So Here It Is! Chapter 10! Enjoy.

It was a day just like any other day. I was bored out of my mind as I sat in the freezing cold, icebox of a clubroom, playing another round of Shogi with Koizumi. I don't know why we decided to play that again, maybe we both wanted to feel nostalgic. Although, I had never stopped losing, so the nostalgia never really set in for me. Whatever the reason, we were playing it. Haruhi hadn't shown up yet, so we patiently waited for her. I got to say, it was pretty awkward with just us, since at any moment Ms. Asahina could decide to talk to me. Although I'm not sure if she knew that Koizumi knew, so maybe she wouldn't. After all, I wouldn't want to go spreading secrets that could potentially destroy the entire universe.

"Checkmate." My attention shifted back to the board just as Koizumi surrounded my king with his pieces, marking another loss for me. Why did we decide to play this again? I hate Shogi!

"Want to play another round?" Oh well. Not like we have anything else to do.

"Sure, why not?" We started to put the pieces back in place, as I tried to keep my composure. I really hated losing, especially to that smiling creep, but at least I could pass the time with him. It was always quiet without Haruhi in the room, which I used to enjoy to no end. But after December of last year, I started to enjoy her overly eccentric presence, although it was still too much for me sometimes. I decided to enjoy the peace for as long as I could, because I knew that the second she walked through that door, I was going to have to "build" a time machine.

"Guys! Sorry I'm late!" And as if right on cue, the door flew open to reveal the extremely happy girl. "I was getting something for Mikuru to wear!" Oh great. What is it this time?

"Ehhh!? But, I thought we were just going to build the time machine today. Why do I have to wear anything?" Ms. Asahina just about cowered in the corner, frightened by whatever outfit Haruhi was going to force her into, no matter what it was.

"Oh, don't worry! You'll look cute, I promise!" I don't think that's the problem, Haruhi. "Now, strip!" She jumped on Ms. Asahina and proceeded to rip her maid outfit off, without any regard for who was in the room.

"Dammit, Haruhi!" I shot out of my chair and ran out of the room, leaving the door open for Koizumi, who calmly walked out and shut the door behind him. "Why does she always do that?"

"I'm not sure, but it seems to make her happy, doesn't it? Here, I brought your tea for you." He held my cup, which I took very graciously.

"Thanks." I leaned back against the window in the hallway and stared out at the street. The sun was just beginning to lower, and I could slightly see the moon up in the sky. I've always enjoyed looking at the moon; its beauty calmed me down a lot. "Oh yeah, it's supposed to be a full moon tonight."

"Is that so? The last time it was full was when I saved your life from Ms. Kimidori, wasn't it?"

"Do you have a point?"

"No, not really. So, do you really think we're going to start building the time machine today?"

"Probably. I don't really care."

"Well, if we do, you have to remember not to take it seriously. We can't have Ms. Suzumiya messing around with time travel." You're telling me. She'd probably try to reshape the world in her image. "Oh, and about Ms. Asahina, has she contacted you since the last time?"

"No, she hasn't. But I'm a little worried. If her company really does want us to make a working time machine, why keep it from us? It doesn't make any sense at all."

"Maybe they have a plan. I'm not really sure. Now, I'm not going to force you to help me and my company. After all, Ms. Asahina is your friend too. But, I would greatly appreciate your help." There's that word again. 'Friend'. That's not exactly what I would call you. "By the way, are you sure it was such a good idea to tell those two about you and Ms. Nagato?" I know I should be surprised that he knew, but at this point I just don't care.

"Don't worry about Taniguchi and Kunikida. They're trustworthy people. Plus, Taniguchi isn't exactly friendly with the SOS Brigade." Kunikida on the other hand, he's not good at keeping secrets. But there's no need to tell you that, Esper boy.

"Well, if you're sure."

"I am." I stared at him with my 'serious' face, trying my best to convince him that I knew what I was doing. In all honesty though, I didn't. I wanted to be as careful as possible while maneuvering around Haruhi, but I couldn't just lie to my friends. After a little while of waiting for Haruhi to finish torturing a terrified - and probably naked - Ms. Asahina, Nagato walked out.

"Oh, Ms. Nagato, hello." She cracked the door open just a little bit and slid out the small opening, then shut it behind her. It was like she was trying her best not to let us see inside the room. So cute!

"What's up Nagato? Got tired of all the torture in there?" She shook her head.

"Haruhi Suzumiya has asked me to relay the following information. Go to the storage shed behind the school and get a cart so we can take the time machine parts to the park."

"Is that so? Well, I guess that's a reasonable request. I'll get right on that."

"I will accompany you."

"No, that's okay Yuki, you don't have-" She blushed and took a step back; he opened his eyes wide and dropped his smile for the first time in months, and then laughed; and I was just as surprised as they were. Did I just say 'Yuki'? "Oh, I mean… damn." She simply smiled and turned back to the door.

"Understood… Kyon." Argh, so damn cute! She went back inside the same way she came out, only cracking the door enough to slip her tiny body inside. I frowned at the Esper who, once again, had his smile equipped. But this time, it felt real. And that only ticked me off even more

"That… was funny. I never knew you were so bold."

"Shut it, Esper boy."

"I'm sorry, please excuse my rude behavior. I didn't mean to laugh like that. You simply caught me off guard." He wiped a small tear from his eye. It wasn't that funny. In fact, it wasn't funny at all. "Anyway, you'd better go and get that cart. Oh, and if you want, you can call me Itsuki."

"No thanks!"

After I put my coat on, I walked back out into the cold, which I really hated doing. This was just like the time last year when she sent me out into the cold so I could steal a heater from that poor man in the electronics store. Well, at least this time I didn't have to walk three miles.

As I neared the storage, I could see that I had already been opened. I figured it was the gym teacher or something, so I just kept walking, but then heard the unmistakable laugh of the second-year student who had befriended Ms. Asahina. Get ready for some extra craziness, Kyon. I continued to walk towards the storage shed, determined to get the cart. A girl walked out, carrying a whole bunch of bars that the girls did jumps over. She walked right by me without a word and kept on going to the field.

"Oh, and make sure you set them up right! OH! Hey, Kyon! Ahahahaha! What are you doing way out here at this time?"

"Hello, Ms. Tsuruya. I'm just here to get a cart for Haruhi. We're taking some stuff over to the park to build a… project for the club." I figured it was for the best not to tell her I was building a time machine, lest I be ridiculed by even more people.

"Oh, I thought you were up to something sneaky. Like what you were doing when you tried to hide your relationship with Nagatochi form Mikuru. Ahahahahahaha!"

"Uh, wait, why do you know about that?"

"Silly, because Mikuru told me! Ahahahaha! You shouldn't be so sneaky, Kyon!" Great, it looks like Ms. Tsuruya's the one that Mikuru came crying to about it. That's just great. In a way, this blabber mouthed girl knowing is worse than Haruhi knowing. Yup, before Haruhi can physically kill me, I'm going to die of embarrassment because the whole school will know. I can see it coming already. "Well, I have to get these bars over to the field! I'll see you later, Kyon!"

"Oh, wait. Please, I beg of you. Don't tell anyone about me and Nagato. Especially Haruhi." She nodded her head and gave another one of her signature laughs as she ran off towards the field, bars in hand. That girl is so strange. I walked inside of the shed and grabbed the nearest cart. It took some time to get it loose from all of the stuff around it and inside it, but eventually I made it outside with it.

And so, I pushed a cart inside of the school building, shivering as I stepped back into the warmness of the inside, and lugged the thing up the steps and to the SOS Brigade headquarters. It's going to be a pain in the ass to get this thing back down there with all that stuff in it.

Koizumi was no longer standing in the hall, so I figured it was okay to go back inside. I left the cart in the hall and opened the door.

"Haruhi, I got the-"

As I opened the door, I was almost blinded by the cuteness that is Mikuru Asahina. She stood, cowering in the corner, dressed in the waitress outfit that she wore during that crummy movie we made for the Arts Festival. Just looking at her almost made me fall over. It's been so long, Ms. Waitress!

Eventually, I snapped myself out of my thoughts. Now, when I say 'snapped myself', I mean that Nagato's soul piercing glare forced me back into reality. I took of my uniform coat and wrapped it around Ms. Asahina. I looked at Nagato, whose glare at all but faded. She looked back down at her book, almost burning a hole in it with her stare.

"What took you so long!? We were waiting forever!" I was only gone for ten minutes!

"Sorry, great leader. It took some time to get it out." And I've never seen you drag a cart up a set of stairs, so don't complain!

"Whatever, let's just go!"

After we loaded up the cart with Haruhi's random junk, we set out for the park to build our 'time machine'. It took a bit of work to actually get the cart back downstairs while it was loaded with stuff, and I suggested that we just take the thing downstairs and carry all of the stuff down separately, even though I already carried all the way up. But of course, Haruhi wanted me to do it the hard way. Eventually me and Koizumi had to pick the entire thing up off the ground and carry it. At least I didn't have to carry it all myself.

We walked for about thirty minutes in the cold, and all the while I pushed a cart full of strange stuff down the road. I kept getting weird looks from people, especially from other students that went to North High, but after almost a year and a half, I had gotten used to it.

At last, we had made it to the park. Fortunately enough, Haruhi had chosen a spot that didn't have any people around, so we could build our crazy contraption in secret. We got everything set up. Koizumi had brought the sheet metal down, and along the way we had purchased some tools to build with. It was very difficult to accomplish, as we were nothing more than a couple of high school kids with some radios and clocks. And the whole time, the only thing I could think was: "Thank god we got all this stuff for free."

We took apart every single one of the radios, and studied them in depth before Haruhi decided what went where. It was like she knew exactly what she was doing, which made me a bit uneasy. I still wasn't sure if I was going to help Koizumi or Ms. Asahina, but I was leaning towards the former. I really didn't want Haruhi to be able to mess with the space-time continuum more than she already could just by existing.

After about three whole hours of hard labor, with Haruhi only screaming at us and bossing us around, we called it a day. I, of course, was forced to take the unfinished time machine and the unused materials home with me in the cart that I had essentially stolen from school. Why haven't I gone insane yet?

As I pushed my cart of random junk down the street like a homeless person, Nagato followed next to me. She had decided to walk me home, which was the cutest thing ever. We actually weren't headed in the direction of my house though. It was more like we were wandering around town. I never mentioned it though, and neither did she, so we just kept walking. The air was nice and cool, like it should be in October. I looked down at the cart of stuff, wondering where I should put it. It definitely couldn't go in my room, there wasn't enough room, and I didn't want to carry it upstairs anyway.

"Maybe we should just sell all this crap."

"That would put Haruhi Suzumiya in a state of emotional unrest, causing her to go into a rampage."

"I know, I was just joking, Nagato."

"I see." You see? Why do you always say that? "Have you decided on who you will help with the matter concerning the time machine?"

"No, I haven't. I want to feel like I can trust Koizumi and Ms. Asahina, so I'm not sure who I should help. Although, I don't know how to build a time machine, so I really don't think I have to choose a side."

"Whoever you decide to help, I will help them as well." I really didn't expect her to say anything like that, so I was taken aback the tiniest bit. At least, enough to make me surprised.

"Thanks, Nagato."

"No." She looked at me with her big, brown eyes. "Call me Yuki." Her beauty almost seemed to multiply as she looked at me; her eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun. They were just like the moon. The moon reflects the light from the sun to cast its glow, but it has its own air of beauty own, too. That was how I thought of her, like the moon.

"Okay…" I thought back to the first time I actually said her name out loud. It was after I had woken up from my 'coma'. More accurately, right after December of the previous year, after she had rewritten the world. It was when we we're standing on the roof of the hospital, and I told her that I wouldn't ever let the Entity take her from the SOS Brigade. That if they even tried, I would whip Haruhi into a frenzy by introducing myself as John Smith. Luckily, what I had said kept her here on Earth with me. "…Yuki."

And as if it was waiting for me to say her name, it began to snow. It made it considerably colder outside, and I didn't have a coat on since I never got mine back from Ms. Asahina, but I didn't care. All I could focus on was the girl that stood before me, her eyes still shining in the fading light.

"Just like the snow…"