"So it has come to this…huh Kyon?"
I looked at Haruhi from across the school roof, gun in hand. As she spoke, there was no wind blowing her voluminous hair, or any usual sounds that would fill the summer night. All except for the occasional commotion of nearby Celestials thrashing about. It's hard to imagine being in standoff with Haruhi at gun point. Heck, even I'm not sure how I got myself into this situation. One thing is for sure though; I have to pull this trigger, no matter what.
It all started with a typical Monday morning at school. For once, Haruhi arrived in a cheerful mood that seemed to light up the entire classroom. It put me at ease because that meant there would be less of a mess for me to clean up. But even her smile spelled trouble. That also implied obnoxious plans and errands for the SOS Brigade, but we all knew it was just Haruhi using the club as an excuse for her boredom.
Before the morning bell rang we chatted about pointless things pertaining to her club that didn't really stick in my head once class started. Homeroom then began and flowed right into the next period like there was no class at all. It felt a bit off at first, but I was happy that things moved along so quickly. I was even more surprised when it came time to take our history test and Haruhi didn't fall asleep after finishing hers. Instead she simply stared out the window with eyes that said, "I can't wait to get out of here!" There was a glimmer of excitement hidden deep in her brown irises.
I was going to ask her what got her in such a merry mood, but she darted out of the room the instant the lunch bell rang. Typical Haruhi, I thought with a sigh. Knowing she wouldn't be back any time soon, I proceeded to eat lunch with Kunikida and Taniguchi. The two had nothing better to do than complain and gossip about stupid things that were going around the school at the time. Instead of putting my foot in my mouth and responding to their foolish comment, I just filled it with food instead.
Oddly enough I finished with a good 10 minutes to spare before the next class started. Haruhi's mood still perplexed me and gave me a strange vibe, so I thought it would be best to consult someone else about the matter. So I bid my friends goodbye and headed over to the clubroom in hopes to find Yuki there. Maybe she knew what was up with Haruhi's mood? Something like this was too good to be true and my paranoia was starting to settle in.
It was pretty quiet on the way over to the old building where the club room was located. The haze of the summer heat rolling in made the shabby hallway connected the buildings stifling causing him to unbutton his short some. Windows lined the hall and the light coming from the midday sun was almost blinding. The courtyard near the front of the school was in full view and a few students decided to take seats on benches while they ate, but something else caught my attention. The blurred motion of what seemed like some student making a break for the front gate stopped me in my tracks. Pausing my journey, I leaned near the window to get a better look. It was no surprise that the student in question was Haruhi Suzumiya. The flash of her headband almost gave a heart attack! What in the world was she doing leaving school in the middle of the day?!
I pressed my hands against the window that looked over the courtyard to get a better view, and saw someone was waiting near the gate. Haruhi merrily sprinted in the direction with the biggest smile on her face for reasons I couldn't understand. The space between her and the stranger were mere meters, and that's when the unknown visitor stepped into view. My heart sank all the way to floor when a uniform skirt of charcoal black, and long flowing brown hair flared up when the gentle afternoon winds stirred up the air. Haruhi too slowed down to a stop once she saw who she was faced with. Her once euphoric expression was now clouded with confusion and wonder when the sun lit up a trademark golden headband that was on some else's head.
It was Haruhi Suzumiya in a Kouyouen Academy uniform. But how was that even possible? That Haruhi should have been erased when he Yuki returned to normal back in December. My heart raced and all I could think of was to run. I knew I couldn't let those two speak, or meet for that matter. Who knows what kind of time paradox that could cause? Everything went past me like a blur, bumping into students as I zig-zagged down the hallways. I think a teacher or two yelled out to me, but I disregarded their demands and pushed forward. Everything in my body hurt as I raced through the front doors of the school.
"Haruhi don't listen to her," Was all I could think of to say as my lungs began to give out from my sudden sprint. Apparently my plea was carried away by the wind, because Haruhi took another step closer to her other self. It looked like they were already engaged in conversation. One in which the other Haruhi was yelling frantically at the real Haruhi.
"Please, I've always wanted to experience weird and fun things, and you have the power to do that! I know together we can remake the world into something more fun and exciting. You're a god Haruhi, everything bends to your will without you knowing! Just come with me and-" The other Haruhi's face was red from all the shouting and was now gripping the real Haruhi's shoulders.
Haruhi's voice trembled as she tried to reply to her other self, "B-But I don't get it! If the world bent to my will than it would be crawling with creatures and people with weird powers. That's what I've been wanting since middle school, but I've never come across any of that!"
"That's because they've been hiding it all from you!" the other Haruhi replied with an edge to her voice. "They know of your powers and want to keep you in check because they're scared of losing this world that they've become so fond of. To create means to destroy, but that doesn't mean we can't include some old things from this world when we do. There's nothing to be afraid of, so let's just start over! You still desire to meet aliens, time travelers, and espers don't you?"
"I do, I've always wanted something cool like that to happen, but not at the expense of the entire world! And who do you mean by they? How do I know what anything you say is true?" Haruhi retaliated, pushing her other self back.
I finally made it to them, my breath coming out in short wheezes. "Haruhi we need to get to class. We'll be late you know?" It was best excuse I could come up with to get her out of here.
"Huh, class? I don't have time for that, look at what's in front of me!" she snapped, turning herself away from her other. "I just met some sort of clone, or parallel version of myself. Class can wait!"
But how did she know to meet her here? Where did she come from?
"She left a note in my locker to meet here at lunch. How she got here is a mystery, but I can't deny that she looks exactly like me Kyon.
"Hey!" The other Haruhi shouted, "Now's not the time to worry about John Smith! I'm not done talking with you."
That's when my blood finally ran cold. My Haruhi was never supposed to hear that name from anyone, but herself. I tried to divert the conversation again but I was beaten to the punch.
"What did you say?" Haruhi sounded so lost and startled.
"John Smith," The other repeated. "He helped me draw some hieroglyphs on the school grounds at my old middle school." She tossed a glare at me and yelled, "Seriously John, stay out of this! You had your chance to set things straight."
"Middle school? Kyon, don't tell me you're the one who…" Haruhi's voice started to fade and her eye narrowed to show a type of hurt that I didn't know anyone could inflict on her. "Why didn't you tell me? How did you even…Wait that day at the cafe. When you told me about Yuki, and the others, you weren't kidding?"
She was starting to piece things together, and I didn't need Koizumi to tell me her emotions were skyrocketing.
"Do you get what I mean now?" The other Haruhi was sounding desperate. "All these crazy things that you thought were only fiction, are real! You can recreate this world and make it so that no one will hide anything from you. We can finally be free from the restrictions of our worlds if we can access your powers.
I wanted to say so many things to Haruhi as I watched her face contort into a million emotions at once. The bell for class began to ring as the other Haruhi kept spewing selfish requests. The noises seemed to intensify, and I felt a wave of nausea creep up on me. Just what was going on?
The other Haruhi reached out and surprisingly grabbed Haruhi's hand and lowered her voice. "Let's go to a new world Haruhi, one where John Smith and all your friends are open with you from the start. We can do anything now. You are God after all!"
It was a miracle that I heard any of that because as soon as the final remark left her lips, the entire world seemed to stop. The nausea now hit me full force as an invisible wall stuck me hard. Everything went black before I even hit the ground.
I awoke who knows how long after that episode to something I wasn't prepared for. I found myself starting up at a blank sky devoid of color, movement, even sounds. I sat up while having a mini panic attack because I knew exactly where I was; Closed Space. Suddenly a crash to my right made me jump out of my skin. It was Celestial not too far off in the distance wrecking a building in one mighty swoop. I swallowed hard and felt my entire body shiver when I saw the scene beyond that single blue monster. In the background of the closest Celestial were probably a dozen more. Hell, as far as I could tell, the entire horizon was a tint of blue. If there were that many running around, there was no telling how much time I had left before this world collapsed.
Pushing myself off the ground, my hand nicked something that had been lying next to me. It was a handgun of some sort. Sort of like the model dual pistols we used for our movie, but when I picked it up there was some weight to it that made me uneasy. I opened the barrel to find a single bullet wedged into case. Christ Haruhi, just what are you thinking? I didn't even want to ponder what she wanted me to do with it. I simply placed the thing in my jacket and tried to figure out where she had headed.
I frantically looked in all directions to see if there was a lead of some sort. Then I glimmer of something high in the sky caught my attention. A small area in the clouds above the main school building was faint glow of golden yellow. This was my only clue as to where Haruhi was, and I made a break for the building the moment the thought registered.
Even though I had just run across the school not too long ago, the winded feeling didn't come to me as quickly as I expected. In fact, my body only started to slow down once I hit the stairway to the roof. I couldn't take a moment to catch my breath, so I forced myself to go beyond all my limits until I reached the rooftop door. I threw it open with a loud thud as it hit the outside wall from the force.
The silhouette of a familiar classmate faced away from me across the rooftop. She was looking up at the sky where the spiral of gold and colors I didn't even know the names of were converging.
"Haruhi…" I murmured to myself. Somehow my faint call of her name must have caught her attention because she turned around. Her face was solemn at first but as her body fully faced me, she gave me a weak smile.
"I knew you would come." Her words overflowed with melancholy to the point where I thought I would drown. "Do you like the light show I've created? I'm not sure how I'm doing it but it's very pretty, don't you think?"
I nodded slightly to her question, but I couldn't form words at the moment. A few loud noises went off that were much closer than when I was down in the courtyard. This meant the Celestials were getting closer.
Haruhi's head turned in the direction of the noise and frowned, "Like most gods, we can create, but also destroy. I can't stop whats going on over there even when I focus all my thoughts of commanding them to stop. It's because deep within my heart I know I want to see new worlds. But it's not fair to everyone in this world just to wrap them up and toss them aside because I'm bored. That's why I've chosen you Kyon, I want you to put an end to this. To me."
My mouth dropped, breathing ceased, and the gun in my pocket was heavier than ever. How could she just casual ask me to kill her like this? This was insane beyond anything I've been forced to do before. Even being stabbed by Ryoko again would be better than this scenario.
"Kyon look at me, look at the world right now! Nothing is going to change unless you do something! I'm begging you to do this for me because I trust you." Her words were cracking, and she was too far away tell if she was crying.
Suddenly my hand began to move on its own and it reached into my coat pocket. No. No, this can't be happening! Is Haruhi actually wishing to be killed more than the recreation of the world? As much as I resisted, my thumb cocked the gun against my will. Sweat was dripping down my face, and my heart was racing so fast that I thought I might drop dead right there instead. Haruhi walked towards me, closing the space between us to where I could see her face clearly. Her eyes were red, along with her cheeks and nose. Oh god, she was crying before. My heart ached to see her like this. She didn't deserve to be pushed in a scenario like this. Haruhi was supposed to attend high school while laughing with her friends, doing stupid things like city patrols, make movies, and maybe falling in love when she stops being so stubborn. It's not fair; I don't want to end her life, or anyone's for that matter!
"So it's come to this…huh Kyon?" Haruhi said with a trembling laugh as a single tear rolled down her cheek. I've aligned the pieces, now you have to choose. Let yourself be destroyed with the rest of this world, or save whatever is left. I don't deserve to make this choice myself, so please choose wisely."
The hold on my arm seems to have given way, which meant Haruhi was actually giving me the right to choose. There was no way in hell I was going to shoot Haruhi! I couldn't shoot her even if she made me! I would find a way to bend time as space to prevent it from happening. Was there no was out of this scenario? The building shook beneath my feet as a Celestial moved closer to the school, crushing the clubroom building. My time to choose was really narrowing, and I couldn't stand to choose between being selfish, and granting Haruhi's wish.
My hand trembled and my arm went limp as I felt my eyes start to burn from the tears swelling up. I never wanted to go back in time more than right now, but that wasn't possible. I looked Haruhi dead in the eye and saw her face grow concerned. She was really watching me carefully, trying to see what I would do. That's when it hit me. I'm the chosen one, and everything falls on me yet again. Without me none of this would have happened, and without me, the world would be safe.
I quickly brought the gun to my head in one swift movement, and saw Haruhi's eyes widen. "Kyon, no!" Before she could even think about stopping me, I pulled the trigger. My hearing went and there was a burst of white before everything faded.
Suddenly there was a searing headache pounding through my head as an alarm clocked sounded off close by. I opened up my eyes and took in my blurry surroundings to find out I was in my room. Fumbling for my alarm, I managed to drop it onto the ground only to cue my sister's entry.
"Wakey-wakey Kyon! It's monday, time for school!" She sang out and pick up my alarm to click it off. It wasn't long before she scooped up Shamisen and headed out to the living room.
Just what happened? I was with Haruhi on the roof and…Does that mean she brought back the old world to save me? I laid back down on my bed with a soft plop, trying to figure out how any of this made sense. Suddenly I found myself laughing out loud as I covered my face. I can't believe such a stupid stunt worked, that she actually wanted me around so bad that she would change the world for me. Haruhi had wanted to take me to the new world once, but again? There was no doubt I was 'the chosen one' or whatever Koizumi said.
Finally done with my giggle fit, I got ready for school with speeds I didn't know was possible for me this early, and set out for school. Haruhi would surely be waiting by the time he got there, and boy did he have something to tell her when her got there.