devil, devil.

[kaoru] ~ orientation

"You're kidding me," Haruhi sighed. "You followed me here?"

Not scared. Not creeped out. Maybe annoyed, at worst. It was what I expected. Haruhi was always consistent. Hikaru, though, was disappointed. He'd been hoping for a little more of a reaction.

Hikaru and I put smiles on our faces and shrugged.

"Is that what you think we did?" We asked.

"I guess you went ahead and put yourselves in my classes, too?" Haruhi guessed.

"We don't know what you mean."

"There's no way to know what classes we're in for sure until we get our schedules," I said casually.

"Just what are you accusing us of?" Hikaru finished.

"Are you two really that bored?"

"We were going to take a year off anyways, but why would we do that when this place was so close by?" Hikaru said.

"We could transfer, if you're really that bothered," I suggested easily.

She fell for it. Haruhi shook her head. "It's not like that. You guys do whatever you want. It's not so bad, knowing someone here. I'm going to actually be studying, though. You'll have to find a way to entertain yourselves when I'm busy."

"We're here to study, too, you know," Hikaru said.

"Yeah, Haruhi, you shouldn't underestimate us," I added.

"Alright," Haruhi looked down at the map in her hands. "Have you guys already chosen your majors then?"

"We're still figuring that part out," I answered half-truthfully.

"Til then, we thought we'd take all the necessary general courses. Get them out of the way," Hikaru said.

"That makes sense. I thought the same thing at first, but I had to declare a major to get the scholarship."

"So what did you decide?" I asked, as if we didn't already know.

"Finance," Haruhi answered. "I can always switch later if I need to, but this seems like a good choice for now."

"Why'd you choose to come to this place, anyway?" Hikaru put his hands behind his head and looked around the small quad, quietly judging. "Didn't you get a ton of scholarship offers from some more prestigious campuses?"

"I know those offers came from the club, you guys," Haruhi said, beginning to walk away. "It's not that I don't appreciate you all thinking of me. It just felt wrong to take an opportunity away from other people. I wasn't the only poor kid at the academy, you know. This was the only school I was sure I could get any money from on my own."

Hikaru and I followed her.

"You're just as deserving of those scholarships as anyone else," I said, and I meant it.

"More, even," Hikaru added. "It's not wrong to use connections. You don't have to stay here. Just say the word and we can get you into any school you want."

He was pushing too hard. I gave him a warning glance, but he was too busy staring at Haruhi's face.

"Thanks, Hikaru, but I'm actually happy here," Haruhi declined. It would've been that way even if we'd done it the way we planned, I knew that, but still, it was a little bit of a disappointment. "I met with some of the professors already, and I'm really looking forward to my classes. Besides, this way I don't have to live in a dorm. I can stay at home and be with my dad."

That made things a little easier for us.

"At least think about-"

"Leave it, Hikaru."

I said it gently. Hikaru met my gaze and stared for just a moment before he huffed, turned away.

"Where are we going again?"

He asked it casually, but I knew he was upset. I'd have to deal with it later.

"We're headed to the auditorium. I think it's this way. Orientation doesn't start for another fifteen minutes, but I want to see if anyone else shows up early. Maybe we'll make some new friends."

Haruhi firmly had her nose buried in the campus map. No other questions. No other concerns. She really was a weird girl.

We walked toward the auditorium and fell back into the same patterns we always did. Hikaru asking all sorts of things about the school, despite the fact we already knew everything, and Haruhi pleasantly answering.

I was sure she knew we did our research, but it really looked like she wasn't bothered in the slightest.

Haruhi made it so easy. I found comfort in that. No matter what, we could always rely on Haruhi to be... Haruhi. Secure, level-headed, considerate Haruhi.

Looking around, I could see a few other people heading in the same direction as us as the auditorium came closer. The campus was small. It was really only a few spread-out clusters of old buildings hardly three stories high, but I guess we could get used to this. Who knows? Maybe it'd be cozy. It certainly meant Haruhi would never be very far.

The inside of the auditorium looked like it only held a few hundred students, if that. Haruhi found a quiet corner where some other people were sitting and introduced us. We made polite conversation. The hall filled up with people, and the professors and the dean arrived, and the orientation began.

The dean droned on with his welcome, and the responsibilities of a good student, and what to expect from the school and faculty, and yada, yada, yada. I only half-paid any attention.

'Are you two really that bored?'

Yeah. I was bored.

None of this felt new. I couldn't help but wonder what people meant when they said they were excited for college, or how anyone could get nerves from something like this.

All the other students sitting in their chairs looked it though. Everywhere I looked, people were whispering and giggling amongst themselves, bouncing in their chairs, peering at everyone else they could possibly look at in the auditorium.

I glanced at Haruhi, diligently writing down notes as the speakers presented. As calm as she ever was, even she had a vague air of liveliness around her. It was sort of funny, but it was... normal.

Placing an elbow on the table and resting my head in my hand, I stared straight ahead. I couldn't shake the feeling that it would all be the same. Nothing had changed from last year, or the year before that.

I glanced at Haruhi again. This time, she caught me looking. I smiled.

"Pay attention," she advised in a whisper, and then faced forward again. On the other side of her, Hikaru looked over, and I could tell he was silently laughing to himself.

I faced front. Haruhi would always be around. I was sure of that. We'd make sure of that. She was a curiousity we'd never grow tired of watching just exist. A fish swimming around and around in a bowl.

Still. I sighed quietly. I'm bored.