Parachasers, 6
Title: Parachasers OR The Unnatural Interests of Suzumiya Haruhi
Rating: PG-13 for inappropriate use of windows and dramatic face-on-face collisions.
Summery: Haruhi finds a new hobby, bad things happen to Kyon.
6.
My prediction about Haruhi's mood following our law-breaking trip to the suburbs proved correct. The few times I saw her in class on Monday she was tense and easily annoyed, answering my comments snappishly before disappearing again in a rush of angry energy. Once again, she managed to miss several class periods without the teacher so much as glancing towards her empty desk.
I had seen Haruhi cycle through these kinds of moods several times before, and by now I knew what to expect. This was her usual way of responding to setbacks and problems; she simply upped her enthusiasm and vigor tenfold. It was similar to Haruhi's initial burst of excitement when she first came up with a crazy idea, but tinged with frustration and increasing desperation.
This did not bode well. I was certain we'd have official club activities tonight. Probably activities the Law would not look kindly upon. Oh well, I was beyond caring at this point. It really wasn't worth the energy it took to argue with Haruhi about this sort of thing. Let her do what she wants. After all, the person who fights the tide drowns, while the one that swims with it eventually escapes. (Or is it the other way around?)
I was more than a little surprised when I opened the door to the club room and found every Brigade member accounted for... except for our self-designated chief.
"What happened to Haruhi?" I asked with my hand still on the doorknob. Koizumi shrugged, Asahina shuddered, and Nagato ignored me completely.
Strange, I thought she'd be here waiting for us. Man, I hope she hasn't gotten too impatient and run off to ghost hunt alone. Just thinking about all trouble she could get into on her own is making me feel vaguely nauseous.
I hesitated in the doorway uncertainly. It seemed I had three options: 1) Remain quietly in the club room and await Haruhi's return, 2) leave and escape for home while I had the chance, or 3) go find Haruhi before she inadvertently turned the world into her personal, paranormal playground.
I sighed. Why do I even torture myself by pretending I have a choice?
"Nagato," I asked directly, "is Haruhi nearby?"
Although she didn't look up, Nagato made a very clear nod into her book. Okay, it shouldn't take too long to find her then. Hopefully. Should we split up...? No, then it'd take twice as long to gather everyone back up again. I should be able to find her on my own pretty quickly.
I dumped my school bag on the desk and told the others to wait for me there. "If Haruhi comes back, don't let her leave." Right, as if they could stop her.
I rushed out of the club room and headed back to the main school building. Okay, there aren't too many places she could be, first off, our classroom.
I made it out of the Arts building in record time and started to cross the courtyard. There was a small group of students standing under a tree there who turned to look at me as I hurried past. Geez, why am I running? I must look ridiculous racing around after school has ended. It's not like there's a bell I need to beat.
I walked to my classroom at a more leisurely pace, keeping a careful lookout for Haruhi throughout the halls. Of course, she was no where to be found. Our classroom was completely deserted, as was the freshman hallway and all the other rooms in it.
Shit, where could she be? Alright, think, where would Haruhi go and why? I spent several minutes trying to think like Haruhi and failing. Come on, acting like Haruhi shouldn't be this hard. I just need to ignore every bit of common sense and modesty I possess and do the first crazy thing that comes to mind.
I attempted this for several minutes unsuccessfully. The only thing I could think about was the fact that I was kind of thirsty. Although Haruhi might have attempted to extort water from the nearest person through blackmail, I simply found a drinking fountain.
I took a long sip of water, staring at the stairs next to the fountain as I swallowed. Hm, stairs. A vague memory tickled at the back of my mind. What if Haruhi had decided to do some paranormal data gathering on her own...? Might she go back to a place where she'd noticed something odd last week? Yes, that sounds about right...
I wiped my mouth and started climbing the staircase to the fourth floor.
The staircase seemed much darker than usual today. As I climbed up, I paused at the window on the third story landing and peered out. The hazy and humid weather we'd been having all day had suddenly turned threatening. The sky was now completely covered by low hanging clouds with a yellowish green tinge.
Wonderful. It's only natural that it'd rain on a day I don't bring my jacket to school.
I was feeling quite grumpy by the time I reached the fourth floor. "Haruhi?" I yelled, "Come out if you're up here!"
There was no answer. I peered in the dusty corners of the dark space, wishing I'd brought my ghost hunting flashlight along with me.
The landing at the top of the fourth floor staircase was kind of a weird place. There was a door to the roof up there which was almost always locked. The Art Club used it as a storage area, and it was usually filled with the remnants of half-finished art projects. Right now there were a whole series of papier-mâché columns lined up against the wall. Were they for the set of a Greek play or something?
There were also a number of strange oversized canvases that were nearly as tall as I was. Whoever had been painting them seemed to be experimenting with a creepy, indistinct style of portrait. They all featured shadowy outlined figures done in various shades of red and brown.
I looked closer at the one nearest me. It seemed to show a girl looking over her shoulder at the viewer. It was eerie the way her eyes were painted white in contrast to the rest of the dark palette...
As I was leaning over the painting, a slight noise came from somewhere behind my back. It sounded like the scuffle of a shoe on the floor. I spun around.
"Haruhi?" I asked, my voice cracking a little. Give me a break, I was surprised, okay?
There was no answer. It was probably just a canvas sliding down against the wall... but I suddenly had the distinct feeling that I wasn't alone. All the supernatural bullshit I've been hearing about for the past week is clearly getting to my head.
"Um, hello?" I asked again as I edged my way toward the stairs. I wanted to leave, but I also didn't want to put my back to the empty darkness of the landing.
I nearly wet myself when my cell phone started vibrating in my pocket. Holy crap!
I flipped it open and started down the stairs while looking over my shoulder. The dark figure in the painting watched me leave with her blank, white eyes.
It was something of a relief to hear Haruhi's too-loud voice coming through the phone. It was harder to contemplate the supernatural with her yelling irritatingly in my ear.
"Where the hell are you!" she asked. What? No, "Hello, Kyon" first?
"I've been looking for you," I said. How annoying. The only reason I left was because you disappeared this afternoon.
"I'm in the club room, idiot! Which is where you should be, too. Hurry up and get back here, every minute you're gone is a minute we waste-"
I hung up on her at that point. My phone rang three more times on the way back to the Arts building, but I ignored it.
As soon as I opened the Literary Club door, Haruhi threw the backpack full of paranormal equipment at me and marched past me into the hall. The rest of the Brigade filed out after her with a general mood of resignation and dread. We went straight out of the building and headed out of the school gate in the direction of the local train station.
I fell in with Asahina, who was dressed in her school uniform. I tried not to be too disappointed. A cute school girl is the next best thing to a dutiful maid. "Where are we going?" I asked.
"Suzumiya-san hasn't told us," Asahina said softly, "although she did say that she'd gone there earlier to, um, check it out."
Just as I thought, she went scouting on her own. Haruhi was probably just returning to the school when I went searching for her. Was that where she went today while skipping class? Geez, actually leaving the campus is a bit much, even for Haruhi.
"Kyon?" Asahina asked, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Do you think that this place... do you think there will actually be ghosts?"
"No," I said, more confidently than I felt, doing my best to assuage Asahina's fears. "We haven't seen ghosts yet, and there's no reason this time will be any different than the last." I hope.
Haruhi heard my dismissive comment and turned around to glare at me. Hey, don't get mad at me, I'm only stating the obvious.
"Where is it this time, Haruhi?" I asked. Maybe if I piss her off enough, she'll actually tell us where we're going. "Another supernatural office building maybe? What did the people on the internet say? Is it super haunted?"
Haruhi turned around angrily and started walking backwards so she could face me fully. I noticed for the first time that she was carrying a brightly colored gift bag in her arms. Like the kind you put a present in when you're too lazy to wrap it up. What the hell was that for?
"It is super haunted, actually." Haruhi said, "I was getting very suggestive readings when I was there earlier. I hope you won't get too scared, Kyon."
Hey, when have I been scared? I've certainly been way more calm and relaxed than you've been! But before I could respond, Haruhi turned around dismissively and began walking ahead.
Geez, this ghost thing is getting old fast. Once again we followed Haruhi onto the train with no stated destination except "west line, three stops." What's the point of keeping us in the dark? Is it so hard to just explain where the hell we're going? The truth is, Haruhi has no concept of our separate concerns and questions. She treats the SOS Brigade like a bunch of toys she can arrange however she likes for her amusement.
For the most part, of course, we do go along with her whims like inanimate objects. I'm the only one who ever really puts up a fight. I wonder what would happen if one day I wasn't the only objector? What would Haruhi do if Asahina, Nagato and Koizumi also refused to follow her blindly? Probably just leave us and go off on her own. Still, maybe she would listen if it was the entire Brigade...
I was relieved when our destination turned out to be right next to the train station. It was way too humid to be walking around a lot. Plus, it still looked like it would rain shortly. The clouds were getting darker every minute.
Our destination, as it turned out, was a large, downtown hospital. This was an active, busy place, too. What kind of supernatural stuff was Haruhi expecting to find? Sure, a lot of people have probably died here, but it's the same way at every other hospital. What kind of spirit would want to remain in a noisy place like this?
I didn't have a chance to voice my skepticism, as Haruhi was already walking up the path to the main entrance. We went in through the automatic doors to an open waiting area with a reception desk. The receptionist smiled at Haruhi, who was now holding the gift bag up prominently.
"Oh, you've returned?" asked the woman at the desk. "It's so nice of you to visit your school friend. Is that a gift for her?"
"Yes," Haruhi said brightly, "it's a get-well present from our entire class." Pretending to visit a sick friend, huh? Wow, that's really terrible.
Haruhi seemed entirely without remorse. She nodded toward the four of us and smiled. "My friends came to visit as well." Hey, you don't have to include us in your dirty deception!
Haruhi cheerfully waved goodbye to the receptionist and led us past the desk to the elevators. As soon as the door closed I rounded on Haruhi. "I can't believe you lied to get us in here! Don't you feel guilty at all?"
"Calm down, Kyon," Haruhi said, "I couldn't very well have said, 'we'd like to investigate your haunted east building for ghosts!' This is a hospital, they have policies about things like that."
"And they don't have policies about people lying to get in the front door?"
Haruhi shrugged, "that only matters if they realize we lied." How can you be so confident? Have you already forgotten what happened at the last "haunted" house we visited? The elevator interrupted our argument by coming to a stop on the fifth floor. Haruhi got off and the rest of us followed like a bunch of sheep.
Haruhi opened up her gift bag as she walked down the hall and pulled out a book. So the bag wasn't just for show, huh? I craned my neck and got a look at the cover. There was a picture of skull on the front beneath red letters which said "Haunted Japan." Hm, apparently Haruhi hadn't been completely immune to my jabs about using the internet for information. Not that some crazy guy who wrote a book was much better than some crazy guys on the web.
"So which part of this place is haunted?" I asked.
Haruhi must have been in an informative mood, as she actually answered my question. "The activity is in a small building on the east side of the hospital. There used to be a mental ward there, but it closed ten years ago. It's been under 'renovations' ever since."
"Oh, very mysterious," I said, "I imagine those 'renovations' are just a cover story? The real reason it hasn't opened is because the whole wing is haunted by a vengeful ghost, right? I bet it was someone killed by malpractice."
"Exactly!" Haruhi said happily. Don't respond to my sarcasm so earnestly!
Haruhi lost interest in our conversation as she opened her book to a marked page. She ran her finger over the words until she found the passage she was looking for. "Okay, according to this, we can get into the east building by going to the fifth floor and finding the entrance to the roof." The roof? Wow, I hate this idea already.
Haruhi slammed the book closed and started off determinately. She led us through halls which smelled of disinfectant and indistinct bodily fluids. Urg, I really hate hospitals.
We seemed to be in an outpatient area which mostly housed people taking a short rest before or after surgery. The rooms were large and lined with beds in which woozy patients recovered from anesthesia and inspected their new bandages. There were also several lounge-type areas where friends and family members could wait out procedures. Thankfully, we blended in pretty well with this crowd, although I'm sure that will change once we try breaking onto the roof.
Haruhi's bright excitement quickly ran into a stumbling block. She found the roof the book mentioned on the east side of the building. We could see it through the windows of an empty waiting room. It was a short stretch of tar and gravel that connected the fifth floor with a small building separated from the main hospital. The problem was that there did not appear to be anyway to get onto this roof.
Haruhi opened up her book again and glared at it. "It says right here that there's a door and a hallway across. It used to be used as a skyway to the back parking garage."
"Well, either the book lied or there isn't a door here anymore," I said.
"Why don't we go downstairs and try getting in on the ground floor?" Koizumi asked. I glared at him. You don't have to give her ideas.
"I tried that earlier!" Haruhi said grumpily, "The security guards around here are really overzealous." Please tell me you're not already on the security watch list, Haruhi. I'm amazed someone hasn't shown up to throw us out yet.
For a moment I happily considered the possibility that we'd have to give up and go home, but Haruhi quickly put an end to that by doing something incredibly stupid.
Sigh, no obstacle stays in Haruhi's way for long. She calmly opened a window as wide as it would go (which wasn't very wide) and popped the screen out. Asahina gasped and tried to grab hold of her arm, but it was no use. While I watched in horror, Haruhi climbed up on the sill and started to put her leg through the opening.
"What the hell are you doing?" I said, trying not to yell. I really didn't want to attract the attention of the hospital staff right now.
Haruhi had already managed to get both her legs through the window and planted firmly on the roof. She gave me an excited look from her half-in, half-out position and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" She then ducked her head and pulled herself completely outside.
Feeling helpless, I went to the sill and swung myself up. The rest of the SOS Brigade was not nearly as spry as Haruhi, and it took some time to squeeze us all through the narrow opening. Only Nagato's thin frame fit through with ease.
The roof stretched for about fifteen feet to bridge the gap between the main hospital and the top of the supposedly haunted mental ward. There was a short, three foot wall lining the edges of the smaller building, but this was simple enough to hop over. Haruhi was waiting for us next to a small boxy room that protruded out of the roof. The top of a staircase, I guess. A rusty chain hung on the entrance to this room, but it must have been broken a long time ago, as it fell right off as Haruhi tested the door.
I can't believe it's this easy to get in here. They really need to hire some better security at this place.
Haruhi didn't take us inside right away. She opened the shinny gift bag once again and removed five straws of different lengths, three short and two long. After arranging them in her hand behind her back, she held the straws out to us and said "Time to pick new teams everyone!"
Random teams, huh? We haven't done that in a while. I picked first and pulled out a long straw. Then I watched with disappointment as Asahina and Nagato both pulled short straws. Koizumi went last. He took his straw and then turned towards me with a smile. Long. Oh well, quite frankly I'd rather have Koizumi molest my feet than have Haruhi boss me around.
Haruhi gave Asahina and Nagato a thumbs up and showed them the last short straw in her hand. Asahina frowned and took Nagato's arm preemptively. Dammit, I wanted her to be clinging to my arm today.
Haruhi moved on quickly, taking the backpack from me and handing flashlights out. "Today I think we should all try new equipment, it's important that we be familiarized with all of our tools, not just some of them." Important for what? Paranormal detection isn't some life skill we need to develop.
With great seriousness, Haruhi gave Nagato the camera and Koizumi the sound recorder. Naturally she reserved the best toy, the combination EMF detector and thermometer, for herself. As an afterthought, she found two pads of paper for Asahina and me. Hey, wait a minute, since when am I on the same level as Mikuru? I think I've been doing pretty well with the EMF remote so far, thank you very much.
Urg, am I seriously getting offended over my perceived paranormal data gathering abilities? Get a grip, Kyon, who cares?
While we were standing there, I thought I felt a drop of water on my head. Crap, I looked up at the sky, which seemed to be saying, "I really mean it this time!" I was a bit relieved when Haruhi finally took us into the building. She, on the other hand, was practically glowing in excitement. Are you really that eager to find ghosts, Haruhi?
On the other side of the door, there was a dark and dusty stairwell. Our flashlights bounced eerily over the walls, revealing some very unremarkable steps. I thought I caught a vague whiff of sweat and human waste as we started down. It seems even years of disuse could not clear the air of that hospital smell.
One level down, we came out of the stairwell and into an empty hallway. It didn't look much like a mental hospital. I didn't see any straightjackets or padded walls, but then they probably only have those in movies.
"Okay," Haruhi said, speaking a little too loudly for my comfort. There are probably guards around here somewhere, don't just announce our presence to them like that!
"For now we'll split up!" Haruhi continued, "Then, in exactly two hours, we'll meet back at this door." She pointed her flashlight at the sign on the wall which said, "Stairway 4, use in case of fire."
Only two hours? That's not so bad. We might even manage to avoid capture if we're here only a couple of hours.
Asahina gave me an unhappy look as Haruhi propped open the door to the stairs and went back inside. "Don't worry," I told her, "Nagato will take care of you. Right?"
Nagato took Asahina's hand in response and pulled the unwilling girl down the stairs after her. Well, maybe "take care of" is the wrong phrase... "Protect coldly but efficiently" perhaps?
I turned to Koizumi, who held the small portable recorder up in his right hand, hit the play button, and dramatically placed it in the front pocket of his dress shirt. He winked at me. "Our paranormal equipment is prepped and ready, shall we head out?"
Geez, you're actually enjoying this aren't you? Don't you have better things to do than wander through abandoned buildings at Haruhi's command? Although maybe I shouldn't complain since apparently I don't have anything better to do either....
I followed after Koizumi down the hall. We kicked up a fine layer of dust as we went, and it danced in our flashlight beams. I tried one of the doors lining the walls and found that it was open.
The only things in the room on the other side were stacks upon stacks of identical cardboard boxes. I picked one up and blew the dust off. There was a yellowing sticker on the front that said "1982 - T." Inside, the box was stuffed full of files, each labeled with a little white tab and a name. "Takahashi, K.," "Takahashi, M.," "Takashita, T.," and so on.
"So they store old files over here?" Koizumi asked, leaning over my shoulder to get a closer look. You don't have to crowd me, go get your own box.
There was a sudden, loud tapping on the window and I jumped back, knocking into Koizumi and dropping the files. The paper spilled from the box and spread wildly across the floor. The hell was that?
Koizumi, who was now pressed against my back, patted my arm gently and said, "Looks like the rain finally started." You don't have to patronize me; I was only a little surprised.
I pushed away from him and went to the window, lifting the gray mini blinds to look outside. Fat raindrops fell from the clouds and were blow sideways by the hard wind. As they hit against the glass, the droplets made a loud "thock thock thock."
Damn, I still don't have a jacket with me. This storm better be over soon or I'm sure to get soaked when we leave.
Koizumi and I continued exploring the halls while the rain pounded atmospherically in the background. It seemed that each separate room held a different year of files. Not a bad system, I guess, if you have a whole building for storage. Seems like it'd be easier to just put them all together in one big warehouse though.
We had explored all of the fourth floor and most of the third by the time the alarm on my phone went off, letting me know that exactly two hours had passed. Koizumi and I quickly returned to the fourth floor stairwell to meet the girls.
Unfortunately, they weren't nearly as punctual as we were. I alternated between tapped my foot and looking at my watch while Koizumi leaned back and looked annoyingly relaxed. Geez, what was taking them so long? It was already fifteen minutes past our meeting time.
"Should we call?" I asked.
Koizumi smiled, "Don't worry, I'm sure Haruhi just got distracted by a cold spot somewhere."
But it's not like her to forget her own orders. It's especially not like her to be late. I flipped open my phone. Damn, I've only got half a bar in here.
I motioned for Koizumi to follow me and took the stairs up one flight to the roof. Huh, when had the rain stopped? I hadn't even noticed.
The sky was clearing and the sun had come out for a last look at the earth before it set. We had quite a nice view up on the roof. I admired the remaining red and orange colored clouds while I pulled up Haruhi's number in my address book.
The phone ran once and than clicked over to her voice mail. Well, of course, if she's in the building she probably doesn't have any reception either. "This is Suzumiya Haruhi," the recording said, "leave me a message and I'll call you back if you sound interesting!"
I didn't bother leaving a message. I doubt I meet her criteria for "interesting."
I sighed and walked over to where Koizumi was standing at the roof's edge watching the sunset. There were quite a few puddles up here and I could already feel the water soaking into my shoes and socks. I hate when my socks get wet, my feet stay cold for hours afterwards. So annoying.
"We probably shouldn't hang out here too long," I said to Koizumi, "I mean, people looking out of the main building can see us easily."
Koizumi smiled and nodded, but looked back towards the sun wistfully. "It did turn into a nice evening though, didn't it?"
"Yeah," I agreed, sticking my hands in my pockets. All things considered, this hadn't been such a bad day. Yeah, we'd broken into a hospital and still might get in trouble for it, but spending a few hours exploring a weird old building with Koizumi had been kind of fun. We hadn't run into any crazy paranormal stuff either. Yeah, not a bad day at all.
Koizumi turned his head towards me like he was going to say something, but then only smiled. I was in such a good mood at that point-a rather rare occurrence for me-that I smiled back.
"Kyon..." Koizumi started.
"Yeah?" I asked, still feeling weirdly warm and happy.
Koizumi made a slightly pained face and looked down. Weird, normally he's not the type to hesitate over his words. I looked down as well, trying to see what he was looking at on the ground.
Right at that moment, as I was dropping my eyes to look down, Koizumi's head collided with my own. The hell? Okay, this is exactly why you shouldn't put your face so damn close to other people's! Face-on-face collisions are simply bound to happen!
Except this wasn't really an accidental impact. In fact, it appeared to be a very deliberate move. A move which resulted in Koizumi's lips being mashed into my own.
Oh my God.
Oh. my. God.
OH. MY. GOD.
This was not a situation I was entirely unprepared for. In fact, I had carefully developed several escape plans in the event of just such an occurrence. With great cunning and skill, I immediately put one such plan into action. I jerked my face away from his and fell backwards onto the wet ground.
"Whaaaaaahuh?"
Koizumi was giving me a decidedly out of character look of horror and confusion. Like he hadn't intended to ki- ...to do that at all.
I stumbled to my feet, wiping at my lips with one hand and the back of my pants with the other. Great, now I've got wet socks and wet underwear.
"Um," said Koizumi, reaching out one of his hands like he wanted me to wait. Hell no, I'm not sticking around to be molested by you again! I can't believe I let my guard down after what happened last time!
While I was backing my way to the roof door, a loud ringing started up, making me stumble and nearly fall again. Huh, my phone? I patted at my pockets in confusion.
Oh shit, it was in my hand when Koi- ...when he- ...when that happened. Did I drop it when I fell?
Sure enough, my phone was now lying in a puddle, vibrating the water around it as it rang.
Shit. This was awkward. I really didn't feel like walking back toward Koizumi to pick it up, but then I couldn't really leave it ringing there. It would suck if water got inside. Not to mention that the person calling me is probably a very angry Haruhi.
Koizumi looked at the phone, which was on its third ring, and then back at me.
"Uh?" he said uncertainly. I took another step away from him and pressed my back into the damp wall of the stairwell.
He sighed softly and leaned down to pick up the phone. After shaking some of the water off, he flipped it open. "Hello?"
Haruhi must have been yelling quite loud, as I could hear her voice from the other side of the roof. Koizumi winced. "Yes, Suzumiya-san, it's me."
"No, Kyon's here as well. He just... I just answered his phone for him."
Haruhi asked an indistinct question and Koizumi tried to catch my gaze. I looked away. "Uh, no, I don't think Kyon can talk right now. ...because he just doesn't want to, okay?"
Koizumi sighed. "No, we didn't see anything supernatural. Look, Suzumiya, where are you right now?" He made a surprised expression at her answer, and then walked over to the ledge and looked down.
"Oh, hi!" he said, giving a half-hearted wave toward the ground. Far away, I could hear Haruhi's voice screaming "Helloooo Koizuuumi-kuuuuuun!" I also thought I could hear the sound of Asahina's gentle laugh, but that might have been my imagination.
Haruhi talked for several minutes longer while Koizumi unhuh'd and made strained smiles downward. When their conversation was finished, he quietly closed the phone and looked down with a resigned expression.
"They opened a window and went out through there. It seems there are offices still in use on the first floor. They left a light on, so it should be easy to find."
Koizumi slowly raised his eyes and gave me a careful look. His expression grew perceptively sadder, as if his last bit of hope had been crushed by my silence.
"I'm sorry," he said. I felt a slight stab of guilt. Geez, why do I feel guilty? It's his fault for k- ...for doing that to an unwilling person!
Once he realized I wasn't going to accept his apology, Koizumi continued, "You go down and find the window. I'll go back the way we came before." He motioned vaguely toward the main hospital building and the window Haruhi had climbed through nearly three hours ago.
Koizumi turned to leave. As an afterthought, he carefully set my phone down on a mostly dry part of the roof.
I stayed against the wall until he had climbed inside the building, giving me a last, forced smile over his shoulder. Once he was gone, I retrieved my phone and went back down the stairs alone.
If this was a movie and I could do cameos, I totally would have been the easily-duped receptionist at the hospital. I’ve worked at doctor’s offices before, they suck.
I haven't said this in a while, but please do let me know if you find any grammar or spelling weirdness. I'd rather be embarrassed and correct my mistakes than not know they're there and not realize I should be embarrassed. (Um, if that makes sense)
Rating: PG-13 for inappropriate use of windows and dramatic face-on-face collisions.
Summery: Haruhi finds a new hobby, bad things happen to Kyon.
6.
My prediction about Haruhi's mood following our law-breaking trip to the suburbs proved correct. The few times I saw her in class on Monday she was tense and easily annoyed, answering my comments snappishly before disappearing again in a rush of angry energy. Once again, she managed to miss several class periods without the teacher so much as glancing towards her empty desk.
I had seen Haruhi cycle through these kinds of moods several times before, and by now I knew what to expect. This was her usual way of responding to setbacks and problems; she simply upped her enthusiasm and vigor tenfold. It was similar to Haruhi's initial burst of excitement when she first came up with a crazy idea, but tinged with frustration and increasing desperation.
This did not bode well. I was certain we'd have official club activities tonight. Probably activities the Law would not look kindly upon. Oh well, I was beyond caring at this point. It really wasn't worth the energy it took to argue with Haruhi about this sort of thing. Let her do what she wants. After all, the person who fights the tide drowns, while the one that swims with it eventually escapes. (Or is it the other way around?)
I was more than a little surprised when I opened the door to the club room and found every Brigade member accounted for... except for our self-designated chief.
"What happened to Haruhi?" I asked with my hand still on the doorknob. Koizumi shrugged, Asahina shuddered, and Nagato ignored me completely.
Strange, I thought she'd be here waiting for us. Man, I hope she hasn't gotten too impatient and run off to ghost hunt alone. Just thinking about all trouble she could get into on her own is making me feel vaguely nauseous.
I hesitated in the doorway uncertainly. It seemed I had three options: 1) Remain quietly in the club room and await Haruhi's return, 2) leave and escape for home while I had the chance, or 3) go find Haruhi before she inadvertently turned the world into her personal, paranormal playground.
I sighed. Why do I even torture myself by pretending I have a choice?
"Nagato," I asked directly, "is Haruhi nearby?"
Although she didn't look up, Nagato made a very clear nod into her book. Okay, it shouldn't take too long to find her then. Hopefully. Should we split up...? No, then it'd take twice as long to gather everyone back up again. I should be able to find her on my own pretty quickly.
I dumped my school bag on the desk and told the others to wait for me there. "If Haruhi comes back, don't let her leave." Right, as if they could stop her.
I rushed out of the club room and headed back to the main school building. Okay, there aren't too many places she could be, first off, our classroom.
I made it out of the Arts building in record time and started to cross the courtyard. There was a small group of students standing under a tree there who turned to look at me as I hurried past. Geez, why am I running? I must look ridiculous racing around after school has ended. It's not like there's a bell I need to beat.
I walked to my classroom at a more leisurely pace, keeping a careful lookout for Haruhi throughout the halls. Of course, she was no where to be found. Our classroom was completely deserted, as was the freshman hallway and all the other rooms in it.
Shit, where could she be? Alright, think, where would Haruhi go and why? I spent several minutes trying to think like Haruhi and failing. Come on, acting like Haruhi shouldn't be this hard. I just need to ignore every bit of common sense and modesty I possess and do the first crazy thing that comes to mind.
I attempted this for several minutes unsuccessfully. The only thing I could think about was the fact that I was kind of thirsty. Although Haruhi might have attempted to extort water from the nearest person through blackmail, I simply found a drinking fountain.
I took a long sip of water, staring at the stairs next to the fountain as I swallowed. Hm, stairs. A vague memory tickled at the back of my mind. What if Haruhi had decided to do some paranormal data gathering on her own...? Might she go back to a place where she'd noticed something odd last week? Yes, that sounds about right...
I wiped my mouth and started climbing the staircase to the fourth floor.
The staircase seemed much darker than usual today. As I climbed up, I paused at the window on the third story landing and peered out. The hazy and humid weather we'd been having all day had suddenly turned threatening. The sky was now completely covered by low hanging clouds with a yellowish green tinge.
Wonderful. It's only natural that it'd rain on a day I don't bring my jacket to school.
I was feeling quite grumpy by the time I reached the fourth floor. "Haruhi?" I yelled, "Come out if you're up here!"
There was no answer. I peered in the dusty corners of the dark space, wishing I'd brought my ghost hunting flashlight along with me.
The landing at the top of the fourth floor staircase was kind of a weird place. There was a door to the roof up there which was almost always locked. The Art Club used it as a storage area, and it was usually filled with the remnants of half-finished art projects. Right now there were a whole series of papier-mâché columns lined up against the wall. Were they for the set of a Greek play or something?
There were also a number of strange oversized canvases that were nearly as tall as I was. Whoever had been painting them seemed to be experimenting with a creepy, indistinct style of portrait. They all featured shadowy outlined figures done in various shades of red and brown.
I looked closer at the one nearest me. It seemed to show a girl looking over her shoulder at the viewer. It was eerie the way her eyes were painted white in contrast to the rest of the dark palette...
As I was leaning over the painting, a slight noise came from somewhere behind my back. It sounded like the scuffle of a shoe on the floor. I spun around.
"Haruhi?" I asked, my voice cracking a little. Give me a break, I was surprised, okay?
There was no answer. It was probably just a canvas sliding down against the wall... but I suddenly had the distinct feeling that I wasn't alone. All the supernatural bullshit I've been hearing about for the past week is clearly getting to my head.
"Um, hello?" I asked again as I edged my way toward the stairs. I wanted to leave, but I also didn't want to put my back to the empty darkness of the landing.
I nearly wet myself when my cell phone started vibrating in my pocket. Holy crap!
I flipped it open and started down the stairs while looking over my shoulder. The dark figure in the painting watched me leave with her blank, white eyes.
It was something of a relief to hear Haruhi's too-loud voice coming through the phone. It was harder to contemplate the supernatural with her yelling irritatingly in my ear.
"Where the hell are you!" she asked. What? No, "Hello, Kyon" first?
"I've been looking for you," I said. How annoying. The only reason I left was because you disappeared this afternoon.
"I'm in the club room, idiot! Which is where you should be, too. Hurry up and get back here, every minute you're gone is a minute we waste-"
I hung up on her at that point. My phone rang three more times on the way back to the Arts building, but I ignored it.
As soon as I opened the Literary Club door, Haruhi threw the backpack full of paranormal equipment at me and marched past me into the hall. The rest of the Brigade filed out after her with a general mood of resignation and dread. We went straight out of the building and headed out of the school gate in the direction of the local train station.
I fell in with Asahina, who was dressed in her school uniform. I tried not to be too disappointed. A cute school girl is the next best thing to a dutiful maid. "Where are we going?" I asked.
"Suzumiya-san hasn't told us," Asahina said softly, "although she did say that she'd gone there earlier to, um, check it out."
Just as I thought, she went scouting on her own. Haruhi was probably just returning to the school when I went searching for her. Was that where she went today while skipping class? Geez, actually leaving the campus is a bit much, even for Haruhi.
"Kyon?" Asahina asked, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Do you think that this place... do you think there will actually be ghosts?"
"No," I said, more confidently than I felt, doing my best to assuage Asahina's fears. "We haven't seen ghosts yet, and there's no reason this time will be any different than the last." I hope.
Haruhi heard my dismissive comment and turned around to glare at me. Hey, don't get mad at me, I'm only stating the obvious.
"Where is it this time, Haruhi?" I asked. Maybe if I piss her off enough, she'll actually tell us where we're going. "Another supernatural office building maybe? What did the people on the internet say? Is it super haunted?"
Haruhi turned around angrily and started walking backwards so she could face me fully. I noticed for the first time that she was carrying a brightly colored gift bag in her arms. Like the kind you put a present in when you're too lazy to wrap it up. What the hell was that for?
"It is super haunted, actually." Haruhi said, "I was getting very suggestive readings when I was there earlier. I hope you won't get too scared, Kyon."
Hey, when have I been scared? I've certainly been way more calm and relaxed than you've been! But before I could respond, Haruhi turned around dismissively and began walking ahead.
Geez, this ghost thing is getting old fast. Once again we followed Haruhi onto the train with no stated destination except "west line, three stops." What's the point of keeping us in the dark? Is it so hard to just explain where the hell we're going? The truth is, Haruhi has no concept of our separate concerns and questions. She treats the SOS Brigade like a bunch of toys she can arrange however she likes for her amusement.
For the most part, of course, we do go along with her whims like inanimate objects. I'm the only one who ever really puts up a fight. I wonder what would happen if one day I wasn't the only objector? What would Haruhi do if Asahina, Nagato and Koizumi also refused to follow her blindly? Probably just leave us and go off on her own. Still, maybe she would listen if it was the entire Brigade...
I was relieved when our destination turned out to be right next to the train station. It was way too humid to be walking around a lot. Plus, it still looked like it would rain shortly. The clouds were getting darker every minute.
Our destination, as it turned out, was a large, downtown hospital. This was an active, busy place, too. What kind of supernatural stuff was Haruhi expecting to find? Sure, a lot of people have probably died here, but it's the same way at every other hospital. What kind of spirit would want to remain in a noisy place like this?
I didn't have a chance to voice my skepticism, as Haruhi was already walking up the path to the main entrance. We went in through the automatic doors to an open waiting area with a reception desk. The receptionist smiled at Haruhi, who was now holding the gift bag up prominently.
"Oh, you've returned?" asked the woman at the desk. "It's so nice of you to visit your school friend. Is that a gift for her?"
"Yes," Haruhi said brightly, "it's a get-well present from our entire class." Pretending to visit a sick friend, huh? Wow, that's really terrible.
Haruhi seemed entirely without remorse. She nodded toward the four of us and smiled. "My friends came to visit as well." Hey, you don't have to include us in your dirty deception!
Haruhi cheerfully waved goodbye to the receptionist and led us past the desk to the elevators. As soon as the door closed I rounded on Haruhi. "I can't believe you lied to get us in here! Don't you feel guilty at all?"
"Calm down, Kyon," Haruhi said, "I couldn't very well have said, 'we'd like to investigate your haunted east building for ghosts!' This is a hospital, they have policies about things like that."
"And they don't have policies about people lying to get in the front door?"
Haruhi shrugged, "that only matters if they realize we lied." How can you be so confident? Have you already forgotten what happened at the last "haunted" house we visited? The elevator interrupted our argument by coming to a stop on the fifth floor. Haruhi got off and the rest of us followed like a bunch of sheep.
Haruhi opened up her gift bag as she walked down the hall and pulled out a book. So the bag wasn't just for show, huh? I craned my neck and got a look at the cover. There was a picture of skull on the front beneath red letters which said "Haunted Japan." Hm, apparently Haruhi hadn't been completely immune to my jabs about using the internet for information. Not that some crazy guy who wrote a book was much better than some crazy guys on the web.
"So which part of this place is haunted?" I asked.
Haruhi must have been in an informative mood, as she actually answered my question. "The activity is in a small building on the east side of the hospital. There used to be a mental ward there, but it closed ten years ago. It's been under 'renovations' ever since."
"Oh, very mysterious," I said, "I imagine those 'renovations' are just a cover story? The real reason it hasn't opened is because the whole wing is haunted by a vengeful ghost, right? I bet it was someone killed by malpractice."
"Exactly!" Haruhi said happily. Don't respond to my sarcasm so earnestly!
Haruhi lost interest in our conversation as she opened her book to a marked page. She ran her finger over the words until she found the passage she was looking for. "Okay, according to this, we can get into the east building by going to the fifth floor and finding the entrance to the roof." The roof? Wow, I hate this idea already.
Haruhi slammed the book closed and started off determinately. She led us through halls which smelled of disinfectant and indistinct bodily fluids. Urg, I really hate hospitals.
We seemed to be in an outpatient area which mostly housed people taking a short rest before or after surgery. The rooms were large and lined with beds in which woozy patients recovered from anesthesia and inspected their new bandages. There were also several lounge-type areas where friends and family members could wait out procedures. Thankfully, we blended in pretty well with this crowd, although I'm sure that will change once we try breaking onto the roof.
Haruhi's bright excitement quickly ran into a stumbling block. She found the roof the book mentioned on the east side of the building. We could see it through the windows of an empty waiting room. It was a short stretch of tar and gravel that connected the fifth floor with a small building separated from the main hospital. The problem was that there did not appear to be anyway to get onto this roof.
Haruhi opened up her book again and glared at it. "It says right here that there's a door and a hallway across. It used to be used as a skyway to the back parking garage."
"Well, either the book lied or there isn't a door here anymore," I said.
"Why don't we go downstairs and try getting in on the ground floor?" Koizumi asked. I glared at him. You don't have to give her ideas.
"I tried that earlier!" Haruhi said grumpily, "The security guards around here are really overzealous." Please tell me you're not already on the security watch list, Haruhi. I'm amazed someone hasn't shown up to throw us out yet.
For a moment I happily considered the possibility that we'd have to give up and go home, but Haruhi quickly put an end to that by doing something incredibly stupid.
Sigh, no obstacle stays in Haruhi's way for long. She calmly opened a window as wide as it would go (which wasn't very wide) and popped the screen out. Asahina gasped and tried to grab hold of her arm, but it was no use. While I watched in horror, Haruhi climbed up on the sill and started to put her leg through the opening.
"What the hell are you doing?" I said, trying not to yell. I really didn't want to attract the attention of the hospital staff right now.
Haruhi had already managed to get both her legs through the window and planted firmly on the roof. She gave me an excited look from her half-in, half-out position and said, "Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" She then ducked her head and pulled herself completely outside.
Feeling helpless, I went to the sill and swung myself up. The rest of the SOS Brigade was not nearly as spry as Haruhi, and it took some time to squeeze us all through the narrow opening. Only Nagato's thin frame fit through with ease.
The roof stretched for about fifteen feet to bridge the gap between the main hospital and the top of the supposedly haunted mental ward. There was a short, three foot wall lining the edges of the smaller building, but this was simple enough to hop over. Haruhi was waiting for us next to a small boxy room that protruded out of the roof. The top of a staircase, I guess. A rusty chain hung on the entrance to this room, but it must have been broken a long time ago, as it fell right off as Haruhi tested the door.
I can't believe it's this easy to get in here. They really need to hire some better security at this place.
Haruhi didn't take us inside right away. She opened the shinny gift bag once again and removed five straws of different lengths, three short and two long. After arranging them in her hand behind her back, she held the straws out to us and said "Time to pick new teams everyone!"
Random teams, huh? We haven't done that in a while. I picked first and pulled out a long straw. Then I watched with disappointment as Asahina and Nagato both pulled short straws. Koizumi went last. He took his straw and then turned towards me with a smile. Long. Oh well, quite frankly I'd rather have Koizumi molest my feet than have Haruhi boss me around.
Haruhi gave Asahina and Nagato a thumbs up and showed them the last short straw in her hand. Asahina frowned and took Nagato's arm preemptively. Dammit, I wanted her to be clinging to my arm today.
Haruhi moved on quickly, taking the backpack from me and handing flashlights out. "Today I think we should all try new equipment, it's important that we be familiarized with all of our tools, not just some of them." Important for what? Paranormal detection isn't some life skill we need to develop.
With great seriousness, Haruhi gave Nagato the camera and Koizumi the sound recorder. Naturally she reserved the best toy, the combination EMF detector and thermometer, for herself. As an afterthought, she found two pads of paper for Asahina and me. Hey, wait a minute, since when am I on the same level as Mikuru? I think I've been doing pretty well with the EMF remote so far, thank you very much.
Urg, am I seriously getting offended over my perceived paranormal data gathering abilities? Get a grip, Kyon, who cares?
While we were standing there, I thought I felt a drop of water on my head. Crap, I looked up at the sky, which seemed to be saying, "I really mean it this time!" I was a bit relieved when Haruhi finally took us into the building. She, on the other hand, was practically glowing in excitement. Are you really that eager to find ghosts, Haruhi?
On the other side of the door, there was a dark and dusty stairwell. Our flashlights bounced eerily over the walls, revealing some very unremarkable steps. I thought I caught a vague whiff of sweat and human waste as we started down. It seems even years of disuse could not clear the air of that hospital smell.
One level down, we came out of the stairwell and into an empty hallway. It didn't look much like a mental hospital. I didn't see any straightjackets or padded walls, but then they probably only have those in movies.
"Okay," Haruhi said, speaking a little too loudly for my comfort. There are probably guards around here somewhere, don't just announce our presence to them like that!
"For now we'll split up!" Haruhi continued, "Then, in exactly two hours, we'll meet back at this door." She pointed her flashlight at the sign on the wall which said, "Stairway 4, use in case of fire."
Only two hours? That's not so bad. We might even manage to avoid capture if we're here only a couple of hours.
Asahina gave me an unhappy look as Haruhi propped open the door to the stairs and went back inside. "Don't worry," I told her, "Nagato will take care of you. Right?"
Nagato took Asahina's hand in response and pulled the unwilling girl down the stairs after her. Well, maybe "take care of" is the wrong phrase... "Protect coldly but efficiently" perhaps?
I turned to Koizumi, who held the small portable recorder up in his right hand, hit the play button, and dramatically placed it in the front pocket of his dress shirt. He winked at me. "Our paranormal equipment is prepped and ready, shall we head out?"
Geez, you're actually enjoying this aren't you? Don't you have better things to do than wander through abandoned buildings at Haruhi's command? Although maybe I shouldn't complain since apparently I don't have anything better to do either....
I followed after Koizumi down the hall. We kicked up a fine layer of dust as we went, and it danced in our flashlight beams. I tried one of the doors lining the walls and found that it was open.
The only things in the room on the other side were stacks upon stacks of identical cardboard boxes. I picked one up and blew the dust off. There was a yellowing sticker on the front that said "1982 - T." Inside, the box was stuffed full of files, each labeled with a little white tab and a name. "Takahashi, K.," "Takahashi, M.," "Takashita, T.," and so on.
"So they store old files over here?" Koizumi asked, leaning over my shoulder to get a closer look. You don't have to crowd me, go get your own box.
There was a sudden, loud tapping on the window and I jumped back, knocking into Koizumi and dropping the files. The paper spilled from the box and spread wildly across the floor. The hell was that?
Koizumi, who was now pressed against my back, patted my arm gently and said, "Looks like the rain finally started." You don't have to patronize me; I was only a little surprised.
I pushed away from him and went to the window, lifting the gray mini blinds to look outside. Fat raindrops fell from the clouds and were blow sideways by the hard wind. As they hit against the glass, the droplets made a loud "thock thock thock."
Damn, I still don't have a jacket with me. This storm better be over soon or I'm sure to get soaked when we leave.
Koizumi and I continued exploring the halls while the rain pounded atmospherically in the background. It seemed that each separate room held a different year of files. Not a bad system, I guess, if you have a whole building for storage. Seems like it'd be easier to just put them all together in one big warehouse though.
We had explored all of the fourth floor and most of the third by the time the alarm on my phone went off, letting me know that exactly two hours had passed. Koizumi and I quickly returned to the fourth floor stairwell to meet the girls.
Unfortunately, they weren't nearly as punctual as we were. I alternated between tapped my foot and looking at my watch while Koizumi leaned back and looked annoyingly relaxed. Geez, what was taking them so long? It was already fifteen minutes past our meeting time.
"Should we call?" I asked.
Koizumi smiled, "Don't worry, I'm sure Haruhi just got distracted by a cold spot somewhere."
But it's not like her to forget her own orders. It's especially not like her to be late. I flipped open my phone. Damn, I've only got half a bar in here.
I motioned for Koizumi to follow me and took the stairs up one flight to the roof. Huh, when had the rain stopped? I hadn't even noticed.
The sky was clearing and the sun had come out for a last look at the earth before it set. We had quite a nice view up on the roof. I admired the remaining red and orange colored clouds while I pulled up Haruhi's number in my address book.
The phone ran once and than clicked over to her voice mail. Well, of course, if she's in the building she probably doesn't have any reception either. "This is Suzumiya Haruhi," the recording said, "leave me a message and I'll call you back if you sound interesting!"
I didn't bother leaving a message. I doubt I meet her criteria for "interesting."
I sighed and walked over to where Koizumi was standing at the roof's edge watching the sunset. There were quite a few puddles up here and I could already feel the water soaking into my shoes and socks. I hate when my socks get wet, my feet stay cold for hours afterwards. So annoying.
"We probably shouldn't hang out here too long," I said to Koizumi, "I mean, people looking out of the main building can see us easily."
Koizumi smiled and nodded, but looked back towards the sun wistfully. "It did turn into a nice evening though, didn't it?"
"Yeah," I agreed, sticking my hands in my pockets. All things considered, this hadn't been such a bad day. Yeah, we'd broken into a hospital and still might get in trouble for it, but spending a few hours exploring a weird old building with Koizumi had been kind of fun. We hadn't run into any crazy paranormal stuff either. Yeah, not a bad day at all.
Koizumi turned his head towards me like he was going to say something, but then only smiled. I was in such a good mood at that point-a rather rare occurrence for me-that I smiled back.
"Kyon..." Koizumi started.
"Yeah?" I asked, still feeling weirdly warm and happy.
Koizumi made a slightly pained face and looked down. Weird, normally he's not the type to hesitate over his words. I looked down as well, trying to see what he was looking at on the ground.
Right at that moment, as I was dropping my eyes to look down, Koizumi's head collided with my own. The hell? Okay, this is exactly why you shouldn't put your face so damn close to other people's! Face-on-face collisions are simply bound to happen!
Except this wasn't really an accidental impact. In fact, it appeared to be a very deliberate move. A move which resulted in Koizumi's lips being mashed into my own.
Oh my God.
Oh. my. God.
OH. MY. GOD.
This was not a situation I was entirely unprepared for. In fact, I had carefully developed several escape plans in the event of just such an occurrence. With great cunning and skill, I immediately put one such plan into action. I jerked my face away from his and fell backwards onto the wet ground.
"Whaaaaaahuh?"
Koizumi was giving me a decidedly out of character look of horror and confusion. Like he hadn't intended to ki- ...to do that at all.
I stumbled to my feet, wiping at my lips with one hand and the back of my pants with the other. Great, now I've got wet socks and wet underwear.
"Um," said Koizumi, reaching out one of his hands like he wanted me to wait. Hell no, I'm not sticking around to be molested by you again! I can't believe I let my guard down after what happened last time!
While I was backing my way to the roof door, a loud ringing started up, making me stumble and nearly fall again. Huh, my phone? I patted at my pockets in confusion.
Oh shit, it was in my hand when Koi- ...when he- ...when that happened. Did I drop it when I fell?
Sure enough, my phone was now lying in a puddle, vibrating the water around it as it rang.
Shit. This was awkward. I really didn't feel like walking back toward Koizumi to pick it up, but then I couldn't really leave it ringing there. It would suck if water got inside. Not to mention that the person calling me is probably a very angry Haruhi.
Koizumi looked at the phone, which was on its third ring, and then back at me.
"Uh?" he said uncertainly. I took another step away from him and pressed my back into the damp wall of the stairwell.
He sighed softly and leaned down to pick up the phone. After shaking some of the water off, he flipped it open. "Hello?"
Haruhi must have been yelling quite loud, as I could hear her voice from the other side of the roof. Koizumi winced. "Yes, Suzumiya-san, it's me."
"No, Kyon's here as well. He just... I just answered his phone for him."
Haruhi asked an indistinct question and Koizumi tried to catch my gaze. I looked away. "Uh, no, I don't think Kyon can talk right now. ...because he just doesn't want to, okay?"
Koizumi sighed. "No, we didn't see anything supernatural. Look, Suzumiya, where are you right now?" He made a surprised expression at her answer, and then walked over to the ledge and looked down.
"Oh, hi!" he said, giving a half-hearted wave toward the ground. Far away, I could hear Haruhi's voice screaming "Helloooo Koizuuumi-kuuuuuun!" I also thought I could hear the sound of Asahina's gentle laugh, but that might have been my imagination.
Haruhi talked for several minutes longer while Koizumi unhuh'd and made strained smiles downward. When their conversation was finished, he quietly closed the phone and looked down with a resigned expression.
"They opened a window and went out through there. It seems there are offices still in use on the first floor. They left a light on, so it should be easy to find."
Koizumi slowly raised his eyes and gave me a careful look. His expression grew perceptively sadder, as if his last bit of hope had been crushed by my silence.
"I'm sorry," he said. I felt a slight stab of guilt. Geez, why do I feel guilty? It's his fault for k- ...for doing that to an unwilling person!
Once he realized I wasn't going to accept his apology, Koizumi continued, "You go down and find the window. I'll go back the way we came before." He motioned vaguely toward the main hospital building and the window Haruhi had climbed through nearly three hours ago.
Koizumi turned to leave. As an afterthought, he carefully set my phone down on a mostly dry part of the roof.
I stayed against the wall until he had climbed inside the building, giving me a last, forced smile over his shoulder. Once he was gone, I retrieved my phone and went back down the stairs alone.
If this was a movie and I could do cameos, I totally would have been the easily-duped receptionist at the hospital. I’ve worked at doctor’s offices before, they suck.
I haven't said this in a while, but please do let me know if you find any grammar or spelling weirdness. I'd rather be embarrassed and correct my mistakes than not know they're there and not realize I should be embarrassed. (Um, if that makes sense)