Connection: 1

I can't tell if I was awake or asleep. I was floating, somewhere. No sense of direction, gravity, temperature, or even light for that matter. They simply did not exist where I was. I had no eyes or a body. It was dark, not the kind of darkness you see when you close your eyes. I had no option of opening them. Why was I here? How did I end up here? The harder I willed the clearer it got... Eventually I had regained my so called personality, remembered many things until I knew for sure there was nothing more to be remembered. I was complete, in an incomplete way. I was Kyon again. I recalled the most recent thing that happened to me. I was really angry, I shouted at Haruhi, and then quit the Brigade, then.

I'm… dead?

Is this some sort of afterlife? No it couldn't be. I feel like I've been in this kind of space before. More specifically, it felt like Closed Space. I don't have to be an esper to figure that out, that unforgettable sensation of emptiness. This was Haruhi's doing. After the things I had said to her, you'd think a guy would be cured out of existence by now. But that wasn't the case. I was conscious. Is this a new world she created?

A crack of light shone from behind it. Without thinking I turned around, it blinded me. I had eyes now. There was a voice coming from the direction of the light. I had ears too.

"Introduce yourself." A voice commanded.

I opened my mouth. It was then I realized I had a mouth too, thank goodness. I wanted to introduce myself, but I couldn't remember my real name. My nickname Kyon was the only thing I remember related to my name. I had no choice but to answer with it. It was going to be awkward introducing myself to a stranger by my nickname.

"My name is Kyon." I replied to the voice, finding it nostalgic to hear my own voice again.

As soon as I finished the sentence, cold air filled my throat and lungs. I felt a heartbeat in my newly recognized chest and body. A feeling of descension came over me as I was pulled towards the light. Something was supporting me. It was a chair, and supporting my upper half was a desk. A sensation of warmth wrapped around me. I was wearing clothes, my school uniform for that matter.

"Next." The voice spoke again.

Next? There was someone else? I woke up for a second time. I was sleeping on a desk, my desk in fact. I was in my classroom. I heard a chair being pushed back and a voice from behind, many times clearer than the first voice. It wasn't because it was right behind me either. There was a presence incomparable to any of that in the room.

"S-Suzumiya Haruhi…" The voice said. It was extremely delicate, but clear. Completely contradicting the person she was introducing herself as. It was ironic.

I turned around in my seat, unable to accept that the person behind me was Suzumiya Haruhi. For a moment I actually thought I was looking at her. Her face was Haruhi's face. It was hard to tell, her hair, black, waist long, and coving a good part of her upper face. There was no ribbon to organize anything. Her nervous, shy movements allowed me to catch a slight glimpse of her eyes under her bangs. They were jet black, lacking any spark that you'd expect Suzumiya Haruhi to have.

I had stared for too long. This Haruhi was beginning to become uncomfortable due to my staring. She looked away, accidently met eyes with me, and finally shut her eyes and sat down, blushing furiously.

I realized that this was the first homeroom class of the first day of school. I checked my pockets. I had my cell phone, my wallet, a key, and impressingly sizeable pieces of lint. I checked my phone first. I checked the date. Where the numbers for the date should be were replaced by the words 'first day of school'.

This was the world that Haruhi had created. Why was everything like this? The first day of school? I began to despair starting school over from day one. Maybe I really was dead and I took the wrong bus to hell. No, I have to think positive; this can't be all that bad…

The bell rung, my classmates began to move around. I found it strange that I didn't know any of them. Nevertheless, the first thing to do…

Turned around and said to the person behind me. "Hey there."

The reaction wasn't one I was expecting. If this was Haruhi she would have first appeared to not have heard anything that I've said. This person however, completely over reacted. One of her eyes open wide and the other covered by her bangs, her mouth slightly open revealing her small white teeth, surprised anyone would have bothered to say anything to her.

"H-Hello."

There was a spark of initial attraction. I knew that to her this was all very awkward. She thinks I'd give up because of her lack of response. She was wrong; I wanted to give her a chance. I'm still talking to you.

"Nice to meet you Haruhi, call me Kyon."

She suddenly looked surprised, blushing. I had realized my mistake. I had called her Haruhi. First name terms, big mistake. Suddenly I felt the need to blush as well and turned back around. Had I messed up? Oh god…

"You too… Kyon." I heard her say ever so softly.

I was surprised and pleased at her answer. It wasn't the end after all.

Several classed passed in what felt like a matter of minutes. Trying to think back was trying to imagine how long it's been since I was born. They were long, but a thing of the past. So school wasn't that bad. At least time slowed down for lunch time.

"What's going on Kyon?" I heard someone call.

I frowned. Taniguchi was in this world too, so was Kunikida. Unfortunately he was still the same. Not the complete opposite like Haruhi was.

"What's between you and Suzumiya?" He asked.

"What?" I asked. "Nothing, we've just met."

"That's what I've thought, you two never met before which leads me to believe…" Taniguchi said. "That you're interested in her."

"That wasn't my intention." I said.

"Give him a break Taniguchi." Kunikida sighed.

"If it's that embarrassing, I won't go there." Taniguchi said.

You're doing quite the opposite you know.

"Take my word for it; I've been in the same class with her since the start of middle school." He said. "She's an odd one. She's not one to talk at all."

"What should I be aware of?" I asked finding this to be a good opportunity to get to know a little about this new Haruhi.

"She's really shy, I mean really shy." He explained. "She's known to freeze when someone talks to her. It's to the point where the teachers excuse her from answering questions and stuff in class, not that she's bad at her studies or anything. She's just too quiet if you know what I mean."

Not what I've seen, but alright, so she's like that to other people. She spoke to me thought, and I fear that if I did tell you so it'd confirm your theories that there is something between us. I'll keep quiet for now.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"That's just about it." He shrugged.

"Three years and that's all you know about her?" I was a little disappointed.

"I actually know the most about her." He said. "If she talked a little more maybe she'd get asked out a little. It's because she doesn't talk that her cute shyness kind of goes overboard. People call her mute and small things like that. Others have tried friending her sometime or another, but they all gave up in the middle. I've actually only head her voice about once or twice."

"Thanks for the advice." I said.

"Good luck!" he said walking away with Kunikida.

Sigh…

The periods after lunch felt a little longer than the ones before. Not that it's anything to complain about. The first thing I wanted to do afterschool was to look for the old Brigade members. I needed someone to tell what has happened and what I could do to return it to normal. I left the classroom and walked as fast as possible to class nine, the class created solely for Koizumi to transfer into. If I get there on time I might be able to catch him before he…

It's not there.

Six, seven, eight… Where was nine?

This wasn't how I thought it would be. This means the possibility that the others might not be here either. I ran up to Asahina's class, it yielded even less answers. Her classroom was there along with upperclassmen leaving to get home. I couldn't tell whether she ever was in this school or not. I couldn't ask anyone around me. It was as if they were some sort of solid apparitions passing me before I even had time to open my mouth. Something wasn't right with this place. I was unable to speak to anyone as if physics was keeping me from doing so. After glancing back and forth I finally gave up. I had no time to waste. It was time to break out my trump card. Hopefully, she'll be there where I need her.

I ran as fast as I could when I noticed I passed right through the people in the hallway. They were like holograms there to fill in the emptiness of a school that was supposed to be animated. Eventually I reached the building where our clubroom was. Reached the Literary Clubroom and barged right inside.

Nobody, it was empty.

I bit my lip in frustration. Where was everyone? I looked all around the room, any traces of Nagato Yuki, my last hope. I noticed that there was a computer. A very old one, there was nothing out of the ordinary. My eyes darted to the book case. That was it! Books, maybe something will happen if I found the right ones. I took a closer look at the bookcase and was confused to find volume after volume of manga books, an impressive collection I might say. The members of this Literary Clubroom were heavy manga readers I see. Haruhi's polar opposite came to mind. There was an uneasy feeling in my gut. Nevertheless, I took out random series and checked to see if any were sci-fi or anything related to aliens of the sort.

"What are you doing?" Asked a voice at the door.

There she was, Nagato Yuki, she was wearing glasses but still the same old. I was too relieved to see her that I forgot that I was just caught going through all of her books without permission.

"I was just…" There was no reason for a normal student to even be caught dead in this room in this part of the school. There was no solid lie I could make up.

"I am looking through the collection." I replied.

She looked at the shelf with a look of disapproval. Then she reorganized the shelf, returning the books I had hastily replaced back into their original positions with blinding speed.

"Please return the books in the exact place you found them." Nagato said.

"I never knew the school had such a budget for this many manga books for the Literary Club." I said.

"They're all mine." She said. "Purchased with my money, the school didn't have anything to do with it."

"All… yours?" I asked taking into mind some of the genres.

"If you want to 'read books' then go to the library." Nagato said. "Go ahead, get lost. I got rid of the boring stuff a long time ago."

"Who… are you?" I asked the person who was supposed to be my alien messiah…

"Who are you?" She asked back.

"Kyon…" I replied.

"Nagato Yuki."

There was no denying it. I forgot all about asking her to tell me about this new world. That was, unfortunately, out of the question. This Nagato however disappointing was fascinating. I wanted to know more about her.

"Do you want to read that?" She asked.

I noticed I still had a book in my hand.

"You can join the club too if you want."

"That would be nice." I replied.

"This is the first time I've recruited anyone." She sighed dully, pulling a book out of the shelf and extracting a few sheets of paper from within its pages. "I never thought I'd be pulling this out any time soon."

She went over to pour me a cup of lukewarm tea from a pot that was sitting on the table along with a club application form.

"Welcome to the club." She said, the edges of her lips curled slightly into a small smile.