Chapter One
I was sitting in the clubroom, thinking for the thousandth time about why I even still go there every day. Well, usually I have at least one reason to do it, and a very important reason; that day, however, Asahina-san was excused from her duty as SOS Brigade's resident maid and tea-maker, at the Tsuruya's request. In addition, Koizumi was on a class duty, and the Computer Research Society borrowed Yuki again, so I was all alone. Ah, but what about our fearless leader, you ask? Well, I can tell you that was no mystery; she told me to go ahead, and wait in the clubroom as she needed to retrieve something.
Needless to say, that did nothing to improve my mood; that could only mean that Haruhi had another of her crazy ideas, and I know all too well that her ideas usually mean another world of pain and suffering for me. Oh, well, I could only hope that particular one would be on a school-destroying - as opposed to Universe-destroying - scale.
The door handle clicked. I deduced that must be Nagato, since Koizumi, for all his faults, would never open the door without knocking first (and for a good reason, I must add), and Haruhi, while not caring about anyone's privacy in the slightest, usually moves with such a vigor that her steps can be heard from the other side of the corridor.
My reasoning was proven wrong, however, as the door opened and the Brigade's Commander rode inside the room.
Yes, you read that right; I said "rode", for Haruhi was sitting on a rather peculiar device. It had a saddle just like a bicycle, and the pedals, but it still differed from a normal bicycle just as the problems in my sister's Math book differ from the one I have to solve. For starters, it lacked the chain going from the pedals to the wheel. Nor was there a handlebar, nor, for that matter, a second wheel to attach it to.
OK, I guess there is nothing really peculiar about a unicycle, you most probably saw it at least sometimes. Maybe you even can ride one; I can't, but it can't be that hard, since some schools even teach that at the PE. So, obviously, the fact that Haruhi of all people does have that skill should come as no surprise; actually, I'd probably be more surprised to learn that she, for some reason, can't. That, still, did nothing to answer the main question that was bothering me: WHY!?
"Why not", Haruhi replied, riding around the room and stopping besides her commander's chair, pushing the unicycle back and forth slightly to keep her balance, "I even checked the school rules, you know, and while it does forbid running in the halls-"
Yeah, like THAT has ever stopped you!
"-and using bikes inside, there is not a single word about unicycles."
Obviously, since people who wrote these rules never even had the idea of doing something like this. No one but you could.
I have to notice that Haruhi left the door to the clubroom wide open; apparently, even Koizumi took that as a permission to enter, since he didn't knock.
Well, I have to admit; the look of surprise on his face was a nice compensation for my own state of shock. He recovered fast, however, and in merely seconds our resident esper's face was bearing his trademark smug smile. "Ah, I see! Well, it is a wonderful idea, Suzumiya-san!"
What exactly wonderful is there about it? At that moment, I noticed he wasn't really looking at Haruhi herself, but rather at her arm, outstretched to the side for better balance. Come to think of it, something did look wrong, or, rather, unusual... Ah, right. Haruhi's armband. In place of her usual one, indicating her position as a "Brigade Chief", she was wearing a new red band of cloth. She often does this whenever she invents a new role for herself. I remember that time she was was wearing a "Great Detective" one, it took a miracle - literally - to get all of us out of that alive. And let me not even start about the "Super Director" one... If one tried to put all the mess we went through that time to the video, it would take no less than five episodes.
But I digress. The armband Haruhi was currently wearing certainly was an ill omen as well, for my mental and physical health at least, for it was reading, in large, clear letters,-
THE RINGMASTER
