(Un)Joyous Spring for the SOS Brigade

[Vongola Undicesimo]

Of course I chose to be in a Haruhi phase like three years after the series has done anything. But now I'm reading the novels and...seriously guys, they're really good. They go on a lot further after Disappearance. And I'm also reading the Yuki-chan manga. It's so adorable! Yukiiiiiiiii! She's so cute! I'm not really sure about the regual series, but in the Disappearance-verse I totally ship KyonYuki. So, let me not start rambling.

This is really short. It's more like a drabble really. And there's not much sneezing in it. And I could go on and on about all the things wrong with it. So I might as well say that I love Itsuki as much as I love Yuki (and not just cause he's hot...well...mostly). He's actually really intersting. And I love his relationship with Kyon, yaoi or not. Those two take up most of the fic, which is kind of obvious considering Kyon's the narrarator and Itsuki is the one it's about. But Yuki doesn't even have a line, not like she usually says a lot anyway.

And finally, before I give you the story that's probably shorter than this intro, let me say: Nagaru Tanigawa's writing style. Any of you who write will love it. I try to use it whenever I do Haruhi fanfiction. Considering it's Kyon telling the story, it's probably one of the easiest and funnest style to write in.

SOS Brigade city-wide search number...I dunno, five? Six? Eight-hundred? Sigh. Well, whatever. It was Saturday and Haruhi was bored. So here we were. Yay.

The station wasn’t particularly crowded that morning. It was early spring, so it was surprising to see so few people outside. They probably sensed Haruhi’s presence and rushed back home. Lucky people.

“Alright, straws!” Haruhi announced, using our usual method of picking who goes with who.

Okay, so we weren’t actually outside looking yet. We had just gotten lunch at the cafe with my money, no surprise. I was the only one who seemed like he didn’t want to be there. Nagato was expressionless as ever and probably just didn’t care. Miss Asahina looked like she was having fun. And Koizumi was just being annoying, constantly-smiling Koizumi.

We each took our straws and compared them. Haruhi pouted a bit at hers. When I looked at her she growled at me. Was that a blush on her face? Nah. Oh, looks like we’re not in the same group.

I glanced over to Miss Asahina and Nagato. They had the same colored straws as Haruhi. And that means...

“Well, it looks like we’re together. This shall be fun.” Koizumi said cheerfully. Don’t rub it in.

“Kay,” said Haruhi, “Mikuru and Yuki are with me. We’re going to downtown while you guys check the river.”

The river? Again?

“Shut it, Kyon. Anyway, we’ll meet here in two hours. And you guys better not be late!” With that, she got up, grabbed the two girls’ hands, and flew out the cafe door.

“Shall we get started?”

I rolled my eyes at the boy sitting across from me. I wanted to get this over with quickly. I told him.

“Very well.” Koizumi stood up from the table and grinned. He winked at me and casually strolled out the door.

“Ew, dude. Don’t do that.”

Koizumi just laughed.

I had been to this river way more times than I had done this stupid “investigation”. So much crap has gone down here it’s not even funny. But still, it was a nice walk. And it was pretty in the spring, too.

The long path had a collection of people on it. So that’s where they all went. It was definitely more crowded than usual. But the path was wide enough that Koizumi and I could walk separately from the rest of them. And they better not think anything about two high school guys walking on a romantic path next to each other. They. Better. Not.

“We could really kill some time here,” I said. Koizumi nodded.

We started walking for a few minutes before I heard a loud “Hikkcshh!” next to me. I glanced at Koizumi, who was sniffling. “Oh, excuse me.”

Yeah. I don’t care. I kept walking. Then I heard a few desperate breaths behind me. Turning around, I saw Koizumi looking like he was about to sneeze again. “Heh.....heh...Iksshhoo! KiishHHhuh! Eh...Hah-” He trailed off and regained focus. He began to rub at his nose and wriggling it, like that would help.

With a thick sniffle he started to follow me. I kept walking every time I heard a “Hahkkchh!” “Ehhkkshh!” or Hkshhh!!”. Every one was followed by little groans and sniffles.

Finally, after like five minutes, I sighed in deep annoyance. I went to snap at him but started to laugh instead. Koizumi looked totally miserable. His eyes and nose had gone completely red. With a hand up to his face the entire time, his nose kept twitching before he would sneeze again. He had gotten teary, the tears constantly flowing down his face. And he really, really, needed a tissue.

“So that’s what it is?”

Koizumi tried to look at me but was partially blocked by his now-swollen eyes.

“You have allergies.”

With a sarcastic chuckle he responded, “Yes, it appears I do.” He scanned the area around us the whole time he wasn’t sneezing. “Ah, that’s i- Ehshhhoo! Kihhkshhh!” He blinked and ran a hand across his face, managing to clear up some of the liquid pooling up. “Hydrangeas. I wasn’t aware they had begun blooming.”

I rolled my eyes at him for the second time that day. “Alright. Let’s get you out of here then. There’s a ton of them around and you’re disgusting.”

Koizumi nodded while preparing for another sneeze. Oh yeah... I reached into my pocket and pulled out a whole pack of tissues. I tossed them over to Koizumi who snatched them up like an addict. Immediately he took out several and began to blow his nose.Frankly, they were some of the wettest, messiest blows I’ve ever heard.

We left the park as fast as we could. It took awhile, even as we got far away, for Koizumi’s nose to stop running. Once it did, we went into the closest bathroom.

Koizumi splashed water on his face and blew any leftover contents out of his nose while I observed. Leaning against the wall, I couldn’t help but get a smirk on my face.

While he was drying off his face with a paper towel, he caught my gaze. “What?”

“Ha, nothing. It’s just kinda funny, that’s all.”

That made Koizumi frown, a rare sight indeed. But he quickly turned it into more of a fake embarrassed smile. “I suppose you’re right.”

“So espers get allergies?”

“Human espers do.”

I resisted the urge to say “touche”. Instead I shrugged. “Fair enough,” I said. It made me start to wonder about Nagato and Miss Asahina, though...Well, I’ll think about that later.

When I took my phone out I sighed. Time already. It would take awhile to get back to the station, too.There’s no way Haruhi wouldn’t yell at us. “Well let’s get going.”

For some reason I was the only one Haruhi was glaring at. Hey! Koizumi was late too! In fact it was his fault for why we’re late in the first place!

“I’m disappointed in you, Kyon. Blaming other brigade members for your own mistakes!”

What mistakes? And stop yelling at me!

For a good while Haruhi verbally assaulted me. The other three simply watched on like bystanders. A little help, guys!

After Haruhi had had enough of insulting me out of existence, a large excited smile grew on her face. Oh no. I knew that look. “We’ve still got plenty of time!” she said. “And the best way to finish the day is to be as a team!” Yeah, you’re the one to talk about team spirit, Miss Asahina-molester.

“I know!” Haruhi shouted. “Let’s go back to the place the guys went! I love the river, and it’s really pretty this time of year!”

I was the only one that caught Koizumi flinch, well, besides maybe Nagato.

“That does sound like fun,” Miss Asahina said with all her adorableness.

Haruhi looked at Nagato. “Yuki?”

The silent girl nodded. Traitor. Well, I guess she couldn’t really disobey Haruhi.

I interjected. “Hey Haruhi, I know the river’s nice and all, but I heard some rumors that the forest by the school may be haunted.”

“Haunted?!” Her grin grew even wider. “That’s awesome! We’re gonna go ghost-hunting you guys! And not like last time. This time it’ll be a real ghost for sure!”

“G-Ghost hunting?” Miss Asahina started shaking and latched onto Nagato. “B-But won’t that be scary?”

“That’s the fun, Mikuru!”

Sorry, Miss Asahina. You’ll have to take one for the team this time. I’ll be sure to repay you in full, plus interest.

Haruhi started to skip in the opposite direction of the river, taking an unwilling Miss Asahina with her. Nagato calmly followed them, but not before looking to me and nodding in a way that said, “Good job.”

Naturally Koizumi and I were walking behind the rest of them. “Thank you,” he said, honestly grateful. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, but I knew I should. As much as I don’t like you, I don’t enjoy seeing you suffer.”

“That’s quite nice.”

“Stop being sarcastic.”

“I’m not.”

“Sure. This coming from the guy who, on multiple occasions, has admitted he lies a lot.”

“Well I’m not this time. I really am appreciative. It was very kind.”

“F-Fine...you can stop talking now.” I turned away from him with a huff.

“Am I making you blush?”

“Shut up!”

[EmeraldThread]

Dude, this is so cute!! I saw it DAYS ago, but didn't get a chance to read it straight through and comment until now, but I absolutely LOVE this series and Koizumi is my favorite, so thank you for writing him!! I liked Kyon's narration, too - it's so like him, and I was totally reading it all in his voice. xD His exchanges with Koizumi were kinda cute, and how Kyon just makes such a concerted effort to ignore the guy - I loved that. X3 Seriously, I'm so glad someone wrote for this fandom!!