Sorry for the wait! Procrastination is my greatest vice and writers block doesnt help.

plus it's really hard to write scenes between Mikuru and Kyon (has anyone else noticed that or is it me?)

This was going to be longer, but when I reached a stopping place last night I felt I should end it there.

As a result this chapter may come off as rather uneventful.


The 72 hour bug

Haruhi didn't come to class the next day.

Now, I'm sure for any normal person a simple daily absence would be no real cause for alarm, however in this case I couldn't help feeling a bit suspicious. I mean, Haruhi Suzumiya seemed like just the right level of idiot to never catch a cold. But I guess it just goes to show you that even she has to be a human being once in a while.

I went to the clubroom anyway, in case she had just decided to play hooky during class, but she wasn't there. Itsuki and Mikuru were already there playing Othello, so I took my cup of tea and sat down to a game of solitaire. Nagato was the only one besides Haruhi who didn't show. Very odd indeed.

I wonder if she's really in some sort of trouble? After all, it's not likely that she of all people would get sick.

After brutally whooping myself at solitaire for about fifteen minutes, I decided to pack it in and go home. There I settled down for my last few hours of rest before being thrust back into life with Haruhi. After all, there was no way she would let herself be sick for more than one day. I mean, she's Haruhi. Her pride and determination know no bounds, right?

But apparently, pride and determination weren't enough this time. She was absent again the next day. What could she have that would keep her home for two days? I went to the clubroom after class, just in case there was some news.

Of course there wasn't any, so it was an extremely uneventful day without Haruhi. Nagato offered no explanation for yesterday's absence, so I didn't ask. When it was clear our "great leader" was never going to show, Koizumi, Mikuru and I decided to play a board game while Nagato read her book. After I lost (Koizumi was cheating, I swear!) we all packed up and just left. It was a perfectly normal, boring day. I hadn't had one of those in a while so I guess it should've be a good thing, but it was surprisingly less satisfying than I expected. All through the night I stared at the ceiling, wondering what was wrong with me. I barely got any sleep at all.

When I got to school the next day and saw that Haruhi's desk was once again empty, I was struck by a very unsettling realization.

I missed her.

I had grown accustomed to the chilling pierce of her gaze at my back and I felt almost out of place without it, like if she wasn't there I wasn't supposed to be either. That shook me, and I began to wonder when Haruhi had grown so familiar in my mind while my classmates and friends had grown so alien. Had it really gotten to the point at which my life was boring without her? You've got to be kidding me!

But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made as an explanation to the feelings of uneasiness I had been experiencing. It was true. For me, life with Haruhi was… Normal.

Heh. I wonder what She would do if I told her that? Would she be insulted at being described as "Ordinary" in any way shape or form? Or would she feel a sense of self satisfaction, knowing she had invaded my life so intensely?

I couldn't decide whether this new psychological development made me feel better or worse about the situation, so I went to see what wisdom I could gain from the all-powerful clubroom and it's sci-fi-esque inhabitants.

As soon as I opened the door, Miss Asahina came rushing at me with a force that almost knocked me down into the hallway. As if that wasn't enough of a surprise, the next thing I knew she had thrown her arms around my waist and started sobbing into my chest.

"M-miss Asahina what's wrong?"

" Oh Kyon! Its just awful!" she gasped, "Miss Suzumiya is absent again today and…and Itsuki says it's probably something really serious!"

Aha! So he's responsible for this! I shot an accusatory glare in the perpetrator's direction.

Itsuki had stood up and was sporting a very confused slightly sheepish expression.

"All I said was it was unusual for miss Suzumiya to miss school for so long and it might be a little more than a simple cold! I never thought miss Asahina would get so upset!"

Well I can definitely understand that. Ah, miss Asahina. How you can find it in your heart to be so concerned for the welfare of someone who torments you on a daily basis is beyond me.

"…she'll get sicker…and sicker and then…*sniff*… she'll die! I just know it! And all because I couldn't *sniff* fulfill my duty to watch over her!…it's…it's all my fault!", she whimpered, before relapsing into sobs.

Though I enjoyed the sensation of being hugged my Miss Asahina, by this point she had taken to blowing her nose in my tie (not a very pleasant experience I have to say) plus it seemed likely that she would start hyperventilating soon if I didn't do something. I glanced around me for help. Itsuki was standing uselessly at the table, scratching his head with an awkward expression. Nagato was staring blankly into her book as if she didn't even notice we were there. I sighed resignedly.

Guess I'm on my own.

"Miss Asahina," I said in the softest voice I could, "you have to calm down! I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

She raised her head. "Really?" she said hopefully.

I nodded, "Really. She's probably just come down with one of those 24 hour bugs that have been going around. She'll be better soon!"

I would probably have been able to console her completely if the king of tact hadn't decided to chime in.

"Well, that would be a convenient explanation," Itsuki speculated, " but it's already been three days since she was last in school. It would have to be a 72 hour bug, which I'm fairly sure doesn't exist."

Thanks a lot Dr. Doom.

Sure enough, Mikuru relapsed into despairing sobs.

I turned on Itsuki with the fiercest glare I could manage. I must have got through to him because he immediately resumed his expression of sheepish anxiety.

"Oh dear." He murmured, "I'm sorry Miss Asahina, I didn't mean to make you worry, I'm sure Miss Suzumiya is just fine." For some reason, this only made her sob harder. I sighed. I wonder if I'll make it home tonight?

It took fifteen minutes of coaxing and persuading to convince Mikuru, who by this time had detached herself from my shirt and was huddling in a corner, that Haruhi was not going to die. After which we spent several more minutes making halfhearted jokes in an attempt to staunch her stubborn flood of tears. When we finally succeeded in drawing Miss Asahina out of her quagmire of misery, she rose shakily to her feet and resumed pouring the water for tea. Things would have been just peachy if the scenario ended there. But where would be the fun in that?

For, of course, fate had other plans for the poor unsuspecting little me. It seemed that miss Asahina's brief fit of depression had left her somewhat physically unstable, and though she was able to pour the tea without incident she just wasn't alert enough to dodge the leg of Itsuki's chair, which was inconveniently placed right smack in the middle of the road. With a characteristic wail of surprise Mikuru tripped rather violently over the chair and landed gracefully in Itsuki's lap. I would have been slightly irritated by this had my attention not been drawn to the plate of tea cups which were now flying beyond the sight of Mikuru's landing, across the room, and down…

Splash.

The shocked silence that followed was broken only by the slow trickle of hot tea as it flowed down Nagato's hair and dripped from the pages of her book to the floor.

Then all hell broke loose.

Miss Asahina began another bout of hysterics which Itsuki just barely managed to stifle by suggesting that they clean up the broken cups. Meanwhile I clambered over to assess Nagato's condition. I wasn't really that worried, ( I mean, Nagato can take care of herself right?) but it seemed proper to check in this situation.

"Hey, you okay?" I inquired.

Nagato said nothing but nodded. Then she dropped her book unceremoniously on the floor in front of her, rose shakily to her feet, and took a few halting steps forward. I assumed this meant she really was alright and was about to head back to my seat, when suddenly, she collapsed to her knees on the floor.

"Nagato!" I yelled as I rushed to break her fall.

"Are you alright?" I asked once I was sure she was still conscious.

She didn't reply. It was as if she didn't hear me. When I looked more closely I saw that she was muttering something under her breath. I leaned in to see if I could hear her any better.

"…asteroid 4h789f removed from investigative record due to catalytic supernova…..discovery of atomic explosive reagent on earth causes massive destructive data force….. the entity is intrigued by this phenomenon…..…the appearance of black holes in the 48th stellar system… threaten existence of intelligent life….in 1914 ….Akemi Voralberg dies of unidentified infectious fever…subject 001369 becomes disapparent after exhibiting signs of radical behavioral malfunction….. removal of subject from further investigation is finalized…"

Her eyes were fixed straight ahead and her body was completely limp. She didn't seem to realize that I was there, but remained lost in her mechanical ranting.

I sat there, confused and clueless for what seemed like forever before Nagato finally came back to earth (In a manner of speaking.). Her head snapped up and she pushed my arm aside so she could stand.

"Nagato are you sure you're alright?" I asked, now with truly genuine concern.

By this time Itsuki and Mikuru had finished cleaning and were observing us with awed expressions.

Nagato walked slowly and stiffly back to her seat. Once there she turned around abruptly and, still acting as though there was no one else in the room, spoke.

"Minor exterior physical damages to this interface have caused a slight malfunction resulting in mild instances of data disorientation. This interface will be repaired shortly. We apologize for the inconvenience."

With that, she sat down quietly and closed her eyes.


That night I was more exhausted than I had been in years. I managed to remain civil throughout the mandatory dinner/"How was your day?" session that my parents insist on, but from the moment I got home all I could think about was ending the day as soon as possible.

Yeah yeah, I know what your thinking. "What about Nagato?" "What happened afterwards?" But really there's nothing more to tell. After a few moments of silence she woke up again, seemingly with very little memory of her radical behavior. She apologized for the worry and trouble and refused to provide any further explanation of the events, so we all passed an unspoken agreement to act as though nothing had happened. It wasn't hard, I've been developing a sort of knack for ignoring unusual things.

But now that my mind was growing increasingly unoccupied in preparation for sleep, the wall of steadfast ignorance was caving in and I found myself speculating about the things Nagato had said. Nagato, as I believe I have made clear, was normally not one to speak unless it was absolutely necessary, and very important. So it was pretty much law that when she started talking it was time to start listening. After all, if she happened to be saying something that might save you from being dismembered by aliens someday, you'd want to remember it right? Right.

Which was why her behavior this afternoon made so little sense. On the one hand, you had all that mumbo jumbo about galaxies and life forms and behavioral malfunctions. Then, on the other hand you had that little "damage report" at the end, which sounded almost like one of those public service messages apologizing for construction sites in the middle of a road or something…

Come to think of it, there's no " almost" about it, that's exactly what it sounded like!

And thinking about it that way does make a little more sense. After all, I guess Nagato is an android of some kind, so I suppose her getting injured like that could be compared to a computer breaking down.

I then found myself wondering whether the message was from Nagato herself ,or (it couldn't be could it?) from "the Entity". They were the ones who created her after all, and some of the little things she had said in the past did seem to imply that they had the ability to control her to a certain extent. Was it possible that the Data Integration Thought Entity had somehow spoken through Nagato to apologize for the "inconveniences" caused by her accident?

When I thought of it like that, the idea seemed so silly I didn't feel like wasting any more time worrying about it. I promptly ordered my subconscious mind to shut up and steeled myself for another day of living on auto pilot. I feel slightly ashamed to admit that I had sort of begun to think that Haruhi was never going to show her face of school grounds again. I wonder if Haruhi would be appalled by my lack of faith in her… Nah.

Needless to say, I was not terribly disheartened when I walked into the classroom the next day to find Haruhi's desk empty again. With a small sigh of resignation, I sat down and began routinely staring into space. I barely noticed when the door to the classroom slid unsteadily open, it made hardly a whisper of sound, so I think it must have been the shocked silence of the room that provoked me to turn my attention to the door.

Haruhi Suzumiya was standing in the doorway.

I surprised my self by being immensely glad to see her, and would have called out some sort of greeting, but something about her demeanor made me uneasy. She stood there, unmoving for several seconds before shuffling slowly across the room. Her shoulders were slouched and her arms hung limp at her sides. She exuded such an aura of gloom that I couldn't watch as she trudged toward her desk. I turned to face front, and listened to her feet dragging across the floor, the metallic screech of the chair being pulled out, a slight rustling, and then a mysterious, hollow "thunk" sound.

"Thunk"?

When I finally got the courage to turn around, I discovered that the "thunk" had been Haruhi's head hitting her desktop with incredible force.

"Jeezus! Are you okay?" I whispered urgently.

Haruhi groaned and-her reply slightly muffled by a mouthful of desk- muttered,

"No. dizzy. Feel like death."

And she looked it. Her face was a pale shade of green and her eyes were dark and sunken like a corpse.

"Oh my gosh. What kind of illness did you have? You look terrible!"

She paused for a moment and took deep breath, which resulted in a ragged cough.

"Don't know." she whined. "…can't think clearly. talking hurts. gotta stop…"

Of course I immediately felt guilty for making her talk at all.(sick people often have that effect don't they?)

"Of course." I muttered hastily." Sorry. I'll leave you alone now. But if you really plan on sleeping through class you'd better be ready to face the wrath of the teaching institution."

Haruhi tried to laugh at my pathetic attempt at humor, but she gave up quickly and settled down to relax instead.

As I turned around I could already sense the contrast between now and the time she was gone. I can't explain how, but I could really feel Haruhi's presence behind me, and I was astonished at how comforting that presence was. However sickly and decrepit, she was there and that was enough.

"Hey Haruhi?" I whispered after a moment

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad you're back."

I wasn't expecting a reply, but after a moment of silence I heard her say, in a voice so tiny if I hadn't been paying full attention I would not have heard;

"…thanks."


read and review. Critique but no insults please.

thank you.