- Chapter 4
I then suddenly found myself back in the study, watching the celestial dancing. It was strangely mesmerizing. I could easily see how someone could lose all control of their rational thought just by watching. Something about it spoke to the very essence of myself, and I found it very confusing. I know I'm not wrong about this because it seemed to me that I wanted to suddenly be that celestial and just dance with wild abandon the way it was.
I then saw the computer club president walk up to the celestial and he began to dance with the creature. That image suddenly became far more powerful than just an additional figure dancing. I realized then in some dark corner of my mind that I really was this celestial, not so much in actual reality but in the deepest aspiration of my being. And it wasn't just my thoughts or my tangible form that provoked this aspiration, but really the more deeply feeling and eternal self. I had no way to prove it, but it felt true. I simply believed it, and that suddenly became the most precious thing in my consciousness.
I then saw the pair kissing, and they danced out the front door onto the deck, and they lived happily ever after. The end.
No, really. Okay, not really.
What actually happened then was that I returned from standby mode. This odd visualization put me into a brief state of disgust with myself that I only understood for about thirteen microseconds. At that point, I suddenly wondered why this erroneous data was appearing in my interface, and cleared it from my notification area.
I made some quick confirmations, verified the operation parameters, and quickly filed some acknowledgments. We all knew the drill at this point. I reverted all the security procedures to standard, although that was a little redundant. Suzumiya's guardians didn't even bother with the bus ride, and I could hardly blame them. I was only on the bus to prevent you from making some wistful remark about me that might get me in trouble with my superiors. I verified that Taniguchi had missed the bus, and I noted with some disinterest that he had decided not to come because he "had a feeling" that things were amiss. Tsuruya had again not been invited.
At least, at this rate, the loop would be finished after another seven iterations (assuming Suzumiya was willing to excuse everyone), and that would probably resolve this problem. There would still be the mystery of the celestials, but we were at least not completely blind to their existence and what they were capable of. I had a hunch that Suzumiya would not permit this situation to just keep winding down like this. Something crazy was bound to start happening, although Asakura seemed extremely confident in herself this time around. She kept telling me over and over that this was the last iteration, as if trying to convince herself. I wasn't convinced. Something in me just said, no. This is far from over. It can't end like this.
My hunches were bothering me again, and I decided to ignore them. They just seemed to me like more erroneous data. It was more interesting than this repeating data of the bus ride, although I have to admit that this ride was much more pleasant. Without Tsuruya and Taniguchi, the tone of the conversation becomes much softer and more sophisticated. I noticed how Asahina seemed to be in a much better mood than she was in the first iteration, mostly just smiling and adding some polite encouragements, but not really offering any real conversation. That's about all she's good for other than some assurance that humanity has a future bright enough to create a delicate princess like her. All this politeness seemed to grating on your nerves, though. I reflected on a note I left myself that you like to "be the bad guy" when the conversation gets this way, and that seemed the case on this ride. It mostly meant that you had a few mild arguments with Kunikida, and I noted that he was capable of quickly resolving arguments.
"Yuki! Get your butt out here so I can take a picture!"
In spite of all the interesting anomalies, Suzumiya hadn't changed from her intended path. I got off the bus and immediately participated in the picture, just to get that over with.
- x -
The day proceeded much the same as the previous iteration, although I couldn't prevent Asahina from leaving the study when it came time to play the shooter. We therefore played three-on-three, while you once again kept an eye on the server. Suzumiya, Asakura, and myself took on the computer club president, Koizumi, and Kunikida. I had coded a player emulation script for this scenario, and I ran that on my augmentation processor while I pondered on this situation.
While we played the first match, and we won that one by a small margin, I thought about the fact that I was depriving myself of reading. It made no sense, but I just felt that I should put off my reading until Suzumiya brought out her collection. That would free Asakura from feeling the necessity of following Suzumiya into that sordid realm of hers. I was also curious to see if I could find something in those books that weren't in the ones from the first iteration.
"That was a close one," you commented. "You guys might want to be careful. I think Miss Suzumiya means business."
"You bet your ass I do," she said, getting ready to start the next match.
Your manner of addressing Suzumiya seemed a little odd to me, but then I realized that I was thinking about you in the context of some other time plane. I sometimes neglect to notice how you change in subtle ways. It began to irritate me, although I registered that as more erroneous data again, as we once again had a very close match. This time, Suzumiya was just barely beaten at the last moment.
"Oh, no way!" she exclaimed.
"Yes way," you said. "We're even at one a piece."
"Don't underestimate us," Kunikida added.
"Same goes for you," Asakura responded.
The next match was well-fought, although it was a stunning victory for the males. Not only were none of them defeated, none of them were even hit by our forays. I then realized that I could learn something from playing this way. When people fight as a team, a whole new dynamic appears in their strategy, and that gives them new options they wouldn't have, otherwise. My manner of play wasn't just dragging my side down, it was helping raise the game for the males by giving them more confidence, which meant more variety and more likelihood of success.
"Damn it," Suzumiya muttered.
"I'm sorry," Koizumi said. "We really shouldn't show off like that."
"No," I said. "You played well. Don't apologize."
"Really?" Koizumi asked.
"Maybe you should stop sandbagging," Asakura suggested to me.
"Am I?" I said, and she rolled her eyes.
From that point, it seemed that Suzumiya had lost some of her confidence, and the males took the lead in the end. They were winning eight-to-five when Asahina came and announced that we should go prepare for supper.
- x -
After the supper and the Poker match, we divided rooms and had baths. When Suzumiya snuck out of the study, I got up and followed shortly after. Suzumiya was a little surprised to see me show up rather than Asakura, but then she wasn't about to put away her books, either.
"You know what these are?" she asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Well, all right," she added, seeming a little pleased with herself. She then handed me one of the books, and I began to read.
A few moments later, Asakura entered and locked the door behind her, complaining, "All the hormones out there."
Suzumiya had a laugh at that and said, "Yeah, they should work on that."
Asakura showed no interest in me, but began reading, herself.
I then noticed that I was gripping the book I was reading hard enough that I was almost damaging the spine of it. I then relaxed and reflected on what I was reading. This book was one with a long introduction. It carefully plotted the scenario and did a good job making the characters seem believable, but then it fell apart about halfway in. I realized with surprise that I was annoyed by the way this book had turned out. It wasn't the content or the wording or the devices of the plot that bothered me so much as the lack of consistency.
"Annoying, ain't it?" Suzumiya asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Here you go," she said, giving me another book. She then remarked, "You know, you read awfully fast."
This next book was stunning. I couldn't recall having read this book. If I had, I knew I would have flagged it, because the story was interesting, but not so interesting that it overshadowed the characters. The plotting was good, but not so good that it drew attention away from the story. The scenes of romance were good, but not so good that you could comfortably forget the plot. It seemed more like the kind of story that an author might write strictly for their own amusement.
"I don't like that one," Asakura said. "Too masturbatory."
"You're crazy," Suzumiya remarked.
I finished it, then started on it again. This may seem a bit much, but I started to picture you as one of the characters in the story, and it seemed like I could suddenly see myself as the heroine. It made the story much more interesting, but I think Asakura was starting to catch a hint of the way I was reading it, because she snatched the book out of my hands about halfway through it.
"That's enough of that one," she said. "Try one of mine." She then handed me another book.
"Yeah," Suzumiya said. "Hers are really wild."
I recognized this book. I don't think I would use "wild" to describe it. It was just plain nasty. The scenes of romance went almost from start to finish. I felt a bit like I had been violated by it. I then started reading it again, this time picturing Asahina as the heroine. That made it much more amusing. I even reworded some of the dialogue in my mind closer to the way she would say things. After doing that for about five minutes, Asakura complained, "You have a really sick imagination."
"What?" Suzumiya asked.
"She's picturing Miss Asahina as the slutty girl in that novel," Asakura explained.
Suzumiya had a good laugh at that, and I think she may have learned a new form of perversion from me that night.
- x -
With that bit of light entertainment out of the way, I later met up with Koizumi along with Asakura in the dining room. I briefly informed him that this was the third temporal iteration of a short loop, that he possessed abilities that defied reason, and that this involved emanations that had been described to him by his organization.
"And..." he started, seemingly afraid to continue.
"Yes," I said. "We know all about your organization. The leader of your organization is a man who, if the temporal stream had not been altered at all, would have become Haruhi Suzumiya's husband and would have erected a religious organization devoted toward her worship."
"That explains a lot," he said.
"You have a duty to learn all this," I informed him, "but you cannot simply sit idly by. I feel you have a role to play in this that is much more active. Given the unknown nature of your ability, however I cannot lead you into an understanding of that ability. I am forced to trust that you will discover it for yourself. It's highly likely that this sort of incident will continue to recur. Do you understand?"
"Yes," he answered, his eyes filled with excitement. He then struck me as very similar in nature to the computer club president when testing his computer equipment.
"In addition to being able to sense these beings you call celestials, you can anticipate their arrival with some form of clairvoyance."
"Indeed?"
"Yes," Asakura said, "but don't get in my way. You just concentrate on your abilities and let me handle the creature itself."
"Didn't you say that they are docile?" he asked.
"That has been their observed pattern up to this point," I answered. "At this point, they become more highly active. Their behavior is starting to make them dangerous for ordinary humans."
"So," he said, "why not just restrain us?"
"That's the plan," I said.
"What happened in the previous iteration?" he asked.
I replied, "The celestial caught us off guard with an unexpected maneuver. We learned that it has the ability to dazzle unwary humanoids, including myself."
Asakura added, "The guy gets caught like a deer in headlights by that dancing. If we let him get near it, it picks him up and sends him slamming into the wall, killing him instantly."
"I see," he said. "So, you plan to force it to stop?"
"I plan to dismember it," she answered.
"I don't suppose you could just restrain it," he mused.
"This is her specialty," I explained.
"It's what I do," she added.
- x -
We had an earlier warning this time around. Before the male student even appeared, Koizumi warned us that we had fifteen minutes before "something big" came. I asked him to be specific, but that was all he could tell us. About five minutes later, the computer club president appeared and went to the computer, as we expected. Asakura accompanied him, while Koizumi and I stayed just outside the study.
"It's close," Koizumi warned. "I feel like it's nearly on top of us."
"This is it," I warned the other data units, but they were ready. To be precise, they were ready for the celestial. They weren't actually ready for what was about to happen.
I stood there dumbfounded as the male student and Asakura suddenly vanished. I looked at Koizumi, but he seemed just as surprised.
"Whoa," he said. "What the heck?"
I tried to make a passive connection over the psych line to Asakura, but there was something like a dimensional rift acting as interference.
"Some form of dimensional barrier," I guessed. "Perhaps it's learning from us."
"Perhaps..." he said.
He then reached out with his hand and then pulled it back. He then paused for a moment, then said, "Hey..."
"Yes?" I prompted.
"I can sort of sense something here," he said. "Shall I...?"
"Whatever you're thinking of doing," I told him, "just do it."
He then put out his hand again, and it seemed to me that he could sense the barrier. His hand then went through the barrier, and he suddenly vanished into the invisible area. I tried to follow, but I only encountered the empty room, so I left again.
For a long moment, I felt like panicking, but I then realized that there was nothing I could do. The situation was undoubtedly already resolved. All I could do was wait for some sign of a resolution. I was about to order some probes to scan the area when Koizumi, Asakura, and the body of the male student suddenly appeared.
"Oh man," Asakura said, almost cheerful. "I wish you had been in there."
"In there?" I asked.
"It's some kind of closed space," Koizumi answered. "I don't know how, but I can sense when those are about to appear."
"What happened to the male student?" I asked Asakura.
She answered, "I'm sorry, but I was so shocked by the fact that you disappeared that I..."
"Yeah..." I said, realizing that Asakura does tend to panic in these situations more easily than I. "I expected something like this to happen."
"But it turns out that the celestial isn't that tough," she added, cheerfully.
"It was quite interesting," Koizumi said. "Once she destroyed that creature, the closed space itself disintegrated." He then looked at the male student and added, "It's just unfortunate that we couldn't save him in time."
For Koizumi to understand all this so suddenly was impressive. I think I had underestimated him. I keep forgetting that humans can't seem to remember previous iterations without some form of temporal fluctuation to jog their subconscious; and even then, they usually dismiss that hall of mirrors effect as some kind of malfunction of their brain. In most cases, a malfunction is probably a suitable explanation for deja vu, but this temporal phenomenon hides behind that mundane one, and human beings ordinarily continue their lives as if nothing unusual happened. It was an enviable state, but it was an ignorant one, and I can't permit that in myself.
I then spent as much time as possible reading my books, and it suddenly seemed to me that books were very much like the previous iterations of temporal phenomena to me. I could peruse their contents and imagine them in various ways, but I couldn't change their contents. I then speculated that perhaps it's this permanence that I really fear, but that was just a hunch. I then considered that the enjoyment I derive from reading may also have something to do with it, but that consideration was a reflex caused by the fact that I dislike my hunches. I prefer to find alternative explanations for all things wherever possible, because it occurs to me that I really shouldn't be comfortable with just one explanation. My duties require me to find that one explanation, but it isn't something I arrive at easily.
My one addition in my reports to this experience was simply: expect the unexpected. I suspect that was a little redundant, however. In the domain of the unknown, it goes without saying that you should expect the unexpected.
- x -
In this particular iteration, the one major difference was that Suzumiya seemed to believe the official explanation, but she still wasn't quite comfortable with it. She insisted that there was something more to it all, but she couldn't quite figure it out. It was extremely frustrating for her, and she pounded the table in the clubroom with her fists a little more than she usually would. She had a little more trouble eating, and she complained that she wasn't hungry even when I knew she was.
Asakura was more cheerful than usual, and I think she might have actually been looking forward to another iteration. Koizumi was more thoughtful than in other iterations, and it seemed to me that though he was enthusiastic about his new abilities, he also seemed a little disappointed with himself. I encouraged him as much as I could, but that only had the effect of making him depressed. I made a note to myself to be careful about encouraging Koizumi, but I discovered that I had already made notes to myself on this matter before.
When Suzumiya had her late-night phone call to Koizumi just before the temporal boundary, she expressed some concern about the situation, blaming herself about the danger and adding that she didn't want to keep getting your friends involved in all that in spite of them not even knowing anything about us. I noted that this seemed to be her way of excusing Kunikida, and that turned out to be the case.
Just before I awoke from standby, I discovered in shock that I had transformed into a monstrous being: a creature of sweaty habits and a cruel dependence on other creatures like itself. I then snapped out of that and returned to my safe hiding place of numbers and logical relationships, soothed by the knowledge that I remained oblivious while my interface mindlessly crawled through a world of pain and difficulty.
My duty was clear now: make sure the way was clear for Koizumi to learn what he needed to know, whatever that was. I told this to my superiors, and they agreed, though they cautioned me not to get too close to these humans. Forming familial bonds can only lead to greater difficulty, and I could not have disagreed. I pondered on the possible advantages this trait of affection could have among humans, but this only led me to the conclusion that humans were destined to be prone to deterioration. My inclination in those days was to always avoid deterioration.
- x -
When I got on the bus for our trip that day, I noted that Kunikida was missing, along with Tsuruya and Taniguchi. Tsuruya had not been invited, Taniguchi had had "a feeling," and Kunikida had suddenly been forbidden from attending the trip by his mother. That left six of us, not counting the computer club president. It was fascinating to see all the ways that people could be excused from this event, and I came to the realization that for them to be excused from this was symbolic of their death in Suzumiya's subconscious. This was just a guess, but I think for her to excuse them was just as distressing as seeing them die. The thought was disturbing, but I dismissed that data as erroneous, of course.
The thoughts I mainly preoccupied myself with were how everyone seemed to understand how valuable it was to have Koizumi on this trip. It was a little anomalous, but I surmised that his relative importance had increased because of the fewer number of people. He didn't seem to realize it, but I think Suzumiya did. There seemed to be a kind of affection in the way she looked at him, but she also seemed to despair of ever realizing that affection openly. It made me oddly aware of how I sometimes view you: I sometimes have this feeling that I should show you affection, but it just seems like more erroneous data.
We took a picture at the bus stop and walked the rest of the way to the house. The others somewhat nervously speculated on what we might find there. Asahina escaped into the kitchen again during our shooter game, so that left me, Suzumiya, and Asakura to do battle with you, Koizumi, and the computer club president. To my surprise, we tied in number of matches won: six matches each. This was while using my slightly modified player emulation script, but I hadn't thought it would match up so well with the others. Suzumiya wanted a tie-breaker, but you didn't want our food to get cold, so we all went and had supper at that point. We then used a Poker match to settle the score. We played in teams again, but this time the males won, though not by much.
We then divided rooms, had baths, and met in the study again. Suzumiya had to wait for us to have a long discussion that continued in the dining room before she could comfortably retire to her room, and I didn't really feel comfortable joining her and Asakura. Asakura was a little too excited for her own good, and I had the feeling that she would have made me read out loud again, had I joined them.
When the time came for me and Asakura to join Koizumi at the dining room for his debriefing, he invited us to sit and have tea, and started with:
"I already know what you're going to tell me: I have extrasensory perception."
"That's right," I said.
He sighed and added, "I'm not crazy. There's something that's going to happen in about twenty minutes, and it has to do with celestials and my organization."
"Yes," I said.
"This explains that feeling of deja vu I've been having. What is this? The third time?"
"Fourth," Asakura said.
"Fourth?" he asked, a little disbelieving.
"Let's quickly go over what we know about your abilities," I said.
"Okay," he answered.
"From the previous iterations," I explained, "we observed that you have the ability to sense the location of what you refer to as celestials. You also have the ability to sense in advance when they will appear. Furthermore, you also have the ability to traverse through the boundaries of what you have termed 'closed spaces.'"
"Just those three?" he asked.
"You may have other abilities," I added. "Please keep this in mind, and do not hesitate to use whatever abilities you discover in yourself. This is a matter of life and death."
"What are 'closed spaces?'" he then asked.
Asakura replied, "They are a kind of corrosive alternate space. From the outside, they appear to be nothing, but from the inside, you can clearly see that they are a kind of dimensional rip or bubble."
"These spaces," I added, "appear to be some form of protective mechanism that the celestial uses to prevent interference. It is apparently possible for other beings to be caught up in them, when they appear."
"Is that what happened last time?" he asked.
Asakura answered, "The computer club president and myself got caught in the space, last time."
"You and I were just outside of it," I added. "You immediately demonstrated that you were able to traverse into it, while I found that I was not."
"Interesting," he said. "So, the computer club president keeps getting killed?"
"That is correct," I said.
"Well," he added, "we need to figure out a way to stop that from happening."
"Discovery is our ally on this mission," I said. "Time and uncertainty are the difficulties. Each particular iteration has always added a new and unexpected challenge. I strongly suspect this time will be no different in that respect."
Asakura then said, "We need to destroy the celestial before it can destroy one of us."
Koizumi smiled and remarked, "How clearly you put that."
"We've had a lot of time to reach these conclusions," she added.
- x -
Just before the time was due, Koizumi looked at me and said, "Take my hand."
"Okay," I said, taking his hand. It says a lot about his trust in me and Asakura that he was willing to take me at my word, but I think he was figuring out that he really did have a role to play here, even if it wasn't clear to him what that role was.
Asakura was preparing her weapons just behind the computer club president, and Koizumi and I were standing just outside the study when Asakura suddenly disappeared, and the celestial appeared a moment later.
"There it is," Koizumi said.
Given that Asakura was not likely going to show up in time, I decided to take charge myself. I had deduced that a phased particle gun would most likely be the best weapon to use against this creature, and I drew it through my dimensional tunnel out of my "pockets." I then began to point it at the creature, but Asakura suddenly teleported in, saying, "Not this time!"
As Asakura dashed toward the celestial, I pointed my gun down. Since I had become distracted by this action, I failed to notice how the celestial had stopped and readied itself for Asakura's attack. It struck her in the chin with a quick, slashing kick, and it made another quick slash with an arm toward her midsection, ripping her in half. I almost dropped my gun in astonishment, and I noticed Koizumi looked very shocked at this turn of events.
Meanwhile, the computer club president finally looked up from his work at the computer, obviously curious about this strange creature. I shouted at him to run away, but he ignored my warnings and soon found himself facing the melee attack of this creature, who was obviously still enraged by Asakura's threatening gesture. The male student was ignoring my command, so I queued up a teleportation sequence, but I noticed with some extreme annoyance that it wasn't going to be in time. In order to teleport across this space, I needed to complete a sequence of teleporting out of the closed space, teleporting across normal space, and then teleporting back into the close space. It added about eight hundred milliseconds of delay to my usual teleport, but I realized that the male student had perhaps two or three hundred milliseconds to dodge the attack of the celestial. Needless to say, by the time I would complete that sequence, he would already be dead.
I instead canceled the teleport sequence and prepared myself for defensive action using the pistol already in my hand. It only took about one hundred milliseconds to bring up the pistol, but aiming it and firing it would require another three hundred milliseconds, so I gave up the male student as a lost cause and hoped that shooting the celestial in the head would prove to have some useful effect on it.
My phased particle gun made some nice holes in it, and I definitely slowed it down, but it still had mobility, as it proved by turning and racing toward us after quickly finishing off the male student. I shot the celestial several times in what appeared to be its legs, but it continued moving toward us as if it suddenly realized that it could fly. It then brandished an arm toward me, and I thought this combat would surely end in my defeat until I suddenly saw a curved wall of red energy appear before me.
I shot a quick glance at Koizumi, noticing how he had closed his eyes and was concentrating. Judging from the position of this wall, it seemed to be a sphere centered on himself. The celestial reeled back in astonishment at how its arm had come apart when it contacted Koizumi's red sphere, and it almost seemed like it wanted to bellow in outrage, though it made no sound.
Having wounded it, I realized that it might become even more dangerous now than before, so I decided to bring up my last resort weapon. I pulled my plasma sword through my dimensional tunnel, sliced the celestial cleanly up the middle in half, and returned the sword to my "pockets" in one, smooth motion. I had practiced that, but I never thought I would actually need to use it.
The celestial then flew apart, and the alternate corrosive space disintegrated around us. Koizumi's red sphere was gone and, as all this was happening, Koizumi fell to his knees in shock at what he was seeing.
Asakura slowly began reintegrating her interface back to its base form, and I took a moment to check whether Koizumi had sustained any damage. Aside from our failure to carry out our mission, things had turned out okay.
Koizumi then shakily said, "Damn. You're a show off, you know that?"
I took a moment to register that remark and then realized that he was complaining about me finishing off the celestial.
"Sorry," I said, realizing that I had robbed him of his shot at a little more glory here.
"That's okay," he said, finally looking at me. He smiled and then said, "We're all still learning, here."