatic or not.
"You want me to babysit?" he asked, peering into his empty coffee cup, before his sister dashed in from the kitchen to snatch it away from him, and vanished just as quickly.
"Well, if it's not too much trouble," she agreed, smiling. "But you are getting older ... I suppose it's only fair to offer you payment in exchange for the difficulty."
That was new. Not that it would come close to matching Tsuruya's weekly pay to him ... but it wasn't going to be a walk in the park in any case, and it might look odd if he passed. "You don't have to pay me much," he said, shrugging. "Really, there's no one else here my own age, so I'd probably end up hanging out with the kids anyway." He paused, considering. None of the cousins should be infants, so that would spare him the most tedious and egregious of duties, like diaper changing or worse. "How many are there, now?"
"Let's see," Rika mused. "Shutaro and Matsuri, naturally, Rena-chan's daughter Yurie-chan, the Sonozaki twins, Naota and Makoto-chan, and Satoko-chan's daughter Aiko-chan."
He took a breath and nodded slowly. "Almost the full compliment," he said wryly. "If the Houjou twins get mixed up, I'll want danger pay."
Rika giggled at him. "Now, now, are Yoko-chan and Azusa-chan that bad?" she asked. "Shion-chan and Satoshi-kun are fine parents!"
"Green-haired demons," he said insistently. "The terrible twosome! Honestly, who digs a pit trap in this day and age?!"
Rika laughed aloud, not meeting his eyes. "Satoko-chan used to do that, too, so it must run in her family," she said. "But that's fine. How does five hundred yen an hour per cousin sound?"
He thought about it for a moment, resisting the urge to use the calculator on his cell phone. "That seems like quite a bit," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I'd be willing to do it for less...."
"Well, I'm hardly the only aunt who will be paying you," she assured him. Winking, she added, "And if Shion-chan wants you to look after her children, we'll tell her we're paying you eight hundred an hour instead."
He chuckled, shaking his head. "Sure," he agreed. "Oh, now that I think of it, how is Grandmother Maebara?"
"Ah," Rika allowed, her smile fading. "She's not doing as well, these days," she said apologetically. "After her husband...." She trailed off and shrugged.
Kyon nodded, not really remembering the man he was told he resembled very well. He had passed away at around the same time Kyon had managed -- however briefly -- to lose the hated nickname.
"At any rate, Rena-chan and Satoko-chan are helping to look after her as well, but if you wanted to visit her with your sister, I think that's a grand idea."
He nodded again, deciding he might as well do that before his parents came up for the more formal visit. The trio in the kitchen burst back into the front room, swarming over him and demanding that he go outside and play with them. Well, he thought, as his sister and cousins conspired to bodily drag him out the door, it could be worse.
"We should chat tomorrow," Rika called before he was out of earshot. "We have a lot to discuss! Take care until then, Kyon!"