June 12, 1999 -- Afternoon

[punches_fog]

[Souji being Souji, he's naturally at school for half the day Saturday, and he's got his evening booked fairly solid, but by heading out fairly quickly, he can catch up with a certain private schooler on their mutual way home.]

Hey. You were pretty...impressive yesterday. Thanks for stepping up for the club.

[He hands Haruhi one of the two canned coffees in his bag.]

Comments

[punches_fog]

"It's called a 'foil' in writing," he says. "Strong-willed characters have to have someone to balance them out, and the club's pretty much nothing but strong-willed girls."

He rubs his chin, thinking carefully. "Maybe his old one should go to someone at this school, and his new one to someone at yours? I guess it's up to him to decide."

Souji had developed a habit of just quietly scooting out of town when he changed schools. Fewer disappointed girls that way, if somewhat more angry ones.

[kouyouensei]

"Yeah, I'm not about to ask him about it. Changing schools is bad enough without thinking about graduating." Hell, he might even get the wrong idea, which does not so much embarrass Haruhi as strike her to be stupid.

Her pocky packet is empty, flattens under her fingers, and she has to fumble around for the other half. "Ghosts are our best bet back there, you know. Every year there are new opportunities for restless spirits to show up."

[punches_fog]

"What's going to make a spirit restless around here though?" he asks. "This is probably the quietest town I've ever seen."

[kouyouensei]

"Maybe it's just so quiet because we train people to shut up about their problems. A little encouragement could go a long way!" At the corner, she cups her hand around her mouth, pocky sticks between her fingers at an awkward angle.

"Hey departed spirits! How are you feeling?"

[punches_fog]

"This kind of thinking is why you're in the club," Souji says, nodding seriously.

He looks around. "They might be more receptive after dark, though."

[kouyouensei]

Haruhi falls into a more serious mood herself. "I gotta be getting back way before the sun even sets..." and that's not her favorite prospect ever. "We should cross-reference a couple of star charts. If they really wanna hide we can't settle for a lunar cycle, can we? There's a good chance this town will get a more arcane kind of darkness in the next couple weeks. Right when the ghosts are lulled into a false sense of enough security to haunt the earth another day..."

Her hand snaps shut like a steel trap, crunching the pocky packet (a few sticks still inside and crumbling consequentially).

[punches_fog]

"Don't waste food," Souji reprimands absently.

He is giving serious consideration to the star charts idea. "I think I have some free time Monday if you want to go to the library for astronomy books. I'm kinda booked this evening myself."

[kouyouensei]

"You don't know what kind of plan I might have!" It's zeugmatic; her glare doesn't stay on him long before she's sticking her fingers into the foil and licking the crumbs off. Haruhi's eyes track over the schedule in her mind's eye.

"Would it be easy enough for you to come up? The library near me is larger anyway."

[punches_fog]

"Yeah, that can work," he nodded. "I'll just have to make sure to get out of school straight away."

[kouyouensei]

"Awesome. If you have to bring your homework with you, go ahead. We might as well check out other books if they end up having nothing relevant in stock." She's rationing out her enthusiasm so there will be more to expend upon achieving the celestial payload. Previous perusals of birth and death records never worked like on TV in highlighting suspicious discrepancies nor did that numerological library card number analysis. It just means she has to keep looking, of course.

[punches_fog]

"I'll definitely be there," Souji said. On impulse, he stuck a hand out to shake on it.

[kouyouensei]

People don't hold their hands out to Haruhi very often. "It's a promise!" she chirps, while her (empty!!!!) candy wrapper is tossed into the trash. Insouciantly she slots the coffee into the side of her bag, and only then extends her hand for proper shaking. If nothing else Haruhi has an impressive grip and maintains eye contact.

"Later." Turning her back on him she skips up onto the platform for her ride away.