[FFML] [SHnY] The Pillar of Haruhi Suzumiya

[Henry Cobb]

One way to make HS more likable is to toss her character development
off camera...

(Woefully incomplete at this point of course.)

The Pillar of Haruhi Suzumiya
By Henry J. Cobb

[The Haruhi Suzumiya characters are the creation of Nagaru Tanigawa,
etc. Some other characters and situations are the property of a famous
manga writing group. No infringement of any of their rights is
intended.]

The Monday after she had abruptly cut her hair short, Haruhi Suzumiya
walked into class just before first period. I had never seen her show up so
late, but the thing that really startled me was that she had a ponytail
again. Class was just starting so I had to wait until after first period to
turn around and ask about it. "How did your hair grow so much over one
weekend?"

"Oh! I forgot. It was about this long, right?" She held her hand at the
back of her neck.

"Yeah, how did you?"

"Thanks. I'll cut it tonight."

"Why? I don't know how you did it, but I like the way that looks on you."

"How does that matter to me?" There was a flash of anger on Haruhi's face,
but it quickly faded as she looked sadly down at her desk.

I guess I must of hit a nerve so I left her alone for the rest of the day.

After school I saw her sitting with two other girls from different
classes. I didn't know who they were, so I walked up. "Hi Haruhi. Finally
found a club you can join?"

Haruhi looked up at me and from the look on her face I thought she'd surely
cut me down at least verbally, if not physically. Then her expression
changed and she looked down at the ground. "That might be best." She turned
to the girl in glasses with short gray hair. "Yuki, how many students do
you need to maintain the literature club?"

"Five."

"Kyon and Mikuru, you'll both join?"

"Of course." The other girl replied.

"What does the club do?" I asked.

"We'll work that out later. Just sign up tomorrow please."

"I guess." I wondered how Haruhi assumed that she would be the one making
the rules for Yuki's club, but the other two didn't seem to disagree.

As I walked down the hill to home, I wondered what exactly had happened to
Haruhi that last weekend? She had the haunted look of a war refugee. The
headstrong girl who had boldly sought out aliens, time travelers, and
espers now seemed like she'd had enough adventure for a lifetime. And yet
at the same time she seemed so much stronger than she had before, and even
perhaps a tiny bit taller. I admit that this strange combination of
vulnerability and strength intrigued me.

The next morning after I put my bag on the hook, I turned back to
Haruhi. "Thanks for not changing the ponytail. I really do like the look."

"Apparently you're the only one who did notice. So I'll just leave it this
way, to not draw attention."

"Little chance of not drawing attention after your introduction speech at
the start of the term."

"Ha! That's exactly why everybody ignores me. If anybody does ask I'll
explain that I had my hair pinned up or under a short wig for a week."

"It didn't look like that."

"Kyon, can you think of any other logical explanation?"

"No, not without invoking aliens, time travelers or esper powers."

The look she gave me in response wasn't one of annoyance, but rather as if
she were holding her tongue or perhaps holding back laughter. Had she truly
found what she was looking for? After a few seconds she said, "Yuki will be
by after classes to show us the way to the clubroom."

"Yeah, yeah." I turned back forwards as the teacher entered for first period.

Who were these two girls that Haruhi was so suddenly on a first name basis
with? They weren't transfer students. I remembered seeing Mikuru with the
sophomores at school start, what with that figure and looks. And I think I
recalled seeing Yuki at least once running in almost late for
school. Perhaps these were old friends that Haruhi had been meeting all
along, or had there been a sudden traumatic event over the weekend? It
hadn't been anything in the news. I had double checked for that last night.

We had a reseating lottery and I got the second window seat from the back,
while Haruhi got the seat at the back. Little chance of people talking
about her hairstyle from there.

After classes Yuki came by the classroom with Mikuru following and led us
all to the old building, where club activities were held. The girls walked
three abreast, with perfectly matching strides. As I followed behind them I
was forced to conclude that they must indeed have been longtime friends.

The clubroom was sparsely furnished with just a table, chairs and some
bookshelves along one wall. The girls all sat on one side of the table, so
I sat across from them. Yuki and Mikuru turned to Haruhi and she thought
for a moment then said. "Kyon, these are Yuki Nagato and Mikuru Asahina."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Asahina and Miss Nagato. So, Miss Nagato, what
does the literature club do?"

Yuki turned to Haruhi.

Haruhi spent the longest period in continuous thought I had ever seen her
do. This was the girl who completed tests as fast as she could physically
write, and never looked back. Finally she announced her decision. "This
term we will make a report comparing and contrasting tales of strange
visitors and visits to strange lands from around the world."

Yuki nodded and Mikuru said. "Oh? Yes indeed, Miss Suzumiya."

"A report for whom?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter." Haruhi waved the question off. "We'll just present it
at the cultural festival or something." She stood and looked along the
books in the bookshelf. "Yuki, have you read many of these? Could you point
out which would be most useful? The weapons and armor seemed to be mostly
European, right?"

Yuki walked over and pulled out a few books.

What? Weapons? Where did that come from?

A few hours later the girls had settled on several possible stories for
their report and had rejected many others that seemed just as valid to me.

Haruhi went over the list in her notes. "Keeping track of the cross
references is going to be a pain."

"So put it on a computer."

Haruhi looked over at me and blinked, like I had suddenly appeared
there. "Yes, that is a good idea. Who knows how to use a computer?"

"I took a class on computer operations in middle school." Yuki offered.

"And I use a computer at home."

"Kyon, is your computer a laptop?"

"No, it's a hand-me-down desktop. So I can't bring it here, Haruhi." Well
that, and the porn on it.

"It's not that. It's just... Well we're almost through with the sources
here and we'll need to use library books. Checking those out one at a time
and bringing them to the clubroom would take too long. So we need something
we can take to the library."

"My family will buy me a laptop."

"Yes, you mentioned how well off they are, Mikuru. So let's call it a day
at this point and meet tomorrow for lunch outside."

As I walked back home that evening I considered what I had been roped
into. Haruhi was being a little odd about it, but for the most part it
seemed to be exactly the sort of club she herself had rejected many times
already. And also the type of club I myself had steered clear of
throughout my school years. It was all about her whims and her two
friends. Surely I'd just drop out after a while, and that would be that.

On Wednesday I tagged along for lunch. I supposed that it wasn't so bad to
be sitting at the same table with three girls, each cute in their own
way.

Mikuru explained that her parents had approved her purchase of a laptop
computer on her personal credit card.

"So let's go get that tonight and get it setup on Thursday, so we can make
a trip down to the library on Saturday. Anybody can't make it?" Haruhi
looked at the three of us and nobody complained.

"Mikuru!"

"Miss Tsuruya." Mikuru turned to another girl who was walking up.

"Mikuru, what's this about dropping out of the calligraphy club?"

"Miss Tsuruya, I've decided to transfer to the literature club. My fellow
members are Mr Kyon, Miss Nagato and our leader, I mean our club leader,
Miss Suzumiya."

That was the odd part. When we three had signed up to join Yuki's club
yesterday, Haruhi had simply listed herself as the leader, without
consultation or election. I suppose the other two girls had never had to
deal with anybody as assertive as Haruhi, and I certainly didn't want any
sort of permanent position in a club I was probably just going to walk away
from anyway.

"This is so unlike you, Mikuru. I've known you for almost our entire lives,
and you've never done anything on your own. Now suddenly you've dropped our
club without a word to me and run off for this. Did they abduct you or
something?"

"I'm sorry, Miss Tsuruya, but this is important to me. Please accept my
decision."

-HJC