Life After the Death of Haruhi Suzumiya
Declassified Information
Somewhere in Nishinomiya City
The sun was setting peacefully like it always does, people were milling about, their lives both troubled and blissful. There are always going to be ups and downs in one's existence.
The passing of an exam is a temporary high which can be immediately countered by rejection from the university of your dreams due to missing out on that one grade needed to get in. Depression is the most obvious downer, people finding it hard to cope or to continue living when their very being denies themselves from the few positives that occur around them.
Luck is another thing in one life. It varies from person to person; some may receive good luck most of the time, but again this will only result in smaller gains than if you get that rare stroke which enables you to reach a higher platform. Bad luck follows the same rules, only with the opposite effect of worsening your life.
I was blessed with one of the greatest strokes in luck in my life, and though I never could really say that I received other big moments of luck, apart from one more perhaps, I wouldn't change it for the world.
I met Haruhi Suzumiya.
Well, more to the point, she responded to me.
Meeting someone implies that you speak to and engage a person in conversation for a while. I never had that luxury with Haruhi back in the day. Just like with all the other students, she rudely shook off my attempts, and I didn't bother her again, until I questioned her alternating hairdo.
And then she responded.
From then on, my life transformed from a boring, everyday one, to a new adventurous life filled with unpredictable events.
Though I cursed her for having been a part of the SOS Brigade, due to my wish to not become a pawn of the goddess, I later learned to accept what I was part of, as proven when she made a new world for just the two of us, and that time in God's Space.
Then I was blessed with the relationship that then burgeoned with my wife, Yuki.
But eventually all things have to come to an end, and I'm reaching my own.
"Hey Haruhi..." I was wheezing by now, it was difficult to breathe at this stage, "Been a while huh?"
The figure of the former leader of the SOS Brigade Party came into view from my periphery field of vision; the glasses I wore weren't good enough to be able to focus on her face properly.
"So, Kyon..." She grinned, "How're you feeling?"
I chuckled, as that was the same thing I said to her back when she was in the hospital all those years ago. I took this moment to take one final look at her.
Haruhi was probably the most famous person in the world at this stage, her legion of bodyguards were patrolling the hospital for any possible attackers, though none ever came. She had remained Prime Minister for a full thirty four years, the longest ever, and she always had a huge majority in her favour.
However, as always, she decided to leave the job as, in her own words at her leaving speech, it became 'boring and predictable to govern the country'. She left despite everyone's concerns about the stability of Japan after her leaving; even Sasaki chose to quit the same time as her, saying she wouldn't work with another leader.
Yet, the party remained in everyone's favour, because of her excellent deduction skills at picking reliable and trustworthy ministers and politicians, they continued to rule with a kind new leader, another woman whose name I keep forgetting, and to this day, twenty years after Haruhi quit, they're still in power.
The white haired woman in front of me became an ambassador of peace in her spare time, meeting with religious figures, charities and other non-government organisations to promote a safer world. Though she didn't eradicate war completely, since there was still fighting everywhere, she managed to get truces with certain groups that had been fighting for so long. Her efforts are known everywhere, even down to the multi-platinum song she and Sasaki duetted in to earn money to give to those charities.
The crow's feet at the edge of her eyes didn't mar her otherwise smooth face, in fact it made her seem sharper than ever with her eyes able to take in any small detail, and she was still as active as she ever was. I personally believed she could go on like for another fifty years or so.
She wore a ponytail today.
"Not too bad, though dying does kind of suck a bit."
Her grin fell a millimetre as she sat next to me, "Well, you know how it is, men have shorter lives than women. it's not something that can be changed."
"I guess you're right..." I coughed again and sat up with difficulty, "How's the new campaign?"
"Oh, forget about business for now," She waved it off, "It's just us, okay? Like all those reunions every year."
"Except for this one, when I got ill..."
She didn't say anything more, and held my hand. Her grip was strong but soft at the same time, "Kyon, I don't know what to say..." She had tears in her eyes, "I could say 'be strong', but that doesn't seem right..."
I smiled back at her, happy to see her a little stumped for once, "Just say what comes to you naturally, Haruhi."
She nodded one, swallowed quietly and spoke, "Kyon, I'm going to miss you... You were always there with me, not always for me exactly, but you stuck through with all my crazy ideas and plans. I never really told you this, Kyon, but I loved you, for a very long time..."
"I knew, Haruhi, I always did, but my heart belonged to someone else." I closed my eyes for a moment, the strain getting to me for a second.
"I know... Yuki..." She paused as she smiled warmly, "I've never seen you as happy as when you were with her. That's all I really wanted for you, Kyon, to be happy."
"Without you Haruhi, I'd've never met Yuki, so all I can say is thanks."
She grinned back, "Vice-versa for my own spouse." Her hands returned to her hips, before she looked to the door, "The others will probably want to come in..." She took a look at my face, before kissing me sweetly on the lips, not one of passion like we shared when reality ceased, but one of her love for me.
"Till we meet again, Nagaru..."
She spoke my real name, before leaving my sight forever, the door opened again and in walked two people, a man and a woman, the man using a cane to walk, but was otherwise unaided.
"Hey Koizumi, Kyouko..."
Their identical smiles were charming to me now, Koizumi's had lost the hidden agenda he held when we were all at school together, so it was genuine. Kyouko's smile was always real, which helped me to adjust to her being at our school together after all that happened.
"My, Kyon, you're looking a little bit under the weather."
Koizumi grinned and opened his wrinkly eyes. He aged fairly normally, and possessed a lot more wrinkles than his wife. They retired a while ago and lived off their savings from their company, having a happy life as pensioners.
"Yeah, you're right, maybe I need tips from you on how to stay fit..."
Koizumi raised his eyebrow before understanding, "Ah this, I don't really need it..." He twirled his cane in his hands, "It's for show."
"Naturally..." I moved about in my bed, feeling bed cramps hitting me hard, "Still, you look pretty good, and you especially Kyouko."
"Thank you, I do take care of my appearance." She did look special, perhaps espers had some natural immunity to the effects of ageing, other than wrinkles, they did both move as if they were still teenagers.
"How's the family?"
"They're doing fine." Kyouko replied for me, "Grandchildren are doing well, one's pregnant too."
"That's great news, mine are the same..."
Their smiles lowered a bit, "If we could help, we could find some some of medicine, but I would have thought..."
Koizumi trailed off, but I knew what he meant, I had to let him know the truth.
"It's okay, I told Yuki not to make me live forever, but if my time really was coming up, I told her to stop protecting me from diseases and things like that."
They understood immediately, nodding at the same time.
"Anyway, Koizumi, you'd better have a good life with Kyouko, or else I'll come back and haunt you!"
I laughed as he chuckled, both of us agreeing that it could happen.
They both left with a real smile on their faces, thanks to my last minute joke.
The next two people came in, and my heart thumped a little harder than it should have.
Asahina and Tsuruya were inseparable after they got together, and were living happy lives off the family fortune, inside that huge mansion. The former never went back to her home time after a while, so I assumed she chose to stay with us.
"Kyon-kun..."
Asahina still used that suffix even at this age, when I stopped using hers once we reached retirement age. She still looked attractive with her pale pink hair, though she was like me, a lot weaker than normal, but the stronger Tsuruya remained by her side to support her. The latter's hair was long as ever, just pure snow white, though not as brittle as other women her age. Her being from a different reality, she also aged slowly.
"Aha, Kyon is lookings good, huh?"
"Yeah, I feel better after seeing you two..." The truth is good occasionally, "How are you both?"
"Umm, quite well actually..." Asahina blushed as Tsuruya kissed her on the back of the head.
"Still going strong, eh?" I winked at Tsuruya, who had a devilish grin in return.
"Oh yeahs, nothing has changed..." She nuzzled on Asahina's ear, making her squeak, and me to crack up with laughter, as much as my rasps of breath would allow.
"And the others?"
"They're doing fine, the grandkids are having fun in the mansion." Tsuruya responded.
"Yauemon might want to retire soon, he's talking about It seriously for once." Asahina added.
"Hmm... I can imagine..."
They are of course talking about their two children, Yauemon and Michuru, both around fifty by now.
How? Medical technology, along with a helping hand from Yuki allowed them to conceive using their original DNA combined with one another. Tsuruya was the first to give birth to her son, named after her ancestor who 'found' the Timer, followed by Asahina four years later.
The son was very intelligent, but suffered from fainting fits, resulting in a very successful career brought down by his illness, which was presumably something that not even Yuki could help with. She said that it was one of Asahina's characteristics that enabled this in him, so changing that wouldn't make him her son any more.
Their second child, Michuru, was very active, with Asahina's hair colour, but a little obtuse to the basic facts of life, despite being as clever as her brother, if not more.
Both found a lot of prejudice because of their parents, but they learned to recognise how special they were, though I feel that Yauemon still resents some people for that. They found partners in the end and both are happy.
"Still, at least your family is doing good."
Tsuruya grinned and Asahina sniffed, holding my hand, "Kyon-kun... Are you sure about this, Nagato-san can..."
Shakily, I put my other hand on top of hers and shook my head, "No, it has to be this way, it has to be natural, otherwise I won't be who I am, a mere human..."
She held me for a few moments longer before sobbing loudly and hugging my arm. Tsuruya sighed and cuddled her from behind, "Gees Kyon, even now you're makings her cry! How can I stop you from doings this?" She wasn't angry, in fact she was still laughing at some inside joke known only to herself.
"No... I can't go..." Asahina was holding my hand tighter as Tsuruya pulled at her, "I can't leave..."
"Mikuru... Come on, you can see him later, eh? Besides, you know who's next, eh?"
Asahina's cries were fairly tormenting, but a brief wink and salute from Tsuruya told me everything, she would take care of her and she was wishing me luck.
The next person came in, and my heart sped up.
"Yuki..."
"Yes. I'm here now, Kyon."
My wife stood there, unchanged for the seventy years I knew her. Her hair was still at that slightly longer length than before when I went on my writing trip, and her natural grey hair was tastefully littered with a few white hairs, all generated by her to make me feel a bit better when my own hair turned.
Wrinkle free, she was the definition of age defying.
"How long have I got?"
"Five minutes, twenty one seconds and counting before terminal heart and pulmonary functions cease responding to repeated efforts of nerve impulse and blood circulation."
Her face was calm, at peace, and there were no tears.
"Yuki..." I looked at her face, knowing that I needed to remember her emotions the way they are now, "Is everyone okay?"
"Yes, Haruki and Ameko are remaining outside, comforting their children and grandchildren. They are happy to have been able to get home in time to say goodbye to you."
Yes, I was glad too...
I looked briefly around the room to see every surface covered with flowers. Asakura popped in briefly, armed with hundreds of drawing pins, and threw them at me. Knowing that I was safe from her, I was confused, we had made up decades ago. However I was stunned when every known species of flower came into being around me, filling the room to the brim.
"Thanks for everything, Kyon..."
Those were her only words to me as she left, still as stunning as when she became a model. She wasn't as youthful as Yuki, but her looks remained.
Gees, I seemed to be around people who refused to age with dignity, all these young looking faces... And I'm the only one who's going to die first too...
"Yuki..."
Damn, I was caught up in melancholy now, of all times...
"Yuki, is there an afterlife? What happens when we die?"
I asked before, now I asked again.
Her face tightened slightly, "Classified Information." The same answer I got as last time; I was about to sigh and nod, before she added on something, "However, soon you will be granted access to that data."
This was new.
"When I die, right?"
"Correct."
I sighed for real this time, and thought back again.
My sister came to see me. She never married, which was a little sad, but she was happy without any men in her life; she came when Yuki called, and is still here, waiting for that moment.
"Kyon." Yuki spoke up, "I will go ahead as planned when you die."
"No..." I wasn't having this, and I sat up, forcing my body to react, "I told you, there's no need."
"You must stop that... You are further reducing your time limit." Her eyes were blinking, and tears were filling up.
"I don't care, Yuki..." I breathing harder now, "You're not tied to me like that, you can't -"
"Stop!" Her only shout in her life came now, and she was holding my body up as my body became wracked with pain, "Kyon... Nagaru... Please listen..."
I had no choice, I could barely fight back with words, let alone physical strength; her scared shout caught me completely by surprise.
"When your life ends, so shall mine." She spoke calmly, in her neutral voice, "While I am able to function until the end of time, I find little reason to continue existing without you in my life..." She trailed off but went on, "I can regenerate you, prolong your life as you are now, even convert you into a Human Interface Terminal, however you rejected all those options; in order to remain human to the last moment." She pulled me into a hug, kissing me on my chest and neck, "I love you, Nagaru. I can easily remove all feelings I had towards you to become how I was, but then I would not be complete without you, hence my reasoning to end my life cycles with your own."
I began to shake, not because I was scared, or emotional, but because my life had finally reached the end of its winding course.
"Don't be afraid, Nagaru, I'll be with you..."
I whispered something to Yuki, but I couldn't remember what it was, and she repeated something similar to me, giving me one last kiss as the room filled with yellow light.
For the second time in my life, I died of my own free will.
One second later
I woke up, finding myself in a black void, one that felt oddly familiar...
"I've been here before..."
My voice was the same, my body aching as much as it was just prior to my death, my breathing ragged and tired. When I spoke, it felt as if the air around sucked it out, preventing any echoes or indication of how big the space was.
"No..."
I was here, before Haruhi created God's Space...
Is this what death was? Was Yuki trying to protect me by offering me a longer life? Is this why it was classified to humans? Who would want to die, knowing that this was all that awaited them?
This endless darkness...
I tried to run but my already ancient bones weren't willing to go any further than a few steps before collapsing from overexertion. Panting, I knelt on the strangely hard ground. My body wearing the same hospital pyjamas as before, I could see myself perfectly, yet the blackness would not be lit by anything.
"Please... Help me..."
Yuki...
She condemned herself to this, because of my stupid whim of dying normally...
"No... Please..."
I laid down, too tired to even kneel now, lying on my front, feeling my sleepiness overtake me.
There was no heaven, nor a hell, just this purgatory of the feeling of your last moments before dying, of eternal weakness and of mortality.
"I'm sorry, Yuki..."
"What are you sorry for?"
My eyelids fluttered open to see a blurry pair of shoes, indoor plimsolls I'd say, connected to a thin pair of legs.
"Kyon, it's time to get up..."
The legs bent forwards, and the person knelt down, holding a hand near my face.
"Okay..."
I trusted that voice to the end, and reached out with my own to accept the pale hand, only to be pulled up into a world of light.
The surroundings were now a beautiful field of flowers, a natural meadow with rolling hills and trees; nature at its best...
I spun round, taking in the view, only to take in the view of the person who brought me here.
"Yuki..."
"Hello Kyon..."
Her smile was radiant.
She wore her North High uniform, and looked just like she was back in that school. I looked down and saw that I too wore my old uniform, and that my body was back to its youthful self.
"Where am I...?" I looked about again, but keeping my eyes on Yuki at the same time, in case I lost her for good.
"Wherever you wanted to be..." Was her response.
"I don't think any place like this exists on Earth."
"According to my knowledge, no, it does not."
"Then how am I here?"
"You believed this to be your model of Heaven, was it not?"
I stood there, she was right.
"Yes... Yes, I did..."
I felt the flowers, and they swayed into my hands, as if they liked to be caressed.
"But, does that mean... Are you just a figment of my imagination?"
"What do you believe?" The smile was still on her face.
"I don't know, I don't want to think that you're just an idea of the image of Yuki that I grew to love and cherish."
"Well, allow me to prove it to you, who I am..."
And she returned, she ascended into her Entity Level, looking more like an angel than ever, given the circumstances.
"Yuki... It's really you..." My tears returned with a vengeance, and I cried for her, "You're here, with me..."
"Yes, Kyon." She hugged me and kissed me passionately, before pulling back, "You've attained the highest security level, now I can reveal to you where you are."
I waited, perhaps literally, my whole life to hear the answer.
"You are in God's Space."
I froze, and realised that she was correct, whatever I wished for came true, though I had yet to exercise my right over everything I wanted just as yet.
"What do you mean, Yuki?"
"As I too passed into this state, I have this knowledge because I wished to know the truth, so now I will repeat it for your sake."
She paused for a moment, still with that beautiful smile of hers.
"You and Haruhi spent a short amount of time in her own God's Space, one she managed to reach early because of her status. However, she was able to manipulate that Space even if she wasn't in it or aware of it, subtly changing the world around her in the ways you saw back then."
"So... Haruhi was using her version of God's Space unconsciously to invent espers and so on?"
"Indeed. This corresponds to the data explosions we detected from her. Yet, there is one important factor remaining." Yuki stepped back, "Every living thing possesses their own version of God's Space; nevertheless, they are only able to use it when they die. The rare exceptions to the rule are the geniuses that change the world for better or worse, and even then, they only tapped into that power one time to receive that big change in their lives. Haruhi used her own almost constantly, which is why she was so special, and yet as I was living all this time, even I could not know the truth until I too died."
"But if this is my God's Space, why are you here?" I had to ask.
"Because, if a person wishes a person to be there, they will. If that person also wants to be with the person who made the wish, then they can be together."
Yuki pulled me into a hug.
"As there is nothing else I wish for, other than to be with you, it was easy to choose to enter here. A world made just for the two of us, forever."
She kissed me deeply, and I in turn helped with the kiss.
"Every person is the God of their own life, but forever unable to use that knowledge to further themselves while they live. Therefore at the end of that life, they reach their own land, a place to truly live. There, their every desire can come true, and they can become who they wanted to be, if they never had the chance, or to see what would happen if they did things differently. There is literally no limit to this Space..."
"So, we are all special in a way..."
"Yes, everyone is special." Yuki smiled again, "Regarding your original question about the afterlife..."
I held my breath.
"There is none. No 'after', just, plain and simply, life, eternal."
I laughed, cried, sighed, and every other emotion I could feel came to me at once, but mostly, I knew...
She was right...
"Yuki, why are you smiling so much?"
She kissed me, quietening me for the moment, "I have all the time in the world to show you my emotions, from now on. Why not start now?"
I accepted that as it was.
Immortality in a world of my choosing, with the woman I loved besides me.
There was nothing more I wanted from life.
I was happy.
Author's Notes
And so, Kyon dies, for the second time. Nagato too...
The story of their life together has ended here, since describing events in heaven would be beyond your capability to understand, as the living cannot imagine what the dead can experience at any moment, so this is the official end of the plot a a whole.
However, don't be sad, you'll see the burgeoning of their relationship, the birth of their child, and revealing all to Haruhi...
But, all for another time!
- J