Chapter 1

These January days have been strange regardless of the perspective you use to look at them. I know you think it's odd for me to say that given the little normalcy my life has had since April of two years ago. I still don't know whether to characterize as good or bad the closed spaces that Haruhi has been creating. These have been appearing at a pace of once a week and I've been involved in them in a new and unknown way, at least, until some time ago for me. I must admit that they have seasoned my shocking personality with some shades that developed my self-esteem and maturity, I'll explain that later. But being the only normal human amongst the curious brigade members, I also am the most susceptible to notice the changes in the environment.

However, it wasn't until Nagato, with that stoicism that characterizes her, warned me about what was going on, that I finally paid attention to my sixth sense. I accepted the fact that once again I was too distracted with the idyllic calm and I ignored the storm that was approaching us.

"The periodic spatial-temporal structural alterations can degenerate into the definitive destruction of the affluent actual data and the subsequent creation of new parameters."

"Excuse me?" I asked confused while I had the feeling that the humanoid interface was getting exasperated with my little comprehension capacity from her talk.

"I understand." Added Koizumi with his advertising smile. He turned to me with the condescending look he always gets when he must translate Nagato's words to me. "What Nagato means is that these disappearances from you and Haruhi could become a double-edged sword… even though Suzumiya has reduced, by a great margin, her stress thanks to them, there exist the risk that at one point she will prefer that closed space and make it into her real world leaving the world we know drifting. You guys must be having a good time there…"

"Stop saying things that can be misunderstood." I said slightly embarrassed. By the way, we are at the coffee shop of always, today is a Saturday and we went to look for mysteries again. The reunion has already ended and Haruhi went home, the rest of us had a type of 'emergency meeting'. "Is it as bad as it sounds?" I asked directing my question to the alien again.

"Although is not an extremely dangerous situation, it is a latent risk that the Data Integration Entity would like to keep under observation."

"Eh… that would be a little uncomfortable… I mean, it would be like spying on them…" That was Asahina, as considerate as always. These last weeks I have perceived that she is a little warier in the way she treats me and Haruhi. It isn't bad, but it feels weird, I even have the impression that she is being very careful not to invade my personal space. About what she's saying, I completely agree with her, it is already bad enough that Koizumi previously investigated my life for him to now start observing me while I'm in my 'special moments' with Haruhi.

"Could we put this on pause for a moment?" I said a little overwhelmed while I held my nose bridge. "You yourselves have told me that Haruhi's common sense allows the world not to suffer from serious alterations, so as long as she continues to believe that it is nothing but a dream, everything will be ok, right? Leave that to me, if I need any backups I will ask for your help… Plus, I don't believe that you guys wanted to talk only to tell me that you wanted to observe our…" I was going to say 'intimacy' but it would've sounded very explicit, although it took me a considerable while to find a different word to replace it.

"That's right." Said Koizumi. "Asahina, would you be so kind as to explain to us the report you received?"

The mood became a little tenser. Asahina seemed confused and worried.

"It is not very clear to me what has happened, but it looks like there have been significant changes in the time's normal flow into the future where I come from… the 'classified information' has experienced reversible changes, but from an undefined origin nevertheless… In other words, the future is changing, but it can be corrected."

The last thing I needed. Because of me, better yet, because of Haruhi, the future was changing.

"No." She responded, correcting my misconception. "It isn't caused by you guys… I mean, one could say it is, but not in the way you think. I mean, that is classified information, but even my superiors don't understand very well what's going on. Perhaps, the best thing to do would be not to prematurely assume, let's wait until there is a better understanding of what will happen."

With this premise, the meeting ended and now I have a terrible headache while I get ready to sleep. I feel a little over my head, I mean, I'm only sixteen years old! I think that I carry more pressure than what I should be able to handle. My bad habit of thinking too much about things is hurting me, so I will just sleep, that will help me clear my mind.

"Are you really this lazy?" Asked the girl with the μ Cephei bright smile, with her head supported by her hands. I could clearly see her thanks to the dim light that came through the club's window. This time I'm sitting in the chair that I usually occupy during the day, but my head rests on my arms while I slowly wake up. The closed space again.

"Hello." I said without so much eagerness. "Why are we here?"

"I'm bored."

Just because you're bored… Have you ever been interested on someone else? Although it doesn't bother me as much as it seems… I think that's precisely that trait of your personality that makes you so special… Hopefully you'll never change.

"What's in your mind?" I asked, however, the answer was obvious.

"I think you can get a good idea… I brought that some days ago anticipating that it could be useful." She said, while pointing to a big plastic bag, that I had effectively noticed she brought since Friday, but didn't know its contents.

I stood up, I took the enormous bag and I opened it. A sleeping bag… Why doesn't this surprise me? I turned to the girl while giving her a smile, rather a discrete one. I threw the rolled-up sleeping bag over my shoulder and I took Haruhi's hand.

"Come on!" I told her while I guided her out of the club room. "Today I'd like to do something different."

"Pervert." She radiantly said while letting me lead her.

Minutes later, we were in a common place during the day, where the whole brigade had spent some breaks and reunions. The roof of the school's main building. I laid the sleeping bag down and I looked at the opaque sky.

"It would be wonderful to see the stars." I said, feeling the cold hit my hands and cheeks.

"Yeah, it would be." She responded while getting into the bag.

"You could make that happen if you wished to."

"That's so silly… it's okay if in my dream I am the boss, but it's not like I were some kind of Goddess either."

"What if you were? What would happen with this space if one day you realized that all your limitations are only contingent by your common sense? Wouldn't it be fantastic to discover a way to make the world more interesting based on your own effort?"

"Of course it would! That's why I created the brigade!"

You aren't understanding. I limited myself to sigh while I directed my eyes again at the lead-colored and dark sky. And then, after a few seconds of quietness, a miracle happened.

The grayish coat that cloaked the sky opened with a slight breeze. Since the city lacked the artificial lights that had in the real world, the firmament, clear now, offered the brightest and most starling light's spectacle that I had ever seen in my life. I could clearly see the milky way cutting the sky. It was stunning.

I turned to the person that I believe with more and more certainty is a Goddess, her face illuminated by the stars reflected an innocence that warmed my heart despite the weather… Damn it, I sound weirder every time… It seems this girl is affecting my perception of things. Finally noticing me, she gave me a hand signal for me to sit next to her.

Some moments later we were laying down inside the sleeping bag enjoying the sky. She was set on my lap and we spent a long while without saying a word or doing anything. I had never felt this comfortable in my life.

"Would it bother you… if we don't do what we usually do?" She asked in a whisper, breaking the silence.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." I answered her while I held her tighter.

"Are you really this… gentle?"

I did not respond. I've always thought that I am a very accommodating guy, trustworthy and friendly. But this is different. My gentleness with her has become different… It has turned into tenderness… Fuck, I didn't want to admit it…

I'm in love with her.

"I know I would sound crazy…" She said, even more quietly. "But sometimes I feel as if this wasn't just a dream… deep down, I wish it wasn't."

Once again, the silence settled in. Some minutes went by before I realized she had fallen asleep. What the hell is going on with you? Who falls asleep inside her own dream? I meditated about all this while I used the tip of my pajamas sleeve to dry a drop of drool that was threatening to fall from her half-closed mouth.

This is perhaps what I should avoid. I should make Haruhi not prefer these moments over the daily-life ones somehow, or the world would be truly in danger… maybe I would be safe here, but… what about the others? What would happen with my parents and my sister? And what about the other members of the brigade? I even feel a little remorse about the silly Taniguchi and Kunikida… although it would also be hypocritical on my part to say that this isn't great… in fact, a part of me would also wish this stopped being just a dream…

Three in the morning. I woke up, this time without falling off my bed with a very comforting feeling of tranquility. I suppose that's what can be called a 'religious experience.' I looked through the window in my room suddenly feeling that the world out there is more threatening and boring than it used to. One could say that it's simply the reminiscence after what I just lived, but that wasn't it.

For some odd reason and against my usual behavior, I felt like going for a walk. There shouldn't be much for me to worry about, I live in a peaceful neighborhood and I've known people that go for walks regardless of the time when they can't sleep. So, I took a thick coat, some shoes, my keys and I set out to take a brief stroll around the neighborhood.

I walked without any sense of direction for a few blocks, only barely aware of the nocturnal sounds. Some dogs barking, cats chasing each other on the other side of the wall… nothing out of place. While I marched, I saw the mist that the cold made come out of my mouth, and I kept thinking in a way to forge an escape for Haruhi and for me out of those wonderful close spaces. It's odd that it is so much harder for me to think about it in a night when the sexual element didn't dress the soiree. This goes deeper and it's more complicated. The tranquility from this night helps me think with a better clarity and the cold makes me have greater lucidity. I devised some plans, but all of them sounded ridiculous, from telling her next time that I didn't want to see her again or to ridiculously pretend I had forgotten. The sovereign stupidity also showed up, crowning my infructuous ideas: to tell her that it wasn't a dream and that I wanted to transport it to the real world. I laughed into myself after just thinking it. What a stupid idea!

It was in that moment where all the peace and tranquility that I had left ended.

The dream was over, the nightmare was starting. This was somehow what I knew would happen, but the change that occurred took me completely off guard. Less than a block away I could see a silhouette, slightly blurred by the poor lightning coming from the street lights. It took me only a few seconds to decide and I started to unmake the walked way back home. I started to feel anxious and I picked my pace up. To my horror, the silhouette that I saw some meters ahead started to advance towards me, I didn't bother to turn around to look at it, I simply slightly turn my head to go home. A thief? If a run enough I can make it home… if he's armed with some sharp object, I can probably give him a fight… if he's got a fire arm, I'm truly in danger. I concentrated on walking faster to avoid those torturing thoughts; my heart accelerated even faster when I noticed that this mysterious figure was diligently closing the space between us. I'm about five blocks from home… I won't make it…

The person finally caught up to me. From our shadows, projected on the ground, I could deduct that this is person is shorter than me… in fact, the body looks smaller than mine, and more delicate as well… it's a woman, very young, perhaps my age… With all these elements mixing in my head, why am I still feeling this fear, almost organic, freezing my blood?

Her right hand took hold of my right shoulder. Until now, nothing horrific or worth of being considered dangerous. Using her left hand, she pressed something sharp against my right side, without hurting me, only making it known she was armed. That was enough reason to feel threatened. I tried to move a little, but I noticed that the hand that was holding my shoulder had a colossal strength. This really made my hair stand on end… I had to know what I was facing, so I decided to face my assailant.

The shock hit my gut forcing me to stumble while an unpleasant chill traveled down my spine. Young girl, beautiful… long hair to her waist and a smile that seems it was made with Photoshop… For over a year, part of my worst dreams and memories.

Ryoko Asakura.

"You…!" It was all I could articulate feeling the threat.

"We have to flee." She responded leaving me completely confused. "Or they will find us… I must protect you at all costs."

Using the same monstrous strength I knew she possessed, she dragged me by the captive shoulder taking me to the closest alleyway. There, she finally let go and pushed me against the wall while she looked with suspicion at the entrance of the alley.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her without being so sure to want to listen to her reply. The last time I saw this girl she tried to murder me with the same survival knife which with she is threatening me now. That one time she almost succeeded. I can still feel that cold blade going through my side…

"I can't explain right now." She replied without losing her composure and without stopping looking towards the closest street. "The first thing will be to ensure your safety… I must see your Nagato."

"My Nagato?" I asked exasperated. This doesn't make any sense.

"It's a long story… I must contact your Nagato and create a link with the Data Integration Entity."

Every word that came out of her mouth did nothing but to increment my confusion that now is touching some desperation… Someone explain to me what the hell is going on!

"Don't you want to kill me?" She blinked a couple of times when she heard my strange questioning. This time she was the one that was shocked and looked at me weirded out.

"Why would I want to kill you?"

"To obtain data from Haruhi… that's what you said last time…"

The ex-class president condescendingly smiled.

"I promise that I will explain what's going on very soon, now there's something more important to worry about… She finally found us…"

"Who"

Asakura finally erased her smile and stood in front of me, facing the alley's entrance light. The street lights started to shut down, but the light didn't disappear… in fact, every object inside my visual field radiated its own dull glint. The breeze stopped, even the temperature increased a few degrees… Asakura took a combat pose putting the frightening knife in front of her face. On the corner, with a slow but decisive pace, another female figure approached us… more than slim, she was tiny. Her pace lacked any body language.

"You made it first. You should know that despite that, there is no possibility the result will change. The threatening level you represent to me is minimal and easily controlled."

That voice… I'd like to say I hear it often, but despite spending time with her almost every day, it's rare to hear her speak.

"I will protect this human even if I have to offer you my life, Nagato…" Asakura talking like this… OK, I'm lost, I don't unders… Wait a minute! Protect me from Nagato? What the hell is this?

A more careful look at Nagato brought the answer.

I don't know how to explain it. It is Nagato, but at the same time she is not… she has the same appearance, the same lack of emotions and gesticulation… but there's something odd about her… something sinister that I can feel pushing me despite the close ten meters that separate us.

"If that's what you wish, I will guarantee it gets done." No… she isn't Nagato… she wouldn't threaten anybody… not even Asakura… she could be a lot of things, but she is, overall, an entity that protects and looks after everybody… and before I could put these thoughts in order, I heard something I hadn't heard coming from Nagato in a long time, "SELECT serial number FROM Database WHERE Snumber=information ORDER BY terminatedirective HAVING target=Personal Name: Ryoko Asakura, maverick grade. Destruction of Priority Data Flow Completing."

The space distorted in such a violent way that it gave me vertigo and I couldn't do anything other than to fall on my knees, dizzy and nauseous. When the little cataclysm stopped, the alley had vanished and we were on something like a cloud above the sky… Damn it! I can see the whole city from here! I can even see the darkness farther away from its own limits.

It took me a few seconds to recover from the shock, but in the same minimum lapse of time, the battle had already started. In a previous occasion, I saw myself involved in a fight between these two women and then, although Nagato was superior at the end, there was a certain equilibrium in their powers… this time it was so different… Asakura, without losing that attractive unworried expression, protected me and protected herself from the outlandish attacks coming from Nagato, but she wouldn't return fire in the slightest… Nagato materially subjected a frenetic Asakura that moved at a super human speed to repeal energy, a projectile or whatever invisible thing that was thrown against each of the two of us; while this was happening, Nagato didn't even move from her place.

"Nagato!" I dared finally screamed. "What's going on? Why are you attacking us?"

More concretely… Why me? As it was expected, there was no answer. However, having gotten her attention, she seemed to concentrate her attacks directly at me, that had stupidly gotten up, giving her a better opportunity to attack me. Why do I have to be involved in this type of situation? If this aberrant version of Nagato had found me alone, I would've surely died without knowing what hit me… and despite having a slim notion that I'm in danger, I can't calculate or move to get to a safe place with my own means… I feel useless.

The following happened in an instant, after hearing a deafening blast, I could feel a big amount of dust and debris hitting my face and hands while I covered myself, next to something wet and warm. After opening my eyes again, amongst the still present dust cloud and a pair of meters in front of me, Asakura was kneeling. Her left arm hung bleeding and still, her attractive face was burned on the left side, the same as part of her hair. With horror, I noticed her ear had disappeared.

"The erasing of data can be a process that causes no pain to your interface… Allow me to end this the fastest and most efficient way, just let me do it." Invited Nagato, with the sound of her voice the dust fog parted giving us a clear vision of her… perhaps it was the tension of the moment, but I could see something like disdain in the look giving to the almost defeated Asakura.

"That's impossible." Responded my protector while getting up with some difficulty. "Because I want this human to live… perhaps he can put an end to all this craziness…"

"It will be in the most difficult way then." Something in our surroundings changed once Nagato said that. Have you ever been close to a dust tornado? It was a similar sensation, as if she was concentrating all her strength and preparing to throw it against the both of us… if that was happening, all hope would be lost… although I wouldn't want to die here and now, attacked by this rare version of Nagato and protected by an even rarer version of Asakura, I'd like to know what's going on.

It looks like my own personal Goddess listens to my wishes even when she's far. A new distortion in the space made Nagato lose her concentration and she looked to the sky. There's no expression on her face, but I know she's confused, after all this time, I know how to interpret her moods.

"You shouldn't be here." I then heard a friendly and melodic voice that seemed omnipresent, "if you don't immediately abandon this space, we will proceed."

"We have conducted a precise analysis of your data composition, we have a way to dilute it." That's Nagato's voice… my Nagato… How is that possible? "Time to confirm and initiate protocol to dissolve data T-minus 10…"

Our attacker dedicated a last look to us. I had never seen those eyes in Nagato… it was truly horrifying… Without bothering to respond to the warnings, she simply vanished.

Seconds later the kaleidoscopic distortions to the surroundings started to become the alley again. Little by little the nocturnal noises came back, I again noticed how a heavy mist came out my mouth due to the cold, the street was dark again and the street lights offered their cold light.

In front of me, Asakura lost all her leg strength and dropped her combat knife while she lost her equilibrium. I rushed ahead and caught her before she hit the floor.

"Hold on! I'll get help!"

"Don't worry." She replied to me with the smile of a dramatic actress. "The help has come."

Instinctively, I turned towards the direction my guardian was looking at, the same alley's entrance. Standing, inexpressive was Yuki Nagato. Next to her, holding her hands in front of her skirt while giving us a warm smile, was Erimi Kimidori. A few moments later they had reached us.

"You have to help her… she saved my life." I told them while supporting Asakura and feeling a weak trembling from her lacerated body.

Nagato turned towards Kimidori and for a couple seconds they didn't do anything else other than to look at each other. Finally, Nagato agreed once and kneeled in front of Asakura. She extended the palm of her hand until it was some millimeters away the damaged interface's face and started to inaudibly conjure while her lips vertiginously moved.

I have always found extraordinary the way in which Nagato manipulates the information or whatever it is she does. While she did her canticle, Asakura's bloody, ripped and burned clothes started to be in good shape again and as clean as if nothing had happened, the burns on her face began to regenerate, the lost ear reappeared and even her burned hair grew again, the smell of singe was totally replaced by the aroma of a jasmine perfume that Asakura used to wear. Done with the process, it took Asakura some seconds and deep inhalations to, after thanking me, get up from between my arms.

There I was, next to three girls in the middle of the night, all three of them beautiful, this would be a perfect stamp if it wasn't for the fact that all three of them are aliens. Once again, I have the impression that they communicate amongst them without using words and even without using a body language, what I could indeed notice was that Nagato and Kimidori look at Asakura with something like intrigue. A long minute went by in total silence, only interrupted by my still agitated breathing.

"Request synchronization." My protector broke the silence. It looked like the other two were waiting for her to say it.

"Granted." Responded Nagato and moments later both looked at the sky.

While this was happening, I had the stupid idea that if I concentrated enough, I could hear their hard disks… What silly things one thinks when coming back from the dead!

"Understood." Said Nagato a couple of minutes after. She talked to Kimidory again. "Initiate emergency protocol." I detest it when they speak like that, I don't understand anything and I feel like a kid when he listens to a conversation between adults that he isn't supposed to hear. "Let's go." She said finally talking to me. "We will escort you home and we will keep watch over you. The physical exhaustion that you have experienced today could have affected your cognitive abilities. It would be best that you rest today, tomorrow the situation will be explained to you in detail."

The four of us walked towards my home. Nagato asks me to sleep so I can digest all the information tomorrow… but I have so many questions… What is Asakura doing here? Who or what is that Nagato that attacked us? Is Haruhi again involved in this craziness? And more importantly, why am I involved?

Chapter 1

End

Author Notes: To be honest, my first idea was leave the prologue as a scandalous one-shot, but then I thought that the characters and history could give some more… so I begun to write and couldn't stop anymore… I hope you share this feeling with me. Enjoy yourselves!

Translator Notes: Well, here's the concrete beginning of the series. I'm having so much fun translating these chapters. I don't think I could get tired of reading pepsipez's amazing writing/stories! If you thought that this would only be a love story, you were wrong. Haha. There's a big romance side to it., but pepsipez does an incredible job integrating the science fiction elements without leaving the citric elements behind. I hope you are enjoying these first chapters as much as I am enjoying translating them. Until next time!