I have... returned from the dead! Tremble and fear, mortals!

Okay... I'm not dead, but close to being dead after exams. Yup, they're finally finished which means I now have time to write. So here's my welcome back gift, another chapter. Shorter one this time, I guess I got tired of breaking my own chapter length record. I would prefer not to reveal any hidden secrets (Classified information) or subtle pairings in this chapter, but I'll say that people who've read all of the Haruhi novels should really enjoy the first half of this chapter. Enjoy.

Note: Again, -- is a censored word.


The apartment was dimly lit, caused by both the absence of lights on the ceiling and the dimness of lights that were already installed. The absence of many objects that are commonplace in most household gave this apartment room gave a similarity to Yuki's residence. There wasn't a TV, bookshelves, proper tables, or chairs. The walls were blank while a few beds, a fridge, and a table that required the user to sit on the floor existed as furniture. Kyon was thankful that the bathroom wasn't missing. The four had only just arrived only had just begun to settle down.

"Koizumi, tell me why we couldn't choose a better place to stay in?"

"It was late at night, we needed somewhere to stay. Besides, this place is close to the school." Koizumi continued with this usual hand gestures.

"I know that, but where did you get the money to rent this room? For a seemingly ordinary high school student you seem to have quite a lot."

Itsuki smiled, "I cannot explain everything to you about this, but what I can say is that the Agency has quite deep pockets. How do you think Keiichi-san got the money to buy a remote desert island and build a manor?"

And the money to invite us all to the island only to play dead on us… he had us all worked up with that murder case…

"So that would be like, classified information as Mikuru-chan would say it"

"Correct."

Mikuru interrupted their conversation, "Kyon-kun? Are you going to use the bathroom?"

"Not really, go ahead".

A small amount of time had passed while Kyon occupied himself with his new school textbooks. There basically was nothing much else to do. The apartment room itself was quite large, and he lost track where Yuki or Koizumi were. He walked his way to the nearest bathroom with his attention still buried in his book. Something he had probably picked up from Yuki.

What's the sound of the water?

Kyon opened the bathroom door. It wasn't locked. A shy gasp escaped from Mikuru as she looked to see why the door opened. Luckily for Mikuru, she was grasping the shower curtain and it was held in front of her. Unlucky for Kyon… He quickly ran out of the bathroom slamming the door behind him with the usual "Excuse me!"

Fortunately, Mikuru continued with her shower and soon forgot about Kyon the pervert. Kyon himself pretended like nothing had ever happened and continued with his book on a couch. He 

continued reading for quite a while until he noticed Yuki standing over his shoulder. It seemed that she was standing there waiting for Kyon to notice her.

"Yuki? What is it?"

"Haruhi Suzumiya"

Since that night in Yuki's apartment when she explained everything she knew about Haruhi, they never actually had a serious talk about Haruhi. Kyon thought the SOS Brigade pretty much knew everything there was to know about Haruhi and her crazy antics. He quickly gathered everyone together after Yuki stressed the importance of what she is going to say. Luckily, he remembered to knock on the bathroom door this time. When everyone was finally sat down together, Kyon turned to Yuki.

"So what exactly is the subject of what you are trying to say?"

"Haruhi Suzumiya, the four new girls, and you, so listen."

"Although there is a possibility of you already containing this information, but additional transmission of data is necessary. Apparently, there was an explosion of data surrounding Haruhi almost a week ago, levels of information quickly subsided to below normal levels."

"So when exactly is this… explosion of data?"

Itsuki joined into the conversation, "I think she means the night before the incident at the school. There was an unusually large occurrence of closed space that night."

"Alright…" Did I cause that? "Below normal levels?"

Yuki continued, "Yes, even though the data is impossible to analyze, the level of output of data was less than the Data Integration Thought Entity would usually receive. It can be said, that it was suppressed. Therefore, for the moment, Haruhi Suzumiya's data signature does not differ much than of an ordinary human's."

"Okay… I still don't have much idea about what you are talking about…"

"However, there was a temporary sudden increase in the output level of data at one point between the initial explosion and now. That sudden increase of data occurred during what you would call… an argument."

"Argument? You mean during the argument between Haruhi and… what's her name again?"

Itsuki corrected Kyon, "Kagami."

"Thanks."

"Yes, during that time frame. From that, part of the Data Integration Thought Entity over-mind has concluded that the level of output of data is linked to the state of Haruhi Suzumiya's mind. That is related to the four new girls, especially Kagami."

"So what about them? They seem like four ordinary girls to me."

"Their exact affiliation and purpose cannot be determined and concluded as of this moment. No data link can be found in any of the analysis subjects."

Itsuki's seemed much more serious, "It is impossible to determine if any of them are espers as well. As you all probably know, esper powers have no effect outside of closed space, so they cannot be detected outside closed space as well."

"Okay… not aliens… not espers… not time-travelers as well? Mikuru-chan?"

Mikuru finally said something after being worried from the seriousness of the conversation, "Well… I am supposed to be the only one who was sent back in time to investigate Haruhi."

"There, definitely normal humans. Can we now please kill the scary atmosphere?"

Yuki continued, ignoring Kyon's question. "Even though no direct links can be found, the possibility of any of the girls having an interest in Haruhi Suzumiya still exists. Although analysis of data is inconclusive, the data itself suggests that the argument is within the category of an attempt to provoke Haruhi Suzumiya and to gather and analyze data generated."

Kyon obviously was shocked, "Does that mean… she could be another alien? But you said earlier that she wasn't an alien?"

"It is true that no data link can be found. As you probably already know, there are other humanoid interfaces and a data link with the Data Integration Thought Entity should be present. However, no data link can be detected, so there is the possibility of an attempt to hide the data link to avoid detection. That is one possibility. The other…"

Kyon's face was filled with slightly more shock when he noticed that Yuki had stopped talking to him and seemed pretty confused and was talking to herself. Confused in a plain, straight Yuki way of course.

"Another… human-purpose interface… from… Sky Canopy… Domain… That level of linguistic communication should be impossible…"

"Nagato? You okay?"

"That was a minor error. No damage has been done."

"So… what you mean is that any one of them could be an alien like Asakura?"

"Yes, but I'll make sure you will be under no threat from deletion."

"Huh?"

"I'll protect you."

"Ur… thanks…"

Everyone stayed silent for a moment. However, a slight look is displeasure appeared on the two observers' faces, which would be Koizumi and Mikuru. Kyon broke the silence again.

"Do you have anything to say, Koizumi?"

Koizumi smiled, "Well… do you remember the events of the previous week?"

Kyon nodded.

"It can be said, that the events including changing schools were caused by Haruhi wishing for them. She may have become bored of the routine events that were happening, and wished for change. It could be a turn for the better, since it relieved a lot of Suzumiya-san's stress. If things continued remain the way they were, it could lead to the end of the world."

End of the world again? How many times has he said that again? "Okay… what about the girls?"

"I'll repeat what I said earlier first, esper powers have no effect outside closed space, so they cannot be detected in the normal world. The Agency is not a small organization and there are many different views held by different individuals. Fortunately, the majority of the opinion is that we should not interfere. However, there are 'diehards' who seek to further stimulate her, so that argument can be seen as an attempt to stimulate Haruhi."

"Do you know any of these 'diehard' members?"

"Not really. Although most Agency members keep in touch with each other, the 'diehards' are much more isolated and are kept in check. However…"

He paused for a second. "I cannot tell you everything about this yet unfortunately, but there are other factions with an interest in Suzumiya-san as well. Their exact nature is unknown and they have not yet openly revealed themselves yet. What I can say and what I know is that, there are other espers besides the ones in the Agency."

"Other aliens… other espers… other time-travelers as well?" Kyon turned to Mikuru.

She was about to say something but hesitated, and proceeded to let her usual phrase escape, "Classified information."

That Kagami… she really got the attention of everyone from one ordinary argument, they were really serious about it… Remind me to argue with Haruhi if I wanted to grab everyone's attention.

"Okay… Nagato, you were going to say something about me right?"

Koizumi answered that, "You are already aware that you were chosen by Suzumiya Haruhi, reasons still unknown. However, the four girls' appearance, sudden relationship and sudden acceptance into the Brigade has led to the conclusion that they may well be chosen by Suzumiya Haruhi as well, and there must be a reason behind that as well."

"So how does that affect me?"

"Although it has not been made clear yet, you may not be as important as you were to Suzumiya Haruhi as you were before. Even though you are an ordinary human, you are an important member. However, you may not be able to influence Haruhi like you did before. You were the one who could always control the God. Now, you may have lost that ability. And of course, an out of control god may lose favor with this world…"

Okay… you scared me. How did they come up with that crazy conclusion? If I remember, Konata was the first to approach Haruhi when we arrived at the school. She didn't do the whole introduction about 'I have no interest in normal humans' or 'Aliens, time travelers, espers come join me', yet she dragged Konata and her friends off to a new clubroom on the same day they first met her. Congratulations, new record. Took me a week to get Haruhi to drag me around… What are you, Konata? For some reason, I sure hope you are an ordinary human.


"What you playing?"

"Clannad, as in the visual novel. I bought this after seeing the anime. You've watched the anime?"

The Izumi residence became quiet again after Yui arrived and departed drunk. The sound of screeching wheels was followed by a period of silence. The conversation was the first noise made following the silence besides from the sound of scrolling game text on the television.

Haruhi sharply declined, "No. Isn't watching anime the stuff ordinary people do? I have no interest in normal humans."

Konata smirked, "True, ordinary people watch anime. But, only a special group of people watch anime with true passion. Certainly not ordinary people."

Haruhi was not budged by Konata's passionate tone.

Konata continued, "You've watched any anime before? I can sense that you have watched at least one before." Konata crawled closer to Haruhi, "Come on, admit it."

"Well… I've watched Mobile Suit Gundam when I was much younger. I guess that's about it."

"Good, good. But just Gundam is far from enough, although my dad would say that Gundam is more than enough, with him being a Gundam fan and all."

Konata dashed for a bookcase containing DVDs, "Here, I'll introduce you to a favourite of mine."

She held the case in front of Haruhi's face, who still wasn't excited or amused with Konata's actions. It was clear after a few seconds that Konata wanted Haruhi to actually read the cover of the DVD case.

"The Melancholy of -- --. Seems like something ordinary to me."

"This is no ordinary anime boy, no ordinary anime."

"So what's so special about that?"

Konata pulled out an evil laugh, "You'll see. After seeing this, there is no turning back… Are you sure you want to watch this?"

"Just play it. You sound like you are about to show some horror movie."

Konata thought and mumbled to herself while clicking through the episode selection. "I shouldn't show you the first episode in DVD order, since it is the eleventh episode chronologically and anyone new to the anime would not be able to understand a thing. I guess I should show you the first episode after Remote Island Syndrome Part 2."

"What are you talking about?"

Konata smiled and pushed play.

Asking someone how long they believed in Santa Claus… is so meaningless that it couldn't even serve as worthless gossip… Regardless...

The television immediately grabbed Haruhi's attention and she scooted in for a closer look. "Why does that man look awfully familiar?"


"Urr… Moishi, Moishi. This is the Hiiragi residence."

"Ah, Kagamin. This is Konata. You're still awake? You couldn't sleep? Or were you waiting for me to call you?"

"Shut up. You're the one who always call people in the middle of night because you were feeling a little 'lonely', especially me."

Konata gave her sly tone again, "Come on, admit it. You were the one who was waiting for me to call you."

Kagami was slightly thankful that they were talking on the phone therefore Konata couldn't see her blushing facial expression, "Well… We didn't really had the chance to properly talk over the past few days. So, how are things right now?"

"They're ok. There's nothing much to do right now though. Everyone in my guild is offline except Kuroi-sensei, she already told me off for being awake this late in the night. Haruhi fell asleep halfway through 'Someday in the Rain'. I guess she didn't get the references in the episode. It's not the most interesting episode either. I wonder how KyoAni got away with an episode entirely about a guy picking up a heater."

"Konata, speak in Japanese please."

"Sorry, so how are things on your end?"

"Nothing much either. My whole family's asleep right now, pretty dark… pretty lonely…"

"Aw… don't worry Kagamin, I'm here for you."

"Thanks Konata, that reminds me… Don't you ever get lonely? You normally live with only just your dad."

"Nah. Dad, Cousin Yui, and Haruhi are more than enough company for one person."

"Haruhi is good company for you… is she better than me Konata?"

"Why are you asking me that? Of course you are a better friend, even though we only met this year."

Kagami hesitated to answer leaving Konata waiting for a response. After a very long second, Kagami simply answered, "Konata, thanks for everything that you've said."

"Well… I guess you can come visit my house again sometime. Spend more time together than we usually would at school together."

Kagami suddenly stopped being emotional and immediately sounded excited, "As in a sleepover, that's great! Should I invite Miyuki and Tsukasa as well?"

"Yeah, you should. The more the merrier."

"So it's just us four then?"

"I guess. Could you and Tsukasa switch hairstyles again? I'll take a picture this time."

"Stop it. That was a one-off."

"Aww… you don't want to look cute like Tsukasa?"

"Shut it."