DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi nor any concepts related to The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi. All rights, permissions, and characters are reserved and owned by Kyoto Animation and Nagaru Tanigawa.
May I present to you Chapter Four, the penultimate chapter.
It begins with a call from Koizumi. This can't be good…
The Finality of Suzumiya Haruhi (Chapter Four)
It was three in the morning when my handphone rang. I practically fell out of bed, cursing. I took my time crawling to my study table and picking up the phone. Koizumi… I knew it! Why must you steal my beauty sleep?!
I flipped the phone open and answered it. On the other side, I heard a rather frantic sounding Koizumi, although he hid it well. Didn't get past me though. You can only fool the ladies, Koizumi!
"Kyon-kun, the closed space has suddenly accelerated its growth. Nagato-san has re-calculated and estimated that it will engulf the earth by 7pm on Friday, not a second more nor less. We were expecting the dead-line to be 12 midnight on Friday but I am assuming that Suzumiya-san is in a more unstable mental state than ever now."
Just fantastic Koizumi. We've all got five hours less to enjoy our lives. I face-palmed and answered him tiresomely.
"Alright. What do you propose we do?"
There was a pause at the other side. Koizumi then took a deep breath and said.
"Regrettably, my organisation and I have no idea. This is a closed-space we cannot shut down. Nagato-san seems to still have a plan of sorts but she refuses to tell me what it is. Apparently it is something she will tell you when the time is right. Also, I believe Asahina-san will be contacting you at some point later today to give you vital information from the future that will prevent catastrophe. I cannot make it any clearer though that how you interpret their information is vital to saving the universe. One wrong move and…"
I cut him off.
"Koizumi, you do realize what you're saying right?" I asked.
"Yes Kyon-kun. I do. Once again we have no choice but to place upon you the burden of persuading Suzumiya-san in a way that only you can. I'm sorry." he said apologetically, almost with a tone of defeat.
Sigh. Haruhi was such a selfish God wasn't she.
I did not manage to sleep for the rest of the night thanks to Koizumi, the most considerate person in the world. My mind was too busy coming up with whatever scenarios that could be used to persuade Haruhi not to end the universe subconsciously. My mind travelled back to long ago when the SOS-Dan was stargazing during the summer holidays. Koizumi's words from back then came back to haunt me.
"Why not hug Suzumiya-san from behind and whisper in her ear, I love you?"
Damn you Koizumi stop putting these things in my head!!!
Our class chair-person was currently at the front of the class persuading everyone to perform a dance item on Saturday during the graduating dinner for our year. He was not greeted with the enthusiasm he had expected. Everyone was too busy chatting or deciding on future prospects to care. I on the other hand, was actually genuinely interested, although there was one tiny problem. The world might end on Friday. I told myself mentally that if I made it past Friday I would dance like I had never danced before on Saturday. I promise! I've done worse things with the SOS-Dan anyway!
To my great surprise, Taniguchi stood up all of a sudden and openly bellowed at the class to shut up. I think I see him in a new light now. However, he looked genuinely peeved.
"It's our last year now! The least we could do is at least do something together as a class before we never see each other again! It's too sad if we just say goodbye like that!" he shouted to nobody in particular. Taniguchi then sat down and buried his head in his hands. Way to go Taniguchi. I foresee that one day you'll grow up to be a fine actor. Bravo!
Taniguchi's bravado had given the class chair-person new found courage however, and he then went on to channel whatever energy he had left to psyche everyone up. In the end, everyone had no choice but to comply because nobody was nasty enough to hurt the chair-person's feelings. Taniguchi looked a lot happier now. Alright you got what you want. Now sit down and stop acting like a monkey.
Lunch with Taniguchi and Kunikida was a noisy affair that day. Taniguchi was openly gloating about how brave he was to stand up and tell everyone to shut up. Kunikida wasn't helping and goaded him on. How did I ever get these two as my best friends in class? I mentally face-palmed. On another note, Haruhi didn't come to school today. That meant that my best female friend in class was not… Wait. Haruhi? My best female friend? That was… I had no idea why I had that thought. It must have been a moment of madness! The end of the world was taking a bigger toll on me than I thought!
Seriously though, her sudden absence did nothing to make me feel better. For one, her absence meant that there was nobody to stop her from letting her emotions get the better of her. I decided to eat my meal slowly today. Perhaps it had dawned upon me that this might be the last meal I ever eat. However at the same time, I was not as worried as I should have been. After all, the last time this happened the only person whom Haruhi had allowed to be with her when the world was almost re-created… was me. However it would be a rather sorry affair to be the only one stuck with Haruhi in whatever new world she was going to make. I would not have that!
The club-room was empty. It was raining once again that afternoon. Is it just me or is the rain a bit heavier than usual? I was once again absent-mindedly playing chess with myself. Sigh. I had to talk to Haruhi good and proper sometime soon before it was too late. I was bored out of my mind too. Even a call from Koizumi did not seem too bad. However nothing of the sort happened. It was just me in the now rather empty club-room. More things had gone missing since yesterday. The entire book-shelf had been removed by God knows who. Haruhi's table was gone. I could only imagine how peeved she would be if she found out someone had removed the table of the Brigade Chief. Was the room always this big?
I felt myself dozing off. No! I cannot let myself fall asleep! What if I fall asleep and find myself in the same situation I had two years back? Alone in the school with Haruhi? With that massive Shinjin destroying everything in its reach? That was scary! I could not fall asleep! I could not… Who was I kidding? Soon I was drifting off to goodness knows where and everything turned black.
I was rudely disturbed by a poke to the face. I was woken up with the first poke but refused to open my eyes. There was only one person who would wake me up in this manner! I got poked in the face once more. It had to be… Wait? Haruhi?
"Haruhi?!" I called out loud as I opened my eyes before sitting bolt upright. I felt my face grow hotter as I saw that the culprit who had awoken me was not Haruhi but Asahina-san, or rather, Asahina-san of the future.
"Asahina-san..?" I exclaimed. Surely she had not misinterpreted the way he had called out Haruhi's name right? The way she giggled showed that she had grossly misinterpreted it. Sigh. I just had to make an idiot out of myself. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and messed with my hair a bit.
"How long have I been asleep?" I muttered. The club-room clock was gone and I had no idea what time it was.
"Haha. You've been asleep for about two hours. I've been waiting for you to get up but realised that I was running out of time. Sorry that I had to wake you in such a fashion." Asahina-san said while giggling. Why was Asahina-san of the future such a far cry from her present self? Something must have happened in between those many years to cause it. Hold on a minute! How long have you been looking at me sleeping! This is embarrassing!
Asahina-san then got up from her chair and took a walk around the club-room. I found myself unconsciously looking at her… Evil thoughts be gone! Be gone I say! I forced myself to stare out of the window and into the rain outside, which was now coming down in a torrent. I could not help but feel a bit sorry that I had not used the two hours more constructively thinking of a way to cheer up Haruhi. If the world is going to end tomorrow it's not going to be my fault damn it!
"Haha. You seem to be deep in thought." Asahina-san bemused. I turned around and found myself dangerously close to her face. I nearly fell off my chair but she merely giggled once again and sat down. For some reason her presence never meant good news.
"Well I think you know why I'm here. By the way in case you're wondering about myself from this time period, I have put her into a state of sleep for several hours, just as a precaution to make sure she and I don't meet. I hope you're fine with that?" she said, smiling.
Fine with that? How am I supposed to know? You can do whatever you want to yourself, Asahina-san. This time travelling thing is too confusing for my tiny little brain anyway.
"Well let's get on to business. I'm here to deliver a message from the future to ensure that not only your present time doesn't end but also the future. Clearly everything will depend on how you persuade Suzumiya Haruhi tomorrow." she continued cheerfully. Who does she remind me of?
"If you're clear about that then I have only one thing to say to you. Why do you think you were chosen by Suzumiya Haruhi?" she asked.
What? That was it? The message from the future which would save the universe was something I had pondered upon for three years? That was… quite the anti-climax. Although that too was the most difficult clue I had ever been given to date. The last one was a little bit easier. I remembered when Nagato had told me about "Snow White" long ago. I mentally face-palmed. This moment was getting to be more and more similar to two years back. Was the inevitable going to happen? I can't allow it!
"The only way everything will be saved is for you to discover the answer to that question in… the next 25 hours." she stated matter-of-factly. She then proceeded to get up and walked towards the door.
"Hold on! That's all you're here to tell me? No other clues?" I frantically asked. Yeah right. Since when have I ever had the easy job? You would think that I would be really good at solving these cryptic puzzles after so many years around Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina-san.
Asahina-san opened the door and just as she was about to walk out, she turned back to look at me with a face that seemed to shine with all the light in the world.
"Look inside your heart Kyon-kun. Other than that, the rest is… Classified information."
I knew that was coming. Why was I not surprised. Asahina-san proceeded to wink at me before leaving and shutting the door behind her. I face-palmed.
"Why do you think you were chosen by Suzumiya Haruhi?" was the only thing racing through my mind at that moment. How the heck am I supposed to know? If I knew… I did know. Perhaps now it was only weighing the fate of the universe against something I would never say to Haruhi on a normal day that made things so difficult.
I sincerely hoped Nagato was going to give me better help on this, although I had a queer feeling that it was going to be along the same lines. How many other ways could there be to cheer Haruhi up? Was I avoiding the inevitable? It had been something so clear since God knows when.
The rain refused to let up today. Sigh. I face-palmed once again and got up from my chair to pack the chess board. I noticed the black queen and the white king on the chess board for some reason. I smiled to myself a little. Perhaps I was going mad after all.
Walking down the hill was a rather gloomy affair. I had the umbrella over my head but I was still getting soaked to the skin. What a day. I thought back over the past few days. On Monday the whole brigade was together just like any other day. What would I give for everyone to be back together tomorrow. Haruhi, if you're listening I've got something to say to you. You owe me big time!
The next chapter is the final chapter! Thank you for reading thus far!
Please review this FanFic! Arigato!
