I guess now would be a good time to explain just how we ended up here. It started earlier this week when Haruhi burst into the clubroom with a cry of excitement which signaled some new scheme that would likely land the rest of us in some kind of crazy adventure. When I noticed that Tsuruya-san was with her, I knew my hunch was correct.

"We'll need flashlights, and rope, and helmets, and. . ." she said without even explaining.

"Hey, Haruhi." I interrupted. She stared at me for a moment, slowly coming back to reality. "What are. . ." but she didn't let me finish.

"Cancel any plans you have this weekend. We've got a mandatory club activity scheduled." It's a pretty useless announcement; the day I bother making plans for the weekend is the day I'm no longer in the SOS Brigade. Besides, I doubt Nagato, Asahina-san, or Koizumi are even allowed to do anything not Haruhi-related.

"So what are we doing?" Koizumi asks; somehow he even manages to grin when he talks. What an ass.

"It's Tsuruya's idea, so I'll let her tell it."

"Well, while some contractors were surveying our land, they found the opening to a cave on our property." As Tsuruya-san spoke her voice grew louder and more excited. "There's no record of it, and apparently it's never been explored. My family was going to hire some people to go down and map it, but I asked if we could do it instead!" After Tsuruya-san finished, a steady silence filled the room.

"You really expect us to go caving?" I said finally. Haruhi glanced at me just long enough so I would know she planned on ignoring my last comment.

"Just think of what we might find down there! There could be markings from aliens who visited Earth in the prehistoric days, or some kind buried treasure, or an ancient creature waiting to be awoken, or even a cursed urn containing an Oni that was sealed away by a priestess hundreds of years ago!" At the sound of Haruhi's imagination taking flight, I looked around the room at the others. If we weren't careful and Haruhi didn't calm down, we really would find all those things down there. "We'll be going some place no one's been in at least a hundred years. There could be anything down there!"

I took a moment to survey the room for reactions. Haruhi, needless to say, was so excited I'm surprised we were waiting until this weekend. Tsuruya-san, while not as bad as Haruhi, also looked more animated than normal, which says a lot. Nagato showed no emotion either way (no surprise there). And Asahina-san looked terrified all ready. Oh yeah, and as for Koizumi, I didn't even bother looking at him because he's such a jerk; I'm sure he was just smiling and going along with everything Haruhi said anyways.

It was up to me to try to talk some sense into her.

"That's exciting and all, but stop and think about this for a second Haruhi. Caves are dangerous and we have no idea what we're doing. Someone could fall and get hurt, or get stuck or. . . or. . . . Well, it's probably best if we leave it to the professionals."

Haruhi didn't even bother looking at me this time; she just slammed the palms of both hands down on the table, leaving a loud crack in the air that erased all the logic I had just spilled out into the room. "We'll meet at the coffee house at 9:00 am to eat and get supplies, and then we'll head over to Tsuruya's place. Anyone who's late will be forced to carry the supplies for the rest of us." Here she paused and glanced at me.

I wonder just how much weight I can carry before my back gives way?

"Everyone understand?" Haruhi's eyes moved around the room, waiting for questions or perhaps objections. She eventually stopped on me, ready to nonchalantly toss away any other arguments I might have against this trip, but I just shrugged.

You win, Haruhi. Let's go underground.