Chapter 1: The Intruder
I woke up that morning like it was any other school day. I looked at my clock for a good 2 minutes before getting out of bed, after I did my normal morning routine I hopped on my bike and rode to school slowly. As I rode on my way to my school I thought back on the entire events that had transpired between the SOS Brigade and I. The attack by Ryoko, the endless eight days, and the other reality created by Nagato's powers all seemed like distant memories by now. As I locked my bike up and walked up the school hill I sensed something was different today but I couldn't tell what. I remembered how Sasaki and here group asked to me to join them, I was still thinking things over.
Once I arrived at my classroom I notice Haruhi was fidgeting around with a pencil in her hand, she seemed to be writing something on a piece of paper but I couldn't see what from where I was standing. "Good morning Suzumiya," I said half-heartedly, she replied with a simple nod. I guess she was more focused on what she was writing. I sat down at my seat and stared out the window, I could feel a strange presence in the air even though everything seemed the same, I wondered what was going on an if it had anything to do with the Sky Canopy Dominion or something similar to it. None the less I continued with my normal school day until lunch, which is when Haruhi asked me to meet her in the club room.
I walked towards the club room as usual though I had many questions on my mind, like what was Haruhi writing about, why meet in the club room now, and finally what was with this weird feeling I was having? As I arrived at the club room door I knocked and waited for a response. "You may enter," Haruhi said in a demanding voice, I then entered the room and looked around. Everyone was there as usual, which was unusual seeing as how it was still lunch and we usually meet after school. Asahina was wearing her school uniform rather than her maid outfit since it was technically still school hours. Nagato stared at me for a while and nodded then went back to reading, and Koizumi did his weird smile as he waved at me. I sat down in my usual seat and sighed.
"The reason I decided to call this surprise meeting was to tell you all what I have been planning!" Haruhi declared as we all looked up at her. "I believe the SOS Brigade is in need of a sixth member," she finished. I sighed and look at Nagato who tilted her head as if interested by Haruhi's words. I then spoke up on behalf of the group, "Why exactly do we need a new member to join?" Haruhi glared at me and scoffed, "We need to even out the club's boy to girl ratio, I recently realized that we girls are out numbering the guys and it seemed a little unfair. Besides we could use some new blood around here seeing how it is our 2nd year of high school with the exception of Mikuru of coarse," She finished explaining.
I dared not to bother with Haruhi's logic so I simply nodded my head and looked toward Koizumi who seemed to be interested as well. "I am wondering dear Suzumiya-san what precisely are we looking for in a new member?" Koizumi asked with his trademark smile. Haruhi then pulled out a piece of paper with a bunch of scribbles on it. "Funny you should ask since I was compiling a list of what attributes our next member should have," She said with glee. I slowly read what little legible words there were on the page that weren't scratched out.
Must be unusual and or strange
Have a mysterious past
Must be male
Possibly have a dark secret
I sighed to myself and then turned my attention to Asahina who seemed a little uncomfortable with the whole situation. After she lectured us about why she picked the following qualities we all went back to class once lunch was over. How was I supposed to find a person like this out of the blue anyway? Could it be that Haruhi is getting bored with us and is looking for possible replacements? I though a lot about the whole situation but continued on with my school day.
After school I returned to the club room and knocked once more before entering. Asahina had her usual maid outfit on and was making tea, I waved at her and smiled. As I sat down I looked at Nagato and thought to myself. Could she have something to do with this? Maybe she is trying to see how Haruhi would react to a new player in this game. No way, Nagato might be capable of doing something like that but she is only here to observe. I then wondered what Nagato thought about the situation. "Nagato-san what do you think about Haruhi wanting to find a 6th member?" I finally asked. Nagato respond as she usually did, "Unique," she said in her monotone voice.
I looked out the window and suddenly had a strange feeling that something was wrong. It seemed as if the feeling was getting stronger and I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by it. Just when I felt like I was about to burst the door swung opened suddenly, which startled me as well as Asahina. The three of us within the room looked toward the door, there seemed to be nothing there as if it was forced open by an unknown source. I could feel a chill run up my spine, I then turned to Nagato who had a very stern look on her face, which surprised me. "What is the mater Nagato? You look a little uneasy," I said to her while I myself was still shaking from the shock. Asahina dropped the tea kettle causing it to spill its contents onto the club room floor. Nagato continued to stare with the same look toward the door.
As timed passed I could see Nagato's face begin to return to its normal look. I felt a strange amount of relief as well, after which I got up and helped Asahina clean up the mess the tea kettle had made. It definitely isn't normal for Nagato to have such a reaction to something unless they are considered a threat. I wondered if it had anything to do with the Sky Canopy Dominion again but dismissed it as paranoia. After a few minutes Koizumi and Haruhi arrived at the club room, and as Haruhi did her duties as brigade leader I told Koizumi about what happened. His reaction to the incident surprised me however. "Perhaps it is something we should check out, I'll talk to Asahina and Nagato later." Koizumi responded.
An hour after the club had gone home we all returned to the school. As I arrived at the scene Nagato and Koizumi were already waiting for me. "Where is Asahina-san?" I asked slightly out of breath. Koizumi shook his head, "It would seem that Asahina-san had a previous engagement to attend to so it will just be the three of us," Koizumi explained. I wondered what engagement Asahina had to attend to, perhaps her future self had given her another mission, or it could have been something completely different. As Nagato opened the school gates for us, we sneaked quietly toward the club room. As we arrived at the club room, I noticed the door was wide open and cautiously walked toward the threshold of the door. I peaked inside and saw a shadow sitting in Haruhi's chair. Nagato and Koizumi both followed slowly behind me and peaked inside as well. The shadow seemed to be holding Haruhi's "chief" plaque and looking at it from all sides. As I slowly leaned in to get a closer look I lost my balance and fell.
The noise from my fall caused the shadow to look towards my direction and then suddenly it disappeared. As Koizumi helped me back up he turned his head to Nagato, "Please scan the area for any abnormalities Nagato-san," He politely ordered. Nagato nodded and then began an incantation. After I got back up on my two feet she was complete, "It would seem everything with this room is normal the only thing I found unusual was the place where the figure was sitting. We walked toward Haruhi's desk and examined it, there seemed to be nothing weird about it to me but Nagato seemed to differ. "It seems that there was a rift in this reality for a few seconds after the figure had escaped, my only conclusion with this amount of data is that we are dealing with a being from another world," Nagato spoke as her face slowly became stern once again.
AS I looked at Nagato I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about the situation. I was used to unusual events before this, but if this was causing Nagato to act abnormal compared to her usual self, I wanted to do something to help her. I looked at Haruhi's desk and sighed, and then I noticed something wrong. "Hey Koizumi, did you see the figure drop Haruhi's plaque?" I asked. Koizumi shook his head, "Don't recall seeing the figure doing so, why?" He replied. I looked once more at the desk to see if I was seeing things or not. "Well it's not here and seeing as how that figure disappeared so suddenly I'm guessing they have it with them," I said with a worried voice. This meant the figure might return again, and if that was true it could cause even more troubles. As we left that night I could only wonder what that figure was and what it was up to.