The S.O.S Brigade wasn't anything quite like Avery had expected. Firstly, she'd learnt that the name of the club stood for 'Spreading Excitement All Over The World With Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade', which didn't even sound like it was anything to do with aliens, time travellers or espers.
Secondly, there was Haruhi herself. Avery may not have been the most sociable of girls, but she still knew that Haruhi defied everything she'd ever known about people or even social conventions in general. It was a pretty easy assumption to make that there was nobody else quite like Haruhi Suzumiya.
And finally, the club didn't seem to really do anything. She'd half expected the group to be constantly researching into unusual phenomena, staging ghost hunts, trying to track down UFOs or even joining some crazy cult or religion... But it seemed that even Haruhi herself didn't quite know what to do with the S.O.S. Brigade.
Still, Avery stuck to her decision to join. If she left the S.O.S. Brigade now, then what other club would she join instead? So she turned up at the clubroom every afternoon after classes had finished without fail. Even though, so far, they hadn't done anything interesting or exciting like the club's website had suggested.
The boys would play Othello or some other board game, Yuki would sit in a corner and read, Mikuru would be forced into a ridiculous maid's outfit and have to serve them all tea, Haruhi would flit about doing whatever she liked, and Avery... Avery generally just sat and watched the others.
Despite spending quite a lot of time around these people, she still didn't feel comfortable instigating conversation or trying to suggest new activities to them. To be fair to the others, they always tried to keep her included. They almost went out of their way to do so. The boys encouraged her to play Othello several times, but she wasn't very good at it and kept losing spectacularly.
And honestly? She found it far more interesting to sit back and observe this unusual group of individuals. Excluding herself from social situations simply came naturally to her anyway.
"Try not to make the really obvious moves," Kyon told her.
Avery stopped in her tracks as she'd been reaching for one of the black and white pieces. Kyon had persuaded her to take his place in another game of Othello against Itsuki and was now trying to coach her. Apparently, the other members of the club seemed bothered by how she didn't participate much. Yet Yuki was always allowed to read by herself without being interrupted. Avery had a feeling that there was a double standard in here somewhere.
"Right," she said, feeling flustered as she went for a different piece.
"When you go for the easier moves, it makes it easier for your opponent to figure out what you're going to do next and plan a strategy against you," Itsuki added helpfully, his usual smile on his face.
"Right," Avery repeated, changing her mind again and trying to look for a different move that she could make. Logic really wasn't one of her strong points. She found thinking logically to be rather boring. And she really didn't intend to be playing this game much in the future anyway.
Plus the lesson clearly didn't help. She still lost the game anyway. But Avery guessed that as long as she wasn't being forced to dress up like Mikuru, then she couldn't really complain.
"Urgh! I don't wanna do this stupid essay!" Haruhi complained loudly. She was sat with her feet up on the computer desk, a frown etched deeply into her face. She seemed to be in a particularly bad mood.
"What's the essay about?" Itsuki asked politely. He seemed to be the only who didn't fear Haruhi's notorious bad moods.
"We have to describe the lifestyle from a period of history in detail," replied Haruhi grumpily. "But most of history's so boring! I don't wanna write about slaves or wars. Who would wanna write about that kind of stuff?"
Kyon rolled his eyes. "You should be grateful. Think how much worse it would be if you'd had to have lived those lifestyles yourself."
"Who cares anyway?" said Haruhi childishly. "That stuff's all in the past. I don't care about the past. I care about the future!"
"You could write about Ancient Egyptians," Avery suggested. Haruhi shot her a sudden look and she recoiled slightly, timidly adding, "I mean... I think that stuff's kinda cool."
Haruhi put her feet down and gave her a scrutinising look across the desk. "You mean like mummies and pyramids and stuff?"
Avery gave a half shrug. "Um, yeah, pretty much." The Ancient Egyptians were one of her favourite periods of history. She found their superstitions and way of life fascinating. Plus it also happened to be part of her weekend job. She didn't really appreciate the rather judgemental look that Haruhi was giving her.
"That's a great idea!" Haruhi exclaimed suddenly, her face lighting up with enthusiasm. "It's perfect – why didn't I think of that? Mummies are awesome!"
Avery felt relieved. "Oh... Good. I'm glad you think so."
"It actually isn't a bad idea," Kyon commended her. "For Haruhi anyway. It's definitely right up her street."
Avery just shrugged again. "Oh, well, I work at the museum and that's my main exhibit. It's something I've always been interested in, so it's generally the first thing that springs to mind."
"Oh, you work at that museum downtown?" Kyon asked conversationally.
"Just part-time," Avery replied. "On weekends. My mom's the museum curator."
"You work at the museum?" Haruhi suddenly exclaimed, jumping up from her chair. "And your mom owns it?"
"Well, she doesn't technically own it, but I guess she is in charge," said Avery, taken aback by Haruhi's sudden interest in her weekend job.
"That's perfect!"
"What's perfect?" asked Kyon. As always, he had no idea what was going through Haruhi's head.
Haruhi ignored him. "We'll go to the museum at night and do a stakeout! Everything creepy always happens at night – maybe the mummies will actually come back to life!"
"Aaand here we go..." Kyon groaned.
"Um, I don't think we'd be allowed there at night," Avery pointed out. "It'd probably be against the museum's policy."
"But you'll ask, won't you?" Haruhi demanded, grabbing Avery's hands and getting far to close to her face. "Your mom runs the museum. Surely she'll make an exception for us if she knows it's for the club!"
What did she think Avery had told her mom about the S.O.S. Brigade? But when the club's leader was all in her personal space like that, she felt like agreeing with her was the only option.
"Okay," said Avery reluctantly, secretly thinking that there was no way that her mom would allow it. But as long as she still asked, then she was doing what Haruhi wanted, wasn't she? It wasn't like she could control what her mom decided.
"Brilliant!" Haruhi cried enthusiastically, releasing Avery's hands and dancing back round to the computer. "Ask her if we can do it this Friday, then we won't have to worry about getting up early for school!"
"Why exactly do we all have to go?" asked Kyon. "This is your essay, remember. None of us need to learn about mummies."
"Because I'm making it a club activity!" said Haruhi impatiently. She'd clearly forgotten all about the actual essay. "It's mandatory!"
"Club activities aren't supposed to be mandatory, idiot," Kyon pointed out. "They're supposed to be fun. People choose to do them."
"It will be fun!" Haruhi insisted. "But I'm saying you still have to do it, so it's mandatory."
Kyon knew better than anyone that no matter how much he argued with her, it wouldn't make Haruhi change her mind, despite that fact that Avery clearly hadn't even asked her mom if it was okay yet. Haruhi seemed to be going with the idea that it would be okay and that she'd get her way, like she always did.
Avery was true to her word and she asked her mom about it that same night. She couldn't see her agreeing to it in a million years, but she was still determined to ask so that she could at least feel like she'd played her role properly.
And a tiny part of her did actually want her mom to say yes. She genuinely thought that Haruhi's idea sounded pretty fun. What paranormal-enthusiastic teen wouldn't want the mummies to walk at midnight? For Avery, it sounded exactly like the kind of adventure she'd always wanted. Not to mention she knew she'd feel a little more socially accepted amongst the group if she could do this for them. She had to give her best effort at this. So that night, she asked her mom over dinner with an ace up her sleeve.
"Um, Mom, can I ask a favour?"
"That depends on what it is," Rimu Shimizu smiled. She'd always had a teasing, humorous nature that Avery had never been able to imitate.
"Well, I told the club about the museum and Haruhi was wondering if we could go there on a night and watch the Egyptian exhibit?" said Avery, pushing rice around her bowl with her chopsticks.
Rimu looked surprised and not just at the request. It was the first time she'd heard Avery refer to one of the S.O.S. Brigade by name, as an individual, rather than the club as a whole. It made her feel more confident that her daughter really had made new friends, rather than just seeing the club as another academic activity.
But either way, it wasn't really a request she could agree to. "Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. It's nice that your friend's taking such an interest in where you work, but I just can't allow you all to do that. It would be breaching several of the museum's policies."
"Yeah, I figured that'd be the case," said Avery forlornly. "But my friends were just so excited about that idea that I had to at least ask."
She made sure she put a bit of emphasis into the word 'friends'. That was the ace up her sleeve. After all, it was Rimu who'd been pushing her for so long to try and make new friends. Avery knew it would make it a little harder for her to say no. Did that make her manipulative? It wasn't exactly like what she'd said wasn't true.
Like she'd expected, Rimu bit her lip, looking torn. "Well, I can't let you all stay there during the night – I know that for definite. But I could ask the director to cover the morning for me and maybe see if I can oversee a twilight shift for you all instead. I'll still be there, and so will security, but the museum will be closed."
That sounded fairly promising. It wasn't exactly what Haruhi had wanted, but it would still be starting to get dark by then and there wouldn't be anyone else there besides Avery's mom and a few security guards. Going by what Rimu had said about the museum's policies, it was likely the best they were going to get.
"Yeah, okay," said Avery brightly. "I think they'll like that."
"Good," Rimu smiled. "I wouldn't want to put you in bad graces with your new friends."
Again, just like Avery had expected. Maybe she understood people better than she thought. Well... She understood her mom anyway. Other people were likely to be more of a challenge. Haruhi especially.
The S.O.S. Brigade leader was disappointed that they couldn't do a midnight tour like she'd wanted, but once Avery explained about the twilight shift that Rimu had offered, she regained all of her enthusiasm at once. Avery had even managed to arrange it for the Friday, like Haruhi had requested.
So that Friday evening, they all met at the museum. Rimu greeted them in the main foyer, then gave them a quick tour of the part of the museum that they'd be staking out. She was highly amused by Avery's rather abstract group of friends. Especially Haruhi, who unsurprisingly, always attracted everyone's notice.
She left them to it once they reached the Ancient Egyptians exhibit, knowing that Avery would be able to cover the knowledge on it herself if needed. She left them with a walkie-talkie in case they needed her, informing them of where her office was and where the security guards would be stationed. She then left, saying she'd come back for them again in a few hours.
"Wow, this place is pretty creepy once it starts getting dark," remarked Kyon.
They were all leaning against one of the safety barriers, watching the three sarcophagi – two of which were open and the middle one which was closed. Only the museum's low lighting had been left on in order to keep the electricity down whilst the building was closed.
"I've never actually been here this late," Avery admitted. The museum was never open at this time. But she personally thought that it was cool, rather than creepy.
Haruhi shared the same view. Who would have thought that two very different girls could possibly think the same? "It's so cool! I didn't think it would be as good with it not being properly night time yet, but because it's already quite dark and there's not really anyone else here, it's still really spooky!"
They had a packed dinner of rice balls, sushi and a flask of hot tea – all of which Mikuru had made. Rimu had agreed to allow it as long as they all cleaned up after themselves. By this point, they were all sat on the floor in a rough semi-circle, still facing the exhibit.
They chatted as they ate and Avery found that she was thoroughly enjoying herself, even if this wasn't the focus of them being here. It felt like what she imagined a slumber party to be like. She said as much out loud, though she edited it slightly so that she didn't sound quite so much like a social reject.
"I feel like we're having a slumber party," she remarked.
"Yeah, all we need now are our PJs and some scary movies!" Haruhi agreed enthusiastically.
"I don't like scary movies," Mikuru whimpered. She didn't seem as comfortable being in the museum as the others did.
"They're not real, Mikuru. What's there to be scared of?" Haruhi chastised her. "We should totally have a real slumber party and get you used to them!"
"Really?" asked Avery, trying not to sound too excited. Maybe she'd get to go to a proper slumber party after all.
"Yeah! We can do it at Kyon's place," Haruhi decided on the spot.
"Why my place?" Kyon questioned indignantly.
"Because I'm the Brigade leader and I said so," said Haruhi bossily. "And that way, we can include your little sister too."
"Yeah, I suppose she would like that," Kyon conceded reluctantly. He clearly had a soft spot for his little sister.
After about the first hour, however, nothing new had happened and Haruhi's enthusiasm had rapidly worn off. "I'm booored!" she complained. "I know it's technically early, but it's still dark out. The mummies shouldn't be so picky."
"I don't think it's so much about being picky as it is about being dead for hundreds of years," Kyon pointed out sarcastically.
"Thousands of years," Avery corrected him automatically without thinking. He raised his eyebrows at her and she suddenly felt like she was being an irritating know-it-all. "Sorry. I didn't mean to say you were wrong or anything; I'm just used to going over these facts," she apologised quickly.
"It's fine," said Kyon, sounding amused. "You clearly know your stuff."
"If you had to do the same thing every weekend, you'd know it too," Avery smiled. "Luckily, it hasn't lost any of the appeal. I still think Ancient Egyptians are fascinating."
"Well, they're not fascinating right now," Haruhi grumbled, hugging her knees with a scowl on her face. It didn't take a genius to know that she wasn't the most patient of people.
"Why don't we play a game to pass the time?" Itsuki suggested good-naturedly.
"What game?"
"I Spy?"
Haruhi rolled her eyes. "I Spy's lame."
Kyon secretly agreed and he didn't usually side with Itsuki, but he was getting fed up of Haruhi's impatience so he chose to ignore her opinion. "I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'M'," he said drolly.
"Mummy," Haruhi, Avery, Itsuki and even Yuki all said in unison.
Kyon's mouth twitched like he was going to smile. "Alright then. I spy with my little eye something beginning with 'P'."
"Pyramid."
They ended up deriving more amusement from picking the most ridiculously obvious choices and seeing who could guess the fastest, so the game wasted another half hour. There were only so many times that they could use 'Egyptian' and 'sand.' It seemed to have killed Haruhi's boredom at least. Now she was just worried about the little time they had left.
"Come on, something needs to happen already!" she pouted after looking at Kyon's watch for the fifth time. "We're gonna have to leave soon."
She reverted back to playing with Mikuru's hair, which she'd been doing earlier when she'd been feeling bored, and trying to decide new cosplay ideas for her – much to Mikuru's dismay. Yuki had been reading by herself pretty much the entire time and the boys were now having a quiet conversation out of Haruhi's earshot.
Avery didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she couldn't help but feel curious when she heard Kyon grumble, "Those mummies had just better stay dead."
She frowned, shuffling a bit closer to them. "Do you really think it's a possibility that they might not?" The boys both looked a little startled at the interruption and she realised that she'd just admitted she'd been listening in on their conversation. "Um, sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy or anything, I just kinda overheard..."
"It's fine," said Itsuki with his usual smile. He didn't seem bothered by the idea at all.
"Put it this way..." Kyon told Avery. "I guess you could say that Haruhi always manages to get her way. So it wouldn't surprise me if a couple of mummies got up and started walking around just to keep her happy."
That was a joke, right? One thing Avery had always been was open-minded, so she loved to think that what Kyon had just said could actually be a possibility. But he seemed to be the most practical one of the group. Surely he didn't really believe that was true. He was probably just making an excessive point that Haruhi always got what she wanted.
But no sooner had the thought passed through her head, the lights suddenly went out and threw them all into darkness. Kyon gasped and Mikuru squealed, grabbing onto Haruhi.
"Mikuru!" Haruhi protested. "Get a hold of yourself – it's only the lights!" But there was a tremor of excitement in her voice. Did she really believe that? Or was this the kind of thing she'd been waiting for?
"It's probably just a power cut," said Kyon, trying to sound convincing.
But Itsuki was suddenly on his feet. "Where's the walkie-talkie?"
"Err, it was here somewhere..." replied Avery, trying to find it on the floor in the dark.
Haruhi managed to locate it amongst the remnants of their little picnic. "I've got it!" She held down the button on the side and spoke into the mouth piece. "Mrs. Shimizu? Did they shut the lights off early or something?" There was no reply. "Mrs. Shimizu, can you hear me?"
But there was still nothing. Avery began to fear more for her mom than for their group. A problem with the power wouldn't affect the walkie-talkies. Was this really more than just a power cut? If so, then what was happening?
"I need to go and find her," she said, getting to her feet unsteadily in the dark as she tried not to tread on anything.
Itsuki caught her arm and gave her a hand up. "I'll go with you."
"Err, thank you," said Avery in surprise.
"We should all go," Haruhi decided, getting to her feet too. The others followed one by one. "But we'll never be able to find our way anywhere like this/"
"Here," said a quiet voice. There was suddenly a beam of light, revealing Yuki with a flash light in her hand. She seemed completely unperturbed by the unexpected darkness.
"Good thinking, Yuki," said Haruhi as Yuki passed the flash light to her. She didn't even question why Yuki had thought to bring a flash light with her, or where she'd been keeping it, for that matter. "Now let's see if we can go and figure out what's going on."
There was a sudden loud crunch that certainly hadn't been caused by anyone in their group. It sounded like the crunch of stone.
"Wh... what was that?" Mikuru stammered.
Haruhi swept the beam of the flash light over the exhibit in front of them. The lid of the middle sarcophagus had moved. It was now partly open.
"No way..." she breathed. She sounded scared, but the excitement was still there. This was exactly what she'd been waiting for.
"That... wasn't like that before... was it?" asked Kyon nervously.
Stone scraped against stone as the heavy lid opened further, answering Kyon's question. The group watched wide-eyed and open-mouthed as a hand appeared through the gap, pushing the lid completely open, followed by a head, then a torso...
Mikuru screamed. The beam of light bounced and spun as Haruhi dropped the flash light. It came to rest with the beam pointing forward, still partly illuminating the mummy that was rising from its tomb.
Avery couldn't stop staring. She felt like she should probably run, but her brain didn't seem to want to send the right signals to her legs. This could not be happening. She'd worked this exhibit every weekend for almost a year now and nothing unusual had ever happened during that time.
So why now? Was it really because it was what Haruhi wanted? Was there actually something more to what Kyon and Itsuki had been talking about? Did that mean that Haruhi was more abnormal than she'd thought? Just what was it about her that made her so special?
And more importantly, was this mummy friendly or was it going to kill them all for disturbing its eternal sleep? Avery was sincerely hoping it wasn't the latter...
