Kyon took a deep breath as he stepped out of the TARDIS for the first time in a week.
The air was chilly, but not uncomfortably so; there was no snow to be seen nearby, as usual limited mostly to the far off mountains in the distance, barely visible between the gaps of buildings.
The TARDIS had landed in the usual gathering area for all weekend SOS Brigade activities. For some strange reason, Kyon felt that the station looked more modern than it would ten years in the future - at which point, it would somehow feel more 90's in design.
Kyon had little time to monologue internally about the specific feeling of the area around him, as that was rapidly changed by the appearance of an orange-haired woman in front of him.
Her back was turned, and she was faced entirely in the opposite direction. Kyon felt a moment of abrupt hesitation, snapped back to reality as the Doctor exited the TARDIS behind him.
The Doctor was smiling; a smaller grin grew across Kyon's face as well. The woman turned slowly, revealing herself to the two men.
"Hello, Kyon... Doctor." said a slightly older Mikuru Asahina. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Something felt off in Kyon's mind; this was Miss Asahina (big), that much was certain, however...
"Well, she's a fair bit older than before," the Doctor commented, extending his hand out. "Nice to meet you too, Miss Mikuru! Lovely name that, means something like 'yet to happen', right? Love it when names fit so well, like John Sheppard the Sheppard, or sound nice, like 'come along, Pond'!"
Mikuru simply smiled, shaking the Doctor's hand gently as he rattled on.
Kyon came to realise exactly who she was.
"Did you meet me for the first time yet?"
Mikuru looked at Kyon with a mixed look; slight confusion, remorse, even guilt?
"Do you mean... have I come back from the future to introduce myself?"
Kyon nodded simply.
"No, I haven't, Kyon. This is my first trip back in time since I left you."
Kyon's suspicions were confirmed; this version of Mikuru (whom he internally dubbed 'Miss Asahina (younger)') was both older than Miss Asahina (small) that went to his school, and Miss Asahina (big) that had helped Kyon, twice now, save the day.
Time travel was always accompanied by confusing terms.
At that point, Miss Asahina (younger) seemed to be struggling to container herself; clearly remembering a lot of conflicting emotions all at once, I became desperate to change the subject, my mind drawing a blank to the problems at hand.
So, the question of the moment was whether or not she was the one that summoned us here.
"No, I'm not," she said, smiling gently once more. "I was only given the orders to come to this date and time."
A look of realisation suddenly came across the Doctor's face; both his arms flailed slightly as he looked around nervously.
"Ahh," he muttered. "That's not good..."
"What isn't?"
The Doctor glanced at Miss Asahina (younger); he clenched his teeth, choosing his words carefully.
Or so I thought.
"Uhh, space, time, things, wibbly-wobbly things are about to happen - you'll probably feel them in a second."
Like someone had put a cattle prod to her back, Miss Asahina (younger) shot upright in sudden surprise.
"Wait, is this right?" she said, putting two fingers to her left wrist. "That... that can't be, I don't remember it-!"
She shuttered violently, her eyes wide with shock.
What the heck is going on? Why are these two in a panic?"
"I... I'm time travelling!" Miss Asahina (younger) yelped. "Where did I put it...!"
Hastily, Miss Asahina (younger) pulled out what seemed to be a small silver bracelet, and hastily placed it threw her left hand.
A second later, Miss Asahina (younger) seemed to vanish from view; the features of her face and body were indistinguishable - though she was clearly still there, it was almost impossible to define her.
At that point, there was a strange, distorted noise coming from a few meters away.
The Doctor and I turned slowly, looking to the source.
Miss Asahina (small) was starting to materialise into existence.
Like water condensing on an ice cold window, she faded into this time quite slowly. It was a good ten seconds before she fully arrived, at which point she moved gently.
Miss Asahina (small) lowered her hands from her head, breathing a sigh of relief.
She opened her eyes, and immediately took note of me, then the Doctor, then the TARDIS, in that order.
With that, she jumped back sharply, somehow choking on her own sharp inhale.
"Miss Asahina-!"
"Temporal re-alignment!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Love it! Haven't seen it in ages. Ooh, it's a bit outdated though, your version, you should get that updated."
The Doctor had taken a long stride towards her, outstretching his hand.
The mere presence of the Doctor caused Miss Asahina (small) to go into defensive overload; on the verge of tears, she practically curled up into a ball at the Doctor's feet.
"Miss Asahina, please," I began. "We need your-"
"Asahina!" a booming, deep voice said. "Stand up this instant!"
It took a good moment for all three of us to realise that the distorted voice belonged to Miss Asahina (younger). Miss Asahina (small) stood up slowly, her face showing confusion, rather than fear.
"Ehh? Agent seven?" she muttered. "What are you doing here? Y-you're not supposed to interact with others outside classified information."
"I was ordered to arrive here, as you were." Miss Asahina (younger) continued in that strange voice.
This confirmed my suspicions that the Mikuru of my time was working with, maybe even taking orders from, future versions of herself.
"Right then, 'Agent Seven'," said the Doctor. "Who sent you here, then?"
"I did."
At that moment, a third person arrived; she appeared with little fanfare, simply appearing nearby with a gust of wind.
"Agent Seven, I order you to remove your perception filter."
All four of us had our eyes fixed upon the newcomer, all of us confused greatly as to her presence.
"From this point in time, our timelines are out of sync; once we go our separate ways, the memories of our interaction will be retroactively removed from the timeline."
This was yet another copy of Mikuru Asahina - one much older than any I had ever encountered before. To respectfully guess her age, she must've been in her mid forties at this point; she was wearing a black leather jacket and blue jeans that were incongruous to her otherwise charming appearance.
She rolled back the sleeve of her right arm, revealing a high-tech device strapped to her wrist. She pressed a single button on it; a strange mist seemed to disappear around her, making her seem more tangible.
Miss Asahina (younger) took off the perception filtering bracelet, revealing herself once more. Miss Asahina (small), strangely, didn't seem too worried now she knew who 'agent seven' really was.
"Oh, good," the Doctor muttered, clapping his hands together. "Three of you... in the same place and time."
"I understand it isn't an ideal situation," Miss Asahina (big) began. "However, being that crossing my own timeline is the only way to achieve a solution to the situation at hand, and that I finally have the clearance to accomplish this, there was little choice but to summon you all here."
Miss Asahina (big) pressed a few buttons on her wrist device; a strange sound and flash of light emanated from the bracelet of Miss Asahina (younger).
"Agent Seven," the older Mikuru said. "I am temporarily granting you access level Beta. You are free to use the temporal synchroniser whenever you feel is necessary; you have three uses, so use them well."
Mikuru (younger) bowed respectfully to her older self.
She turned to face me, smiling ever so slightly.
"So, Kyon," Miss Asahina (big) said. "Do you have the transforming device Yuki gave you?"
Out of my pocket I took out what appeared to be a solid cube of dark purple plastic.
This was the 'Christmas present' that Nagato had given me; the one time I had used it, it had transformed into some sort of trouble detector. It had led me right to the doctor.
I hadn't even noticed it had transformed back and slipped itself into my pocket; the moment it had slipped my mind, it stored itself.
The Doctor suddenly locked eyes with the device, pulling out his sonic screwdriver.
"Where did you get that?" he inquired, glancing between the cube and the sonic.
"It was a Christmas present from Nagato," I said. "It turned into some weird detector device; it's what led me to the building you were in."
I turned to Miss Asahina (big).
"It transformed back into this shape whenever I forgot about it, and it hasn't worked since. What is it?"
Miss Asahina (big) pressed a few more buttons as she spoke.
"It's a device one of our agents acquired in the future," she said. "It's one of many similar devices that can transform into an exact replica of any item a particular Person Of Interest has created over their lives."
"Who's this one keyed into, then?" the Doctor asked. "Some future scientist or madman, I assume?"
"Yes. You."
The device suddenly started glowing slightly; at the same time, it seemed to be getting lighter, nearly floating out of my hand.
"Unfortunately, when you acquired it, it was low on power; Yuki took my orders literally, and gave it to you with enough power to do one specific task - to find the Doctor."
"When did you give Nagato the device?" I asked.
"Nine days ago, relative to you. To be precise, December 24th, shortly after you- we, restored the data of reality back to its original form."
The two other Mikuru exchanged confused glances. It occurred to me that neither one of them was ahead enough in their own timeline to have gone back in time of their own volition, and so neither of them knew about the incident with Haruhi's disappearance.
"Why does he need an invention replicator?" asked the Doctor.
"I'll be honest, Doctor, that one was mostly made so that we had emergency access to the Sonic Screwdrivers. Give it a try, Kyon."
Holding the mysterious cube in my hand, I cleared my mind as much as possible.
I could feel my thoughts become reality; as I imagined my need for the Sonic, I could feel it take shape.
Within seconds, the cube began to fold itself, intersecting its own geometry; sure enough, within a minute it had turned into an exact copy of the Doctor's current Sonic Screwdriver.
There was a minute's pause. The only thing breaking the silence was the sound of the winter wind rushing through my ears.
"Why am I here?" asked Miss Asahina (small). "I... I don't see why I'm needed, I don't have anything to offer."
Miss Asahina (big) grinned slightly, and seemed to stand up straighter.
"Simple enough; The Doctor needs you."
After saying that, the oldest Mikuru began to press further buttons on her wrist device.
"Right then, my role here is done. Good luck to all four of you - or three, however you look at it."
Miss Asahina (big) began to disappear from the current moment in time - but not before getting a final line in.
"Doctor, remember your own plan for once!"
And with that, the far-future Mikuru was gone.
"Right then," Miss Asahina (younger) began. "I think I know what my role is; pick a date, any date."
The Doctor smiled, rubbing his hands together - either for the cold or out of excitement.
"Be a bit more specific," he said. "There's seven years for us to go after, after all."
"Why don't we just try to get you back where you were?" she continued. "December 26th, just after 9 am."
Miss Asahina (younger) smiled as she raised a hand to just above her right temple.
"Good luck, Kyon."
Slightly slower than the older Mikuru, the middle Mikuru also vanished from this moment of time.
"Right then!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Enough chatting with your future selves for one day, right?"
The remaining Mikuru didn't respond, making herself smaller as usual - this time, however, not showing fear, but rather apprehension.
The Doctor pushed one of the front doors of the TARDIS open.
"Right, everyone in!"
The Doctor walked in by himself.
Myself and Mikuru stood outside for a little while longer.
I noticed she was staring intently at the TARDIS, struggling with internal conflict.
"Everything alright?"
"...When I joined... the time agents, I had to swear that there were a few things I would never do. One of them was... I shouldn't enter the Doctor's vessel, under any circumstances."
"Was crossing your own timeline another thing you promised never to do?"
Mikuru gave a slight, but incredibly warm and sincere smile.
"Yes, it was."
With not a single moment of further hesitation, we both stepped on board the TARDIS.