Shin Megami Tensei Fan Fiction ❯ Dear Diary ❯ April 29th, 2009 ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: gamergirllive 
Non Anime: Shin Megami Tensei Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Shoujo-ai | Uploaded On: 10.04.2010 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.3K | Visits: 359 | Status: Work In Progress
Non Anime: Shin Megami Tensei Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Shoujo-ai | Uploaded On: 10.04.2010 | Pages: 5 | Words: 6.3K | Visits: 359 | Status: Work In Progress
’s Note: This chapter is a bit longer. Haha! I seem to be alternating somewhat! Thank you reviewers! I hope you like this chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it! Therefore, if you’re weird like me and like matching music with what you’re reading, here’s some specific suggestions… (Again. Not mandatory. Just thought it would be fun to let you know what I listened to (on loop, annoying my roommate) while writing. ^__^) Thanks again to AmbieBambie85, my star reviewer! You keep me going! :D Of course, more reviewers wouldn’t hurt either…
Music Suggestions:
Afternoon/Mall : www . youtube . com/watch?v=5HX3U9veCO4 (Whut. Yeah, it’s Cloudy Noon again, I can’t help it if it fits!!! You guys play a game with the same music playing over again too, so shush!)
Arcade: (Any DDR song, really. I listened to “Stamp on the Ground” by ItaloBrothers.)
www . youtube . com/watch?v=EQnDRBrU7Mk
The Dark Hour: www . youtube . com/watch?v=R5Sm4kTOoBI
Dear Diary,
I’ve been so busy this past week! Apart from joining the Volleyball team and Student Council, there are so many things to see around town. An old couple runs a cute little book store in the Iwatodai Strip Mall, and I think I’ll stop by and visit them from time to time- They seem really sweet!
I got to spend time with Yukari yesterday after school, and I can feel us growing closer already. I hope the two of us can become closer friends!
Today was a holiday so there were no classes. Junpei-kun invited me out today and I went with him to the arcade…
With a content sigh, she rolled over onto her back, crossing her ankles leisurely as she shifted to get comfortable again. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before a voice from directly above her broke the silence in the room.
“Ha-ru-cha~n!” Junpei’s sing-song voice caused her to jump with a squawk. As she moved the book away from her face with a annoyed scowl, she saw his upside-down face upside above her- grinning like an idiot. How could she have not heard him come down the stairs?!
“What do you want?” She grumbled, lifting her book up again to continue reading and block him from view.
“Whatcha do~in’?” She heard him move around to the side of the couch.
“Isn’t it obvious?” She answered flatly.
“Whatcha re~adin’?” He asked, keeping his playful tone of voice. When she didn’t answer, he leaned forward, reading the title allowed, “‘A Modern History of Japan’…You’re doing homework on a holiday?!”
With an irritated sigh, she snapped the book shut, jolting at how close his face was to the book and now to her own face. Shaking it off, she sat up, fixing him with a glare.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with it?”
“What’s wrong with it, is that it’s a nice day outside and you’re wasting it!” He threw his arms up as if he were proving a point.
“You haven’t even been outside, ‘Stu-pei.’ You just got up.” She scowled, “Besides, we have thirty pages due next week and I want to get an early- Hey!!!”
With a smirk, Junpei had snatched the book from her hands and held it high above his head. She bolted up from the sofa and stretched her arms up, trying to reach it, but to no avail. He grinned down at her, watching her jump on the spot to try and swat it out of his hands, her face turning red with anger.
“Give it back, Junpei!”
“How about this instead- Why don’t you go out somewhere with me?”
She stopped jumping, glaring up at him incredulously.
“What?!”
“C’mon, it’ll be good for you! Everyone else went out, didn’t they?” His arm relaxed slightly, lowering the book.
“Well why does that mean I have to go out too?! I wanted to stay in today!” She snapped, seeing the opening and making a grab for the book once again. With a chuckle, he raised his arm again, lifting the book out of her reach. With his free hand, he lightly ruffled her hair, teasing her.
“Well, if you’d rather stay in, I’ll just keep you company. Wouldn’t be right for a guy to leave a girl home all alone…” He drawled in a joking manner, “Wouldn’t be very gentleman-like.”
With a heavy sigh, she slumped her shoulders in defeat. So much for a peaceful afternoon…
“If I say yes, will you give me back my book?” She looked back up at him with a contemptuous glare. He shot her a victorious grin and stopped ruffling her hair. He bent so that he was eye-level and handed her book to her.
“Here you go, ‘Haru-tan.’”
She snatched the book back with a grumble,
“Fine. I’ll go get my coat.”
“Here we are!” Junpei cheered, thrusting a fist into the air. Haruhi blinked up at the store.
“Game… Panic…?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.
Junpei turned around, scratching the back of his head.
“Huh… That reminds me, I didn’t think too hard before bringing you to the arcade/ You cool coming here?”
“Uh, I guess so. I don’t think I’ve been to a place like this before.” She admitted slowly.
“Well, I’ll pitch in some coins for ya.” He winked with a click of his tongue, “Let’s choose something we can both play. C’mon!”
Haruhi felt her heart skip a beat for a moment as he turned and walked through the arcade doors. She blinked, confused for a moment, before shaking her head and scampering after him.
The inside of the arcade was bright and loud. Every machine was exploding with sound and flashing lights and graphics, enticing customers to play. It was pretty busy, being that it was a holiday, and she recognized a few fellow students.
“So, Haru-chan, have you ever played any games before?” He nudged her gently with his elbow to get her attention.
“Well… a few times. But never in an arcade.” She replied, still looking around.
“You any good? If there’s one you think you can beat me at, I’ll take that challenge!” He grinned disdainfully. Haruhi smirked up at him for a moment before giving the arcade another quick scan. Her eyes landed on a game with a picture of a spectacled man with a beard and turban displayed next to the name: ‘I.Q. Genie.’ With an impish grin, she pointed over to it and glanced up to see his reaction.
“How about that quiz game over there?”
She couldn’t help but giggle as he immediately became flustered.
“Ack! A battle of wits, huh…?” He chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck, “I-I’m not too sure about my chances there… Let’s find a co-op one instead of a versus game!”
“Alright, alright.” She laughed, linking arms with him to tug him forward and out of his mini-funk. “Let’s go find something, then.”
They walked around the arcade, looking at the different varieties of games they had there. They found a drum game, a few different fighting games, driving games, motorcycle games, spaceship battle games, shooting games, and adventure games.
As they approached a medieval themed co-op adventure game titled: ‘Iron Mitten II,’ Haruhi spotted another game a few machines away.
“Junpei-kun, what’s that?” She asked as she pointed to it. The machine had several flashing lights around it with a lot of loud music.
“Oh, that?” He glanced over to the machine, “That’s ‘Boogie-Down Anarchy: Extreme IV.’ It’s a dancing game.”
“A dancing game?!” Haruhi tilted her head to the side as she watched the machine’s current customer hop around on the platform as if it were the most ridiculous thing she’d ever seen. “How is that dancing?!”
“Y’wanna try it?” Junpei nudged her playfully, “It’s pretty fu~n…”
“N-no… that’s quite alright…” She shook her head. He chuckled and took her arm by the elbow, pulling her gently with him.
“Aw, c’mon. I’ll show you how it’s done.” He lead her towards the game machine as the previous user was just getting off. He turned and gave her a toothy grin as he took off his jacket and handed it to her. “Hold my jacket?”
She blinked, accepting the jacket as he stepped onto the platform to pump coins into the machine. Now that she was closer, she noticed that the platform on which he now stood had two sets of four arrows, one point in each direction. He leaned back on the rail at the back of the platform after he selected a song, throwing her an arrogant smirk while he waited for the song to start. She returned his smirk with one of her own, raising her eyebrow and shaking her head.
With the sound of cheering from the game, a happy, techno-pop song began to play and Junpei stood properly in the center of the platform in preparation. Haruhi watched the screen, seeing arrows begin to slide up from the bottom towards the top. After watching for a few moments, she realized that these arrows coincided with the arrows on the platform, and that the goal of the game was to sync your steps with the arrows reaching the top of the screen. Glanced down at Junpei’s feet, entranced by the movement and the lighting up of the arrows as he stomped on to the beat of the song. He seemed to be pretty good at it- at least better than the last person playing… He at least looked like he was dancing some-what. Her eyes traveled up to the rest of him, looking up at his face. His eyes were glued to the screen, completely zoned in and concentrating on the arrows drifting up from the bottom… and there were so many! They were skating up in overwhelming amounts, but he still seemed to be hitting most of them spot on.
She glanced from the screen back at him, noticing that he was starting to sweat slightly as he was pulling a few tricks while stepping on the arrows. She blinked as she felt a heated blush creep across her face, averting her gaze with an inward grumble,
‘Show off…’
Her gaze was attracted back to him, however, when he leaned backward far enough to smack one of the arrows with the palm of his right hand, pushing himself back up in time to hit the final three arrows with a smirk and a grunt. Haruhi started laughing, clapping her hands as the song finally came to a close. He turned to her with a victorious, toothy grin as he leaned toward her with his hands in his pockets.
“Pretty cool, huh?” He laughed along with her.
She gave him a nod, smiling back.
“You make it look less ridiculous and more fun.”
“Wanna give it a try?” He reached out a hand. She paled slightly, shaking her head and taking a step back.
“No way… There were so many arrows! I’d never be able to do that!”
He chuckled, flexing his fingers as he continues to stretch his hand toward her.
“C’mon, it’ll be fun! There’s a beginner’s level you can try- I’ll do it with you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, turning the idea over in her head. Finally she nodded slowly, taking his hand.
“Alright, I’ll try it… But if I make a fool of myself because of you, I’ll… stop feeding you answers in class!”
He laughed, urging her to step up onto the platform with a gentle tug of her hand. He took his place on the second set of arrows next to her and fished into his pants pocket for more coins. Haruhi turned and draped his jacket onto the bar behind her, peeling off her own to repeat the action. When she turned again, Junpei was selecting a somewhat slower, but equally happy tune out of the song list.
“Okay, we’re both on the beginner’s difficulty. Y’ready?” He stood in the center of his side of the platform and she shifted to do the same. “Alright, now you’re gonna see those arrows come up again. The point of the game is when, say… the left arrow reaches the top of the screen, you step on the panel with the left arrow on it at the same time. Get it?”
“S-sure.” She nodded, watching as the first arrow moved from the bottom of the screen. It was moving sluggishly compared to what she had seen when Junpei had played, but it was still moving faster than Haruhi was currently comfortable with. With a squeak, she jabbed her foot into the up arrow, Junpei doing the same with ease. She blinked at the screen as it awarded her an ‘OK’ for that particular step as more arrows began to drift up from the bottom of the screen.
They played through the rest of the song, Junpei making all of his steps with fluid ease, Haruhi making most of hers, her movements stiff and unsure. It felt unnatural, to say the least… but as a smile began to grow across her face, she realized that she was at least having fun. As the song came to a close, she threw Junpei a smile, who returned it with one of his own.
“Fun, huh?”
Her smile grew as she nodded, happily.
“It was!”
They played a few more rounds before moving back to ‘Iron Mitten II,’ which Haruhi picked up a lot quicker than the dancing game. They played several levels of the adventure game (Junpei having to use more coins to resurrect Haruhi’s character every now and then) before switching to a shooting game titled ‘Malicious Citizen.’ It was a horror-themed shooter with plenty of zombies crawling towards the front of the screen. Haruhi was decent enough at the game- mainly because she was spastically shooting everywhere on the screen in panic, obviously not a big fan of zombies. Junpei was beside himself with laughter as he played alongside her.
“Hahaha! You’re such a wuss, Haru-chan!” He grinned, ruffling her hair with his free hand, “Don’t worry, Junpei’ll protect you from those big bad zombies!”
She blushed, wincing away from his hand irritably and earned another chuckle from Junpei as they went back to their game. They stayed at the arcade well into the evening, finally heading home at closing time.
“I can’t believe it’s almost midnight! And I still have studying to do…”
Junpei laughed, walking alongside her.
“Aww. Is widdle bookworm ‘Haru-tan’ worried about her gwades?”
“Hey!” She protested, snapping her head to glare at him. “There’s nothing wrong with me taking my studies seriously! You should actually be doing the same!”
He chuckled, ignoring her death glare and slipping his hands into his coat pockets.
“Heheh… You sound like Mitsuru-senpai. Y’know, there’s nothing wrong with lightening up, too, right?”
“Hn. You and your frivolous way of living…” She shoved her hands into her own jacket pockets, shaking her head as they continued. They walked along in silence for a short while until suddenly, all of the lights around them went out simultaneously.
The air around them began to feel thicker… heavier… The moon above them grew larger, shifting colors to cast an eerie green light down upon the city, whose streets were not bathed in sticky red blood. They could feel a soft trembling beneath their feet, which told them that Tartarus was springing from what was once their school, stretching towards the sky. Haruhi took in a sharp breath, stepping closer to Junpei in alarm. She looked up at him to find him staring ahead, eyes narrowed with the most serious expression she’d ever seen upon his face.
“The Dark Hour…” He murmured. “I can’t believe we didn’t think about this before…”
“Our weapons… and Evokers!” Haruhi covered her mouth with a horrified gasp. “We don’t have them with!”
“We’re gonna have to be careful… C’mon, we gotta get back to the dorm.” Junpei grabbed her by the arm at the elbow, pulling her behind him as he started running forward. She immediately yanked her arm from his grasp with an angry growl.
“But it’s the Dark Hour and we’re on Tatsumi Port Island! The train is out, you idiot! So how are we supposed to get back?!”
He furrowed his eyebrows and turned to look at her again,
“Well you’re the leader, right? Start thinking of an idea on the way. Unless you’d rather wait out the Dark Hour here- unarmed.”
Her stern eyes locked with his for a moment as she bared her teeth with a growl.
“Let’s get moving.” She took off running ahead, Junpei easily keeping up beside her.
As they turned a corner onto a different street, they both stopped dead in their tracks. They were now both standing mere yards away from a Shadow. It was gliding slowly away from them, holding its porcelain mask up to look left and right- it didn’t seem to notice them… yet. As it slowly turned around, Haruhi felt a hand clasp over her mouth- muffling a squeak, and an arm grab her around the chest, pulling her back around the corner. She breathed through her nose, slow, shuddering breaths, her back against Junpei’s chest as he pressed himself against the building, both of them glancing towards the corner, listening…
They could hear its rattling breath, the sticky sound of its several syrupy arms moving across the pavement… it was getting closer. Haruhi’s eyes darted in the other direction, spotting a small alleyway behind them in between the two buildings. She lightly pulled his hand away from her mouth and whispered in a hoarse, panicked voice.
“The alley…!”
Junpei’s head turned sharply in the direction that she was looking and lurched forward for it, pulling Haruhi with him by the arm. After they made it into the alleyway, they both peeked around the corner, watching the Shadow slide around the side of the building and onto the street that had just been on. They were slowly backing further into the alley as it was getting closer to passing them… when Junpei’s heel hit an old glass bottle, sending it bouncing noisily along the ground to hit a nearby dumpster with a resounding clang!
The sound was deafening in the eerie silence, and the two gripped each other in terror- Junpei’s hands clamping onto Haruhi’s shoulders from behind, Haruhi gripping on of his hands with both of hers. They watched, wide-eyed and frozen in place, as the Shadow began to drift slowly into view at the end of the alley. To their shock, however, it simply moved on, not turning in toward them.
Junpei let out a staggering breath he’d been holding, whispering to her.
“D-do y’think it didn’t hear that…?”
Gulping, Haruhi, released herself from Junpei’s grasp, tip-toeing towards the alleyway entrance.
“H-hey!” He hissed, “Get back here!”
She ignored him, peering cautiously around the corner after the Shadow. It was still moving sluggishly away from her at the same pace it had before. She narrowed her eyes curiously, moving next to a trashcan nearby… and kicking it over. The noise was enormous, bouncing off the walls of the alley, echoing into the night. Anything in at least a half mile radius should have heard it… but still the Shadow slid on, unperturbed. She gasped as she felt someone roughly grasp her arm and pull her away from the alley’s entrance.
“Jeeze! What the hell are you doin’?!” Junpei hissed, turning her around to face her.
“Junpei… I don’t think they can hear…” Haruhi replied softly, still glancing over her shoulder.
“What?!” He exclaimed, still in a paranoid whisper.
“Think about it. You know that noise was loud enough to attract anyone from the area who could hear it, right?” She turned back to him as his grip on her arm grew lax, “It’s gotta be deaf- Shadows probably don’t have a sense of sound!”
He stared at her for a moment before nodding slowly.
“Y-yeah… I bet that’s why they’re so easy to sneak up on while their backs are turned!” He suddenly crowed loudly, thrusting a jubilant fist into the air. “Well that makes our trip back a bit easier!”
She grinned back at him, clapping her hands together.
“We just have to avoid being seen!”
“Let’s go, Haru-chan!”
“So…” Haruhi panted bent over, propping herself up at the knees, “What… do we do now…? I don’t… have any ideas on how… to make a train move… during the Dark Hour.”
Junpei leaned against a light post, catching his breath.
“We don’t…” He clutched at his chest, heaving, “We’re gonna have to walk on the tracks.”
“Are you mad?!” She exclaimed, “We’re gonna fall!”
“C’mon, the tracks are wide enough.” He reasoned, pulling himself from the post to stand properly again, “Besides, what choice do we have? We’re pretty much out of options.”
She sighed, frustrated as she moved to stand by him in front of the building. As she peered towards the darkness through the glass doors, she murmured, just loud enough for him to hear,
“You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don’t you?”
He chuckled down at her, grinning cheekily.
“You know it!”
“Hey, Haru-chan… Look!”
She turned around to face him, but he was pointing at something off in the distance behind them. She followed his finger to where Tartarus stood, tall… eerie… menacing, even though it was so far away. It seemed to shine in the moonlight, or maybe it was emitting its own light…
“It’s kinda… pretty from far away, isn’t it?” He tilted his head to the side, slipping his hands into his coat pockets.
“Yeah… It kind of is…” Haruhi nodded, staring at it for a moment longer before glancing up at the moon. “The moon sure looks pretty big… Bigger than it normally is outside the Dark Hour, anyway. It’s like it’s twice the size.”
Junpei looked up as well.
“Yeah, you’re right… Looks like it’ll be full in a week or two, too…”
“Huh…” She murmured. Their gazes both dropped from the moon to each other to make eye contact. “We’d better keep moving.”
They continued along the tracks, their conversations kept mainly quiet and short due to the eerie atmosphere. As they neared the next station, they began to pick up their pace to a jog. They reached the tunnel, navigating through it and the station carefully and began the rest of their walk back. Their spirits rose the closer they were to the dorm, and before they knew it, they were just three blocks away.
“Let’s make a deal and not do this again, okay?” Haruhi turned her head to gaze up at Junpei who walked beside her.
“Wh-whaaaat?!” He looked down at her shocked, “But you had fun today!”
She burst into laughter, shaking her head.
“I don’t mean that, idiot! Of course I had fun. I’m talking about staying out this late and getting caught unarmed in the Dark Hour again.”
Junpei chuckled, blushing slightly as he scratched the back of his head.
“Yeah… or we could always carry our Evokers whenever we go out.” He shot her a grin.
“Junpei…” Haruhi stopped walking, placing her hands on her hips with a stern look.
He laughed, stopping in front of her,
“Alright, alright… Deal.”
He extended a hand and she took it into hers, shaking it firmly with a smile. He smiled back down at her with a light chuckle.
A loud, deep gurgling noise brought their handshake to a halt. They stared into each other’s wide eyes, seeing their own panic being reflected back at them as they stood, frozen. After what felt like an eternity, they turned their heads in unison to see a Shadow across the street, holding its mask high above itself… the mask looking directly at them.
“Y-y’think it sees us…?” Junpei’s voice was a higher pitch than usual, his hand gripping hers tighter. As if on cue, knives appeared in each of the Shadow’s free hands. He gulped, “I think that means it does…”
“W-what do we-…?! We can’t-” Haruhi squeaked, but was cut off by Junpei lurching forward, yanking her along with him.
“RUN!!! ” He bellowed, sprinting along the sidewalk with Haruhi stumbling to keep up. She looked over her shoulder as they ran, gasping as she saw the Shadow lumbering after them, more arms protruding from it’s oil-like body to scrape at the ground, pulling it forward faster and faster. She turned back, screaming.
“It’s chasing us!”
“Just keep running, Haruhi!” His grip on her hand became tighter as he tried to pick up the pace, hurtling toward their sanctuary mere blocks away. His eyes widened sharply as he felt her hand shift, her fingers slipping from his grasp. He whirled around, stumbling to a stop as he heard her shriek and watched her fall to the ground- tripping over an uneven part of the sidewalk.
“Shit! ” He cursed, glancing around him quickly. Haruhi turned over onto her back with a scream, paralyzed by the image of the crazed Shadow scrambling closer and closer… Junpei’s eyes locked onto a long rusty wrench lying near a fire hydrant and instantly bent forward to retrieve it as he sprinted back towards Haruhi.
Just as the Shadow was upon her, he stepped over her to put himself between them, swinging the wrench as hard as he could to knock the beast back, cracking its mask.
“HOMERUN!!!” He roared, sending the Shadow sailing backward into a mass of tangled limbs. Not wasting a moment, he dropped the wrench and turned, bending to grab Haruhi by her arms.
“Are you okay?” He asked, pulling her to her feet, “You can still move, right?”
“Y-yeah…” She hissed, glancing down at her scuffed and bloodied left leg, “I only skinned my knee.”
“Hang in there, Haru-chan.” He took her by the hand and they took off once again.
The dorm loomed in sight, only a block away. They could hear the gurgling and the slapping of several hands trampling across the pavement behind them again. The sounds filled their ears as they drew ever closer… proof that it was gaining on them. Haruhi screamed in desperation, squeezing Junpei’s hand tighter as he grit his teeth, trying to go urge his legs to go faster. He cursed inwardly- They were still too far away from the front door… and even when they got there, they wouldn’t be able to get inside in time… he knew this. He wished he hadn’t dropped that wrench…
“PENTHESILEA!! ” A loud booming voice echoed through the night, causing both of them to jerk their heads to their left across the street to see a wave of ice speeding towards the Shadow, knocking it over. A very enraged Mitsuru trotted over to them, barking an order through gritted teeth.
“Get inside, now.”
They didn’t need telling twice. Junpei sprinted forward again, pulling Haruhi with him to close the remaining distance between them and front steps of their dormitory. They each wrenched a door open and threw themselves inside, slamming the doors behind them. Once inside, still throbbing with adrenaline, they stared around the room, finding it very eerie and still.
“H-hello…?” Haruhi called, “Is anyone here?!”
Junpei collapsed with a tired sigh, sliding into a sitting position against the door,
“I bet they’re all out, Haru-chan… They were probably looking for us.”
Haruhi turned to look down at him with a frown.
“You’re probably right… We’ve really cause a lot of trouble tonight, haven’t we?”
“Hey…” Junpei chuckled weakly, “At least we made it back okay.”
“Yeah…” She smiled, shaking her head at him. “You’d better get up before they get back. Otherwise you’re going to get hit by the door.”
“Nope. Can’t.” He grinned childishly up at her as he lifted a hand towards her. “Help me up.”
She rolled her eyes with a smirk and walked back over to him. Grasping him with both hands above the wrist, she pulled, heaving him to his feet. As he steadied himself, the lights in the room flickered back on, signifying the end of the Dark Hour. She glanced around the room with a relieved smile before looking back up at him. She noticed that her hands her still clutching him around the wrist… and he seemed to be aware of this fact as well since he was beaming down at her. She dropped her hands and blushed slightly, averting her gaze.
“Ah… Junpei…” She mumbled, “Thank you. Y’know, for… saving me… out there.”
He chuckled and brought up a hand to ruffle her hair, causing her to flinch lightly.
“Aww, don’ worry about it, Haru-chan. Didn’t I tell ya that nothing’ was gonna happen to you long as I’m around?”
She opened one eye, still wincing at him, yet smiled.
“Yeah, you did.”
With a bang, the front doors flew open, causing them to leapt away from each other. Mitsuru stormed up to the both of them, rooting them to the spot with her glare. As she approached them, she slapped Junpei hard and swiftly across the cheek, causing his hat to go askew. Haruhi gasped, covering her mouth. Yukari and Akihiko returned through the front doors in time to witness this event.
“Where the hell were you two?! What did you think you were doing?!” She roared at Junpei, who stared wide-eyed back at her in fear. “Do you have any idea how worried we all were- what could have happened?! Do you think this is a game, Iori?! Do you?!”
Haruhi winced at her sharp, stinging tone, watching her practically breathe fire on Junpei.
“M-Mitsuru-senpai…” She jumped slightly as Mitsuru turned her fiery gaze onto her. “It was an accident. We just… lost track of time at the mall-”
“Fujisawa.” Her fierce voice stopped her. “This doesn’t surprise me coming from Iori, but you were appointed leader of our operations. I expected more of your decision making skills.”
Her words stung them both. Junpei straightened his cap and dipped it lower to hide his face as he seethed silently while Haruhi lowered her head in an apologetic bow.
“I’m sorry, Senpai. It won’t happen again.”
Akihiko and Yukari watched frozen in silence at the front door, their eyes shifting between the three of them as a long pause made the air thick with tension. Finally, Mitsuru swept some of the hair from her face and sighed, calming down.
“Very well. But see that you don’t disappoint me again, Fujisawa. You’re both dismissed.” She turned from them with a wave of her hand, spotting the other two at the door. “I suggest that we all return to our rooms. It’s late.”
Akihiko and Yukari nodded and made their way to the stairs, but Junpei didn’t move. Haruhi looked up at him catching a glimpse of the anger and disappointment etched painfully across his face. Throwing Mitsuru a tentative glance, she lightly tugged his sleeve.
“Junpei…?”
He gasped softly, his blinking eyes finding hers. Suddenly he was all smiles again, back to his usual self.
“Guess we’d better hit they hay, huh?”
She gave him a concerned smile as she nodded up at him.
“Y-yeah.”
“Are you okay, Junpei…?”
He glanced down at her, shaking his head with a grin,
“I’m fine, Haru-chan… And you really shouldn’t be making that face. Doesn’t suit you.” He ruffled her head one more time for the night before turning to head to his room, giving her a wave over his shoulder. “G’night, Haru-chan.”
She didn’t flinch irritably as he messed up her hair for what must have been the hundredth time that day, and her frown didn’t disappear. She couldn’t get his expression she had seen downstairs out of her mind… He had seemed to take Mitsuru’s scolding pretty hard- and that slap couldn’t have felt that great either. She called after him softly as he reached his door, turning the handle.
“Goodnight, Junpei…”
He didn’t nod or give any sign that he heard her, but simply entered his room and closed the door behind him. She sighed heavily and climbed the stairs. At least they made it home safely… she could at least say that. She gloomily approached the third floor bathroom to clean up her knee before turning in for the night, beginning to regret this day- despite the good that came of it.
Music Suggestions:
Afternoon/Mall : www . youtube . com/watch?v=5HX3U9veCO4 (Whut. Yeah, it’s Cloudy Noon again, I can’t help it if it fits!!! You guys play a game with the same music playing over again too, so shush!)
Arcade: (Any DDR song, really. I listened to “Stamp on the Ground” by ItaloBrothers.)
www . youtube . com/watch?v=EQnDRBrU7Mk
The Dark Hour: www . youtube . com/watch?v=R5Sm4kTOoBI
.~*~.
.~*~.
April 29th.~*~.
Dear Diary,
I’ve been so busy this past week! Apart from joining the Volleyball team and Student Council, there are so many things to see around town. An old couple runs a cute little book store in the Iwatodai Strip Mall, and I think I’ll stop by and visit them from time to time- They seem really sweet!
I got to spend time with Yukari yesterday after school, and I can feel us growing closer already. I hope the two of us can become closer friends!
Today was a holiday so there were no classes. Junpei-kun invited me out today and I went with him to the arcade…
.~*~.
.~*~.
It was around one o’clock in the afternoon and Haruhi was stretched out on one of the sofas downstairs with a book. It was relatively quiet with no one else being there to compete with the soft ticking of the clock on the wall. Akihiko had come and gone a few hours ago, headed out to who knows where. Mitsuru had joined her for a couple hours around ten with a book of her own, but she had also gone out to runs some errands. Yukari had previous engagements with friends at school, and Junpei seemed to be sleeping in..~*~.
With a content sigh, she rolled over onto her back, crossing her ankles leisurely as she shifted to get comfortable again. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed before a voice from directly above her broke the silence in the room.
“Ha-ru-cha~n!” Junpei’s sing-song voice caused her to jump with a squawk. As she moved the book away from her face with a annoyed scowl, she saw his upside-down face upside above her- grinning like an idiot. How could she have not heard him come down the stairs?!
“What do you want?” She grumbled, lifting her book up again to continue reading and block him from view.
“Whatcha do~in’?” She heard him move around to the side of the couch.
“Isn’t it obvious?” She answered flatly.
“Whatcha re~adin’?” He asked, keeping his playful tone of voice. When she didn’t answer, he leaned forward, reading the title allowed, “‘A Modern History of Japan’…You’re doing homework on a holiday?!”
With an irritated sigh, she snapped the book shut, jolting at how close his face was to the book and now to her own face. Shaking it off, she sat up, fixing him with a glare.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with it?”
“What’s wrong with it, is that it’s a nice day outside and you’re wasting it!” He threw his arms up as if he were proving a point.
“You haven’t even been outside, ‘Stu-pei.’ You just got up.” She scowled, “Besides, we have thirty pages due next week and I want to get an early- Hey!!!”
With a smirk, Junpei had snatched the book from her hands and held it high above his head. She bolted up from the sofa and stretched her arms up, trying to reach it, but to no avail. He grinned down at her, watching her jump on the spot to try and swat it out of his hands, her face turning red with anger.
“Give it back, Junpei!”
“How about this instead- Why don’t you go out somewhere with me?”
She stopped jumping, glaring up at him incredulously.
“What?!”
“C’mon, it’ll be good for you! Everyone else went out, didn’t they?” His arm relaxed slightly, lowering the book.
“Well why does that mean I have to go out too?! I wanted to stay in today!” She snapped, seeing the opening and making a grab for the book once again. With a chuckle, he raised his arm again, lifting the book out of her reach. With his free hand, he lightly ruffled her hair, teasing her.
“Well, if you’d rather stay in, I’ll just keep you company. Wouldn’t be right for a guy to leave a girl home all alone…” He drawled in a joking manner, “Wouldn’t be very gentleman-like.”
With a heavy sigh, she slumped her shoulders in defeat. So much for a peaceful afternoon…
“If I say yes, will you give me back my book?” She looked back up at him with a contemptuous glare. He shot her a victorious grin and stopped ruffling her hair. He bent so that he was eye-level and handed her book to her.
“Here you go, ‘Haru-tan.’”
She snatched the book back with a grumble,
“Fine. I’ll go get my coat.”
.~*~.
.~*~.
After fixing her hair and fetching her coat, she and Junpei head out for Paulownia Mall. Haruhi’s mood had lightened after getting outside into the cool, but comfortable air. She was smiling again by time they arrived at their destination- Game Panic, the arcade next to the music store..~*~.
“Here we are!” Junpei cheered, thrusting a fist into the air. Haruhi blinked up at the store.
“Game… Panic…?” She asked, tilting her head to the side.
Junpei turned around, scratching the back of his head.
“Huh… That reminds me, I didn’t think too hard before bringing you to the arcade/ You cool coming here?”
“Uh, I guess so. I don’t think I’ve been to a place like this before.” She admitted slowly.
“Well, I’ll pitch in some coins for ya.” He winked with a click of his tongue, “Let’s choose something we can both play. C’mon!”
Haruhi felt her heart skip a beat for a moment as he turned and walked through the arcade doors. She blinked, confused for a moment, before shaking her head and scampering after him.
The inside of the arcade was bright and loud. Every machine was exploding with sound and flashing lights and graphics, enticing customers to play. It was pretty busy, being that it was a holiday, and she recognized a few fellow students.
“So, Haru-chan, have you ever played any games before?” He nudged her gently with his elbow to get her attention.
“Well… a few times. But never in an arcade.” She replied, still looking around.
“You any good? If there’s one you think you can beat me at, I’ll take that challenge!” He grinned disdainfully. Haruhi smirked up at him for a moment before giving the arcade another quick scan. Her eyes landed on a game with a picture of a spectacled man with a beard and turban displayed next to the name: ‘I.Q. Genie.’ With an impish grin, she pointed over to it and glanced up to see his reaction.
“How about that quiz game over there?”
She couldn’t help but giggle as he immediately became flustered.
“Ack! A battle of wits, huh…?” He chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his neck, “I-I’m not too sure about my chances there… Let’s find a co-op one instead of a versus game!”
“Alright, alright.” She laughed, linking arms with him to tug him forward and out of his mini-funk. “Let’s go find something, then.”
They walked around the arcade, looking at the different varieties of games they had there. They found a drum game, a few different fighting games, driving games, motorcycle games, spaceship battle games, shooting games, and adventure games.
As they approached a medieval themed co-op adventure game titled: ‘Iron Mitten II,’ Haruhi spotted another game a few machines away.
“Junpei-kun, what’s that?” She asked as she pointed to it. The machine had several flashing lights around it with a lot of loud music.
“Oh, that?” He glanced over to the machine, “That’s ‘Boogie-Down Anarchy: Extreme IV.’ It’s a dancing game.”
“A dancing game?!” Haruhi tilted her head to the side as she watched the machine’s current customer hop around on the platform as if it were the most ridiculous thing she’d ever seen. “How is that dancing?!”
“Y’wanna try it?” Junpei nudged her playfully, “It’s pretty fu~n…”
“N-no… that’s quite alright…” She shook her head. He chuckled and took her arm by the elbow, pulling her gently with him.
“Aw, c’mon. I’ll show you how it’s done.” He lead her towards the game machine as the previous user was just getting off. He turned and gave her a toothy grin as he took off his jacket and handed it to her. “Hold my jacket?”
She blinked, accepting the jacket as he stepped onto the platform to pump coins into the machine. Now that she was closer, she noticed that the platform on which he now stood had two sets of four arrows, one point in each direction. He leaned back on the rail at the back of the platform after he selected a song, throwing her an arrogant smirk while he waited for the song to start. She returned his smirk with one of her own, raising her eyebrow and shaking her head.
With the sound of cheering from the game, a happy, techno-pop song began to play and Junpei stood properly in the center of the platform in preparation. Haruhi watched the screen, seeing arrows begin to slide up from the bottom towards the top. After watching for a few moments, she realized that these arrows coincided with the arrows on the platform, and that the goal of the game was to sync your steps with the arrows reaching the top of the screen. Glanced down at Junpei’s feet, entranced by the movement and the lighting up of the arrows as he stomped on to the beat of the song. He seemed to be pretty good at it- at least better than the last person playing… He at least looked like he was dancing some-what. Her eyes traveled up to the rest of him, looking up at his face. His eyes were glued to the screen, completely zoned in and concentrating on the arrows drifting up from the bottom… and there were so many! They were skating up in overwhelming amounts, but he still seemed to be hitting most of them spot on.
She glanced from the screen back at him, noticing that he was starting to sweat slightly as he was pulling a few tricks while stepping on the arrows. She blinked as she felt a heated blush creep across her face, averting her gaze with an inward grumble,
‘Show off…’
Her gaze was attracted back to him, however, when he leaned backward far enough to smack one of the arrows with the palm of his right hand, pushing himself back up in time to hit the final three arrows with a smirk and a grunt. Haruhi started laughing, clapping her hands as the song finally came to a close. He turned to her with a victorious, toothy grin as he leaned toward her with his hands in his pockets.
“Pretty cool, huh?” He laughed along with her.
She gave him a nod, smiling back.
“You make it look less ridiculous and more fun.”
“Wanna give it a try?” He reached out a hand. She paled slightly, shaking her head and taking a step back.
“No way… There were so many arrows! I’d never be able to do that!”
He chuckled, flexing his fingers as he continues to stretch his hand toward her.
“C’mon, it’ll be fun! There’s a beginner’s level you can try- I’ll do it with you.”
She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, turning the idea over in her head. Finally she nodded slowly, taking his hand.
“Alright, I’ll try it… But if I make a fool of myself because of you, I’ll… stop feeding you answers in class!”
He laughed, urging her to step up onto the platform with a gentle tug of her hand. He took his place on the second set of arrows next to her and fished into his pants pocket for more coins. Haruhi turned and draped his jacket onto the bar behind her, peeling off her own to repeat the action. When she turned again, Junpei was selecting a somewhat slower, but equally happy tune out of the song list.
“Okay, we’re both on the beginner’s difficulty. Y’ready?” He stood in the center of his side of the platform and she shifted to do the same. “Alright, now you’re gonna see those arrows come up again. The point of the game is when, say… the left arrow reaches the top of the screen, you step on the panel with the left arrow on it at the same time. Get it?”
“S-sure.” She nodded, watching as the first arrow moved from the bottom of the screen. It was moving sluggishly compared to what she had seen when Junpei had played, but it was still moving faster than Haruhi was currently comfortable with. With a squeak, she jabbed her foot into the up arrow, Junpei doing the same with ease. She blinked at the screen as it awarded her an ‘OK’ for that particular step as more arrows began to drift up from the bottom of the screen.
They played through the rest of the song, Junpei making all of his steps with fluid ease, Haruhi making most of hers, her movements stiff and unsure. It felt unnatural, to say the least… but as a smile began to grow across her face, she realized that she was at least having fun. As the song came to a close, she threw Junpei a smile, who returned it with one of his own.
“Fun, huh?”
Her smile grew as she nodded, happily.
“It was!”
They played a few more rounds before moving back to ‘Iron Mitten II,’ which Haruhi picked up a lot quicker than the dancing game. They played several levels of the adventure game (Junpei having to use more coins to resurrect Haruhi’s character every now and then) before switching to a shooting game titled ‘Malicious Citizen.’ It was a horror-themed shooter with plenty of zombies crawling towards the front of the screen. Haruhi was decent enough at the game- mainly because she was spastically shooting everywhere on the screen in panic, obviously not a big fan of zombies. Junpei was beside himself with laughter as he played alongside her.
“Hahaha! You’re such a wuss, Haru-chan!” He grinned, ruffling her hair with his free hand, “Don’t worry, Junpei’ll protect you from those big bad zombies!”
She blushed, wincing away from his hand irritably and earned another chuckle from Junpei as they went back to their game. They stayed at the arcade well into the evening, finally heading home at closing time.
.~*~.
.~*~.
Haruhi yawned loudly, shielding her mouth with her hand..~*~.
“I can’t believe it’s almost midnight! And I still have studying to do…”
Junpei laughed, walking alongside her.
“Aww. Is widdle bookworm ‘Haru-tan’ worried about her gwades?”
“Hey!” She protested, snapping her head to glare at him. “There’s nothing wrong with me taking my studies seriously! You should actually be doing the same!”
He chuckled, ignoring her death glare and slipping his hands into his coat pockets.
“Heheh… You sound like Mitsuru-senpai. Y’know, there’s nothing wrong with lightening up, too, right?”
“Hn. You and your frivolous way of living…” She shoved her hands into her own jacket pockets, shaking her head as they continued. They walked along in silence for a short while until suddenly, all of the lights around them went out simultaneously.
The air around them began to feel thicker… heavier… The moon above them grew larger, shifting colors to cast an eerie green light down upon the city, whose streets were not bathed in sticky red blood. They could feel a soft trembling beneath their feet, which told them that Tartarus was springing from what was once their school, stretching towards the sky. Haruhi took in a sharp breath, stepping closer to Junpei in alarm. She looked up at him to find him staring ahead, eyes narrowed with the most serious expression she’d ever seen upon his face.
“The Dark Hour…” He murmured. “I can’t believe we didn’t think about this before…”
“Our weapons… and Evokers!” Haruhi covered her mouth with a horrified gasp. “We don’t have them with!”
“We’re gonna have to be careful… C’mon, we gotta get back to the dorm.” Junpei grabbed her by the arm at the elbow, pulling her behind him as he started running forward. She immediately yanked her arm from his grasp with an angry growl.
“But it’s the Dark Hour and we’re on Tatsumi Port Island! The train is out, you idiot! So how are we supposed to get back?!”
He furrowed his eyebrows and turned to look at her again,
“Well you’re the leader, right? Start thinking of an idea on the way. Unless you’d rather wait out the Dark Hour here- unarmed.”
Her stern eyes locked with his for a moment as she bared her teeth with a growl.
“Let’s get moving.” She took off running ahead, Junpei easily keeping up beside her.
As they turned a corner onto a different street, they both stopped dead in their tracks. They were now both standing mere yards away from a Shadow. It was gliding slowly away from them, holding its porcelain mask up to look left and right- it didn’t seem to notice them… yet. As it slowly turned around, Haruhi felt a hand clasp over her mouth- muffling a squeak, and an arm grab her around the chest, pulling her back around the corner. She breathed through her nose, slow, shuddering breaths, her back against Junpei’s chest as he pressed himself against the building, both of them glancing towards the corner, listening…
They could hear its rattling breath, the sticky sound of its several syrupy arms moving across the pavement… it was getting closer. Haruhi’s eyes darted in the other direction, spotting a small alleyway behind them in between the two buildings. She lightly pulled his hand away from her mouth and whispered in a hoarse, panicked voice.
“The alley…!”
Junpei’s head turned sharply in the direction that she was looking and lurched forward for it, pulling Haruhi with him by the arm. After they made it into the alleyway, they both peeked around the corner, watching the Shadow slide around the side of the building and onto the street that had just been on. They were slowly backing further into the alley as it was getting closer to passing them… when Junpei’s heel hit an old glass bottle, sending it bouncing noisily along the ground to hit a nearby dumpster with a resounding clang!
The sound was deafening in the eerie silence, and the two gripped each other in terror- Junpei’s hands clamping onto Haruhi’s shoulders from behind, Haruhi gripping on of his hands with both of hers. They watched, wide-eyed and frozen in place, as the Shadow began to drift slowly into view at the end of the alley. To their shock, however, it simply moved on, not turning in toward them.
Junpei let out a staggering breath he’d been holding, whispering to her.
“D-do y’think it didn’t hear that…?”
Gulping, Haruhi, released herself from Junpei’s grasp, tip-toeing towards the alleyway entrance.
“H-hey!” He hissed, “Get back here!”
She ignored him, peering cautiously around the corner after the Shadow. It was still moving sluggishly away from her at the same pace it had before. She narrowed her eyes curiously, moving next to a trashcan nearby… and kicking it over. The noise was enormous, bouncing off the walls of the alley, echoing into the night. Anything in at least a half mile radius should have heard it… but still the Shadow slid on, unperturbed. She gasped as she felt someone roughly grasp her arm and pull her away from the alley’s entrance.
“Jeeze! What the hell are you doin’?!” Junpei hissed, turning her around to face her.
“Junpei… I don’t think they can hear…” Haruhi replied softly, still glancing over her shoulder.
“What?!” He exclaimed, still in a paranoid whisper.
“Think about it. You know that noise was loud enough to attract anyone from the area who could hear it, right?” She turned back to him as his grip on her arm grew lax, “It’s gotta be deaf- Shadows probably don’t have a sense of sound!”
He stared at her for a moment before nodding slowly.
“Y-yeah… I bet that’s why they’re so easy to sneak up on while their backs are turned!” He suddenly crowed loudly, thrusting a jubilant fist into the air. “Well that makes our trip back a bit easier!”
She grinned back at him, clapping her hands together.
“We just have to avoid being seen!”
“Let’s go, Haru-chan!”
.~*~.
.~*~.
They managed to make it to the station, dodging Shadows on the way. Panting, they stopped outside, reluctant to go in just yet..~*~.
“So…” Haruhi panted bent over, propping herself up at the knees, “What… do we do now…? I don’t… have any ideas on how… to make a train move… during the Dark Hour.”
Junpei leaned against a light post, catching his breath.
“We don’t…” He clutched at his chest, heaving, “We’re gonna have to walk on the tracks.”
“Are you mad?!” She exclaimed, “We’re gonna fall!”
“C’mon, the tracks are wide enough.” He reasoned, pulling himself from the post to stand properly again, “Besides, what choice do we have? We’re pretty much out of options.”
She sighed, frustrated as she moved to stand by him in front of the building. As she peered towards the darkness through the glass doors, she murmured, just loud enough for him to hear,
“You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don’t you?”
He chuckled down at her, grinning cheekily.
“You know it!”
.~*~.
,~*~.
They managed to navigate through the dark station and one of the docked trains to climb onto the tracks. After a few minutes of walking in a dark tunnel, they eventually found themselves outside and several stories up over the sea, died green by the light of the moon. They kept their silence as they walked in single file, Haruhi walking a few paces ahead of Junpei. They were about halfway across when he broke the silence.,~*~.
“Hey, Haru-chan… Look!”
She turned around to face him, but he was pointing at something off in the distance behind them. She followed his finger to where Tartarus stood, tall… eerie… menacing, even though it was so far away. It seemed to shine in the moonlight, or maybe it was emitting its own light…
“It’s kinda… pretty from far away, isn’t it?” He tilted his head to the side, slipping his hands into his coat pockets.
“Yeah… It kind of is…” Haruhi nodded, staring at it for a moment longer before glancing up at the moon. “The moon sure looks pretty big… Bigger than it normally is outside the Dark Hour, anyway. It’s like it’s twice the size.”
Junpei looked up as well.
“Yeah, you’re right… Looks like it’ll be full in a week or two, too…”
“Huh…” She murmured. Their gazes both dropped from the moon to each other to make eye contact. “We’d better keep moving.”
They continued along the tracks, their conversations kept mainly quiet and short due to the eerie atmosphere. As they neared the next station, they began to pick up their pace to a jog. They reached the tunnel, navigating through it and the station carefully and began the rest of their walk back. Their spirits rose the closer they were to the dorm, and before they knew it, they were just three blocks away.
“Let’s make a deal and not do this again, okay?” Haruhi turned her head to gaze up at Junpei who walked beside her.
“Wh-whaaaat?!” He looked down at her shocked, “But you had fun today!”
She burst into laughter, shaking her head.
“I don’t mean that, idiot! Of course I had fun. I’m talking about staying out this late and getting caught unarmed in the Dark Hour again.”
Junpei chuckled, blushing slightly as he scratched the back of his head.
“Yeah… or we could always carry our Evokers whenever we go out.” He shot her a grin.
“Junpei…” Haruhi stopped walking, placing her hands on her hips with a stern look.
He laughed, stopping in front of her,
“Alright, alright… Deal.”
He extended a hand and she took it into hers, shaking it firmly with a smile. He smiled back down at her with a light chuckle.
A loud, deep gurgling noise brought their handshake to a halt. They stared into each other’s wide eyes, seeing their own panic being reflected back at them as they stood, frozen. After what felt like an eternity, they turned their heads in unison to see a Shadow across the street, holding its mask high above itself… the mask looking directly at them.
“Y-y’think it sees us…?” Junpei’s voice was a higher pitch than usual, his hand gripping hers tighter. As if on cue, knives appeared in each of the Shadow’s free hands. He gulped, “I think that means it does…”
“W-what do we-…?! We can’t-” Haruhi squeaked, but was cut off by Junpei lurching forward, yanking her along with him.
“RUN!!! ” He bellowed, sprinting along the sidewalk with Haruhi stumbling to keep up. She looked over her shoulder as they ran, gasping as she saw the Shadow lumbering after them, more arms protruding from it’s oil-like body to scrape at the ground, pulling it forward faster and faster. She turned back, screaming.
“It’s chasing us!”
“Just keep running, Haruhi!” His grip on her hand became tighter as he tried to pick up the pace, hurtling toward their sanctuary mere blocks away. His eyes widened sharply as he felt her hand shift, her fingers slipping from his grasp. He whirled around, stumbling to a stop as he heard her shriek and watched her fall to the ground- tripping over an uneven part of the sidewalk.
“Shit! ” He cursed, glancing around him quickly. Haruhi turned over onto her back with a scream, paralyzed by the image of the crazed Shadow scrambling closer and closer… Junpei’s eyes locked onto a long rusty wrench lying near a fire hydrant and instantly bent forward to retrieve it as he sprinted back towards Haruhi.
Just as the Shadow was upon her, he stepped over her to put himself between them, swinging the wrench as hard as he could to knock the beast back, cracking its mask.
“HOMERUN!!!” He roared, sending the Shadow sailing backward into a mass of tangled limbs. Not wasting a moment, he dropped the wrench and turned, bending to grab Haruhi by her arms.
“Are you okay?” He asked, pulling her to her feet, “You can still move, right?”
“Y-yeah…” She hissed, glancing down at her scuffed and bloodied left leg, “I only skinned my knee.”
“Hang in there, Haru-chan.” He took her by the hand and they took off once again.
The dorm loomed in sight, only a block away. They could hear the gurgling and the slapping of several hands trampling across the pavement behind them again. The sounds filled their ears as they drew ever closer… proof that it was gaining on them. Haruhi screamed in desperation, squeezing Junpei’s hand tighter as he grit his teeth, trying to go urge his legs to go faster. He cursed inwardly- They were still too far away from the front door… and even when they got there, they wouldn’t be able to get inside in time… he knew this. He wished he hadn’t dropped that wrench…
“PENTHESILEA!! ” A loud booming voice echoed through the night, causing both of them to jerk their heads to their left across the street to see a wave of ice speeding towards the Shadow, knocking it over. A very enraged Mitsuru trotted over to them, barking an order through gritted teeth.
“Get inside, now.”
They didn’t need telling twice. Junpei sprinted forward again, pulling Haruhi with him to close the remaining distance between them and front steps of their dormitory. They each wrenched a door open and threw themselves inside, slamming the doors behind them. Once inside, still throbbing with adrenaline, they stared around the room, finding it very eerie and still.
“H-hello…?” Haruhi called, “Is anyone here?!”
Junpei collapsed with a tired sigh, sliding into a sitting position against the door,
“I bet they’re all out, Haru-chan… They were probably looking for us.”
Haruhi turned to look down at him with a frown.
“You’re probably right… We’ve really cause a lot of trouble tonight, haven’t we?”
“Hey…” Junpei chuckled weakly, “At least we made it back okay.”
“Yeah…” She smiled, shaking her head at him. “You’d better get up before they get back. Otherwise you’re going to get hit by the door.”
“Nope. Can’t.” He grinned childishly up at her as he lifted a hand towards her. “Help me up.”
She rolled her eyes with a smirk and walked back over to him. Grasping him with both hands above the wrist, she pulled, heaving him to his feet. As he steadied himself, the lights in the room flickered back on, signifying the end of the Dark Hour. She glanced around the room with a relieved smile before looking back up at him. She noticed that her hands her still clutching him around the wrist… and he seemed to be aware of this fact as well since he was beaming down at her. She dropped her hands and blushed slightly, averting her gaze.
“Ah… Junpei…” She mumbled, “Thank you. Y’know, for… saving me… out there.”
He chuckled and brought up a hand to ruffle her hair, causing her to flinch lightly.
“Aww, don’ worry about it, Haru-chan. Didn’t I tell ya that nothing’ was gonna happen to you long as I’m around?”
She opened one eye, still wincing at him, yet smiled.
“Yeah, you did.”
With a bang, the front doors flew open, causing them to leapt away from each other. Mitsuru stormed up to the both of them, rooting them to the spot with her glare. As she approached them, she slapped Junpei hard and swiftly across the cheek, causing his hat to go askew. Haruhi gasped, covering her mouth. Yukari and Akihiko returned through the front doors in time to witness this event.
“Where the hell were you two?! What did you think you were doing?!” She roared at Junpei, who stared wide-eyed back at her in fear. “Do you have any idea how worried we all were- what could have happened?! Do you think this is a game, Iori?! Do you?!”
Haruhi winced at her sharp, stinging tone, watching her practically breathe fire on Junpei.
“M-Mitsuru-senpai…” She jumped slightly as Mitsuru turned her fiery gaze onto her. “It was an accident. We just… lost track of time at the mall-”
“Fujisawa.” Her fierce voice stopped her. “This doesn’t surprise me coming from Iori, but you were appointed leader of our operations. I expected more of your decision making skills.”
Her words stung them both. Junpei straightened his cap and dipped it lower to hide his face as he seethed silently while Haruhi lowered her head in an apologetic bow.
“I’m sorry, Senpai. It won’t happen again.”
Akihiko and Yukari watched frozen in silence at the front door, their eyes shifting between the three of them as a long pause made the air thick with tension. Finally, Mitsuru swept some of the hair from her face and sighed, calming down.
“Very well. But see that you don’t disappoint me again, Fujisawa. You’re both dismissed.” She turned from them with a wave of her hand, spotting the other two at the door. “I suggest that we all return to our rooms. It’s late.”
Akihiko and Yukari nodded and made their way to the stairs, but Junpei didn’t move. Haruhi looked up at him catching a glimpse of the anger and disappointment etched painfully across his face. Throwing Mitsuru a tentative glance, she lightly tugged his sleeve.
“Junpei…?”
He gasped softly, his blinking eyes finding hers. Suddenly he was all smiles again, back to his usual self.
“Guess we’d better hit they hay, huh?”
She gave him a concerned smile as she nodded up at him.
“Y-yeah.”
.~*~.
.~*~.
As they reached the second floor to part ways, Haruhi turned to look up at Junpei once more, tilting her head to the side with a frown,.~*~.
“Are you okay, Junpei…?”
He glanced down at her, shaking his head with a grin,
“I’m fine, Haru-chan… And you really shouldn’t be making that face. Doesn’t suit you.” He ruffled her head one more time for the night before turning to head to his room, giving her a wave over his shoulder. “G’night, Haru-chan.”
She didn’t flinch irritably as he messed up her hair for what must have been the hundredth time that day, and her frown didn’t disappear. She couldn’t get his expression she had seen downstairs out of her mind… He had seemed to take Mitsuru’s scolding pretty hard- and that slap couldn’t have felt that great either. She called after him softly as he reached his door, turning the handle.
“Goodnight, Junpei…”
He didn’t nod or give any sign that he heard her, but simply entered his room and closed the door behind him. She sighed heavily and climbed the stairs. At least they made it home safely… she could at least say that. She gloomily approached the third floor bathroom to clean up her knee before turning in for the night, beginning to regret this day- despite the good that came of it.
.~*~.