Love to live and Live to love

Chapter 2

From the results, my premonition had come true.

After class, Haruhi didn't disappear instantly from the classroom as usual. This time she forcefully took my hand and dragged me out of the classroom, through the corridors, up the stairs, and finally stopped in front of the door leading to the rooftop.

That door is usually locked, and the staircase above the fourth floor seems to have been used as a storage room by the Art Club. Giant canvases, near broken picture frames, statues of war gods with missing noses and such are all piled up in this little staircase, making what is supposed to be a narrow space even narrower.

What is she trying to do to me by bringing me here?

"I need your help."

Haruhi said this while grabbing my tie. With her sharp glare aimed at the lower part of my head, I got the feeling she was threatening me.

"Help you with what?"

I feigned ignorance.

"Help me make a new club!"

"OK, then tell me, why must I help you complete something that you just suddenly thought up?"

"Because I need to secure a room for the club as well as members, so you need to find out what paperwork needs to be done for the school."

She wasn't even listening. I cast off Haruhi's hand.

"What club are you trying to make?"

"It doesn't matter! What's important is to make a club first."

I really doubt that the school would let us form a club whose activities are unknown.

"Now listen! After school today, you go and find out what needs to be done, and I'll go and find a room for the club. Okay?"

'NO!'

If I had replied like that, I was sure I would be killed. While I was hesitating on how to answer, Haruhi had already turned and walked down the stairs, leaving a disoriented male student standing all alone on the dust-filled staircase.

"... I haven't even agreed to help..."

Sigh, saying this to a plaster statue is pointless. I could only drag my heavy feet, thinking about how I would explain all this to my curious classmates.

Requirements for organizing an "association":

Five members or more. A sponsor teacher, club name, chairperson for the club, and club activities/goals summary are required—which then requires approval from the Student Council Executive Committee. The club's activities must fit in with the school philosophy of creativity and vivaciousness. Based on the activities' records and results, the Executive Committee would debate on whether to promote the association into a "study group." Furthermore, as an association, the school will not provide any funding.

I didn't have to explicitly search for the requirements because they are all listed out on the back of the student handbook.

Members are easy; we can just find anyone to make up the numbers, so that won't be a problem. A sponsor teacher is harder to find, but I think I can manage that. As for the name, something inoffensive would do. And the chairperson for the club is, no doubt, Haruhi herself.

I am willing to bet, however, that our club activities/goals summary is definitely not going to agree with "creativity and vivaciousness."

That being said, it's not as if Haruhi is the kind of person who cares about the rules.

As the bell rang for the end of classes, Haruhi showed off her horrifyingly brutish strength by gripping my jacket's sleeve and pulling me out of our classroom at kidnapping speed. It took great effort to make sure that I didn't leave my school bag in the classroom.

"Where are we going?"

I asked because, well, I'm normal after all.

"The Club Room."

Haruhi, so full of energy that she was able to kick away the slow moving people in front of us, simply answered with a short sentence, then kept her mouth shut. Please, can you at least let go of my hand first?

After we exited the first floor hallway, we went into another building and up the stairs. We walked into a dark hallway and at its center, Haruhi stopped. Of course, I stopped too.

There is a door in front of us.

Literature Club

The crooked name tag is pasted on the door.

"Here it is."

Without even knocking, Haruhi opened the door and walked into the classroom without any consideration. Of course, I followed her inside.

The room is surprisingly large, or maybe it seems that way because it only contains a rectangular table, metal chairs, and a bookshelf. A few cracks on the ceiling and the walls showed how ancient the building is.

Just as if she came with the room, a girl was sitting alone on a metal chair, reading a very thick hardcover book.

"From now on this will be our club room."

Haruhi opened her arms and announced formally. Her face was shining with that energetic smile. 'If only she would show that smile in class...' despite that thought, I didn't dare to say it out loud.

"Wait a second, what is this place?"

"The Cultural and Arts club building. This place has art and music rooms for the Art Club and the Orchestra Club. Clubs and associations without a regular club room all hold their activities here in this building, known as the Old Complex. And this classroom belongs to the Literature Club."

"Then what about the Literature Club?"

"After all the third year students graduated this spring, the club had zero members. As no new members were recruited, the club was going to be canceled. By the way, she's a first year who's their only new member."

"Then they haven't been canceled yet!"

"Close enough! A club with only one member is the same as none."

You idiot! Are you trying to take over other people's club rooms? I took a quick look at the Literature Club girl.

She was a girl with glasses and short hair.

Haruhi was already this loud. The girl, however, didn't even lift her head once. Apart from occasionally flipping the pages with her fingers, she appeared stationary, completely ignoring our presence. It seemed that this girl was strange as well!

I lowered my voice and asked Haruhi:

"Then what about that girl?"

"She said it doesn't matter!"

"Really?"

"I asked her already at lunch time. I said I need her to lend me the room and she said 'go ahead,' as long as she can read her book here in peace. Now that you mention it, she is pretty weird."

For you of all people to say that!

I observed the weird Literature Club girl carefully this time.

She had pale skin and an expressionless face. Her fingers were moving rhythmically like a robot. Just covering her pretty face, her short hair made one want to take off her glasses for a clearer view. She gave the impression of an inconspicuous puppet. In other words, a mysterious and expressionless weirdo!

Perhaps noticing my intrusive observation, the girl suddenly lifted her head and pushed the nose bridge of her glasses up with her fingers.

I saw her deep-colored eyes staring at me from under those lenses. Neither her eyes nor her lips showed any expression at all, almost like a mask. She was different from Haruhi—her face is the kind that fundamentally shows no sign of emotion.

"Nagato Yuki."

Her tone suggested that her name would be forgotten by most people within three seconds of hearing it.

Nagato Yuki stared at me for a moment; then as if losing interest, she turned her attention back to her book.

"Say, Nagato-san," I called out, "This girl here wants to use your club room for a yet-to-be-named club. Is this all right with you?"

"Yes."

Nagato's gaze never left her book once.

"But it might be troublesome for you."

"It doesn't matter."

"Maybe you'll even be evicted?"

"Please feel free."

Even though she answered promptly, she showed no expression. It seemed to me that she really didn't give a damn about it.

"Okay, then it's decided," Haruhi suddenly interrupted.

She sounded really hyper, giving me a bad feeling.

"From now on, we will meet in this room after class. Be sure to come! Or you're as good as dead!"

She said with a smile like the blooming cherry blossoms. I reluctantly nodded my head.

Please, I don't want to die yet!

So we've now found a club room, but there was absolutely no progress with the paperwork. We still hadn't decided on a club name or what activities it intended to hold. I had asked Haruhi to sort these things out first, but she seemed to have other ideas.

"We can decide on all that later!" Haruhi declared loudly. "Right now the most important thing is to recruit members. We still need at least two more people."

So, you've already counted the Literature Club girl in as well? You couldn't possibly have treated Nagato Yuki as a mere club accessory, could you?

"Don't worry about that. I'll be able to gather people soon; I already have someone in mind."

How can I not worry? My unease has become even more profound!

The next day after school, after turning down Taniguchi and Kunikida's offer to walk home with them, I reluctantly dragged my heavy feet and headed towards the club room.

Haruhi only said "You go first!" and rushed out of the classroom with a speed that the Athletic Club so badly needed. She was so fast that I wondered if she had added boosters in her shoes. I didn't know whether she was in a hurry to find new club members, or whether she was just plain excited that she had taken a step forward in meeting extraterrestrials?

On the other hand, I could only carry my bag, so I moved slowly towards the Literature Club room.

Entering the club room, I discovered Nagato Yuki already inside, sitting in the same position while reading her book. I slowly approached her, but as with yesterday her head was buried in the book, my presence ignored. Was the Literature Club a pure reading club? Why else would she be reading all the time?

Silence in the classroom.

"... What are you reading?"

I asked, not being able to stand the silence any longer. Nagato Yuki answered by raising the book and showing me the cover. My eyes saw a large bunch of dazzling foreign words; it seemed like some sort of science fiction novel.

"Is it interesting?"

Nagato Yuki pushed her glasses upwards effortlessly before replying in an empty tone:

"Unique."

It seemed that she'd answer anything I asked her.

"Which part?"

"All of it."

"So you like reading?"

"Very."

"I see..."

"..."

Back to silence again.

Can I go home now?

I thought of that while putting my bag on the desk. Just as I prepared to sit down on the steel chair, the door crashed open like it was being kicked.

"Hey, sorry I'm late! It took me some time trying to catch this gal!"

Haruhi finally arrived, waving one hand at us. Her other hand was holding onto someone else's wrist— she'd abducted another person! When Haruhi entered the room, for some reason she locked the door. Click! Hearing that sound, the light-sized girl shuddered uncomfortably.

Wow, she sure is pretty.

She must be Haruhi's "chosen candidate."

"W... what are you doing?"

The girl said, close to tears now.

"W-where is this place? Why did you bring me here? And, w-why are you locking the door? What do you want with me?"

"Be quiet!"

Haruhi barked with such force that the girl simply stood in stunned silence.

"Let me introduce her: this is Asahina Mikuru-chan."

After announcing the girl's name, Haruhi stopped talking. Seems like that's all for the introduction.

Silence once again engulfed the classroom. Haruhi looked satisfied with "a job well done"; Nagato Yuki, as usual, kept reading her book without any reaction; and the girl called Asahina Mikuru was simply scared silly. Hey, why isn't anyone talking? And so I started the conversation.

"Where did you abduct her from?"

"This isn't abduction! I just forced her to come with me."

That's the same thing!

"I found her daydreaming in the second year classroom, so I caught her from there. I explore the corners of the school during recess, so I've seen her a few times already."

So that's what you've been doing during recess time when you're nowhere to be seen in the classroom. No, wait, now isn't the time to think about this.

"Anyway, she's our senpai!"

"So?"

I looked at her in disbelief. Oh god, this girl doesn't even think about what she's doing!

"Fine then... tell me, why did you need to find her, erm, Asahina-senpai, right?"

"Here, have a look."

Haruhi suddenly pointed towards Asahina Mikuru's nose, causing her to back off instantly.

"Isn't she cute?"

That's something only a dangerous kidnapper would say! That's what I thought of anyway.

"I believe Moe characters are important!" she continued.

"... Excuse me, what did you just say?"

"I said Moe! The factor to turn people on! Basically, most detective stories have some characters that would turn people on and cause them to be pitied."

I automatically turned and observed Asahina Mikuru: she has a small body and a face that could easily be mistaken for an elementary school student. Her brown hair is slightly curly, hanging over her back. Her pair of large puppy dog eyes give out a "please protect me" aura. Her half-opened lips reveal a row of white ivory-like teeth that, coupled with her small face, create a perfect combination. If she were given a magic wand with a shiny jewel, she might even transform into a little fairy! Aargh~, what the hell am I thinking about!?

"And that's not all!"

Haruhi smiled confidently, and then she grabbed Asahina Mikuru from behind with her hands.

"Kyaaa!!"

Asahina screamed instantly. But Haruhi was unmoved, clutching her breasts through her sailor uniform.

"Aaaaa!"

"She's so small, yet her breasts are larger than mine! A cute face plus large breasts is also an important factor in turning people on!"

Oh my god, I'm about to faint.

"Wow, they really are big."

Haruhi stuck her hands into Asahina's uniform and started groping. Stop it, you pervert!

"Man, this pisses me off! Her face is so cute, yet her breasts are bigger than mine!"

"H-Help!!"

Asahina blushed bright red. She tried to struggle free with her arms and legs, but her strength was no match for her harasser. As Haruhi started to move her hands towards Asahina's skirt, I finally couldn't take it any longer and pulled the perverted girl away from Asahina.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"But they really are huge! It's true! Why don't you give them a go as well?"

Asahina moaned weakly.

"No thanks."

That was all I could say.

What surprised me was, during all this commotion, Nagato Yuki had