A/N: already 3000 views, woah! This chapter is my personal reinterpretation of the events of the Cultural Festival as seen in Live Alive, I hope you will like it.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter 13 - Cultural Festival

November was there, and with it came the pre-Cultural Festival fever. Each classroom or clubroom were buzzing with heated discussions about what to set up for the Festival.

In our class we did a survey to decide what to do. It was finally voted to set up a haunted house in our classroom. We then decided of what each of us would take care of, like the costumes, the make-up, or the props. We also decided of a schedule to allow each of us to visit the other classes' attractions.

Later in the clubroom we asked the others what their class was up to. Koizumi's was going to put on a short play, Mikuru's was going to hold a maid-café, while Yuki's was going to do horoscope reading.

Clubs also can have their own attraction, but as we were an unofficial club, it would be harder to convince the student council to give us their approval.

But Haruhi had found something else to push forward the Brigade. In the hallway she eavesdropped a conversation between the members of the music club all-girl rock band ENOZ (named from the members' last names: Miyuki Enomoto, Takako Nakanishi, Mizuki Okajima, and Mai Zaizen). As this year's performance was the last for Enomoto, the vocalist, they wanted something different, to left their mark on all North High students' minds.

Therefore Haruhi offered the help of the Brigade to create a video clip, that will be projected behind the group on stage, and a girls only choreography, that will be performed live on stage.

- xxx -

The following weeks were dedicated to the shooting of the clip, and the rehearsals of the choreography.

The clip was for a song named God knows... The song is about a girl talking about her feelings for a boy. The self-proclaimed Ultra-Director quickly decided about the cast: Koizumi would be the boy, and I would be the girl.

The shooting was planned for the following week-end. That Saturday as I joined Haruhi in front of the station, I was surprised to see Kunikida and Taniguchi. She had managed to convince them to help us with the technical parts: framing, lighting, sound...

We shoot different scenes with Koizumi and I walking away, moving closer, hugging... After the hugging scene I could glimpse some jealousy in Haruhi's eyes. We also shoot some scenes with only one of us walking aimlessly, staring into space...

The boys helped is the day of the shooting, but it was again my difficult task to edit the film to synchronize it with the lyrics. It took me nearly a week, but the result was quite good given my skills with the editing software.

The choreography was on a song titled Lost my music. Like God knows... this song was about a girl talking about her relation with a boy. The choreography was a succession of random movements: arms held together in front of us, hips wiggling, arms held high with pointed finger, jumps...

- xxx -

Quicker than expected, the day of the Festival was there.

As I was not in the first shifts of our class's haunted house, I had some time to visit some stands.

I visited the Art Club stand. Its members are quite talented and produced some really interesting pieces.

I also visited the Computer Club stand. Even if their room is just beside ours, I did not know exactly what they were doing in there. As soon as they saw me, they looked around, panicked. I immediately reassured them that Haruhi was not around, as she was doing her shift in our class's haunted house. They made me try one space war game they named The Day of Sagittarius III.

It was now my shift in the haunted house. As planned, Mikuru visited the house during my shift. She was the most terrified of all our "clients" of the day. Unlike the others, who just laughed all along (we are only amateur pranksters), she looked really scared, while Tsuruya, who was accompanying her, laughed like the others.

After my shift, I visited Mikuru's maid café, for which she gave us vouchers. It was then time for Koizumi's class's play. On the way I passed in front of Yuki's class were she was doing a little too detailed palm-reading to a slightly uncomfortable boy.

After this I had to run to the concert hall for ENOZ's jig.

Just before their first song, Enomoto spoke like that:

"As this year's Festival is my last in North High, we have decided to do something different. Be ready for some surprises!"

After two songs, it was time for God knows... I felt a small jolt of anguish: 'What if the film bugs?', 'What if the public does not like it?'.

But it went really smooth. The public was pleasantly surprised.

Lost my music was their last song. As we were waiting backstage, I felt stage fright building up.

But as for the clip, all went smooth.

At the end of the song, under a thunderous applause, Enomoto spoke again:

"Thank you everybody! Thank you! I would like to thank the Brigade SOS for their help!"

And we all bowed together hand in hand, with ENOZ in the middle.