Author's Notes: Sometimes I wonder if my writing's not descriptive enough and whether it needs more suspense and stuff. For some reason, everything sounded better in my head. Hmm.

Disclaimer: (Frankly, I'm getting tired of these things) I don't own anything pertaining to the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise. I'm not entirely sure who does, but I'm sure their name can be found somewhere on the internet.

He arrived to find the room nearly empty. To his surprise, the girl who lived in his apartment complex was sitting in a corner by the window, reading, while someone else was sitting on the long table, doing homework.

The latter looked up at him as he entered, and smiled. "Hello. I'm Itsuki Koizumi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Hyosuke took his outstretched hand. Ah, so this is the guy Kyon was talking about.

"So, I hear you're a transfer student?"

Hyo grunted, wondering why Itsuki looked so damn cheerful.

"Would you care to join me in a game of Othello?"

Hyo was just winning the game when the door opened and Haruhi burst in, dragging an orange-haired girl who looked vastly intimidated.

"And the meeting may- hey, where's Kyon?"

Itsuki shrugged, still smiling.

Haruhi's smile was quickly replaced with a frown. "Why is he always late?"

No one pointed out that she was early, and as the new guy, Hyosuke decided that he'd do better to just sit there quietly.

"Anyway, I'd like to introduce Hyosuke!" she exclaimed.

Hyo nodded.

"And I see you've already met Itsuki! Great! It only makes sense that transfer students get along well! And in the corner, that's Yuki. And this, this is Mikuru!" she finished dramatically, practically flinging the poor girl into the room. Satisfied with the perplexed look on Hyo's face, she said, "Okay, now the Brigade leader has to go find Kyon, that deserter. I'll be right back!" And with those parting words, she ran off.

Itsuki smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that. Ms. Suzumiya tends to overdo things a bit."

"I see…"

&&&

"So… Yuki, is it?" he asked as they walked towards the apartment after the chaotic but surprisingly uneventful meeting.

"Yes," was her one word reply.

They walked silently down the hill for a few more minutes, before Hyo asked, "What're you reading?"

She just raised the book so that he could see and read the cover. He wasn't familiar with it, or the author.

"Ah."

He had nothing else to say after that, so he just smiled to himself. He said bye when they reached the complex, and went to his door. He unlocked it and went inside.

"I'm home."

"Ah, yes. How was your day? Why are you home late?"

Hyo shrugged. "It was okay. Not too bad. And I left you a message, didn't I?"

His uncle smiled warmly. "Fair enough. It's nice to know that you're getting involved in extracurricular activities. Tell me, what exactly were you doing?"

"Eh, it was some completely insane club that didn't seem to have a point. Called themselves the 'SOS Brigade' or something."

His uncle froze momentarily, then relaxed again. His smile, however, was artificial this time. "I see."

Hyo frowned. "Is something the matter?"

"No, not really. Who was in charge of this Brigade?"

"Eh, some freak named Suzumiya."

"Hmm." His uncle looked pensive.

Hyo narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Alright, what are you not telling me?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I'm glad you had a good day."

Frowning at his uncle's behavior, he retreated to his room to read.

&&&

When he got up for school the next day, he heard his uncle talking to someone over the phone in an urgent hurried voice. Hyo frowned. "Something wrong?"

His uncle jumped at his voice, quickly muttered something to whoever was on the other end of the phone, and hung up. "Ah, Hyosuke. Good morning."

Hyo sat down and helped himself to a slice of bread. "'Sup? Who were you talking to?"

"Just a friend," he said a bit too hastily, dismissing the question. "Anyway, are you going to be meeting up with the SOS Brigade today?"

"Yeah, I think so…" he started, taking a bite out of his breakfast. "What're you getting at?"

"Nothing. Just curious. But, uh, you know, I'd like to meet these new friends of yours. Why don't you invite them over?"

Hyosuke choked on his water. "Invite them over? But I barely know them! And they're not my friends," he finished with a glare.

"Yes, of course… when'll you be home?"

"I don't know... Haruhi said something about searching the town for aliens and stuff."

"I see."

As soon as Hyo was done with his breakfast and he started to leave, Kazunari Saito picked up the phone again.

Hyo left, frowning. His uncle sure was acting weird lately. He came across Yuki Nagato again on the elevator.

"Hey there."

She acknowledged his presence with a nod.

"So, uh, are you going to be in the clubroom after school?"

Another affirmative nod.

"Alright then."

&&&

The day flew by uneventfully, and Hyo soon found himself sitting in the room playing Othello with Kyon.

The door burst open again, but this time, the transfer student was expecting it. As soon as she came in, she made everyone leave, babbling about how important it was to not waste time.

So before he could fully grasp what was going on, he found himself stuck in the café where they had agreed to meet in an hour with Yuki. Itsuki and Kyon and walked off one way, and Haruhi had left grinning with a traumatized Mikuru.

"So. What exactly are we supposed to do?"

Yuki repeated Haruhi's exact orders, word for word.

"Okay then…" Sighing, he sat down and pulled out a book. Interpreting Nagato's blinks as confusion, he smiled and explained, "I doubt we'll find anything anyway, so why not just stay here? I mean, at least we won't be late."

Accepting his explanation, Yuki sat down facing him with her own book. As he finished his chapter, he looked up and suddenly realized how frequently Yuki turned her pages. "Er…"

He sat there watching her for a while, counting the seconds it took for her to finish the two open pages. 1… 2… 3… 4… 5… 6… 7… 8… and she turns the page. Wow. Leaning a bit closer, he realized that the font was tiny. And I thought I was a fast reader, he thought, amazed. Not wanting to disturb her – he knew just how annoying it was to be disturbed during a good book, and Yuki seemed interested – he looked back down at his own story. About a half hour later, Yuki closed the thick book she was holding and set it down on the table.

"Done?" he asked, half amused and half amazed.

She nodded.

"Hmm." He fell silent after that. Itsuki and Kyon walked in on them at that moment.

Koizumi greeted Hyosuke with a smile and a polite wave, then turned to Yuki. "I need to talk to you," he said urgently.

She got up and went to the corner of the café with him, where he started to say something. Hyo couldn't really see from the distance, but he looked troubled by something. Kyon sat down.

"Did you guys even leave?"

Hyo grinned. "How'd you know?"

Kyon answered, "Because I did that once, hanging back and just waiting for Harahi to come back. It's more sensible than running around the town without a goal. I mean, she's not even completely sure what we're supposed to be looking for."

Hyosuke chuckled.

As if on cue, Haruhi stormed in, Mikuru shuffling behind her. Hyosuke wasn't sure, but it looked like she had been crying.

Kyon seemed to notice too, but didn't say anything. "Did you find anything?"

Haruhi shook her head angrily.

In the corner of the café, Yuki listened carefully to Itsuki's words without comment.

"I swear we were being followed! I just don't know why anyone would stalk us. I mean, we look just like ordinary high school kids hanging out after school."

Nagato nodded. "He is nearby."

"Who?"

"The one who has followed you here. He is standing outside the building."

Itsuki quickly stole a glance out the window. "Oh, that's him all right… what's he-?" he broke off, shocked. Their stalker had just taken a long object out of its case…

"Haruhi!"

Kyon looked up, saw, and instinctively tackled Suzumiya to the floor.

"Kyon! What-"

A gunshot was heard and the window shattered. The pieces of glass flew. Itsuki saw the hit man quickly flee the scene.

Crushed under Kyon, who was still too scared to get up, Haruhi lay shocked. What just happened? The other occupants of the café were equally shocked, but the bullet was undoubtedly meant for her. After a long minute during which everyone was busy trying to collect their wits and the owner of the café called the police, she finally said, "Kyon? You can get off now."

He blinked, then blushed. "Oh. Right," he said, hurriedly getting up on his feet.

Hyosuke was staring intently at them. "What was that? Why was he trying to shoot you? Do you know the guy?"

Suzumiya swallowed hard. "I really don't know…" Despite herself, her voice came out weak and she trembled.

They heard a whimper, coming from Mikuru, who had somehow managed to scurry under the table. Blushing red, she got up.

"Right. The police should be here soon. We should just stay put," Itsuki offered, trying to take control of the situation.

No one had anything to say to that. They weren't planning on leaving anyway.

The police came quickly. After exchanging a few words with the proprietor of the café, they interrogated the SOS Brigade.

"Firstly, can anyone identify the suspect?"

They shook their heads, and Yuki started scribbling something on a piece of paper torn out of a copybook.

"Any possible motive for assassination?"

Kyon immediately thought of Asakura, then dismissed the thought. She didn't try to kill Haruhi; she was trying to do away with him. Still, the memory of her made him shiver.

"Hmm. Well I need all your names and other contact information," the officer said. "We will call your homes if we ever need anything. And you can call me anytime. You all know the police station's number? Good. Ask for Yamato, got it? And-what's this?"

Yuki thrust the paper into the officer's face. "This is the suspect's appearance at the time of the incident," she said quietly.

Itsuki glanced at the detailed sketch and nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's him all right."

"Hmm." Officer Yamato looked it over. "Yes, I believe this might be valuable. Thank you. After you give us your contact information, you may all go home. Except you," he said, looking at Haruhi. "We have some questions for you."

Author's Notes: Microsoft Word is stupid sometimes. Apparently 'manga' isn't a word, but Yuki is. …lol, guess our favorite Humanoid Interface is just special. :P I'm so bored. No, I actually have a lot of stuff to do. I'm just lazy.