Yeah, so it's a short two-shot "OVA Style" intermission. Sue me.

If you haven't already, I suggest reading The Upgrade of Yuki Nagato before starting this. It can be found at the bottom of my Author page, which can be accessed by clicking my name at the top.

If you haven't even watched/read The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, I highly recommend doing so - even if you have no intentions of reading this or Upgrade. It is a very intriguing manga, light novel, and anime, and its movie is Cinematic gold, in my not-so-humble opinion.

Also, I'd like to point out that I do not own the Haruhi Suzumiya series or any related titles in any way. With that said...

"The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" is owned by Nagaru Tanigawa, Kadokawa Shoten, Tatsuya Ishihara, and Kyoto Animation. Please support the official release.

The Upgrade of Yuki Nagato - Intermission

In a small, rural neighborhood somewhere in Japan - The twenty-third of June.

The sun hung high in the sky, the rays of sheer heat it radiated practically visible to the naked eye.

Outside of a normal house in that neighborhood, a brown sedan drove by on the street, a few people walked past on the sidewalk, and swallows flew by the window.

Cicadas rested, completely unmoving, on the bark of the trees, making the same incessant chirp over and over and over.

Inside the white walls, one could hear the rumbling of an air conditioner running at full blast, and the low shaking of a washing machine going through its cycle.

"The temperature is currently 23 degrees, and the time has just switched to 9:32 in the morning. There isn't a cloud in sight and it is expected to…" Down the hall in front of the foyer, the living room television played the news; though nobody was actually watching it.

On the second floor, inside of the first door on the left past the stairs, a man laid on top of his bed. He had tossed his sheets into the floor in his sleep that night, and now just sat in his t-shirt and boxers on the bare bed.

Though he was asleep, his forehead was drenched in sweat. There was also someone lying next to him - the curled up figure of a small girl with silver hair whose head rested on his left bicep like a pillow. Her face was buried into his side and her arm draped across his chest.

The cicadas outside were persistent as always, and with so many the noise never ceased. They get louder and louder, their noise beginning to filter into the house more than before. It only took a short while for their song to wake up the man up.

"Ugh…" His eyes slowly opened, and he let out a long, quiet yawn. Afterwards, he only stared at the ceiling with a very annoyed expression for a while. Sweat still rolled down his face from his forehead. "It's too. Damn. Hot."

He looked to his side, the same look plastered on his face, and looked down at the small girl resting on his arm. With a short sigh, he smiled and gently removed his arm from under head, and got off of the bed very slowly and quietly.

"I guess I should start getting ready. Man…"

What a pain.

June the twenty-third. Exactly two weeks before the official start of Tanabata, so yesterday when Haruhi said:

"Listen up, guys! Tomorrow, we're going out to get supplies for an upcoming Brigade-sponsored event and party hosted by Ms. Tsuruya! I won't tell you what it's for, so don't try to pry, got it?"

I pretty much already knew what she was planning.

The thought of it made me want to just not go out that day at all. It's not that I didn't want to have a party just because it was Tanabata; I actually enjoy parties, believe it or not.

It's just that I really didn't like being the 'Brigade Lackey' on my precious days off. And I just knew it was going to end up with me carrying way too much stuff from the shopping center and all the way up to the school, only getting a five minute break for the train ride.

In fact, maybe I should just call Haruhi and tell her I can't make it! Yeah, stick up for myself for once. Screw giving into the demands of that crazy broad day in and day out, time and time again - is what I thought to myself as I started to brush my teeth so I could get ready to leave.

Giving in to the demands of Haruhi was something I couldn't avoid doing. After all, disobeying her would be like asking the universe to explode - something Haruhi could accomplish just by thinking about it.

Actually, thinking would be too much, she just has to be bored and the world will explode.

After brushing my teeth, I decided to hop in the shower since I was drenched in sweat from last night. 22 degrees in the dead of night, what kind of crap is this?

I thought maybe I should wake up the girl in my bed first, so we could take one together. But since she was in my bed already, I don't have to explain what I did last night. And despite what some of you may think, the teenage libido isn't non-stop.

Besides, it's way too hard to wake that ball of cuteness up. 'Ball of cuteness', God what is wrong with me?

It was about 9:54 by the time I got out of the shower, and my phone started buzzing as I was drying myself off. As I walked to pick it up and check the message, I questioned why I did so, because I knew that it was going to say:

"Two hours, the usual spot, punishment for those who arrive late."

'Does she have that sentence saved as a quick text or something?' I let out a self-loathing groan and tapped reply to let her know that I had gotten the message before I finished drying off and got dressed. Since I only had a short time, I figured I'd get it over with.

I walked back down the hall to my room and stopped at the doorway. From there, I looked over at my bed, watching what laid there so peacefully with a smile. So damn cute.

Reluctant as one person could possibly be, I walked over to her and gently shook her shoulder. She responded by opening one eye and rubbing at it with her finger. It must have taken her a bit to realize what was happening because she didn't say anything at first.

"Morning, Yuki." She lifted her head and smiled one of the most adorable smiles I had ever seen in my life. Such was Yuki in the morning.

"Good morning, Kyon."

"Alright, we're off," I said to nobody in particular. My little sister was gone for the next few days because of a school field trip where they'd be spending the night, so Yuki and I were the only two in the house.

It was the dead of summer, and so it was hot out - obviously. Since it was a day off, we were dressed semi-casually.

A pair of sand-colored shorts and a green t-shirt for me, a light blue tank top and a pair of short shorts for Yuki. Though, come to think of it, her clothe choices have been getting more and more… un-Yuki-like?

Going back about eight months ago, I can vividly remember several occasions when Yuki wore something other than her uniform, but it was never anything as girly as what she'd been wearing recently.

So, yeah, un-Yuki-like is the best word I have. Sue me.

I waved my arm to signal her to leave first, and then walked out behind her. After checking to make sure I had my keys, phone, and wallet, I shut and locked the door behind me.

According to several other texts I had gotten from the others, we were going to the shopping district again - the same place we robbed the poor man at the electronics store twice, and where I already knew we were going to end up going - but also that Haruhi had some things planned for before that.

Of course, not knowing what those things were made me shiver with bad expectations. Whenever Haruhi is planning something that isn't completely obvious, it rarely turns out to not be a huge pain.

You know how they say that wearing light clothes and no dark colors will actually help to keep you cooler in the summer? Well, I'm pretty sure they, whoever they are, lied.

"Jesus, it's hot out. I'm just about boiled." I tugged at the collar of my shirt with one hand and wiped the sweat from my forehead with the other one. "How are you doin', Yuki? Not too hot, are you?" A few seconds passed before I realized she wasn't answering. "Yuki?"

Looking to my side, I saw the small girl next to me completely absorbed into the book she read; so much that she didn't notice anything about the world around her.

'Wonder what she's reading.' As I peeked around at the cover of her book, I frowned. 'Oh, man… Is she seriously reading that thing in public?' It was the latest in a series of erotic novels she had gotten into recently - ya know, the kind of stuff you don't read in public.

She was so absorbed in her book, in fact, that I had to stop her from walking through streets at traffic lights, make sure she turned corners, and stop her from walking into other people; all on more than one occasion.

'I'm sorry, author. But could we stop this right here? We're starting to steal plot development. And I'm not about to let you turn this into a crossover; nor do I have any intention of calling my girlfriend "Senpai".'

...

... (Throat Clearing) Sorry.

...

After the usual solid thirty minutes of walking, we rounded the corner that led into the usual traffic circle. And in the middle of the usual bus stop, I quickly spotted three familiar faces.

"Kyon."

"I know, I know." As we got closer to the bus stop, I took Yuki's hand in mine and tried my best to hide my embarrassment at this situation. 'Damn you, 'God'.'

"Hey, you guys!" And thus we were greeted by 'God' herself on that extremely hot Tuesday afternoon. "Bout time you showed up, Kyon!"

'Right, right. I'm late and Yuki isn't - I got it. But can you get your boyfriend to pay for your lunch instead of me? I'm not sure how much longer my wallet can take this abuse.'

"It's good to see you two." The ever-smiling Esper waved to us, looking the same way he always did. "And may I say? You two are really starting to look like a real couple." Knowing that he was just mocking me, I couldn't help but smile.

"I could say the same to you, there, Koizumi." Just like me, he too held the hand of his significant other. "You two are cute together."

"S-Shut up…" Her face turned beet red and she looked away, obviously annoyed, yet Haruhi never let go of Koizumi's hand.

It was pretty rare, actually, seeing Haruhi act embarrassed. Even after 'hooking up with that creep, Koizumi', as Taniguchi said it, she never really changed. She was still an excitable, eccentric, nutcase. Though, I probably shouldn't mention that to Koizumi.

"Relax. I'm just teasing you guys."

"Hello, Kyon. Ms. Nagato." Ms. Asahina stood near one of the benches and greeted us with a bow. "It's good to see you're doing well."

"Hello, Ms. Asahina. Same to you." As Yuki was still absorbed in her book, I decided to not wait for her to greet everyone - not that she really would have anyway - and asked a question whose answer I dreaded. "So. What are these 'other activities' you have planned, Haruhi?"

"Heh." As the face of 'God' grew a large smile, I couldn't help but feel a pain in my back. "It's extra special, Kyon, so you'd better be grateful! We're going…" And that was when she pulled them out.

'Wait, is that…!?'

"JET SKIING!"

Five tickets for free, all day, Jet Ski rentals.

What a pain...

To Be Continued...