I've done it! I've broken the sound barrier! Oh, I mean the 2k word barrier. As this Chapter has 3012 word, counted! I'm so *sniff* proud of myself. Although, in terms of normal Haruhi FanFics, 2k (and even 3k) word per Chapter is minimal, but whatever! So, In The Words Of N~ryon Churuya-san: "Here We Go!". Chapter 9 - Start! Enjoy.
As I walked to school the next day, I yawned, since I hadn't gotten much sleep due to my sister bugging me. I hadn't seen Emiri Kimidori since she visited my house and gave me some candy as an apology for attacking Nagato. Honestly though, who gives someone candy as an apology? I'm not an 8 year old. Although, Haruhi might enjoy it since it could save her money on the Halloween party. Plus I can say that I bought it so that she thinks I actually want to help; which I don't. I already have enough to deal with thanks to her stupid time machine, I can't deal with a lame party that's going to end up being just the SOS Brigade and probably Ms. Tsuruya.
I rounded a corner, walking off of the street and onto the sidewalk that would take me to the school gates and saw Taniguchi. It wasn't unusual, since I always saw him at that exact point for the first time every single day. The unusual thing was that Kunikida was walking with him, which he rarely ever did. I figured it was as good a time as any to tell them about me and Nagato's relationship. After all, I couldn't do it in class with Haruhi right there, and at lunch she drags me to the clubroom. So, I decided to take advantage of the situation, something that I didn't get to do very often.
Kunikida had told Taniguchi near the beginning of the year that I 'had a thing for strange girls'. I don't really think that's true, but Kunikida does because of my friendship with a girl that we knew in middle school. She was actually kind of like Haruhi and Nagato in a way. Yeah that's not helping, moron. Although I dreaded the fact that Taniguchi wasn't ever going to let this go, I had to tell him. After all, he was just about my only friend besides Kunikida and the SOS Brigade members, even though I only hang out with him so I don't look like a loner. Plus, Kunikida likes him.
"Hey, Taniguchi! Kunikida!" I yelled after them as they walked up the sidewalk. I'm still not exactly sure how to tell them. Maybe I should have thought about it a little…
"Oh, Kyon, what's up?" Taniguchi turned and greeted like he normally did, and Kunikida turned and waved. "Why do you look so tired?"
"Don't worry about that. Listen, I kind of have to tell you guys something."
And now, we stood outside the school building under one of the Sakura trees in silence. Both of my friends staring at me with blank looks.
"Uh, guys… Say something." Kunikida lifted his arm a little and slapped Taniguchi lightly on the shoulder.
"I told you. He's into strange girls."
"Yeah, sorry I ever doubted you, man."
"Is that really the only reaction you guys have to this?"
"Well, I guess I should have seen this coming anyway. What with that whole scene in the classroom last year." I thought back, once again, to the time that I found out Nagato was an alien. Asakura had attacked me out of nowhere, wanting to kill me so that Haruhi would 'react'. Nagato ended up rescuing me, but was really injured. I tried to help her up, but then Taniguchi walked in on us. The way we looked gave him the impression that we were about to get it on. Which we weren't!
"I told you that was a misunderstanding. I was only helping her up. She fell down." He smiled widely and wrapped his arms around my shoulder, pulling himself into me.
"Don't worry about it, Kyon, old buddy. You don't need to hide it from us, we're friends! Huzzah for friendship!"
"Speaking of hiding things, I need you guys to do me a favor. Don't tell Haruhi about this. In fact, don't tell anyone, ever. Got it?"
"Suzumiya, huh? Why would I ever talk to her in the first place? I try my best to steer clear of your little group of crazies. Especially Suzumiya, that chick scares me more than anyone. Now Ms. Asahina on the other hand…"
"Don't tell her, either." She already knew, but I wanted to keep that lecherous perv away from Ms. Asahina.
"Don't worry Kyon, we won't tell anyone." Like I'm going to trust you Kunikida, you're the reason everyone thinks I'm in love with Haruhi. "But anyway, class is about to start, so we should go." As the bell rung, I kind of started to feel like I had done something stupid. And during class, Haruhi had slipped into one of her moods, almost like she was being melancholic. And the only thing I could think was that she was most likely going to try to force Ms. Asahina into another ridiculous outfit, just so she could cheer herself. But, that's just typical Haruhi.
After classes were over, I walked over to the clubroom, dragging my feet down the hallway. I really didn't want to have to face Ms. Asahina, since she was going to be extremely awkward. It was going to be hard to explain exactly why we had kept it a secret from her. In fact, the only person that couldn't know about us was Haruhi, so there really wasn't any point in hiding it from Ms. Asahina. Besides, it wasn't like she was going to go running to Haruhi and tell her. Of all people, she should know what happens when Haruhi gets jealous.
I walked up the steps and turned to my left, stopping at the first door in the hall. I reluctantly knocked on the door, but heard no response. I opened the door to an empty room, and stepped inside. This was the strangest thing I'd seen all day. Usually Nagato's here before everyone. The last time she wasn't was…
"Excuse me…" I turned when I heard the small voice behind me. And there stood Ms. Asahina, except it wasn't exactly her. Instead of the shy, awkward girl that was Haruhi's play thing, there was a tall, beautiful woman. "Hello, Kyon. It's nice to see you again."
"Uh, Ms. Asahina… Hi?"
"Now, that's no good. I thought I told you to call me Mikuru. There's no need to be so formal with me. I'm not the same Mikuru Asahina as the one you know." She stood with her arms crossed over her exceptionally large… No, no. Let's not go there, Kyon. Bad, BAD idea. "So, I guess I should explain what I'm doing here. But first, show me the stuff."
"The stuff? Do you mean the materials for the time machine? They're over in the corner, behind the blackboard." She nodded and walked over to the boxes of random junked-up radios and clocks, kneeling down to look at them. She picked up each of the objects and studied them thoroughly, like she was trying to see if they would work. But that was doubtful. Or so I thought
"Well, she's definitely on the right track, I'll give her that much." Wait, what? "But it's missing a couple of things. Namely, a convertor."
"A convertor?"
"Oops." She covered her mouth with her fingers. "That's classified information. Hey! It's been forever since I told you that." She smiled and began to laugh like she was reminiscing about something. But, I had heard that line a couple of days ago, so I didn't find it very funny. "Okay, now that I know what the situation is… Go ahead and bring it in you two." Two big men walked in the door, carrying several pieces of large sheet metal.
"And this is?"
"Well, it's metal, dummy. Even if you have the right materials to shift the space-time continuum…" Ha, I was right! "You have to be able to store it inside of something. The TPDD doesn't exist in a physical form. Instead, it's linked directly to our brain, just like all computer based technology. But that's only because the future is a lot more advanced. Since you can't do all of that in this time plane, you'll have to store the devices in a large container. And that will make you a stereotypical time machine, like the ones in movies." What movies?
"Wait, I thought you people didn't want us to actually make one."
"No, we don't care if you make the machine, so long as it doesn't actually work. But other than that…" She looked at the two men who were now done with the metal and nodded towards the door, motioning for them to leave. After they shut the door, there was a bright flash of light and a loud bang outside. What the…? "About Ms. Nagato." Uh oh.
"What about Nagato?" I tried to act casual again, like I didn't already know what was going to happen.
"My people tell me that you've started a relationship with her. Am I right?" I nodded, trying to avoid talking and tripping over myself in awkwardness. "Well, that isn't a problem in and of its self, but it could link to a big problem. Recently, the temperature has been dropping more than it's supposed to in this time plane. We believe it's a direct result of Ms. Suzumiya reacting to something."
"Yeah, Koizumi explained that to me. It happened about two weeks ago, when Nagato was absent from school. She had some upgrades to install so she had to stay in her apartment."
"Really? Well, even if that was the reason back then, it can't be the reason at this point in time. Maybe it's because of that…?"
"Because of 'that'? What does that mean?"
"Oh, listen to me, thinking out loud again! Well, see you, Kyon." She winked as she grabbed my shoulders and spun me around. Then, the same flash of light illuminated the room and made the adult Ms. Asahina disappear into thin air. Well, that was extremely strange. And why'd she leave in such a hurry? Then the door flung open, and everyone should know what that meant.
"Kyon! Guess what!" Haruhi came bursting through the door with her normal, eccentric attitude pumped to the max from joy. I sighed but, oddly enough, I was smiling. It seemed that something had cheered her up in between classes. Oh, how dreaded the fact that this made me happy. "I bought a couple of pumpkins for the party! Hey, where's everyone else?"
"They're not here right now, but does that really matter? I'm going to be the only one carrying those pumpkins here anyway. Oh, here." I reached into my bag and pulled out the candy. "This is for the party, plus I bought some more things for the time machine." She took the bag of candy and inspected the sheet metal, before turning to me with her wide smile.
"Okay, excellent work, Brigade Lackey. Now go get those pumpkins!" Yes, oh fearless tyrant.
I walked back downstairs to the lockers and grabbed my jacket so I could go outside and get the pumpkins that Haruhi had most likely stolen from some unsuspecting person. It wasn't as cold as it had been earlier, and maybe even warm enough for me to go without a jacket. Haruhi's 'couple' of pumpkins, actually turned out to be five, and I really had no idea how I was able to carry them all up to the clubroom at once, but I did it somehow. When I got back with all of them still intact, the rest of my fellow club members had made it.
"Ah, welcome back, Kyon. I've brought a new game if you want to play. It's fairly simple to catch on to, as well." Even if I can master that game, you'll still beat me over and over. I set down the pumpkins in the corner with the time machine parts and walked over to my seat.
"Sure, teach me the rules." Ms. Asahina walked over to me and handed me her special cup of tea. It was just about the only thing I looked forward to inside that clubroom each day. That and now Nagato's hidden smiles. Good God she was cute.
"Her- Here you g- go, Kyon." Her hand wobbled a little as she set it down, and she barley even made eye contact with me. Great, she's acting awkward with me over this. Please forgive me Ms. Asahina.
"Uh, thank you." She nodded and walked back to the stove to return to her club duties.
After Koizumi explained the rules of this new game called "Connect Five", we began to play. It actually was fairly simple to understand, but he still beat me every time. Eventually Haruhi and Ms. Asahina left for the day, so it was just us and Nagato. And because that happened, I knew I was going to have to sit through another conversation.
I looked out at the setting sun, looking for the moon again. It had actually become a habit over the last couple of weeks. I would stare out at the sky as the sun sank below the horizon, looking for the moon as it was just beginning its ascent. The moon was such a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, I couldn't see it, probably because it was hidden by some clouds. As I searched for it, Koizumi began his little discussion.
"So Kyon, Ms. Nagato. How is it going between the two of you?" I expected Nagato to answer, but she didn't even look up from her book. She didn't care much for Koizumi apparently. Can't say I don't disagree.
"It's going good, I guess. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason. I just thought it would be a good way to start a conversation."
"Uh huh. So I take it that you two want to talk to me about something?"
"You're sharp as always, Kyon." When you live my life, you tend to pay attention to detail. "It's actually about the time machine. It would seem that something is wrong." Nagato began to speak, without even looking up from her book.
"If Haruhi Suzumiya continues on the track she is currently taking, she will no doubt succeed in making a working time machine. The materials she has collected to build this machine were chosen at random, but they can make one." Okay, are you even reading that book for real?
"Oh, yeah. Ms. Asahina already told me that." Koizumi gave me a look of disbelief.
"Ms. Asahina did? I didn't think you two had spoken in private since she found out about you and Nagato."
"Well, it wasn't the Ms. Asahina we all now. It was her future self."
"Oh, her again? Well, that actually makes more sense then. I recently received orders to stop Ms. Suzumiya from creating a working time machine at any costs. In addition, it seems that someone wants her to be successful. That someone might be Ms. Asahina's company. Our two organizations have been at odds for a while, so it makes sense that they would want me to stop her." He picked up another one of his pieces and dropped it down, connecting five of his colors. Damn, another loss.
"But, she told me that her company didn't want us to make it work."
"And I told you that you can't trust her. She may very well be Mikuru Asahina, but she is a completely different person. She changed a lot when she grew up. She became sly, tricky, and downright evil in some ways. It wouldn't be wise to blindly listen to her and do whatever she says, Kyon." He picked up his bag and got up, walking towards the door. "I have to be going now, so we can talk tomorrow. If something important comes up, I'll be in touch. Oh, and be sure not to tell Ms. Asahina anything about this. She might grow suspicious of us." Sorry to break it to you, but everyone already thinks you're suspicious.
Nagato and I sat in the clubroom alone for a while, in silence. We never really talked that much, but she wasn't much of a chatterbox anyway. I rocked back in my chair with my tea and sipped it slowly. There wasn't much to do in the clubroom after Koizumi left. I never actually understood the point of coming to this room every day. If Haruhi had an idea of what we could do next, she could just call us and have us meet at the bus stop. Of course then I'd be buying food for the five of them on the weekdays too, and my wallet can't handle that kind of abuse.
"So, Nagato, do you want to go somewhere?" She closed her book and looked up at me. She had her same expressionless face, but she was at least interested enough to close her book, so I continued. "I was just feeling a bit hungry, so I thought you'd like to go out and eat something." Yup, I'm going to spend money on a weekday anyway, but it's Nagato so it should be fine. She only eats to give herself 'energy' anyway, so she doesn't eat a lot.
"Understood." She stood up and walked to the door, book in hand. "I will be waiting at the gates." She walked out and shut the door without waiting for a response. So damn cute! Before I left to 'meet' her at the school gates, I cleaned up around the clubroom. After everything had been put away, I threw my jacket on and walked downstairs. Hopefully nothing bad happens when we finish this time machine.
I really did hope that nothing would go wrong but, knowing my life, something was bound to happen. I just didn't have any idea of how bad it was going to be. Would it just be a simple problem that Nagato or Koizumi could fix in an instant? Or would it be Earth-shattering like when Nagato stole Haruhi's powers and rewrote the universe's data?
The answer I received was horrible.
Fun Fact: "The creator of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuustsu, Nagaru Tanigawa, claims that Itsuki Koizumi is not homosexual." Duh, he's Kyonsexual - Comment taken from YouTube. Thank you MikuMize999!
So, Yes. The "Very Sexy Woman" I Mentioned Last Chapter Was The Adult Version Of Mikuru. Strangely, I Like The Adult Version Alot More Than The Original Ms. Asahina. Oh Well, Whatever. Look Forward To The Next Chapter With A Little Bit Of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Oohhhhh, Just A Little Bit. -Negima!? Reference.
