The Natural and Silent Respect

Love and Sickness

"Haruhi, I like you."

Haruhi blinked.

There was a loud crash.

Takashi's world came crashing down.

He had realized that he was in love with Haruhi the day prior, and he had been avoiding her all day. He wasn't even in his proper headspace as he had hardly received any sleep since he had been having a crisis at the newfound information. His head was throbbing and his eyes were tired, there was even an itchy feeling in his throat that had been nagging at him all day.

Takashi had been looking forward to the end of club hours so he could go home and not have to see Haruhi and acknowledge his feelings when Kasanoda had come into the club room.

He had requested Haruhi.

When Takashi had heard that, an awful feeling coiled in his stomach. Takashi recalled the sensation that had been bothering him recently when he saw Kasanoda with Haruhi, his hands curled into fists as he was now able to identify that foreign feeling.

It was jealously and it felt awful.

Takashi had clenched his jaw and tried to busy himself to avoid looking at where Haruhi sat with the redhead. He had been walking far away from them but he was close enough to hear their conversation so when Kasanoda suddenly confessed to Haruhi, Takashi's body malfunctioned as his mind went blank.

On the other hand, Haruhi had let out a little - breathless - 'huh' that had been overshadowed by the sudden crash. Haruhi froze for a second, staring into Kasanoda's vulnerable eyes. For some reason, she wanted to get up and run away from the whole situation because she didn't want to hurt his feelings but she liked...

She quickly turned her head to see what had made the loud crashing sound, trying to push away all thoughts about romance.

Everyone else also turned to see the source of the commotion.

Takashi stood in the middle of the club room, surrounded by broken teacups, broken plates, a spilled kettle, and squashed cake. The tray had skidded away from the ruin.

Haruhi's eyes widened as she stood up, her heart racing at the sight.

"Senpai, are you okay?" She took a step in his direction but then noticed Kasanoda still sitting there, waiting for her answer. It would be rude to keep him with high hopes and even worse to not give him a response, "I'm sorry but you said you like someone else. You should find her instead, we can still be friends and I'll even help you find her."

Haruhi avoided looking at Kasanoda as she quickly walked past him and headed to Takashi. She hoped that he hadn't gotten hurt, especially his hands. Her face heated up slightly as she recalled the feeling of his hand against hers.

Then memories of the dream that she had had yesterday in the car came up and Haruhi quickly tried to think of something else.

Takashi tried to move, but his body remained frozen, his brain rushing to catch up with what had happened.

Haruhi quickly walked over to where Takashi was standing with Honey making his way over to the frozen boy too.

"Senpai, are you okay?" Haruhi asked, bending down and picking up the tray, carefully reaching down to the mess to pick up a piece of the broken teacup. She couldn't bear to look him in the eyes after her thoughts about him. "You didn't get cut, did you? Or any hot tea on you?"

Takashi blinked, looking at Kasanoda who had a blush on his face but a disappointed look on his face. He let out a sigh, trying to remember what Haruhi had responded to the confession. He was sure he had heard her soft voice but for the life of him, he couldn't recall. By the looks of Kasanoda, Takashi hoped she had rejected him.