# 5 [action;post thanksgiving event]

[ohsoblunt]

[Feeling cooped up at home, Haruhi decides to go to the park today. The weather was pleasant enough and she thinks now's a time as good as any to get started on a book report she needed to do for class. She makes herself comfortable at one of the park benches and takes out the novel she needed to read out of her book bag

Comments

[magique_bonbon]

[So, yeah, y'know the tree behind the park bench? The one whose branches and leaves are providing shade? Coquelicot was apparently climbing it- no small feat in the 50's style dress she's wearing.

Hi! What're you reading?

[... this helps explain why Coquelicot's voice comes from a point ABOVE Haruhi- the younger girl is dangling upside-down above the park bench, hanging onto one of the tree's branches with her legs.]

[ohsoblunt]

Ah!

[Okay, little girl hanging upside-down. 8| That definitely surprised her. Putting a hand on her chest and taking deep breathes to calm down.]

Um, hello. I'm reading The Catcher in the Rye.

[She closes the book and shows the cover... and flips it upside-down so the younger girl could read the title.]

It's for a book report I need to do for school.

[magique_bonbon]

Aah, sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you like that.

[She pauses and studies the book cover that's offered up for inspection, blinking a bit. ... though it's not ringing any bells because it was written after 1927.]

"The Catcher in the Rye"...? I've never heard of it before. It's an English book, right?

[ohsoblunt]

A-ah, no, it's all right.

[Takes back the book and places it on her lap.]

Yes, it is. I think it's required for high school students in America to read this book. It's certainly different from the books I've read before.

[magique_bonbon]

He~h...

[Coquelicot blinks as something occurs to her.]

... I didn't know there was a school in Mayfield!

[ohsoblunt]

Ah, then I guess you're new, huh? Yes, there's a school here.

[Points at the direction it's located] Just over there.

[magique_bonbon]

Over there?

[Coquelicot climbs back up the tree, disappearing from view; a few leaves shower down as she swings and jumps from branch to branch.]

Ah! You're right! I wasn't looking in that direction!

[... and then she swings back down to the lowest branch- before somersaulting down and landing on her feet in front of Haruhi.]

Hey, do we all have to go to school here?

1/2

[ohsoblunt]

[Wow. Impressive. Assumes that she is some type of circus performer.]

[ohsoblunt]

I'm afraid we have to. I have a feeling we'll get punished if we don't. Better safe than sorry.

[magique_bonbon]

Punished... [Coquelicot absent-mindedly picks a few leaves out of her hair as she ponders this.] In other words, they'll brainwash us if we don't go, won't they.