The Natural and Silent Respect

The Beginning of Confusion

The damp, sticky spring air clung to Haruhi as she waited for the bus. She could feel a slight sweat forming on her forehead and her school uniform was starting to feel uncomfortable and too tight.

"When is the bus getting here? I need to get to school or I'll miss some of my first class," Haruhi muttered to herself as she glanced around trying to find a clock to check the time.

"Miss Fujioka! Is that you?"

Haruhi turned her head to see one of her neighbors out of her morning walk.

"Ah, good morning Mrs. Ito!" Haruhi greeted.

"Didn't you hear? The busses are going to be at least half an hour late. If you want, I can lend you my daughter's bike so you can go to school."

"Oh really? If that isn't much of a hassle for you, I would appreciate it!" Haruhi said as she bit back a groan.

'I'm going to arrive late so I'll have to catch up after class. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to finish the work before club activities start...'

Haruhi followed Mrs. Ito to the bike rack and thanked her once again as she got the bike.

"I'll return it when I get back, though I tend to stay late for club activities," Haruhi explained as she walked the bike while walking next to Mrs. Ito near the sidewalk.

"That's fine, my daughter caught a really bad cold so she won't be using it anytime soon," Mrs. Ito explained.

"I hope she gets well soon, I have to get going now. Thank you again!" Haruhi said as she got onto the bike and headed towards school.

"Take care!"

Haruhi started to pedal and prayed that maybe she would be fast enough to get to school without missing much of a lesson. Her legs started to burn after a while, but she could see the school coming into view.

It looked ethereal with the morning sun casting a golden hue on it. Haruhi sighed as she picked up her pace once again and as she came onto the school grounds she realized that she had no idea if the school even had a bike rack and she had no lock if there was a bike rack.

"Oh man," Haruhi grumbled as she got off the bike and walked it while looking around for a place to lock it to.

"Excuse me, aren't you a high schooler? Classes started a few minutes ago," A male voice said.

Haruhi turned to see a rather tall student in some sort of martial arts get up...he looked a lot like Takashi.

"I am but I'm running a bit late as you can see. Is there any chance you know where I can put my bike?" Haruhi asked.

"Mm, I don't think there are many places to put bikes here. Ah! I can take it to the kendo club to make sure it's safe, you can come to pick it up after school."

"That's very nice of you but I have to stay a bit later than other students. I'm part of a club too you see," Haruhi said.

She would be damned if she had to admit to a stranger that she was forced to be part of the host club.

"That's no problem, the kendo club stays after school as well. As long as you come by before night I should be there. Here, I'll take it, you go to class!"

"Ah, thank you," Haruhi said as she bowed slightly before turning and running off to class.

Satoshi watched as the short male ran into one of the hallways, he seemed different from other guys. There was something about him that was different.

Oh well.

Satoshi began to walk towards the club room with the bike when the realization hit him like a truck.