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Chapter Text

It all began on the Thursday of the first week of my second year of high school. Ever since Yuki rewrote the universe and I was given the ever-grand task of changing it back, nothing truly out of the ordinary had happened to us, and we had enjoyed a few months of blissful peace. Within that time, not much had changed for us in the still-standing SOS Brigade. Okay, I wouldn't say that, exactly. I would say that we had gotten a lot... closer over the past few months. We had reached the point where we now all called each other by our first names, though everyone still insisted on calling me by my nickname "Kyon". I'd long gotten used to the possibility that people will probably never stop calling me that. Haruhi grew out her hair over the past month and tied it in a ponytail (which she'd never admit is because I suggested it) and had stopped treating Mikuru like her property, though she still forced her into outfits without her consent on occasion. Furthermore, Yuki had been opening up more and more to the rest of us and Itsuki wasn't quite so flippant and obnoxious. Closed spaces were at an all-time low, the Data Overmind hadn't tried anything fishy, and there was no strange time-travelling incidents to note, with the older Mikuru having made no appearances. As a whole, I can say that, for the first time since my high school life started, things were very much normal, or at least as normal as it gets for a guy who hangs out with an alien, time-traveller, esper and reality-warping entity on a daily basis. But all of that was about to change the moment I opened the door to my classroom.

When I first opened the door, I saw Haruhi arguing with our classmate Taniguchi, who had been mysteriously absent since the school year started.

"Listen, I don't know what business you have here and I don't care. Leave now!" Taniguchi said to Haruhi.

"What do you mean 'what business I have here'? This is my class, dummy." Haruhi replied in annoyance.

I thought it looked kind of strange, so I walked over to see just what was going on.

"I won't say it again. You have to leave."

"What is up with you? Did you hit your head or something?"

"No! Well, yes, but that's not the point!"

"Something wrong here?" I interjected.

"Oh, Kyon, thank goodness you're here." Taniguchi said in a tone of relief that I couldn't make any sense of. "This crazy girl has been sitting here all morning. I keep telling her to leave, but she says that she's in our class."

"She is." I replied. "This is Haruhi Suzumiya. You told us about her."

Taniguchi looked at me then at Haruhi, but still looked as confused as before. "What? No, I'm telling you I've never seen her before in my life."

"Jesus, Taniguchi!" I replied incredulously, holding my hair back in shock as I spoke. "You miss a few days of school and you forget about your classmates? I would be one thing, but you two have been in the same class since your first year in middle school."

"What? We've known each other for that long?" Taniguchi asked in surprise.

"Hello, we all hung out together only last week." I reminded him, before showing a picture on my phone showing the three of us at an amusement park, along with Yuki, Itsuki, Mikuru, Tsuruya and Kunikida. "See?"

"What the?" Taniguchi gasped, impulsively taking my phone in shock. "I mean, I do remember us going to an amusement park, but I don't remember her being there."

"Well, she was." I said. "After all, she's the one who founded our crazy club in the first place."

"Something you want to say to me?" Haruhi asked in a threatening tone.

"No, not really." I replied nonchalantly. As annoying as I often found Haruhi, I still had the good sense to know when I had overstepped my boundaries.

It was then that Kunikida, my classmate since middle school, came into the classroom and walked over to us.

"Morning." he said before turning to Taniguchi. "Taniguchi, you're back! Though, what are you doing near Kyon and Suzumiya's desks? Your desk is on the other side of the classroom."

"Taniguchi has a bad case of memory loss." I snarked. "He claims to have never seen Haruhi before in his life."

"Seriously?!" Kunikida replied, looking just as confused as I was. "Taniguchi, you've known her for four years! I know you hit your head when falling down the stairs, but was that really enough to get amnesia?"

If this was amnesia it was a very specific kind of it. Haruhi seemed to be the only person he didn't remember.

"Wait, did you say that Taniguchi fell down the stairs?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah." Kunikida replied. "It happened a couple of days after we went to the amusement park. That's why he hasn't come in until today."

"And where and how did this happen?" I asked Taniguchi.

"I... can't remember." Taniguchi replied. "The whole event is very blurry."

Strange. I had been wondering why Taniguchi had missed the first few days of the new school year. While that did explain it, it didn't explain why he suddenly forgot everything about Haruhi, of all people. After all, he had once claimed that he wouldn't forget her in 50 years even if he tried to. Granted, that was in a different reality, but the point still stood regardless. As I sat down at the desk in front of Haruhi's and class began, I could only hope that I was overthinking the whole thing, and there was a simple, mundane explanation to all of this.

Eventually, the school day ended, which meant that it was time for us to head on to the club room. It was then that I realised that this was the perfect opportunity to try and make sense of what happened earlier. The moment the bell rang, I turned to Haruhi and asked her if she wanted to go to the club room together, and thankfully she agreed. As we walked to the club room, I struck up a conversation.

"Don't you think that was kind of weird?" I asked Haruhi. "Taniguchi suddenly forgetting you like that? I mean, you're not exactly the kind of person one easily forgets."

Haruhi shook her head. "Not really. I mean, yeah, as you said, we've been classmates ever since our first year in middle school but we were never really friends. Hell, I barely even spoke to him until last year. He's not like you, Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki."

"You consider us your friends?" I asked.

"Are you seriously asking me that?!" Haruhi responded, acting as though I had said something completely ridiculous. "This past year I've had with all of you has been the happiest of my life in a long time. We've done more fun and cool things in the past year than I did in all my years of middle school. Every day I look back on the day when I got the idea to form the SOS Brigade, and realise how glad I am that you suggested it to me, since it means that we all got to meet and do all of this stuff together."

She neglected to mention that my "suggestion" amounted to me making a speech about how those who aren't satisfied with what they have are generally the ones who invent things and make discoveries, which she took as meaning she should make a club of her own. Though while her answer was pretty solid overall, that did lead me to another question.

"Then how come you never say 'Thank you' whenever I do something for you, like when I went down to the village in the freezing cold to buy a radiator and carried it all the way up to the club room?"'

At those words, Haruhi gave me an incredulous look. "So the fact that I waited in the club room for you to wake up instead of just leaving you there isn't showing I was grateful? I had to say two meaningless words on top of that? Anyone can say those words and not actually mean them. Showing someone you're grateful is a lot better than telling them, don't you think?"

"For most people, saying 'Thank you' is a perfectly valid way of showing gratitude." I pointed out.

"Well, I'm not 'most people', am I?" Haruhi retorted.

I thought about what she said for a second, then spoke again. "You're right, you're not."

Haruhi didn't have anything to say in response to that, and before we knew it, we were right outside the door to the club room of the SOS Brigade (actually the club room of the Literature Club that was hijacked by Haruhi early last year with Yuki's permission). Without us exchanging another word, I opened the door and we walked in. Upon entering the room, we conveniently found all three of the other SOS Brigade members waiting there for us- Yuki was reading a book in the corner of the room as usual, Mikuru was serving tea while wearing a new maid outfit Haruhi bought her for the new school year (a sexy black-and-white one that fit her perfectly, I have no problem saying) and Itsuki was sitting at the table in the middle of the room shuffling a deck of cards, just in case anybody wished to play a hand with him. With all members present, Haruhi whipped out her whiteboard and began the day's club meeting.

"Attention, all club members!" Haruhi declared in her typical bossy tone. "It has been one whole year since the grand formation of the SOS Brigade! However, we still-"

"May I interject?" I asked, raising my hand as I spoke.

Haruhi sighed. "Fine. What did you want to say?"

"Well, I just want to point out it hasn't really been a whole year since the Brigade's formation." I said. "You didn't even decide to form the thing until May, and even then it wasn't until the end of the month that it was officially approved of by the school, so in actuality about ten and a half months have passed."

"And?" Haruhi glared. "You really think I care about a technicality like that? If you're going to interrupt me, make sure you have something useful to say." Having thoroughly crushed my spirit with her harsh words, Haruhi continued on with her grand speech. "Anyway, as I was saying, it has been one whole year since the grand formation of the SOS Brigade! However, we still are nowhere closer to our ultimate objective- to find aliens, time-travellers and espers!"

Actually, that goal had been accomplished before the brigade was even officially formed. Not that Haruhi knew that, of course. Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki were all adamant on making sure that Haruhi never learned what they really were.

"As such, it is time for us to pick up the pace, and come up with things for us to do during the new school year." Haruhi continued. "So, today we will spend an hour or so brainstorming and coming up with any ideas that pop into our head." She looked around and saw that my hand was raised again. "What is it this time?"

"Look, it hasn't even been one week since the school year began." I pointed out. "Last year, we pretty much made up stuff as we went along. So, why do we need to do something like this now?"

"Are you nuts?" Haruhi replied. "It's precisely because it's so early in the year that we need to do this now. Time can never be regained once it's lost, so it's important to figure out everything we want to do over the year so we don't have a single regret!"

I facepalmed. "You win. Can't argue with that logic."

When I removed my hand from my forehead, I saw Mikuru holding a cup of tea in front of me. "Oh, thank you." I said, taking the cup from her.

"Now," Haruhi continued. "we need to figure out how we're going to decide what to do! Any suggestions?"

"Didn't you say we would make a sequel to our movie for this year's cultural festival?" Mikuru asked.

"I did, but then I thought we could make a completely different movie." Haruhi replied. "I looked back on the one we made last year, and realised that a lot of things about it were really sloppy and didn't make any sense."

Understatement of the year.

"I have a suggestion." Itsuki piped up, holding up his deck of cards. "How about we play a game of poker? The winner of each hand will write down an activity of their choosing. Not only will it narrow down possible ideas, but it'll entertain us for today, so it'll be like killing two birds with one stone."

"I'm down for that." I agreed before turning to the girls. "Are you on board with this?"

"Sure, why not?" Haruhi smiled. "Yuki, come over here. We're going to play poker."

"I don't care what we do." Yuki replied, not even looking up from her book as she spoke. "You all go ahead."

"We can't have that!" Mikuru said. "You're a part of the club, so you have as much a right to choose what to do as any of us."

Yuki looked up from her book. "If you insist."

While the girls were talking, I walked over to Itsuki and whispered into his ear. "Itsuki, there's something I have to talk to you about."

"I assume it's something you don't want Haruhi overhearing?" Itsuki whispered back.

"Exactly." I replied. "And I'm sure you'll agree with me once I tell you what it is. Can you find some way for us to leave the club room together for a while?"

Itsuki nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

Once all five of us were gathered around the table, Itsuki dealt us our cards. We looked at our hands and began exchanging cards. Itsuki and Mikuru both folded, while Yuki revealed that she had two pairs. Haruhi revealed that she had a flush and seemed certain of her victory until...

"As they always say, read 'em and weep." I declared, throwing down my hand and revealing that I had three of a kind and a pair. "Full house!"

While Haruhi, being the sore loser that she was, got annoyed at me besting her, she nevertheless relented and handed me a pen and piece of paper for me to write down my chosen activity. And the activity I chose was...

"Bowling?" Haruhi questioned, the disappointment evident on her face and in her voice. "I agreed to allow you to choose what to do and that's the best you could come up with? We went bowling only last summer."

"Yeah, and I want to do it again." I replied. "I like bowling, and I wish to have a chance to beat you this time."

Haruhi then sported her trademark grin. "Oh, I can't back down after hearing you say that. Bowling, it is."

By this point, I knew more than enough about Haruhi to know how to get her to cave in to my desires. As the winner of the last round, I was designated the new dealer for the second hand. Before I could deal the first card, however, Itsuki got up from the table. "I think I'll go to get some snacks. We don't want any of us getting hungry during this."

"Have Kyon do it." Haruhi said, pointing to me as she spoke. "He's the one who's supposed to do the heavy-lifting."

"Then how about I go with him?" Itsuki suggested. "Some extra hands wouldn't hurt, right?"

Haruhi sighed in resignation. "Fine. But don't be gone too long."

With that, the two of us left the club room, then mutually exchanged a nod with each other. Itsuki had bought us some valuable time, and I was going to make sure we used every second of it.

After we had bought some snacks for the group, Itsuki and I sat down in the courtyard (the same one where Itsuki revealed his identity to me). Without wasting any time, I jumped right into what I wished to discuss.

"Taniguchi came into class today." I began.

"Normally, I would say that's a good thing, but judging by the look on your face, I'd say there's more to it." Itsuki replied.

I nodded and then continued. "For some reason, he's completely forgotten everything about Haruhi. When I first came into the classroom, he was talking to her like she was a complete stranger, and outright claimed to have never seen her before in his life."

"I see." Itsuki said, sounding oddly cheerful about the whole situation. "That is most unusual."

"You're telling me." I responded. "Taniguchi has known Haruhi for three years longer than any of us have. Hell, he's the one who told me all about her in the first place, so it makes no sense for him to completely forget her, even if he did hit his head."

"I'll need you to elaborate on that last part." Itsuki said.

"According to Kunikida, Taniguchi fell down some stairs and hit his head, which is why he hasn't been in school until today." I explained. "However, he doesn't seem to know where or how it happened."

Itsuki sat back with his arms folded, supposedly to contemplate all that I had said, then he spoke again. "It seems that we've got a real mystery on our hands."

"Well, it's not exactly a mystery, is it?" I replied. "I mean, Haruhi obviously is the one who caused this."

"Do you have any proof of that?" Itsuki questioned.

"How about the fact that 99% of the crazy things that have happened in the past year have always involved her in some capacity?" I responded.

"No faith in that 1%?" Itsuki challenged, his tone getting on my nerves. "I will admit that she seems like the most obvious suspect in this, but that doesn't automatically mean she's responsible. Think about it; every time Haruhi has changed reality, it's always because she has something to gain from whatever changes are made. Can you think of anything she would have to gain from erasing Taniguchi's memories of her?"

While I'd be lying if I said I was thrilled about being challenged, Itsuki was right. Haruhi wouldn't have had anything to gain from erasing Taniguchi's memories, especially considering she barely gave him the time of day as it was. And it wouldn't be the first time I thought she was behind some strange phenomenon and it turned out to be caused by someone else. I just latched on to Haruhi being the cause because it seemed like the most convenient explanation. And as annoying as it was to be hearing this from Itsuki of all people (who himself used the idea that Haruhi created aliens, time-travellers and espers as a convenient explanation as to why he suddenly discovered his esper powers three- sorry, four years ago), that didn't make what he was saying any less true.

"So, what do you think caused Taniguchi's memory loss?" I asked.

"Well, for all we know, he doesn't have any memory loss." Itsuki suggested. "For all we know, he could be faking the whole thing as a way of messing with her. I mean, given Taniguchi's personality and what you've told me about his history with Haruhi, I wouldn't put it past him."

I had to admit, Itsuki's theory did seem to be pretty solid. After all, of all the people in the school who had a bone to pick with Haruhi, Taniguchi ranked near the top of the list, surpassed perhaps only by the president of the Computer Club.

"So, what you're basically saying is that we should do nothing?" I asked.

"I'm saying we should assume 'innocent until proven guilty'." Itsuki corrected. "We don't yet have enough proof that Haruhi is the one behind this, so if we try to do something about it now, we'll probably just make it worse. So for now, we should let sleeping dogs lie. Best case scenario, the problem will resolve itself, but if things stay the same or get worse, then we will take action."

It was strange, but upon hearing Itsuki's words, my body suddenly felt a lot lighter. It was as though a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

I smiled. "You know, Itsuki, I used to find it really annoying how you constantly go with the flow, but now I realise that laid-back attitude of yours is the only thing that's kept me sane all this time."

"Is that so? Well, I'm glad to hear it." Itsuki laughed lightly. "Anyway, we'd better get back to the club room. We stay here much longer, and the girls will start wondering where we are."

Once we returned to the club room, we played four more hands of poker, which each member except me conveniently winning one, so each of them wrote down an activity for the new school year- Haruhi wanted to go mountain climbing, Itsuki wanted to go fishing, Mikuru wanted to do karaoke and Yuki...

"I can't think of anything I want to do." she said nonchalantly. "You all pick something."

"Sorry, can't do that." I said firmly. "We all agreed that whomever won each hand would pick something, and you won the last hand. None of us can make the decision for you."

"Just jot down the first thing that pops into your head." Haruhi suggested. "It doesn't matter what it is."

"The first thing that..." Yuki began, but then she took the paper and pen and wrote down something, then showed it to us.

"A science museum?" Haruhi said in surprise. "I would never have thought of that."

"It makes sense, though." Mikuru noted. "She really enjoyed it when we went to the planetarium at the amusement park."

"I did?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah, you looked really happy." Itsuki told her.

I smiled as they recalled that memory. Given that Yuki was an alien, it made sense that she was into space and everything related. With all of us having taken down our suggestions, Haruhi declared the meeting officially over and we all went home. I had to admit, I was looking forward to all the crazy stuff we would get up to in the next few weeks. If anything, it would help me take my mind off what was happening with Taniguchi. Even so, the question of exactly what was going on still lingered in the back of my mind, and I know Itsuki felt the same way. Little did we realise just how much worse things would end up getting in the following weeks.

Chapter Text

The rest of the week went by pretty much without incident. Following Itsuki's advice, I tried my hardest to act like everything was normal and not make things any more complicated than they were. Even so, there were a couple of occasions when I attempted to jog Taniguchi's memory regarding Haruhi. However, no matter what I said, he remained adamant that he knew nothing about her, even the things that he told me himself last year, and showed no signs of letting slip that he really did know something. If this really was just an act he was putting on, it was an extremely convincing one, to the point that I found it hard to believe that Taniguchi could actually pull it off. All he really got from my stories is sheer bewilderment, even outright asking how I could be friends with such a weirdo. Which was a fair question, all things considered. After all, sometimes even I wondered exactly how Haruhi and I became friends. Before I knew it, it was Friday evening, and I was walking through the door of my house, where my elementary-school aged sister, Kaya, was waiting for me. 

"Welcome home, Kyon." she greeted me cheerfully. "How was your first week of the new year of school?"

I shook my head trying to come up with an appropriate response, then spoke. "Uneventful."

"Uneventful?" Kaya questioned in surprise. "You say that despite having Miss Suzumiya in your class? She is still in your class, right?"

"She sure is." I confirmed. "And all of us are still in the SOS Brigade, meaning things will undoubtedly get much crazier in the coming year."

"That's a good thing, though, isn't it?" my sister replied. "Ever since the two of your formed that club together, you've had a lot more life in you."

I was more full-of-life? That was seriously how I came off to Kaya? If anything, befriending Haruhi had made me more exhausted than I had ever been before, not only because of everything she dragged me and the others into, but because of all the 'grunt work' she forced me to do. Then again, Kaya still believed in Santa Claus despite being nearly 12, so she wasn't exactly the most perceptive person around (not that I would ever say that to her face, of course).

"Anyway, Mom and Dad will be home late tonight, so they said we should look after ourselves for food." Kaya said. "I was thinking we could order a pizza between us."

I smiled. "That sounds great. Though, can we stick with margarita? I don't want anything too fancy."

Kaya nodded, so I got the home phone and ordered the pizza. Within 30 minutes, the pizza arrived and the two of us were sitting at the table eating it, smiling at each other while doing so. Our parents weren't really what you'd call the 'neglectful' type, but they did tend to work long hours as parents in Japan often did, which generally left me and my sister to our own devices. Which was probably for the better, honestly. If my parents ever learned about even half the stuff I got up to in the SOS Brigade, they'd probably recommend I quit the club on the spot. I never would, of course. After all, when given the choice to live in a normal world, I chose to change the world back to it being one where the SOS Brigade was around and the supernatural existed. What's more, in making that decision, I found myself having to face the fact that I actually enjoyed my time in the SOS Brigade, as difficult as that was for me to admit. I made that decision and I had to live with it, no matter how annoying I sometimes found the stuff we got into. I fully expected Haruhi to call me at some point during the weekend, but surprisingly, no call came, which allowed to be to just lay back and relax, a rare thing since I met Haruhi. If I had known just how crazy things would end up getting in the coming weeks, I would probably have cherished those couple of days a lot more than I did.

On Monday, I continued following Itsuki's advice and tried my hardest to get through the day. However, all throughout our lessons, I couldn't help but feel that something was missing, though I couldn't quite put my finger on what. It was only towards the very end of class that it finally hit me. Kunikida wasn't there. Now that was strange. He and I had been in the same class for four years and I couldn't remember a single day in which he was absent. In fact, back in our middle school days, he had generally been the one to bring me my homework whenever I was absent. Once the school bell rang that signalled the end of class, I told Haruhi to go ahead to the club room without me, which disappointed her as she hoped we could walk there together again. It was then that Taniguchi came over to my desk.

"Kyon, is something bothering you?" Taniguchi asked. "You look like you're staring off into space."

I looked up at him than started talking. "I noticed that Kunikida didn't come in today, and was thinking how unlike him that is."

"Oh, you didn't know? He had an accident at the weekend." Taniguchi explained. "It's nothing life-threatening, but he won't be back in for a few days."

"And how is it that you learned this before me?" I questioned. "I've known Kunikida a lot longer than you have."

"I dunno." Taniguchi shrugged. "Just because you've known each other longer doesn't mean you're closer. You spend all your time with that Suzumiya girl and those other people in your club."

I nodded in resignation. "Point taken. Though, do you know anything about the accident? Exactly what happened to Kunikida?"

"He fell down some stairs." Taniguchi replied. "I don't where or how it happened, however."

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "So, the exact same thing that happened to you the week before last has now happened to Kunikida?"

"Kyon, calm down." Taniguchi assured me with his hands in front of him. "It's just a coincidence."

I was somewhat conflicted by that statement. While the overwhelming majority of me found it very hard to believe, a small part of me desperately wanted to think he was right and I was just being paranoid.

"Kyon, are you okay?" Taniguchi asked. "You've been acting strange ever since I came back."

Like he had any room to talk.

I sighed. "I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Well, if you need anything, I'm here for you." Taniguchi said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You can always talk to me about what's bothering you."

"I appreciate the thought, Taniguchi, but this isn't something you can help with." I replied bluntly.

I wasn't trying to be rude when I said that. I was just being honest. Taniguchi didn't know anything about the supernatural, so he couldn't possibly understand what was happening. And there's no way I could help him understand without potentially jeopardising the SOS Brigade's identities, something all of them would strongly object to. Nevertheless, Taniguchi seemed really annoyed by my words, as he withdrew his hand in disgust. "Fine. It's not like you and I were ever really friends to begin with."

As he walked away, I looked at him in confusion. Just what did he mean by that?

The next day, Haruhi and I walked to the club room together, the events of yesterday still fresh on my mind. Haruhi, on the other hand, seemed to be as oblivious and happy-go-lucky as ever. Even without the knowledge that she was an omnipotent reality-warper, one would think the top student in our class would be at least a little bit suspicious that two of her classmates had been mysteriously absent over two weeks. Then again, this was Haruhi I was talking about, so I guess it wasn't too surprising. When we entered the club room, Itsuki and Yuki were both present. However, there was no sign of Mikuru anywhere.

"Mikuru's late." Haruhi noted. "Someone had better go and fetch her."

"And by 'someone,' you mean 'me.'" I snarked.

"You know me so well!" Haruhi replied cheerfully, condescendingly patting me on the back as she spoke. "Now, go and find her and be back here in five minutes. Otherwise, penalty!"

Annoyingly, I left the club room to search for Mikuru. I swear, why couldn't we just have played a hand of poker to decide who should go, like we had done to decide our club activities for the last few meetings? Was I just doomed to be the brigade's errand boy until I graduated? Fortunately, I didn't have to look for long, as within a few minutes, I heard a very energetic and familiar voice coming from around the corner.

"Mikuru, come on! You don't have to go now! Why not hang out with me?!"

"I'm sorry, Tsuruya, but I really need to get to the club room."

"Seriously?! Ever since you joined that club, you and I almost never spend time together anymore! Can't you ditch them for just one day?!"

"I'm sorry, but Haruhi will be really mad if I don't show up, and you know what she's like when she gets mad."

Tsuruya sighed. "I suppose." It was then that she spotted me. "Oh, Kyon! You wouldn't happen to be looking for Mikuru, would you?"

"As a matter of fact, I am." I replied.

"Well, I'll just leave the two of you alone then." Tsuruya said in resignation. She started to skip away, but then turned around and waved to Mikuru. "Oh, and Mikuru? Make sure to find some way that you and I can have a day to ourselves. No way you're ever getting rid of me."

"I know, Tsuruya! And I'll try." Mikuru replied, waving back as she spoke. She then turned to me. "Haruhi sent you to find me, didn't she?"

"She sure did." I confirmed. "It's not like you to be late."

"I know, but Tsuruya and I got roped into doing something for our class which took a little longer than expected." Mikuru explained. "And you already know the rest of what happened."

I nodded.

"I know. How about I buy you a drink? You know, to make up for the trouble of you having to look for me." Mikuru suggested.

I was about to say that she didn't have to do that for me, but then I decided that I could actually use a drink, so I accepted her offer. After she had bought one for both of us, the two of us sat down on a bench not far from the SOS Brigade room, drinking our beverages. It was then that a thought came to mind. "By the way Mikuru, how exactly did you and Tsuruya become friends?"

Mikuru just looked at me without saying anything.

"Let me guess; that's classified?" I asked jokingly.

"What, no! Of course not!" Mikuru responded, waving her hands in front of me as she said it. "It's just, why do you ask?"

"Suppose you could say I'm curious." I said, taking another sip of my drink. "The two of you seem very close, all things considered. One would think that, given that you're not even from this time plane, you would avoid forming any bonds unless you absolutely had to."

"Well, it is true that the forming of unnecessary relationships is generally discouraged." Mikuru agreed. "However, Tsuruya was a special case. The two of us just happened to get to know each other."

"Meaning?" I inquired.

"I first came to this time plane two years ago, and infiltrated North High under the story that I was a transfer student from out of town, much like Itsuki did last year." Mikuru explained. "However, it was quite late in the year when I transferred in, which led to my class immediately spreading rumours about me, most significantly that I was a spy from a foreign country. The worst part was that isn't even that far from the truth, so I couldn't even dispute what they were saying, and my silence only made them more confident in their assumptions about me."

"Oookay?" I responded in confusion. "I'm following you so far, but what's that got to do with Tsuruya?"

"I was getting to that part." Mikuru replied, then she continued with her story. "While most of my class ganged up on me and tried to make me admit I was a spy, Tsuruya didn't. In fact, she stood up for me against the rest of the class. She chewed them out for making such harsh judgements about someone they had never even met before, without even trying to get to know them first. From then on, my classmates left me alone. She had no reason to do that for someone like me, so it really meant a lot to me. Then one day, Tsuruya offered to become my friend and, without thinking, I accepted."

I stared at her in surprise. "Tsuruya seriously did that? Don't take this the wrong way, but I find that pretty hard to believe."

"Well, she may not seem like it, but Tsuruya knows a lot better than most what it's like to be judged by people before they even know her." Mikuru went on. "Everyone assumes that just because she comes from a really wealthy family, she must be a prim and proper lady, even though she most certainly isn't and couldn't care less about being one. What's worse is that people sometimes lash out at her for not acting like how they believe a person of her class and status should act like. There's been more than one boy who has had a crush on her, only to quickly lose interest upon realising she's not at all what they expected her to be."

All of this was certainly news to me. But in hindsight, it did make a lot of sense. It was certainly true that Tsuruya's behaviour was the furthest thing from what one would normally expect from a rich girl. In fact, in terms of personality, she was very similar to Haruhi, albeit a lot nicer and having a very firm understanding of what was right and wrong. Maybe having Tsuruya as a friend played a part in how Mikuru was able to put up with Haruhi the way she could. Or maybe she was just naturally drawn to such people. Either way, the two girls' friendship definitely made a lot more sense to me now than it did before.

"You're very lucky to have a friend who would stand up for you like that." I noted. "When we were in middle school, Kunikida would pick making fun of me over standing up for me almost any day of the week. Most notably, he would often say that I have very strange taste in girls."

"Well, when you hang out with Haruhi, anyone would naturally come to that conclusion." Mikuru said cheerfully.

I sighed. "You've got that right. Anyway, I think we'd better get back to the club room. If we hang around here any longer, Haruhi will have our heads."

Mikuru agreed, so we finished our drinks and walked towards the club room together.

When we got back to the SOS Brigade room, we could see Haruhi waiting for us, and from the look on her face and the fact she had her hands resting on her hips, it was clear that she was not best pleased.

"You're late, Kyon!" Haruhi declared. "I told you to be back in five minutes, but it's been twenty-two minutes since you left! And you know what that means; penalty!"

"Please don't be mad at him, Haruhi." Mikuru begged. "I offered to buy him a drink to make up for the trouble of him looking for me, and then we ended up talking for a while. If you're going to punish anyone, punish me."

Haruhi glared at her. "And what exactly were you doing all this time? It's not like you to be late for club activities."

"Tsuruya and I were helping out our class with some work." Mikuru explained. "Then when we were done, Tsuruya tried to convince me to ditch club activities and hang out with her instead. It's only after Kyon found us that I was finally able to shake her."

Haruhi blinked as if to compensate everything Mikuru had said, then nodded. "Alright, I understand. If you were helping out your class, then it only makes sense that you were late."

"So, you'll forgive us, then?" Mikuru asked.

"Sure, why not?" Haruhi sighed. "Who am I to give you a penalty for something that was out of your control? That Tsuruya is a real handful, after all."

A handful, huh? I mean, she wasn't wrong, but that was still pretty rich coming from her.

"Anyway, now that everybody's here, it's time to start today's meeting. Mikuru, change into your maid outfit." Once Mikuru had changed and all of us sans Haruhi had taken our seats, Haruhi whipped out her whiteboard, on which was all the activities we had chosen for the next few months. 

"Fellow brigade members! For the last few meetings, we have played hands of poker in order to narrow down our possible activities for the upcoming year." Haruhi declared, not telling any of us anything we didn't already know. "Now that we have jotted down our fair amount of activities, it's time to move to the second phase; figuring out what to do first."

"So, how exactly are we going to decide that?" I asked. "Will we just look at whatever ones you picked and get those out of the way first?"

"No." Haruhi replied bluntly. "What do you take me for?"

What did I take her for? Well, someone incredibly selfish, egotistical and controlling, that's what I took her for. Then again, she was also the unpredictable type, in that if you expected or told her to do something, she was sure to do the opposite. Afterwards, Haruhi snapped her fingers, indicating that she had an epiphany.

"I've got it!" Haruhi said. "I'll close my eyes, then wave my finger around, and whomever I'm pointing to when I open my eyes will be the one whose activity gets chosen first."

So, in other words, the first thing we did would be something chosen by anyone except Haruhi herself. Yep, unpredictable. True to her word, Haruhi closed her eyes, then began spinning her finger round and round in circles. After a few minutes, she finally opened her eyes, and when she did, her finger was pointing at...

"Mikuru!" Haruhi declared. "You have been chosen."

"M-me?" Mikuru replied nervously. "So, what did I choose again?"

"Have you seriously forgotten?" Haruhi asked in annoyance. "You chose karaoke. See?" She pointed to the whiteboard, and karaoke was indeed listed among the activities under Mikuru's name.

"Well, do we really have to do that first?" Mikuru asked, still embarrassed. "I kind of chose that one on a whim. I'm not that good a singer."

"You don't have to be." Itsuki assured her. "You'll only be singing in front of the four of us, so we won't be so hard on you."

Itsuki, Yuki and I wouldn't be hard on her, sure. Couldn't say for certain that Haruhi wouldn't, though.

"Yuki, can you sing?" I asked.

"I can try." Yuki replied simply.

"Well, that settles it then!" Haruhi said cheerfully. "Our first activity for the year will be karaoke. I'll spend the next few days searching for a spot and try to have a session booked for Saturday. And I want everyone present that day. Otherwise... well, you know what will happen."

Now that our first activity for the year had been decided, Haruhi declared out of the blue that there would be no more club meetings for the rest of the week. The fact that Haruhi was actually giving us some breathing room meant that I could have sworn for a second that she had been replaced by some kind of alien, only to remember right afterwards that aliens didn't operate that way in my world. The next day was basically just like any other day of the week. I went to school, listened to the teacher's lessons, and before I knew it, it was time to go home. When that time came, however, Taniguchi came over to my desk looking strangely happy about something.

"Kyon, I've got good news." Taniguchi began. "Kunikida has fully healed and will be back in school tomorrow."

I should have been relieved to hear that, but for some reason, I just felt uneasy. It took me a few minutes to understand why, but then I did.

"So, before the school year begins, you fall down some stairs and end up absent from school for three days with no memory of how the accident happened, then the day after you get back, the exact same thing happens to Kunikida and he just happens to be due to come back into school on the exact same day that you came back in? Don't you think that's a little strange?"

"Kyon, you're overthinking this." Taniguchi replied dismissively. "Like I said, it's just a coincidence."

"Well, you seem rather adamant about that, but I personally have trouble believing it."

"Believe it or not, it's the truth. I mean, what's your explanation?"

"I'm just saying that things may not be what they seem."

Taniguchi narrowed his eyes at me. "You know, Kyon, I didn't notice this until now, but you've changed a lot since we first met. The Kyon I remember would have let something like this go and moved on with his life. I don't know exactly when you became a conspiracy theorist, but it's seriously creeping me out."

Well, when you had been through everything I had over the past year, you were bound to become a little paranoid and suspicious. Besides, Taniguchi probably didn't realize it, but he had changed as well. The Taniguchi I remembered would never have dismissed something like this so casually. It seems that the accident had affected more than just his memory of Haruhi. The two of us ultimately realised that our discussion was going nowhere, so Taniguchi and I just went our separate ways. The next day, I learned in the worst way possible that I had every reason to be suspicious. Kunikida came into the classroom, and I figured the least I could do was welcome him back to school, so I went over to do just that. When I did, however, he turned to me with a confused look on his face. And then he spoke.

"I'm sorry, who are you?"

Chapter Text

I stared at Kunikida in utter disbelief. Was he seriously asking who I was?

"Kunikida, are being serious right now?" I said. "It's me."

"You're not exactly clearing things up." Kunikida replied in confusion. "I've never seen you here before. Are you a new transfer student or something?"

"A new transfer student?" I repeated incredulously. "Kunikida, I've been here since last year. Not only that, but we went to the same middle school together. We were in the same class!"

"Really?" Kunikida asked, still looking as confused as ever. "Because if we had been classmates for that long, I think I would remember you."

"Kunikida, is something wrong?" Taniguchi interjected, coming over to us. 

"Taniguchi, do you know this guy?" Kunikida asked.

Taniguchi narrowed his eyes at Kunikida. "Do I know him? Of course I know him. This is Kyon. He's in our class."

"Kyon? Is that some kind of nickname?"

"Yes. You're the one who told me about it, remember, because you two have been in the same class since middle school."

"That's what he says, but I can't remember him at all. Oh, is it possible that what happened to you last week has now happened to me?"

"Apparently, because he's definitely in our class. Here, I'll get proof."

Taniguchi went over to the teacher's desk to grab the yearbook, then came back over to us and showed it to Kunikida.

"Oh, I see." Kunikida said, speaking as though he had some kind of grand epiphany before turning to me. "Your name is-"

He spoke my name to me. Not my nickname, my real one.

I stared at Kunikida in utter disbelief. "You haven't used that name in years!"

"What do you mean? That is your name, right?" Kunikida replied, clearly not understanding what I meant.

"I...I" I tried my hardest to formulate my response, but I was far too shocked by everything that was going on to even speak. In an attempt to collect myself, I buried my face in my hands, trying to make some modicum of sense of what was happening.

"Kyon, what's wrong?" Taniguchi asked me.

"What's wrong?!" I shouted, withdrawing my face from my hands and staring at them in anger. "How can you say that with a straight face?! You two are what's wrong! First, Taniguchi ends up in an accident and comes back to school with no memory of Haruhi, and then the exact same thing happens to Kunikida and he comes back with no memory of me?! If this is some kind of practical joke you two have come up with, it's not funny! So, how about you quit it with the mind games!"

"Kyon, seriously, chill." Taniguchi responded, holding his hands in front of himself to emphasise the word 'chill'. "This is exactly what I was talking about yesterday. You're not even acting like yourself anymore."

While a big part of me really wanted to argue with Taniguchi on that, to say that what he was saying could far more accurately be applied to the two of them, I couldn't. Because Taniguchi was speaking the truth. I hadn't gotten this wound up since the time I nearly punched Haruhi last autumn, a moment of my life I did not look back on with pride. As I began to calm down, I decided it was best to end this conversation before things escalated any further. As such, I left the two amnesiacs where they were and walked over to my desk, then sat down waiting for class to start. Before the teacher came in, however, I felt somebody poking my back, then turned around to see that it was Haruhi.

"Kyon, are you okay?" she asked.

I was truly convinced I had ended up in some kind of alternate reality (again). Since when did Haruhi ask if I was alright?

"I... No, I'm not." I sighed, shaking my head as I spoke.

Right then, the teacher came in, so the two of us began paying attention to the lesson. While I briefly considered telling Itsuki about what had happened to Kunikida after class, I ultimately decided against it, since Itsuki would most likely tell me to just ignore it and continue like nothing was going on. The worst part was that I wouldn't even be able to argue with him on that, since right now there was simply nothing any of us could so. If this situation really was being caused by Haruhi, I couldn't even begin to comprehend what kind of motive she could have. And there was always the possibility that Taniguchi and Kunikida were just faking this whole thing and in on the whole ruse together, even if I couldn't understand why Kunikida would do this. Sure, he may have teased me a fair amount in the past, but he never took it this far. In any case, as frustrating as it was, I had no choice but to continue following Itsuki's advice and act like everything was normal. After all, who knows how bad that conversation would have gotten if I hadn't composed myself in time? At the very least, the upcoming karaoke session would likely be a welcome distraction from this whole mess.

Soon enough, it was Saturday, and by this point, Haruhi had booked a karaoke session for us early in the afternoon. I made sure to leave extra-early that day, so it would be guaranteed that I would make it before almost anybody else, and therefore avoid getting one of Haruhi's penalties. Thankfully, my efforts paid off, and by the time I got to the place we were supposed to meet, the only other person who had arrived was Haruhi herself, with Yuki, Mikuru and Itsuki arriving soon after. With everyone present, the five of us took off. The karaoke bar Haruhi had found was a twenty-minute bus ride from where we lived, so we all got on the bus and once there walked towards the karaoke bar. As we were about to walk in, however, we noticed Mikuru looking rather down for some reason.

"Hello?!" Haruhi said, waving her hand in front of Mikuru. "Earth to Mikuru! We're here to do the activity you chose. Try to show a little more enthusiasm."

At Haruhi's words, Mikuru looked up at us as the life came back into her eyes. "Oh, sorry. I've just been thinking about something."

"About what? Did something happen?" Itsuki asked.

"I got a call from Tsuruya's family this morning." Mikuru explained. "She... had an accident last night."

"You're kidding!" Haruhi exclaimed in shock, though Mikuru's unwavering face made it clear she was serious. "Oh my God, you're not kidding! Is she okay?"

"She's unconscious in the hospital." Mikuru continued. "The doctors say that her life isn't in any danger, but she won't wake up for at least a few days. As such, she'll most likely end up missing a few days of school next week."

"I see." Haruhi noted. "Well, it could be worse."

I nodded in agreement, but there was something about all of this that sounded awfully familiar.

"Mikuru, do you know exactly what kind of accident Tsuruya was in?" I inquired. "She wouldn't happen to have fallen down some stairs by any chance, would she?"

Mikuru stared at me in surprise. "Yes, she did. How did you know?"

"Call it an educated guess." I replied. "Still, let's try and forget about that for now. If the doctors say she'll be okay, there's no need to be worried. And honestly, I could use a bit of fun after everything that's happened this week."

Neither Haruhi, Yuki, Mikuru nor Itsuki had any objections to that, so we entered the bar together.

Since the karaoke session was Mikuru's idea, Haruhi said that it was only fair that she sang the first song. Being as shy as she was, Mikuru was very nervous, but Itsuki and myself both assured her that we wouldn't make fun of her. Just to assure her further, I forced Haruhi to say that she wouldn't make fun of her either, and she said so with surprisingly little hesitation. Once Mikuru had chosen her song, she stood in the centre of the room and braced her self as it begun playing. Once it did, she sung to the best of her ability. Her singing voice was absolutely beautiful, and I quickly became mesmerised by the whole thing. There were occasions when she slipped up on lyrics, but otherwise her whole performance kept all of us listening, and I was actually a little disappointed once the song came to a close. Once Mikuru was finished, the screen began calculating her overall score for the song, which came up as 89.

Haruhi stared at Mikuru with a face that resembled a mixture of pride and annoyance. "What was that you said about not being that good a singer? Even I can admit that was a great performance."

"Haruhi's right." I agreed. "You were amazing, Mikuru."

"To be honest, I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest the entire time." Mikuru panted, trying her hardest to regain her breath from all the singing.

"That's a good thing." Itsuki pointed out. "It proves how much you enjoyed yourself."

"Okay, that's Mikuru's turn done." Haruhi said. "I let her go first given that this was her idea, but as the brigade leader, it's my turn now." As she spoke, she scrolled through the song book that had been given to us for the session, clearly looking for a specific song. "Aha, here it is!"

Now that she had found the song she had been looking for, Haruhi took the microphone and requested for her chosen song to be played. As the music began, she started dancing dramatically to the music like the show-off she was. Once it was time, she began singing:

"♪Blazing on by,
There's nothing more that I can do.
I'm sorry that I'll never be with you again.
Even though my heavy heart is parched with pain,
I know somehow, your sorrow's something I won't see.
It's my life.
I'm moving on and never going back there.
But you just turn away and leave me on the lonely rail.

God knows that I would follow you you if that is what you wanted.
Take me into all your darkest shadows,
and you'll see that I'm even stronger than you could know.
God knows that I am standing here,
and you could disappear slipping right over the edge of the future.
If I had my way, we'd be together forever.
Eternally God Bless.♪"

As Haruhi sang, I quickly realised that the song she was singing sounded awfully familiar. It took me a few seconds to realise that it was the same song she sang when standing in for the Rock Club during the cultural festival last autumn. The first time I heard the song, I was simply shocked that Haruhi was actually thinking about anyone other than herself for once, especially after that huge fight we had not long before, but now that I was listening to it again, there was something about the song that I couldn't quite put my finger on. From the lyrics, it felt as though Haruhi was singing a message. One to me, specifically. Nah, I was probably overthinking it. This song had been around since Haruhi and I were kids, after all, so it's not like she wrote the thing. It's just that my time in the SOS Brigade had caused me to suspect every little thing, both for better and for worse. Soon enough, the song came to an end, and Haruhi's score started to get calculated.

"Oh, yeah! 98 out of 100!" Haruhi declared proudly. "A near-perfect score. Sorry, Mikuru, you may be good, but I'm even better."

"Yeah, sure, pat yourself on the back." I snarked. "You do realise you only got such a high score because you chose a song you had already sang before, right?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Haruhi retorted mockingly. "Is there some kind of rule here that you have to choose a song you don't have any experience with? Do you see a sign anywhere here that says that?" As she spoke, she moved her head looking all around the room, as if she was actually looking for a sign somewhere.

"She makes a good point, Kyon." Mikuru noted.

"A very good point." Yuki agreed.

I sighed. "Even you, Yuki?"

Suddenly, I heard a sound as though somebody was holding in laughter. I turned my head and, to my non-existent surprise, it was Itsuki.

"What are you so happy about?" I questioned.

"My apologies." Itsuki replied. "It's just that it's not generally like Haruhi to be sarcastic. It just goes to show that the two of you have rubbed off on each other in all the best ways."

"Oh, give me a break." I groaned. "I know all too well how much Haruhi has infected me with her enthusiasm. I don't need you reminding me."

The rest of us each had our turn one after the other, but try as we might have, none of us were able to top Haruhi's high score. The closest that came to beating it was, surprisingly, Yuki, whose singing voice was even more mesmerising than Mikuru's, as much as it pained me to admit it. Honestly, it was pretty frightening how someone who barely so much as spoke was able to sing so well, especially since it was likely that she had never sang before in her life. While she may not have been the best singer among us (at least, not the best one according to the scoreboard), she was certainly the most beautiful. Once Yuki had finished, the first round of the session officially came to an end. With that, I told everyone that I was going to step out for a while and buy some refreshments. After all, knowing Haruhi, she was going to have all of us sing until our throats were sore.

At the bar's counter, I bought a bunch of carbonated drinks and some water for good measure, using up a fair bit of the money I had brought with me to do so. As I turned to walk back to the karaoke room, however, I spotted Yuki sitting on a chair to the wall reading a book.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

Yuki looked up from her book and stared at me with a blank expression. "Reading."

"I can see that, but why are you doing it out here instead of in the karaoke room with everyone else?" I clarified.

"It's too noisy in there. I prefer to read in peace." Yuki explained. "Is that strange?"

"No, I don't think it's strange at all." I assured her. "It's just that when we first met, you wouldn't have cared about something like that. I suppose it's a sign you're becoming more human."

"I will assume you mean that metaphorically, seeing as I am not human." Yuki replied.

I nodded, then spoke again. "By the way, you're a really good singer. Have you done this sort of thing before?"

"I have not." Yuki confirmed. "Since my creation, the only social activities I have ever participated in outside of school are the ones I have done with you and the other members of the SOS Brigade."

"I suspected as much." I noted. "Still, you did really well for a first-timer. You would probably have won had Haruhi chosen a different song."

"I simply did what was within my programming." Yuki insisted. "It is nothing that deserves praise."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "So just because you were created you don't deserve credit for your accomplishments? You give the Data Overmind too much credit. It may have made you the way you are and given you your abilities, but you should be proud of what you've done with them."

"Even the time I altered the universe so that we were normal people who never knew each other?" Yuki questioned.

"I can't fault you for that." I replied. "Because of Haruhi, you had to live through the same two weeks over and over and over again for nearly 600 years. Any normal person would have been bored to tears after only eight loops, but you had to go through over 15,000 and could remember every single moment of it. It's only natural that you would have grown tired of dealing with Haruhi and everything else. And in the end, you did offer me a way out if I didn't wish to accept the new reality. Why do you think I was so quick to forgive you?"

"If that is what you believe, I will accept it." Yuki said.

I kind of felt like she was missing the point of what I was saying, but I gave it a pass. Yuki was still new to this whole 'thinking for yourself' thing anyway.

I scratched my head. "Honestly, sometimes I wonder if keeping everything from Haruhi really is the best option. There's no guarantee that there will be any kind of chaos if she does find out about everything, and she has come close to learning the truth several times already."

"If you want my opinion, I still believe that not telling Haruhi the truth is the best option." Yuki replied. "However, if you believe you should tell her, I will not stop you."

"You don't need to worry about that." I assured her. "I was just saying the option is there. I'm not about to go behind your back and tell her or anything. If I ever do tell her, it will be a decision unanimously made between us in the SOS Brigade. After all, we're friends."

"Friends." Yuki repeated. "Yes, I suppose we are."

"Anyway, I think we should get back to everyone." I suggested. "We were so deep in conversation that I forgot why I came out here in the first place."

Yuki agreed, so she got up from the seat she was in and we made it back to the room where the others were. Once we had consumed the drinks I bought, we began the second round of the karaoke session. We each sang multiple more songs, until even Haruhi announced that her throat was sore. When we finally finished and returned to our home city on the bus, it was the middle of the afternoon, and all of us agreed that it was time to get some lunch, so we went over to our favourite café.

"And, boom! That's one activity done!" Haruhi declared, crossing 'karaoke' off the list we had made. "And we have you to thank for it, Mikuru. Though, don't ever let me catch you saying you're not a good singer again."

Mikuru sweated nervously, but nodded her head to indicate she got the picture.

"So, will we decide what to do next here and now?" I asked. "Or should we wait until club meetings next week?"

"We'll decide it now." Haruhi said. "The sooner the better, after all. Thanks for suggesting it, Kyon."

Wait, did that mean she was originally planning to wait until next week to make the decision? Me and my big mouth. Ah, well, we would have to do this sooner or later.

"So, how are we going to decide what to do next?" Haruhi speculated.

"Couldn't we just do what you did on Tuesday? The whole closing your eyes and picking someone at random?" I suggested.

"If I did that, there's a good chance I would end up picking Mikuru." Haruhi pointed out. "We've already done Mikuru's thing, so this time we should pick someone else's idea."

"I was thinking the same thing." Mikuru agreed.

Haruhi snapped her fingers. "I got it! I propose a race around the city!"

"Nope. Rejected." I said firmly.

"Oh, yeah?" Haruhi glared. "Give me one good reason."

"The fact that you'll beat all of us easily." I replied. "You're freakishly athletic and were a member of all the sports teams in school for a while. If we're going to decide what to do, it should be in a way that we all have a fair chance."

Haruhi threw her hands up in the air. "Well, if you have a better idea, then by all means let us hear it."

I sighed. "Look, there's only one reasonable way to settle this." I put out my fist. "Rock-paper-scissors."

Haruhi thought about my idea for a second, then nodded, so she put out her fist, followed by Yuki and Itsuki putting out theirs. We shook our fists three times, then revealed our chosen weapons; Itsuki and Haruhi had chosen rock, Yuki chose paper, and I chose scissors. The round was a tie, so we shook our fists again and this time all four of us had rock. We did it a third time, and this time Haruhi and I had rock while Yuki and Itsuki had scissors, eliminating the latter two from the game. The final round was between me and Haruhi, so we shook our hands a third time, and Haruhi had rock while I had paper.

"Ha ha, I win!" Haruhi declared.

"No, you don't." I replied immediately. "Paper covers rock. Or are you like those kids who think rock beats everything?"

Haruhi stared at me in confusion. "Wait, you mean it doesn't?"

I smiled. "I'll take that as a 'Yes.'"

With me as the winner, bowling would be our activity next weekend. Now that that was settled, we finished our lunch and then we all went our separate ways for the day. Just before we parted ways, I assured Mikuru that Tsuruya would be fine, reminding her what Tsuruya had told her only a few days ago, namely that there was no way she was getting rid of her. For some reason, however, I still had an uneasy feeling about the whole thing, and in a few days, I'd discover that I had every reason to feel that way.

With our latest activity having been decided for the next weekend, club meetings were rendered redundant. That being said, we still showed up each day to do other, smaller stuff, though given all the brainstorming we had done, there wasn't an awful lot to do besides eating, drinking and playing the occasional hand of poker for fun. What's more is that since we had gone bowling only last summer, we already knew exactly where we were going so there was no need for us to look for anywhere. Being the endlessly energetic excitement junkie that she was, Haruhi would often complain about being bored, and said on more than one occasion that she wished the school week would just hurry up and finish already. I mean, I got it. I'm sure all of us teenagers had felt that way at some point. Each day, I asked Mikuru if there was any progress regarding Tsuruya's condition and, much to the relief of both of us, she had finally regained consciousness and recovered on Wednesday, with the doctor saying she could come back into school tomorrow. While I was certainly happy that she was okay, something about this still felt really off, though of course I kept this to myself. I didn't want to bring Mikuru's mood down after all. However, the next day after school, I went ahead of Haruhi and found Mikuru sitting on a bench looking really said about something.

"Mikuru, are you alright?" I asked.

At my words, Mikuru looked up to me with a face I recognized all too well. It was the face that indicated she was really sad about something, the one she made when she was about to burst into tears. Sure enough, she ran towards me and started crying loudly into my chest.

"Mikuru, what's wrong?!" I asked in shock.

"It's Tsuruya." Mikuru explained, trying her hardest to talk through the tears. "She- She's completely forgotten me!"

Outwardly, I was still calm, but inwardly I was seething with anger. I should have known this would happen. Actually, that wasn't accurate. I did know. I just didn't want to believe it. After calming down a bit, I pushed Mikuru back slightly so that she was facing me. 

"Mikuru, I'm here for you." I assured her. "Now, tell me what happened."

"This morning, Tsuruya came into class like I heard she would." Mikuru began. "However, when she came in, she walked right past me without even saying "Hello". I thought it was strange so I went over to her desk and welcomed her back, but then she turned to me and- and- she asked who I was! She asked if I was a new transfer student! She's never acted that way to me before, not even when we first met!"

As she recalled the experience, Mikuru started crying again. This had gone way too far. I told Mikuru we should find Itsuki to talk about this more so we walked around the school and soon enough, we found him and told him what had happened.

"So, first Taniguchi, then Kunikida and now Tsuruya." Itsuki summarised. "Things are really getting out of hand."

"Once again, you have a talent for understatement." I snarked. "Itsuki, I know you said we should let sleeping dogs lie, but this has become too big of a problem to ignore. These three incidents are far too similar and outlandish for it to be just a coincidence. I could understand Taniguchi and even Kunikida doing the 'cold shoulder' act, but Tsuruya? Haruhi must be the one causing this."

"I agree." Itsuki replied. "To be perfectly honest, I had a hunch she was behind this from the moment you brought it up. However, that's all it was, which is why I didn't take any action. I'm sorry, Kyon. If I had acted sooner, Mikuru probably wouldn't have ended up like this."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault, Itsuki. As you said, innocent until proven guilty. Now that we know Haruhi's guilty, we can start taking steps to solving this problem."

Itsuki nodded. "We'll meet at Yuki's apartment tomorrow evening. I'll make sure to let her know we're coming."

The chosen time for our meeting was the night before our bowling outing, which I didn't consider ideal, though I guess it was best not to talk about the whole thing on a school night. One way or another, we would get to the bottom of this.

Chapter Text

"Remind me again exactly why we're gathered around a table on Yuki's balcony in the middle of the night." I questioned, referring to the location Itsuki had chosen for our discussion about the recent events at school.

"I just thought it was good to get the right atmosphere." Itsuki explained. "After all, we're sitting in front of the night sky with tons of stars. It really sets the right mood for the conversation we're about to have, don't you think?"

I sighed. "Can't argue with that." After I had come home from school during that same afternoon, I told Kaya that I was going out to meet my friends and wasn't sure when I would be back. Thankfully, she accepted this without a problem, especially since our parents had come home quite early that evening so she wouldn't be alone.

"Now, it is time for us to summarise the recent events." Itsuki began, holding up fingers as he spoke. "Case 1: Taniguchi has a mysterious accident the week before school and comes back the following Thursday with no memory of Haruhi. Case 2: Kunikida has an accident on the first week of school and comes back the following Thursday with no memory of Kyon. Case 3: Tsuruya has an accident on the second week of school and comes back with no memory of Mikuru. That means in three weeks, there have been three incidents of students at our school having highly implausible accidents and returning to school having completely forgotten a certain member of the SOS Brigade."

"You're not saying anything that any of us didn't already know." I replied in annoyance. "What matters is why these incidents are happening. As in, why have they forgotten one of us but nobody else?"

"I think I have an idea on that." Mikuru interjected. "Maybe who they forget depends on which of us they've known the longest. For example, Tsuruya has been in my class since I first transferred, so she's known me a lot longer than she's known any of you or Haruhi."

"I was thinking the same thing." Itsuki agreed. "And Kyon, isn't it true that Taniguchi has a long history with Haruhi, one that dates back to their first year in middle school?"

"He does indeed." I confirmed. "And Kunikida and I have been in the same class for just as long. So it seems that the common link that ties these incidents together is that the victim has had all the memories of the one they've known the longest erased. However, that still doesn't explain why Haruhi is causing this. You said it yourself, Itsuki; Haruhi only ever changes reality if she has something to gain from it, so what could she possibly gain from doing this?"

Itsuki hesitated. "I do have a theory on that, but you're probably not going to like it."

"Whether or not I like it is irrelevant." I replied. "The reason we gathered here tonight is to try and find a way to solve this problem, and to do that, we need to know what's causing it."

Itsuki nodded then began speaking. "Now, four years ago..."

"No!" I interrupted in annoyance. After all that had happened in the past few weeks, I was definitely not in the mood for one of Itsuki's regular monologues, so I would really prefer if he got to the point.

"Sorry, force of habit." Itsuki shrugged, though knowing him I couldn't tell if he was being serious or just messing with me. "Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, this whole incident began not long after the day we went to the amusement park. As such, it's highly plausible that the key to solving this problem lies in the events that occurred during that day."

"But what could possibly have happened on that day that would make Haruhi want to erase people's memories of us?" I asked.

"Well, that's what we need to figure out." Itsuki said. "I doubt it's just a coincidence that this whole thing began right after that day, so we need to think back and figure out what it is that caused a change in Haruhi's psyche."

That was assuming anything did happen that day to cause a change in Haruhi. Then again, it's not like I had any better ideas, so my mind then drifted back to the day we all went to the amusement park together.

Two weeks before our second school year began (or third year, in Mikuru's case), Haruhi contacted me and everyone else and asked us to gather for a discussion. While I was not happy to have my peaceful end-of-year break disrupted, I nevertheless met up with the others at our usual café, after which Haruhi explained that since we had successfully reached the end of the SOS Brigade's first year, she wished to do something to commemorate, to which none of us had any objections to, not even myself to my surprise. Ultimately, the five of us settled on going to an amusement park, as none of us could think of anything bigger. It was then that Mikuru asked if she could bring Tsuruya along, after which I chimed in and suggested that we invite Taniguchi and Kunikida as well. Initially, Haruhi wasn't thrilled by the idea, insisting that this event was for brigade members only and outsiders weren't welcome, but then we reminded her that they had helped us out multiple times so inviting them to this was the least we could do. Ultimately, Haruhi agreed and booked a total of eight tickets for the closest amusement park, which was situated a few miles from where we all lived. On the Wednesday of the following week, the eight of us all met up at the amusement park, having taken various forms of transport to get there.

"Hey, Kyon, nice of you to invite us to your little get-together." Taniguchi told me, playfully elbowing me as he spoke.

"Yeah, well, you can consider yourself lucky." I replied. "Haruhi was quite adamant about this only being for the five of us, but we insisted on letting you come along as well. You can call it a "Thank you." for the times you helped us with the club."

"Figures." Taniguchi laughed lightly. "Still, I do appreciate you thinking about us."

"This is awesome!" Tsuruya yelled in excitement, clinging to Mikuru as she did so. "I'm so glad you invited me here, Mikuru!"

"You're welcome, Tsuruya." Mikuru replied.

"Ahem!" Haruhi interjected, clearing her throat as she spoke. "Tsuruya, would you mind if I borrowed Mikuru for a second? I need to talk to her and the other members of my brigade."

Hearing Haruhi's request, Tsuruya let go of Mikuru and she, Yuki, Itsuki and I all went up to Haruhi.

"What's this about?" I inquired. "Don't tell me you've suddenly decided not to let those three join us?"

"No, nothing like that." Haruhi pouted. "Honestly, I'm appalled that you would think me so devious. Anyway, the reason I wanted to talk to you all is because I think there needs to be a change in how we address each other."

"What are you implying?" Itsuki asked.

"I'm implying that from now on, each of us must refer to each other by our most familiar name possible." Haruhi explained. "For example, Kyon already calls me "Haruhi", so now all of you must do the same."

"R-really?" Mikuru asked shyly, clearly unsure about the idea. 

"Well, you did say it was okay for me to use your first name." I pointed out to her. "Mikuru."

Yuki and Itsuki both took a shot at using Mikuru's first name as well, to surprising success. Haruhi, on the other hand, didn't need to, as she had been calling Mikuru by her first name practically since the brigade was formed. After that, each of us took turns saying the first name of one of us until it finally got to me.

"So, anyone going to try using my name?" I asked.

Haruhi looked at me strangely. "What do you mean? You're Kyon."

"Yeah, Kyon." Mikuru agreed.

"Kyon." Itsuki grinned.

"Kyon." Yuki repeated tonelessly.

"Come on, you're not even going to try using my real name?" I begged. "We're all supposed to be using first names." I turned to Itsuki. "Itsuki, help me out here."

Itsuki shrugged his shoulders. "Well, in Miss Suzumi- in Haruhi's defence, she specifically said "most familiar name possible". And last I checked, nicknames count as more familiar than first names."

I facepalmed, cursing my inability to recognize that sooner as well Haruhi's use of exact words. Would I ever be free of this cursed nickname bestowed upon me by my witch of an aunt? After swearing under my breath several times, I calmed down and reminded myself that we were here to have fun. With all of that settled, we rejoined Taniguchi, Tsuruya and and Kunikida, and the eight of us entered the amusement park together.

Once we were inside, we could clearly see just how big the amusement park was, with all of the attractions that you would expect, from a roundabout to shooting galleries to a ferris wheel to roller coasters. And knowing Haruhi as well as I did, she wouldn't allow us to leave until we had tried out each and every one of them. Fortunately, we wouldn't have to worry about expenses, as Tsuruya, the resident rich girl among us, offered to pay for everything. The question was where to start.

"Well, now that we're here, the first thing to do is go on a roller coaster." Haruhi said enthusiastically. "After all, that's the number one rule when visiting an amusement park."

"Who invented that rule?" I wondered.

"She did, I'm guessing." Taniguchi snarked. "Honestly, I must commend you for being able to put up with her for this long. When you first formed this club near the start of the school year, I was sure you would have gotten sick of her at this point."

"I almost did a few times, believe me." I whispered back. "Just don't tell her I said that."

Taniguchi nodded, and then we all walked around the park looking for a roller coaster. When we found one, however, Haruhi said that it was too typical, and we wouldn't stop until we found the most advanced roller coaster in the park, which didn't surprise me in the least given how much of a thrill-seeker Haruhi was, though I still found it incredibly annoying. Soon enough, we found the most advanced roller coaster- a particularly dangerous-looking one called the "Spiral of Purgatory". As the name suggested, a good portion of the track was in the shape of a spiral, which the coaster spun around on at top speed. Haruhi was extremely excited, but the rest of us were more than a little nervous.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Mikuru asked timidly. "What if one of us falls out?"

"If it helps, I could ride in the same row as you." I offered her, trying my hardest not to sound as scared as I was.

"It's okay, Kyon. I'll ride with her." Tsuruya suggested. "That way you can be in the same row as Miss Suzumiya. After all, you two are dating, right?"

"Oh, my God, no!" I yelled in disgust. "What on Earth gave you that idea?"

After my little outburst, I turned to Haruhi, who was muttering something under her breath.

"I'm sorry." I questioned her. "I didn't catch that. What did you say?"

Haruhi eyed me and blushed, having clearly said something she didn't want me to hear. "Nothing! It's not important! Now, are we doing this or not?"

I could tell I wouldn't be getting anything out of her, so we all reluctantly got into the next car, with me and Haruhi in one row, Yuki and Itsuki in the row behind us, Mikuru and Tsuruya in the row behind them and Kunikida and Taniguchi in the row behind them. Without warning, the coaster took off and boy was it fast. While we were in the queue, we could clearly see it moving at lightning fast speeds, and now we were experiencing that firsthand. As it went on, I tilted my head to Haruhi, who looked like she was having the time of her life, while I was scared out of my wits and begging for it to be over. Thankfully, before we knew it, the route had been completed, the car had returned to the starting point, and we were safe. We all got out of the coaster, feeling rather dizzy from such a frantic ride.

"Sorry to ditch the rest of you, but I'm going to go off and do my own thing." Taniguchi informed us, clearly trying his hardest not to throw up. "If I stay with you much longer, there's a good chance I won't live to tell about it."

"I think I'll go with you." Kunikida agreed, looking rather dazed himself.

And with that, the two boys left us, with Haruhi looking in annoyance. "One advanced ride and those two take off. What wimps."

"I don't think anyone who survived a ride like that can reasonably be called a wimp." I replied. "I'm just glad that it's over."

"Well, we'll always have this to remember it." Haruhi grinned, holding up a picture that had been taken of us in the ride, with Haruhi looking really happy and me being scared out of my wits, my teeth bare for all to see. "I think I'll put this photo up in the club room when school starts again."

I stared at her in horror. "Please don't do that!"

With Taniguchi and Kunikida having left to explore other parts of the park, that left us in the SOS Brigade plus Tsuruya as the main part of the group. We walked around the park trying to find something that we would decide to do next. We hadn't walked far when we came across a haunted house. 

"Want to try this?" Itsuki suggested. "Seems like it could be interesting."

"Doubt it." Haruhi said dismissively. "I'd imagine it's one of those cheap attractions that makes idiots trust the occult over science."

"I'm sorry you feel that way." I smiled. "Though, I suppose if you're not up to it..."

"I never said I wasn't up to it!" Haruhi replied immediately, much to my satisfaction. Haruhi was the kind of person who was quick to correct anyone who said something she didn't like, which I had learned to use to my advantage.

I turned to Mikuru. "Do you want to come?"

"I think I'll wait out here." Mikuru replied. "You guys can go ahead."

"Mikuru's never dealt with scary stuff all that well." Tsuruya explained. "I'll wait out here with her."

With Mikuru and Tsuruya having opted out, that left Haruhi, Yuki, Itsuki and myself as the ones to enter the haunted house. As we walked through the dark corridor, we could hear some faint moaning that only got louder as we walked. I turned to Haruhi, who, much to my surprise, appeared to be shivering. Suddenly, a zombie jumped out of nowhere, which caused Haruhi to scream and leap into my arms, after which she looked up at me, clearly embarrassed by what she had just done.

I smirked. "Has anyone ever told you that you get scared really easily?"

"Shut up! I do not!" Haruhi exclaimed defensively, breaking free from my grip. "What I want to know is why aren't you three scared!"

"Well, that's because we..." I started to say, but then I stopped myself. The correct answer was that we had seen much scarier things, but we couldn't tell Haruhi that.

"We're used to dealing with this sort of thing." Itsuki chimed in, which I appreciated. I would have hated to have to spill the beans about Yuki and Itsuki not being ordinary humans.

"If you do not wish to be scared, the best solution is to remember that all of these creatures are actually human beings." Yuki suggested.

"You could do that, but wouldn't that take all the fun out of the attraction?" I pointed out.

"Oh, so you enjoy seeing me getting scared out of my wits, then?!" Haruhi questioned in annoyance.

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what I said. Don't put words in my mouth. If you're not a fan of this, you can always just go back the way we came."

"No way!" Haruhi refused. "I've started this, so I'll finish it. Just... stick close to me until it's over."

I smiled. "No problem."

We walked through the rest of the house as slowly as we could. Haruhi walked right next to me the entire time, and while she did get startled from time to time, she didn't freak out again like before. Soon enough, the four of us made it out of the house, after which Haruhi breathed in relief.

"Seems we've finally found something you're not good at." I teased. "You know, if you had just said from the beginning that you don't handle haunted houses well, we would have let you wait outside with Mikuru and Tsuruya."

"Well, I am the brigade leader!" Haruhi retorted. "And what kind of leader would I be if I allowed myself to look soft in front of my subordinates? I have an image to uphold, you know!"

I snorted under my breath. An image to uphold, she said. After all the stupid, selfish things Haruhi had done over the entire year, learning that she was scared of ghosts and zombies was the last thing that could make me think less of her. If anything, I found it very reassuring to know that our resident reality-warper had a weakness.

"Speaking of Mikuru and Tsuruya, do you have any idea where they went?" Itsuki asked.

Now that Itsuki had brought it up, I looked around but couldn't find Mikuru or Tsuruya anywhere. The four of us decided to walk around to look them, reckoning that they couldn't have gone far.

"Where could those two girls have gone?" I wondered, scratching my head.

"Found them!" Itsuki called, and sure enough the two girls were right in front of a shooting gallery, with Tsuruya using a gun to (unsuccessfully) hit targets. I walked over to them.

"There you are." I told them. "You weren't outside the haunted house when we came out so we were worried about where you had gone."

"Oh, Kyon." Tsuruya said, turning to me as she spoke. "Sorry about that. It's just that I spotted this shooting gallery and thought I could win something for Mikuru. As you can see, it hasn't been going very well."

"May I try?" Yuki asked.

Tsuruya eyed Yuki. "Nagato, you sure you can do it?"

"I am." Yuki replied.

Tsuruya seemed convinced so she gave Yuki the gun. She looked around at the gallery, eyeing each and every one of the five targets. She then picked up the (obviously fake) shotgun and aligned the sights with her eyes.

"Lock on." she said. Within five seconds, she fired five shots, all of which hit one of the five targets. The host was understandably shocked, but stated that since Yuki had hit all the targets, she could pick any prize. Mikuru whispered to Yuki which one she wanted, and Yuki pointed at the stuffed lion, which the host handed to Yuki, after which she presented the animal to Tsuruya.

"Take this." Yuki said. "Then you can give it to Mikuru Asa- to Mikuru like you wanted."

Tsuruya eyed her in confusion. "I don't think you understand how gift-giving works."

"Yuki's parents have been absent for most of her life due to their jobs, and she's been living alone ever since she started school, so she's a bit out-of-touch when it comes to social situations." I said quickly, coming up with the most convincing cover story I could think of on the fly while also sticking as closely as possible to the truth.

"It's okay, Miss Nag- I mean, Yuki. I appreciate the thought." Mikuru assured her, taking the lion from her. "I know. Since you did that for me, you get to decide what we do next."

"Any objections?" I asked the others. Not one single person put up their hand, so that meant Yuki was the one to decide what to do next. However, she couldn't think of anything at that moment, so we decided to walk around until we found something to her liking.

We had been walking around for about twenty minutes or so when Yuki suddenly stopped in her tracks. Seconds later, she raised her finger and pointed it. "I want to go in there."

We all turned around to see just what Yuki was pointing at, and could see that it was the planetarium.

"Really? You want to go in there, Yuki?" Haruhi questioned.

"That is what I said." Yuki responded nonchalantly.

"So, you're into space and stuff, Nagato?" Tsuruya asked.

"You could say that." I replied. She was an alien, after all.

"Well, if that's what she wants, then that's where we're going." Itsuki said. "Honestly, I'm intrigued by this place myself."

The first parts of the planetarium were largely educational, designed to teach people many things about space, from asteroids to stars to space exploration. Said information was provided both by writing on the wall and an anonymous voice heard from the intercom. While it was certainly interesting, many of the facts shown were things you easily learn either from school or by reading a book from the library. Indeed, Yuki already knew many of the facts that were being shown or said, which made way too much sense given her origins and and how often she read.

"This is boring." Haruhi said in frustration. "We're about a quarter of the way through this place and we haven't heard a single thing about aliens or anything interesting like that. Of all the places Yuki had to choose, why did it have to be this?"

I rolled my eyes. "You don't have to like it, but don't ruin the mood for the rest of us. We can't always do what you want to do."

Haruhi looked at me. "Well, if you're going to say that, maybe you should come up with something to do when the new school year starts."

"Maybe I will, if you'll let me." I replied.

Itsuki giggled. "Listen to the two of you. Typical lover's quarrel."

I sighed. "We're not a couple! Why does everyone think that we're a couple?!"

Soon after that little exchange, we came face-to-face with a door that was the path to the second half of the planetarium. We walked through the door, and found ourselves in a pitch-black room, to the point that none of us could see a thing. Suddenly, the room lit up and we saw what looked like hundreds of stars and planets flying past us, the lighting being situated such that it seemed as though we were soaring through space. I turned my head towards Haruhi, who had a broad smile on her face.

"It's beautiful!" she said, much to my surprise. I had heard Haruhi describe many things in many different ways, but "beautiful" was definitely a first. She then turned to Yuki. "Yuki, I take back what I said before. I'm so glad you chose for us to go here."

"I am glad as well, I think." Yuki replied, and the smile on her face showed that she was glad.

Haruhi looked all around the room, admiring all the various images on display. "I can't believe the five of us get to experience something like this together."

"Um, you do know there are six of us here, right?" Tsuruya questioned, feeling like she was being ignored.

"Don't worry about it." Mikuru said quickly, to which I was thankful. Haruhi was in a genuinely good mood, the kind that wasn't harmful to anyone around her, and I didn't want anyone spoiling it.

Back in the present day, I was recalling all of these memories, and it was slowly becoming clear just what was causing the recent events.

Chapter Text

After we exited the planetarium, Haruhi, Yuki, Itsuki, Mikuru, Tsuruya and I were all at a loss of what to do next, so we began walking around looking for something. We hadn't gone far when we bumped into Taniguchi and Kunikida, who had had multiple adventures of their own since they had separated from us after the truly terrifying roller coaster ride. It just so happened that when we ran into each other, we were right in front of the ferris wheel, and it was unanimously agreed that that would be our next ride. The only question was who would ride with who, as the cabins could only carry three people each.

"Hey, Kyon." Haruhi said, getting my attention. "Do you think the two of us could get into one of the cabins alone together?"

I smiled and nodded. "I'd like that, actually. There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about alone, and this will give us the perfect chance."

"Oooh!" Tsuruya teased. "Are you sure you do aren't a thing?"

I rolled my eyes. "I already told you we're not. A guy and a girl can have a private chat without it being romantic, you know."

Soon enough, a new cabin came down to the bottom centre of the ferris wheel, and Haruhi and I got in and sat down next to each other.

"We'll be right behind you." Itsuki told us. "So you two just sit back and enjoy the view."

"And make sure she doesn't end up driving you crazy." Taniguchi teased. 

"If that was going to happen, it would have by now." I snarked.

I turned around to see Haruhi glaring at me. "And just what does that mean?"

"Just that I'm one of the few people willing to put up with you on a day-to-day basis." I replied nonchalantly.

Haruhi sighed. "You're lucky it's you saying that."

I closed the door of the cabin and the ferris wheel began rotating very slowly. As it did, I looked down and saw the other members of our group getting into other cabins, with Itsuki, Mikuru and Tsuruya getting in the next one after ours, and Yuki, Taniguchi and Kunikida getting into the one after that. Soon enough, our cabin was nearing the the top of the ferris wheel, and the two of us looked out of the window. The view was absolutely breathtaking. Not only was the entire park visible from our position, but we could see miles of the surrounding area around the park as well. The sun had also begun to set by the time our cabin had risen this much, and it only made the whole thing even more beautiful. 

"Now this is something you can't do every day." I noted.

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I was just thinking back to when Ryoko Asakura transferred out of our school." I explained. "When it happened, you were so convinced that it couldn't have been just a coincidence that a student transferred out of our school so soon after a different student transferred in, so you went to investigate and see if there must have been some big reason which would lead you to the grand mystery you'd been searching for. However, you wound up disappointed when you couldn't find anything. If I recall correctly, that was also the time when you told me about the time you went to the baseball game when you were a kid, and how it completely changed your outlook on life."

"I do remember that." Haruhi said.

"At the time, I couldn't really think of anything to say in response, but I can now." I continued. "You said that all the things we do every day are things that millions if not billions of people do every day as well, and that our existence is completely insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but even if that's true, so what? That 'grand scheme' is just a nebulous thing that doesn't have any effect on your life unless you let it. I have no clue what I want to do with my life just yet, but what I do know is that I intend to live every minute of it. And even if nothing amazing ever happens to me, I won't let that drag me down."

Of course I wasn't being totally honest when I said that. There was a grand mystery behind Asakura suddenly transferring out of school, and plenty of extraordinary things had happened to me over the past year. I just couldn't tell Haruhi that.

To my surprise, Haruhi smiled at my monologue. "You know, for the first time in years, I think I might actually believe that. After all, we haven't encountered any aliens, time-travellers or espers in the past year, but it's still been a whole lot of fun. Maybe what's really important is that it's the five of us doing these things together."

I nodded, but then another thought crossed my mind, and I remembered just why I wanted to be alone with Haruhi. "Haruhi, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. Are you mad that Mikuru and I invited Tsuruya, Taniguchi and Kunikida to come with us here? Because honestly, it feels like you've been acting they're not even there or something."

Haruhi looked at me awkwardly. "You noticed that, huh?"

"Of course I did." I replied. "I've known you more than long enough to know how your brain operates."

Haruhi hesitated a bit before talking again. "Well, that was kind of why I wanted to be alone with you. Honestly, I only extended the invitation to them because you and Mikuru made arguments I couldn't dispute. However, I really didn't want any tag-alongs on this trip. It was supposed to be just the five of us here, as in the ones that are actually in the SOS Brigade. We'll only be able to do these things for so long, after all."

"I mean, we do have two whole years of high school left." I pointed out. "Don't about you, but that's a pretty long time to me."

"You, me, Yuki and Itsuki have two years of high school left." Haruhi corrected. "Mikuru is a year above the rest of us, so she only has one year left. And who knows when we'll be able to hang out with her again once she graduates?"

"Don't be ridicu-!" I began to say, but I stopped myself before I could say "lous". I wanted to say "lous". I wanted to say "We can easily find the time to meet up with her again even after she graduates.", but deep down, I wasn't so sure. Even setting aside the fact that high school friends often grow apart after graduation, Mikuru wasn't even from our time. That meant that, sooner or later, she would have to return to the future, which would most likely happen right after she graduated. Worse still, there was no way of knowing when we would see her again or if we even would at all, since she couldn't tell us what time she was from because it was classified.

After I couldn't come up with a real response to her statement, Haruhi leaned her head on my shoulder. "I mean, they say that nothing lasts forever, which includes friendships, and I do understand that. However, the irrational part of me can't help but wish they did. I... I just don't want anyone getting in the way of whatever time we have left together."

Most boys my age would have their heart pounding at a girl leaning her heard on them, but I was so focused on digesting everything she said that my brain didn't even register that. And just like when she told me about her past, I was at a complete loss at what to say.

By the time we had all gotten off the ferris wheel, the sun had almost set, signalling that it was nearly time to go home. Before we could get to that, however, we all unanimously agreed that it was time to get some food, since none of us had eaten anything substantial since we came to the park. Once we had all bought what we wanted, we all sat down at tables close to the food vendors and began eating. They say that you often don't realise just how hungry you are until you start eating, and it was only then that I realised just how true that was as I absolutely devoured my food, while also trying my hardest not to eat too fast lest I caused a mess. As we ate, we talked about all the things we did over the day, while also looking at the various photos that were taken at the booths of the various rides.

"You still plan on putting that photo up in the clubroom?" I questioned Haruhi, watching her examine the photo she had gotten of herself and me in the roller coaster.

"Of course I do." Haruhi replied smugly. "As long as this is up in the clubroom, everyone will know that you answer to me, as it should be."

I grinned back. "Not unless you want me to put this picture up in the clubroom." I took out a photo of my own and showed it to her. It was a picture of the two of us when we were walking through the haunted house, specifically one of Haruhi clinging to me while shivering in fear.

Haruhi stared at the picture in shock. "How did you get that?!"

"How do you think? The same way you got yours." I smiled. "Imagine if word were to get out that our illustrious leader clung to one of her subordinates in fear because she's terrified of ghosts and zombies. I'd say there are quite a few people at school who would want to use a weakness like that against you."

Haruhi glared at me. "You wouldn't."

"I would." I replied confidently.

Haruhi signed in resignation. "Want to trade?"

I nodded and the two of us handed each other our respective embarrassing photos. And just like that, I saved myself from a lifetime of embarrassment.

"I never saw that coming. Suzumiya's actually bad at something." Taniguchi, who was sitting at the table next to ours, noted.

Upon hearing Taniguchi, I turned to him with a serious expression. "Taniguchi, if you use Haruhi's weakness against her in some way, you'll have to answer to the rest of us. So don't even think about it." We couldn't risk anyone provoking Haruhi and having her cause another strange phenomenon, after all.

"Uh, sure. I wasn't going to even without you warning me." Taniguchi replied sheepishly.

"Speaking of pictures, how about we take one of us to remember this occasion?" Itsuki suggested.

"All those in favour raise their hands." I said, to which everybody else did exactly that. The decision unanimous, I turned on the timer for my phone and had us all gather in front of it, after which their was a big flash from my phone. I picked up my phone and checked the picture.

"Looks good." I said with satisfaction. "I'll be sure to send it to the rest of you later."

With all of us haven eaten our fill, and the memoir for the occasion created, the eight of us exited the amusement park together. Tsuruya had called a limousine from her house to pick her up and offered to take the rest of us home with her. Taniguchi and Kunikida accepted the offer, but the rest of us declined, so the three of them got into the limo and left us brigade members behind. Soon enough, a bus back home arrived and the five of us got in, after which it took off.

"I daresay that this day was probably the most fun we've had over this entire year." Itsuki said with his usual smile.

I had to agree. When the club was first formed, the vast majority of the activities we did were things that only Haruhi really enjoyed, with the rest of us just going along out of fear of her powers and bad temper, but this outing was something I could confidently say that all of us enjoyed, myself included.

"Will you apply to keep the SOS Brigade active next year?" Mikuru asked.

"Of course!" Haruhi replied enthusiastically. "We haven't even accomplished the objective the club was formed for, after all. All of us will be brigade members until we graduate, and I'm not going to let anything or anyone stand in the way of our time together." We didn't say anything else on the way back to town, and once we had gotten off the bus, we all went our separate ways home.

Back in the present day, I finally finished my reminiscence of the day at the amusement park, and began sighing heavily, my hands covering my face.

"I had totally forgotten about that conversation the two of us had on the ferris wheel. And to think I actually asked Haruhi a couple of weeks ago if she considered us friends or not."

"Well, it seems to me you really should have remembered it." Itsuki said. "Because if I'm not mistaken, it's that very conversation that ended up pulling the metaphorical trigger on this entire mess."

"What, so this is my fault?!" I asked defensively.

"Not directly." Itsuki assured me. "However, that conversation you had is clearly what caused Haruhi's mind to become unstable, or it may have been the fact that we invited those three to come with us to the park in the first place. Either way, now her mind is reacting in such a way that she's now erasing the memories of anyone who would want to spend time with us. Because in her mind, that is the only way she can think of to ensure that nobody will get in the way of the time she has with us."

"So, let me make sure I've got this right." I began to summarise. "Haruhi has basically become like those one of those girls from anime & manga who is so scared of losing the people she cares about that she resorts to getting rid of anyone who could possibly take them away from her?"

"Good analogy." Itsuki laughed, clearly enjoying this a lot more than he should have been. "Except as usual, she doesn't even know she's doing it. And of course, she isn't killing anybody. You said it yourself, after all; Haruhi would never wish for anyone to die. That's how you were able to figure out that the murder mystery on the remote island was just a ruse. As such, she's resorted to getting rid of them non-lethally, namely by erasing their memories, thereby breaking the bonds they have with us."

"I think I get it, but there are still several things that just don't add up." I noted. "For example, if severing our bonds with everyone outside the SOS Brigade really is Haruhi's goal, then why were Taniguchi's memories of Haruhi the ones to be erased? I mean, they barely talked before all this started, so wouldn't it make more sense to erase his memories of me instead?"

"Well, think about it; how exactly did you and Taniguchi first become acquainted with one another?" Itsuki questioned.

I thought about it for a few seconds before coming to a realization. "When he told me all about Haruhi."

"Exactly!" Itsuki replied, pointing his finger at me as he said that. "The reason you two first became friends is because the two of you both understood how it felt to put up with Haruhi. However, now that Taniguchi has forgotten her, he no longer remembers those conversations having ever happened. And since what caused you to bond is gone, it stands to reason that the bond itself is gone as well. Essentially, it's killing two birds with one stone, since without his memories of Haruhi it means that he won't bother her anymore."

All of that made way too much sense. After all, Taniguchi and I had barely spoken over the past couple of weeks save for the times I tried to jog his memory of Haruhi and the times we talked about Kunikida. I also recalled him saying that the two of us were never really friends, and now I finally understood what he meant.

"Okay, but then what about how they lost their memories?" I continued. "Did Haruhi really cause each of them to fall down some stairs? She must have known that could have killed them."

"I think it's more likely that the memories of everyone around us were altered so they thought they fell down some stairs." Mikuru replied sadly. "Thinking about it now, I did find it strange when Tsuruya's family called me and told me about her accident, since they couldn't even tell me when or how it happened. If only I had realised something was off sooner." As she recalled the memory, she looked like she was on the verge of tears once more, until Itsuki put his hand on her shoulder as if to assure her that it wasn't her fault. She then breathed and calmed down. "Thank you, Itsuki. I needed that."

"I think Mikuru is right." Itsuki agreed. "When you first told me about Taniguchi's accident, you also mentioned that he couldn't remember how it happened, and this would explain why; he can't remember how he fell down the stairs because he never did. He only thinks he did."

"That would also explain how Taniguchi learned about Kunikida's accident before me, and why he didn't find anything strange about it." I added. "It's because his memories were altered but those of us in the SOS Brigade weren't."

"Things are bad enough right now, but I have a sinking feeling that Haruhi isn't quite done." Itsuki said in a worried tone.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean that there's a high probability that as long as this goes on, more people will have their memories erased." Itsuki clarified. "That won't be much of a problem for Yuki and Mikuru, but you and me are a different story. After all, I'm a member of a whole organization, several of whom Haruhi has met, meaning there's a good chance they'll be next."

I hadn't even thought of that. Haruhi's current goal was to ensure that she would have as much time with us as possible, so anyone who stood in the way of that was logically a target for having their memories erased. Before long, there's a good chance even Kaya and my parents wouldn't remember me.

I buried my face in my hands and breathed heavily. "I'm starting to regret asking that last question. Honestly, I think I would have felt better if you didn't say anything at all."

"Sorry, I'm just accounting for all possible outcomes." Itsuki replied. "To be perfectly honest, if things keep going the way they have been, it's highly possible, and even likely, that the only people who will remember us is each other. If that happens, we'll be driven out of the city and be on the run for who knows how long. Doesn't sound so bad, honestly. At least that means Haruhi will have achieved her objective."

From day one, Itsuki had consistently gotten on my nerves with his constant smiling, obnoxious politeness and poorly-timed sense of humour. We had become friends over the year due to everything we'd been through together, but there was still times when I wanted to punch him in the face. This was one of those times.

For a few minutes after Itsuki made his tasteless joke, none of us exchanged a word. In spite of that, it was obvious that we were all thinking the same thing. We needed to come up with some way to resolve this situation before it got any worse. The very idea made me sigh. Usually when Haruhi changed reality, things just stayed the way they were instead of getting worse and so we could take all the time we needed to figure out what to do. This time, however, it felt as though we were under pressure to solve the problem as quickly as possible. As I thought about all this, an idea came to mind, though it was a longshot, and I was already sure Itsuki wouldn't agree with it. Even so, it was all I could think of.

"Itsuki," I began. "you mentioned before that Haruhi never knows that she's the one causing these strange phenomena, right?"

"Yes?" Itsuki replied in confusion.

"Well, maybe it's about time she did know." I suggested.

Itsuki raised his eyebrows, a rarity for someone as nonchalant as him. "Please tell me you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting."

"I am." I confirmed. "It's time we told Haruhi the truth. Time she learned that aliens, time-travellers and espers really do exist. And above all else, time she learned about her powers. Then we can convince her to change things back to normal."

"Whoa, Kyon, slow down for a bit!" Itsuki exclaimed, genuinely sounding like he was panicking. "We've been through this before, haven't we? I've already told you why Haruhi can't know that anything supernatural exists. It's because-"

"Yes, Itsuki, you've made your viewpoint perfectly clear." I interrupted. "You think that if Haruhi learns what the three of you really are, she'll come to believe that aliens, time-travellers and espers are the norm, and as a result they will become the norm which will cause the universe to devolve into chaos."

"Well, if you know that, then how can you even consider what you're proposing an option?" Itsuki questioned.

"Because there's no guarantee that what you believe will happen actually will happen." I replied. "You don't even know for sure if Haruhi really did re-create the world so that it is the way it is. That's just a convenient explanation as to how you suddenly discovered your esper powers four years ago. For all you know, your powers could have simply activated as a means to counter Haruhi's, but were dormant until then. That would explain why your powers seem to exist solely to counter hers."

Itsuki hesitated. "I will admit there isn't any definitive proof that our theory is correct, but at the same time there isn't any definitive proof that it's wrong either. And what brought upon this doubt all of a sudden?"

"Ask her." I said bluntly, pointing to Mikuru as I spoke.

Itsuki turned to Mikuru in surprise. "You disagree with my theory?"

Mikuru nodded shyly. "Yes, I do. I don't think that Haruhi really is a god, or that she created this universe. I believe that the universe has always been this way. I hate to argue with you, Itsuki, given what a good friend you've been to me. However, if what you believe was true, it would contradict many of the things that we know to be true. Though, I can't tell you any of them because-"

"Because it's classified." I finished. "We understand, Mikuru."

"Don't get me wrong, though." Mikuru continued. "While I may not agree with Itsuki's theory, I can't really disprove it either. And if it's not true, there's still a great risk in Haruhi learning the truth about us and herself, so I don't think telling her is a good idea either."

"Do either of you have a better plan?" I asked the two of them.

Neither Mikuru nor Itsuki said a word.

"That's what I thought." I said. "Yuki, what do you think about telling Haruhi the truth?"

The three of us all turned our attention to the resident alien bookworm, who had just been reading silently as usual, contributing absolutely nothing to the discussion. With the attention now on her, however, she raised her head from her book, looked at me and spoke. "I believe it is worth considering."

I sighed in relief. "Thank you, Yuki! Of all people, I knew you would understand-!"

"I'm not finished." Yuki interrupted. "I believe that it is worth considering, but I also believe that you should be extremely cautious in doing so. You only tell her as a last resort after exhausting every other possible option. Given that this is happening because of Haruhi's fear of being alone again, you should find a way to assure her that she won't be alone. Tell her something that she wants more than anything to hear."

"What are you suggesting?" I asked, not knowing where this was going.

"What do you think?" Mikuru replied cheerfully, having apparently understood what Yuki was trying to say. "You should say 'I love you'."

I stared at both of the girls. "That's your big solution? Tell her something I won't even mean?"

"Who says you wouldn't mean it?" Itsuki questioned.

I then turned my attention towards Itsuki, still as in shock as before. "You can't be serious! Me?! In love with that- that-?!"

"A little lost for words, are we?" Itsuki laughed. "You probably don't realize this, Kyon, but the two of you have gotten closer and closer the longer you've known each other. Maybe there was a time when you didn't like each other, or even despised each other, but you certainly don't feel that way now. Did you actually think that I didn't notice that, with few exceptions, you've come to the club room together every afternoon, earlier today included?"

"Well, that whole thing started so I could make some sense about what happened to Taniguchi." I said.

"Maybe, but you've been coming to the club room together every day since, and you can't justify that as being necessary." Itsuki pointed out. "The two of you do it because you want to."

I sighed. "Are you sure that means love, though?"

"Kyon, I'm going to be as straightforward as I possibly can." Itsuki said firmly, readying himself to say something serious. "I want to know what you think about when you think about Haruhi."

And so I told them. When I thought about Haruhi, I thought of someone whom I initially thought to be a pest, who was wasting her life searching for these grand mysteries that she was never going to find. However, that changed the more I learned about her. I saw this girl who was exceptionally good at anything she put her mind to, but as a result couldn't find satisfaction in anything, and so wanted to find something that could pique her curiosity. I may have complained nonstop about always getting dragged into her hair-brained ideas, but at the same time I wouldn't trade those moments for anything. When entering high school, I was able to hang out with three types of people I had given up believing existed, and while Haruhi may not have been the sole cause behind that, she was at least the direct instigator. Sure, she could be incredibly selfish at times, but who wasn't? Not to mention she hadn't done anything so awful recently. But above all else, when I thought of her, I thought of this strange, wonderful person who had made me realize that there was so much more to this world, this universe, than I could have ever imagined.

I couldn't believe it. I had actually fallen in love with Haruhi Suzumiya.

"Oh, what a grand tale this is." Itsuki teased. "The prince has realised his love for the princess and is now going to rescue her from the gilded cage she has been isolated in her whole life. Like something right out of a storybook."

Now I really wanted to punch him in the face!