Don't own the series, just the small additions I'm making.

The first chapters a little rough, but I hope you like it. No Haruhi yet, but there will be, I promise. I'm just establishing the plot, so bear with me.

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The SOS-dan had managed to survive ten whole months of Haruhi's reign, and it's anyone's guess as to how. By now, Nagato had become an indispensable accessory to the club room and, except for her trips to the Computer Research Society and the occasional Haruhi-induced misadventure, this remained a constant. Asahina-san was being abused, as always. Such a pity that this was her fate… Much as I would hate to acknowledge Haruhi as a god, she was certainly a strict dictator. Yet again, Koizumi Itsuki remained nonchalant and indifferent to the whole ordeal. After all, he was Haruhi's right-hand man, and was required to go along with every crazy scheme she had. Whether or not this had to do with his esper-hood, I did not know. Nevertheless, it proved an annoyance that he did nothing but was given such freedom, while I did everything only to be rewarded with more work.

It had been two months since that day in the rain, yet hardly anything has changed. Same old cruel dictator, same old indifferent members, same old wild-goose-chase, same old nonsensical lifestyle. Same-old, same-old had been the theme of the past two months. This is why it came as a surprise when Haruhi did not show up at school today. It was a relief to be out of Haruhi's grasp once more. Such brief respites were rare, and so, I did my best to cherish and lengthen them. Sadly, even when not in her presence, my feet had led me yet again to the cursed clubroom door. I'd contemplated once before how manipulative the force of habit was. Even so, this element of human nature was becoming my newest pet peeve.

Luckily, the time spent at SOS-dan HQ was uneventful and relaxing. My sweet Asahina-chan served me her wonderful herbal tea, Itsuki challenged me to a game of chess, and faired poorly, while Nagato read one of her books. I think she'd chosen a Tolkein book.. the Silmarillion, was it? I don't remember. Surely, there must have been a God other than Suzumiya Haruhi, for what other gracious and merciful entity would grant me such sympathy? But I digress. By the end of the day, I knew something must have been wrong. There could be no other explanation for such an uneventful evening.

You know that feeling of inevitable impending doom that you get when you know something was wrong? It became a part of me after meeting Suzumiya. Which is why I was so surprised to feel it again when nearing my locker. Curious, I turned the lock's dial accordingly, and opened the rusty metal container. A note lay inside among my possessions. Instantly, Asakura Ryoko came to mind, and I found myself reluctant to touch to piece of parchment. Still, it wouldn't hurt to glance at it… reading never killed anyone.

Hastily, I picked up the neatly cut paper. It read:

"Meet me at the park at 7:30 tonight,

-Nagato Yuki"

Again, I felt relief wash over me. But that was strange… Yuki-san had never been this forward before. My comfort wavered, which surprised me, for I'd forgotten I'd had any comfort left at all. In any case, I wasn't doing anything important tonight, so I had no excuse to stay home. Besides, after such a long period of normality, I'd almost been expecting this.

So I went.

The night air was cool, but warm. A thin layer of light played across the rough bark of trees, illuminating the clusters of thin leaves upon them. Blossoms were beginning to bloom, signifying the coming of spring. It felt calm, almost heavenly. I stopped pedaling upon reaching the same park bench on which I'd first met Nagato that fateful night. There she was again, book in hand, scanning each page with a glance, then moving on to the next. I hopped off my bike and set it down on the floor. The rattle of the metal caught her attention.

Perhaps it was the lack of light, but she really did look cute without her glasses.

I checked my watch; 7:23.

"You're early."

"Yeah. Did you wait long, Nagato-san?"

She shook her head.

"What did you want to talk about?"

She gazed at me for a moment. I wonder... what does she think about when she looks at me?

Yuki closed the large, bulky, paperback book, and stood up. "Come with me." I did as told, but remembered to grab my bike before continuing on. We walked for ten minutes, out of the park, down empty streets, to a residential area I wasn't familiar with. "Where are we going?"

"To meet another Living Human Interface."

Say what?

"…"

Why would we need to do something like that? Is this about Haruhi?

"No. This is not directly related to Suzumiya Haruhi."

That's a first. For the past year, it seemed almost everything Nagato Yuki did had been centered around observing and appeasing Suzumiya Haruhi. I perked my head up in interest, waiting for her to continue.

"However, this concerns a being similar to Suzumiya Haruhi."

What! More of them? Why is the world so cruel? Perhaps Haruhi was so full of herself that she felt the need to make clones. Yare Yare... this really is getting old.. "So… who is this... 'being' …that's similar to Suzumiya-san?"

We came to a stop in front of an apartment complex. I attached my bike's chain to a nearby bike rack and let Yuki lead me through the building's entrance on to an elevator. Briefly glancing at me, she pressed a button that led to the top floor. The air-conditioned lift was giving me goosebumps. "He is a human, much like yourself. The Integrated Data Entity has known of his existence since its arrival on earth four years ago."

Four years ago… formerly three years ago…why does that keep popping up everywhere?

"He was observed to be a potential auto-evolution possibility, but had not shown signs of auto-evolution at the level Suzumiya Haruhi has. Because of this, he has been left disregarded and under minor surveillance. Few changes have occurred since then." She paused, perhaps to let me process it all. "However, recent reports have led the Integrated Data Entity to reconsider their decision. Kimidori Emiri, or 'Emily,' as her name would be pronounced in America, has been in charge of observing him. She is one of my subordinates."

Hah. What was more surprising, Nagato's flawless English accent, or the proof the Kimidori Emiri was an associate of Yuki? Probably the accent…

The elevator came to a smooth halt, and its polished metallic doors pulled apart to give passage to... well, to be honest, I really don't know. Yuki led me to a stairway, and after climbing up some more, we arrived at…the roof? Before I could question the alien girl any further, she continued on to the corner of the building where, conveniently enough, Kimidori was waiting for her.

The lime haired girl bowed and greeted us. I returned the greeting, while Nagato only nodded. She pointed over the side of the building to a basketball court about half a block away. On the east side of the court was a guy, practicing his dunks. Every now and then, he would follow up with a layout or a free throw. I watched him for a few minutes…

…and came to the conclusion that something wasn't right here.

"What's so special about him?"

When an answer did not come from Yuki, Kimidori answered in her place. "He is an autoevolution being, an entity capable of manipulating the data of this program, as well as the operating system behind the program."

"So, what? He can defy the laws of physics?"

"He can define the laws of physics."

Well, that's bad. Actually, he does sound a lot like Haruhi, now that I think about it… that could be a problem. Before I could express my concerns, Kimidori-san continued on with her explanation.

"Fortunately, his abilities are nowhere near those of Suzumiya Haruhi. At best, he can currently manipulate in-program data within or under 145,000 entries of code, of which must be composed within or under 232 strings of code."

Er...okay... it was the usual science-talk. Which meant that, as usual, it was beyond my comprehension, which was probably for the best… "And this means?"

"His manipulative abilities are extremely limited. For the sake of simplicity, if his abilities were to be measured in terms of kinetic force, he would be unable to successfully move an object with a weight of 600 kilograms more than a distance of five centimeters. Likewise, his ranges of abilities are also limited. For instance, while he can alter its shape, velocity, mass, volume, density, and other forms of non-base data, he can not recode the raw data of entities to, for example, change a Hydrogen atom into an Iron atom, or a Proton into a Neutron. Nor would he be able to alter the properties of an entity, such as its radioactivity, flexibility, flammability, chemical properties, ma—"

"Okay! I get it, I get it!" Not really. But as long as it shuts her up… I'm not complaining. "So, that's good. Right?" Nagato responded this time. I nearly forgot she was here.

"It would appear that way. However, we have discovered three things that have been reasons of concern among the Integrated Data Entity. First, he was not always able to use these abilities. Research has led to the discovery that his autoevolution abilities first became active five and a half years ago."

Well, at least it's a break from three years ago.

"Even then, he could only manipulate ten characters in only one line at a time. As you can see, his abilities have been growing since then. Which leads us to the next reason for concern. His ability have grown, and are continuing to grow, at an alarming rate, no less. Each week, he can successfully use another 16250 characters worth of data, though we have yet to see any grow in his string limit. What's more, his growth rate also seems to accelerate each month. The Integrated Data Entity is still unsure of how or why this process occurs."

Yeah, that definitely sounds bad.

"Once again, we've been fortunate enough to have this occurrence within a being with a stable mind, far more stable than Suzumiya Haruhi. If his behavior patters remain as is, we most-likely have nothing to fear."

Well, that's good. I guess that's what Yuki meant when she said he was like me. Well, she was partially right, I guess.

"However… we also have reason to believe these patterns will change, and this all rests on our final, and most important reason, the sole factor that sets him apart from Suzumiya Haruhi."

Other than the fact that he might be sane? "So, what is it?"

Nagato paused. It didn't look like she was thinking over what to say. I thought I noticed her eyes move down and back for a moment. Was she.. no way… could she possibly be nervous?

"Well, Nagato-san? What is it? What makes this guy so special?"

"…."

"He is becoming self-aware."

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SOS-dan: SOS Brigade

Yare Yare, pronounced Ya-reh Ya-reh, is the equivalent of saying 'oh brother…'