June 14, 1999 -- School Entrance

[kouyouensei]

The sun rises on another beautiful, ridiculously hot day at the Izumizaki school. At this time of morning, happy and healthy high schoolers flock into the entrance. One of them, while hale, clearly... is not wearing the same uniform. It's the full uniform of that nice school in the city; light brown shoes, dark brown socks, brown skirt, brown sweater vest, light brown bow, white shirt. That said, the little purse is probably not an actual schoolbag. Two long strands of brown hair dangle down; the remaining substantial mass has been threaded with a steady hand through the tastefully small hole cut in the back of a deerstalker cap, the brim of which covers any childish bangs.

Is this the Haruhi Suzumiya whose hair was short beneath ribbons in ninth grade? When could she ever have heard of "makeup"? Admittedly, her eyes themselves, as brown as everything else, are the same as ever: Blinking brightly as her glance gets bored of each new sight.

"Yamane-kun. Aino-san. What a pleasure to see you all again after such a long time." It's a completely conventional, general greeting. She could go on to call them all one by one, but they have unfini... Business. She and the school have business. "I hope I'm not intruding. I just naturally have lots of questions." Lots. Already the businesslike veneer is cracking as she bounces forward on the balls of her feet.

Comments

June 13th, 1999, 20:30 (phone call for Maya)

[kouyouensei]

Haruhi Suzumiya spends Sunday night as she does many other nights: In front of the television. A movie has just ended; Haruhi can't stand the thought of sitting through an ad for the upcoming Majo no Joken finale, and she flips away from the channel early. Between this program and the next, a face flashes on the screen. Haruhi frowns at the familiar, gaunt, grey form. Without processing any of the text, she goes back down through the channels, pouting harder at each inefficient sputter of static.

"Souji Seta (Age 18)." What else would that portrait's label say? Those are the characters that comprise his name; and by all decimal mathematical logic, he should be sixteen plus two years old. The other sentences make less sense, and the next frame floats up all too soon. Frustrated that she can't pause live footage at will, Haruhi throws the remote onto the floor. The interview with the gruff detective continues: "We will do our best in the search for the missing young man."

She gets up to put the remote back together; the damage could have been a lot worse had it not landed on the mat. Haruhi is almost disappointed that the surface is so soft underneath the soles of her slippered feet. She wants to hit something, and settles for slamming the power button. The room is dark and hardly any moonlight illuminates the space on the shelf where the remote should go alongside her purse.

It's eight thirty when she's standing in a store and dials. "Hello. Maya. It's me. Suzumiya." At this point phone formalities have become a habit but she hopes suddenly, fervently, to hear her own given name for the first time in two years.

[itwasfeyt]

It was late at night, Maya had been prepared for an evening of relaxing with Mia and watching the television. They'd been flipping through for the most recent Steel Samurai episode... only to see the news, and that gaunt face that was oh so familiar.

Suddenly Television seemed less interesting, which made the coming phone call a very welcome distraction. Maya trotted over and picked it up, answering clearly.

"Haruhi? Hey! What's up, Suzumiya?"

[kouyouensei]

"Not much." She picks up a cap but... ugh, it looks so bad in the light. She sighs, without the presence of mind to keep the noise from crinkling over the phone speaker.

"Have you seen the news?" It occurred to her that breaking it to Maya over the phone might be a little harsh. Oh, well. There is only one truth.

[all_onis_are_true]

Uh...

[He'd known he'd be seeing Suzumiya again for, well, reasons, but he hadn't expected it would be quite this SOON. He'd been lost in thought thinking about more potential field trips to take Maria on, so you'll forgive him if he's a little flustered at seeing her again.]

Suzumiya. What brings you back here today? Is it a school holiday for you today?

[kouyouensei]

No.

[It's been so long since people have bothered to ask why she does what she does. Haruhi's eyes widen with almost as much fondness as disappointment.]

I'm investigating Seta-kun's disappearance, of course. It was on the news.

[all_onis_are_true]

It... it was?

[He had to admit he hadn't been paying attention to the news this morning. Hadn't even been aware Souji was missing. But if he was, and it made the news...]

That is... did they have any information about the situation?

[He's feeling waves of anxious guilt in his stomach. Why HADN'T he known?]

June 14th, after first period

[independent_dollmaker]

[Class has let out, in what was until recently Souji's class. It is the perfect time for a passing Ultra Detective to try and sneak in to find clues.

However, a student has stayed behind! Alice has English next period, and what with her being a native speaker, she has permission to occasionally skip out on the class for 'Independent Study'. Sometimes this means actual study, but other times - like now - it means kicking back and reading for a while (The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis).

She is not aware of anything strange that might be about to happen.]

1/2

[kouyouensei]

[Over the past hour, Haruhi has successfully discovered that Souji had class in this room at some point. Her head is down as she cracks open the door and paces through the probable "Se" row. This is really psychologically draining. She's realized that this disappearance could be much more permanent, with consequences for himself or his friends or even Haruhi herself. She doesn't have enough practice with weathering the ups and downs of others' welfare, not after elementary school ended the way it did. Her mood would really improve, short term, if she could stop thinking about an old friend as a person and start thinking about a new friend as an object.]

[kouyouensei]

[And then she sees Alice, leading her to shout in English and wave.]

Hello! I'm Haruhi Suzumiya! Nice to meet you! Let's be friend!

[independent_dollmaker]

[The time it takes Haruhi to get through that sentence is enough for Alice to go through half a dozen completely different thoughts, varying from "Just when I thought I'd be able to get some reading done" to "Hey, someone's talking to me in English" to "Oh goodness, she's gorgeous" to "Slow down what's going on here".

The whole combined impact is enough that she replies in English, rather than Japanese.]

Er... are you another new student, then?

After School

[happyhalloween]

[Maria squints at Haruhi.] ... are you a new club member? Why is your uniform different?

[kouyouensei]

[Is Haruhi a club member? This question would keep her up at night if she even had any chance of sleeping after how unfruitful this exploration has been. She smiles very widely and points at the armband, which she made precisely to cheer herself up. Maybe it will also cheer up the munchkin.]

I'm an ultra detective! According to my deductions, you must be Maria-chan... but that can't be true, you're so big!

[happyhalloween]

Uu! I'm Maria! And this is Tomosuke! [She holds up her stuffed turtle!]

Also after school, in the clubroom

[bonni]

[ And now there's another weirdo waltzing in like she belongs there.

Except wait this one's faculty. She probably does. At least more than Haruhi.

She looks particularly somber today. ] Sorry to interrupt. [ 'sup all. How's it hangin'? ]

Morning

[loveandwillpower]

"Suzumiyaaa! What's gotten you prowling back around our humble abode from your fancy city girl castle in the clouds?"

The traditional full-scale Aino personal space invasion is underway why bother asking questions when you can drape yourself over someone and try to swipe their hat.

[kouyouensei]

The nice thing about deerstalkers is that they have four flaps; Haruhi grabs onto one of these defensively even as she admirably counterattacks with her own arm around Minako's shoulders.

"Can't you apply a little deductive reasoning? Well, guess not, actually. That's what I'm here to do. Playing detective for Seta-kun's sake."

[loveandwillpower]

Yeah yeah keep on hiding your freakin' devil horns, Haruhi. CHANGE OF TACTICS time to latch onto Haruhi like a leech and pose like one of the swooning heroines from one of those old classic movies.

"You didn't come all this way just to see me? I'm heartbroken, totally heartbroken."

After school, around

[itwasfeyt]

[Maya promised to help Haruhi in her investigation, and she was going to hold to that promise!

So, there Maya is, walking around the school halls, peering at things through a magnifying glass she had found among Mia's things. She had also found a deerstalker hat, which managed to fit surprisingly well over her topknot.

She looks silly, but she's going to work this look! For today, she is Maya Fey, Spirit detective!]

Aaaalright! Let's do it!

[bonni]

[ A certain pink-haired nurse manages to run into Maya in the hallway after school.

....Gurl what r u wearing.... ]

Maya, just who I was looking for. [ Maya.... ] ....What are you wearing?

[itwasfeyt]

[A shame that Maya never learnt to look where she was going.]

Oh! Miss Bubblegum![blinblink] I-I mean, Bonni! What's up?

[She tips the deerstalker, letting the brim obscure her eyes as she smiles.]

I'm taking up an investigating job! What do you think?

[loveandwillpower]

Look, matching hats!

...Because Minako's stolen Haruhi's.

"Which one of us is the law-abiding cop and which one is the loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules?"

After school, club room

[ohmygah]

[Osaka is sleeping on a desk.

There, that's the prompt, she is sleeping on a desk. Have fun with that.]

[itwasfeyt]

[Clearly the only appropriate thing to do is SLAM HANDS ON THIS DESK]

Hey Osaka!

After School; The Home Ec Classroom

[all_onis_are_true]

[Meet her here, right?

He drops his bag down, looking around the empty home economics classroom. Nobody here, or at least not yet. Guess Suzumiya was still busy asking around.

He frowns. Right. Suzumiya. If she's the same as she was years ago, she'll probably drag him out the moment she sees him before giving him a chance to change shoes. He sighs. Might as well go grab them before she has a chance to do that.

He leaves his bag behind. He'll be coming back for it later anyway. Might as well.]

[kouyouensei]

[Haruhi made a lot of progress in that interview with Maria, she tells herself! Sure, there were contradictions, but there wouldn't be a mystery if everyone said the facts to start. And she's got her sneakers right here in her bag. They're smudging the notepad a little. This is the price of efficiency.]

Here I am, Yamane-kun.

[He's not here. She constructs half a dozen explanations for his departure (and, well, most of them implicate him because how could she not after dear sweet Alice), before blinking.

Is this his bag? What a perfect opportunity to do some quality snoo--investi... nah, it's just snooping. Sleuthy snooping. She picks it up by the strap, her other hand on her chin, and lays it on the counter. Her fingers extend inside and... she's really surprised that Yamane keeps a loose piece of paper in here. What is this?

Then there's a seal underneath her fingertips, which shake as they trace out the coat of arms, the backdrop of every day in the most miserable period of Haruhi's life to date. Until today she's never been more acutely aware that her heart pumps blood through her body.]