Part 2, Chapter 6:

We found out a week later that we hadn't covered all the issues we needed to address. Or, to be more specific, I found out. Forcefully. We talked about own issues, but forgot the most important part.

I was just about to settle down for lunch, relaxing into the meal and nodding to Kunikida as he prepared to move over to Haruhi's desk when she left on her inevitable assault on some mysterious something or other.

Or so I thought, until I found myself gripped by the tie and forced to my feet. There was the visceral sound of my chair scraping across the ground as I was forced from zero to Mach one, dragged towards the door.

I planted my feet and skidded a moment, then slowed to a stop. Haruhi glared back at me, "Kyon, come. I want some words."

I am not your dog, Haruhi, and this isn't my leash.

At the back of my mind, I wondered if, suddenly, the school had been plunged into the far side of Pluto's surface. The air seemed to go thinner, and I was suddenly freezing despite my jacket. No sound was made, as everyone in the class seemed to sense the danger in the air. I wondered if my face looked as furious as Haruhi's. I saw a glimmer of confusion coalesce in her bright demanding eyes.

I took several steps forward, towards Haruhi. There was a moment's pause and then she continued her practical run. I trotted keep up, not letting her pull on my tie to keep me moving.

As we walked towards the familiar back stairwell of the school, I realized, before she could tell me, what was wrong.

Each day, after school, Haruhi had been stopped cold in the middle of something, at least once. One day, it was when I laughed at one of Itsuki's jokes. I stopped when I noticed her bemusement. Another was when she came back from cleaning duty to find Yuki at the computer. Yuki got up without a word and returned to her book. Yesterday, Mikuru had asked permission to choose different outfits on the rack to wear. Mikuru immediately apologized, changing her mind, but Haruhi gave her permission anyway after that lost moment in confusion.

Haruhi knew something was up. I was observant enough to guess what was on her mind. All of this sort of came to me as we marched quickly towards my interrogation session.

"Alright, Kyon, what the hell is going on?"

I have no idea what you're talking about. And could you let go of my tie?

She gripped tighter and yanked a little. She was standing on the step above me, while I stood on the small disused platform holding the battered equipment of the Art Club. "Don't get cute with me, Kyon. What is going on? Why is everyone acting weird?"

Weird how? I didn't see Mikuru levitating any objects, or Itsuki crawling on the ceiling.

Haruhi looked annoyed enough to slap me, but I met her eyes, just slightly higher than my own, one step higher on the stairs.

"I mean, since when does Mikuru take a break from making tea to doodle in a drawing book? Since when did Yuki start playing against you and Itsuki at board games? Since when did Itsuki start printing off ghost stories from around town and leaving them in my shoe locker? And," she paused, as if this last one was the worst of all, "since when did you find a backbone?"

While I could have said a lot about her last comment, I was idly more annoyed by Itsuki. He could pursue Haruhi however he wanted, but why do it by encouraging her bad habits? And using ghost stories as a love letter was pretty bad, even for Itsuki.

The thing was, I didn't really have an answer for her, or for myself. I, for one, wasn't quite as wary of her moods as I otherwise used to be. Before, her reaction to what I did had always been at the back of my mind, especially after that dream set in the school. Now… I felt more distance between us. I was less… ensorcelled by her antics.

I think the other humans in our group, Itsuki especially and Mikuru to a lesser extent, had, in some way or another, forgiven her already for the summer. I don't think Mikuru could hold a grudge, for one. I couldn't read Yuki, and didn't feel comfortable guessing at answers because they were inevitably not kind.

I knew how I felt. With Haruhi here, glaring at me like Emperor Yoshinori must have done to Kubo Mochiuji for causing insurrection in his realm, I was disinclined to be honest with her about said feelings.

Instead, I approached from a different direction, "Haruhi, how many friends do you have?"

She blinked, a caught off-guard, but her glare returned quickly. "What are you talking about? Changing the subject?" The edge in her voice told me to tread carefully. Itsuki didn't need more work than he had lately.

"I mean, do you consider the brigade members your friends? Or just subordinates?"

Haruhi scowled harder, "You are dodging my question! This is what I am talking about! You are stepping out of your assigned role! Everyone is!"

I sighed, "So is that what we are, Haruhi? Roles? Are we your playthings?"

"Yes! I am your supreme leader, and you are my followers!" Some small fraction of how I felt about that statement must have shown on my face, as Haruhi's hubris broke a little, and that tiny confusion showed.

Her grip on my tie loosened. I grabbed the top of the tie and pulled it from her hand. "Haruhi. We went through the summer as friends. Maybe the difference you see is our bond as friends growing stronger. I thought we were closer to you as well, but if that last night of hanging out together meant nothing more than a gathering of your minions… I don't know what to tell you. We are your friends, Haruhi. Are you ours, or are we just your servants?"

Her face was a war between indignation and hurt confusion, but the indignation won. "Of course you are my friends. What a stupid question! I didn't know my summer activities were so effective at bringing us together, is all."

Oh they were, but not how you think. We had more bonding time than the Gutenberg printing press has had with paper. Too bad you only caught a glimpse of the last book off the press.

I smiled regardless, "Good. We are more relaxed is all. No matter how we change, we will be your friends, Haruhi."

She wasn't quite assuaged, but she seemed more relieved than I expected to hear those words. How long had Haruhi been without friends? Maybe she needed them more than she had realized. Maybe I needed to be reassured we were friends too.

By the time we got back, I had only enough time to open my lunchbox when the teacher arrived. Alas. The burden of friendship.

That thought though, stuck in my head. Friendship. We needed to do something for Haruhi. With Haruhi. Not just about Haruhi.

I glanced back during a lesson on biology I wasn't quite sure I understood anyway, to look at a girl I didn't understand at all.

Haruhi was staring out the window absently. She saw me glance back at her and glared at me, not quite as angry as before, but still a little of the same heat.

I tried to return to my notes while I brooded. We all needed to do better.

That afternoon, the three of us started our inquisition, a finely crafted mechanism of assault on Haruhi's insurmountable barriers.

We were all seated and enjoying ourselves at the table, Yuki and Mikuru watching with fierce interest in our card game of War. As Itsuki and I played the game, comprised mostly of random luck, Haruhi was tapping something furiously on the computer. I was a little worried that Yuki wasn't reading, but she did have a book nearby. It looked brand new, but it looked like it was written in sanskrit. She didn't seem bored, watching us play with cards.

I glanced at Itsuki significantly. He looked back, smiling a cool poker smile, as if we were playing for money in a game of skill. He did not get the significance of my gaze, or if he did, he chose to ignore it.

I hadn't had a chance to talk to any of them about Haruhi's talk on the abandoned stairwell. I'd give them a rundown later. I supposed if Itsuki could some how predict some of Haruhi's moods, he should have some idea of what might have happened anyway, and had just decided to not say anything yet.

I signed mentally, wishing I wouldn't have to do all the work, but alas, the burden falls where gravity takes it.

"Hey Haruhi," I said, as I played a game-shaking three of hearts against Itsuki's jack of spades.

"What?" she replied, a little grouchily.

Itsuki glanced at Haruhi, then back to me, as if suddenly grasping the meaning of my glance. My eyes returned to the game in a perfect simulacra of nonchalance. "What is the big project you have planned for us?"

Haruhi's grouch worsened, though it was less hostile and more protective now, "You haven't earned the right to know yet."

My eyes flicked to Mikuru. She was still fascinated by the riveting action on the board, but I had a feeling she wouldn't have caught on yet. "Didn't we do a good job at the grocery store? We got you two of those frog costumes." I continued, still watching Mikuru, trying to get her attention. "Don't we deserve a reward?"

Mikuru looked at me confused, then blinked, eyes sliding back to Haruhi. I am not sure she got my meaning as she stood up and walked over the to the tea station and grabbed her tea tray. I tried not to sigh as dutifully I handed her my empty cup.

Haruhi looked around the computer monitor at me, as if I was playing some dirty trick on her, "No, it doesn't."

Itsuki smiled serenely as he played an ace to my king, "You know, it doesn't do you any good to have subordinates if you don't properly delegate. Maybe we can help."

His feint caused Haruhi "hrrmph" with indignation, " A leader must take on responsibility herself sometimes. Somethings are too important to divide." She imperiously offered her cup to Mikuru, who had collected everyone's mug already. Almost as an afterthought, she muttered, "You guys aren't just subordinates anyway."

I couldn't see her face, resolutely hiding behind the monitor. I'd like to imagine there was some extra emotion akin to embarrassment or apology in that last statement, but I think it would have been simply wishful thinking on my part. I glanced at Itsuki to see he was staring at me with some speculation.

Of course, he didn't know what was said on the stairwell, but I would have been a little surprised if he didn't know that Haruhi had dragged me across the school. We did walk past his class after all.

It was quiet for a moment, as Mikuru poured the tea. I finally added, "Then, as fellow members of the brigade, could we have a chance to help?"

Haruhi sighed, exasperated, "This is top secret stuff, only the most privileged of brigade members can know."

Mikuru delivered tea to Itsuki and Yuki with consummate grace. She'd discovered that Yuki would actually drink the tea as long as Yuki's tea was approximately forty nine point five percent sugar by weight. Mikuru then rounded the table to my side in order to deposit my tea, as I played a jack of diamonds, trumped by his well timed king of diamonds.

Ituski mused, "I wonder if there is a process to request top secret access. Seems like a lot of responsibility for a single person to shoulder."

Haruhi started to blandish him off, "Yes, well, I am willing to shoulder that burden to make sure tha- Hey!"

Mikuru had deposited Haruhi's tea into her hand as she spoke, but the time traveler hadn't left the brigade chief's side. Instead, Mikuru stepped to the side, next to the window and out of Haruhi's vision. This let her take a long stare at the computer screen Haruhi was working on. When Haruhi's exclamation decried that she had seen through the resident maid's deception, Mikuru jumped pressing the empty tea tray to her chest as if a shield with an embarrassed "Eep!".

Haruhi continued as Mikuru walked back to her tea station, "I swear! I can't get anything done around here, trying to manage you three from digging out secrets. Yuki is my only true loyal member, it seems." She started downing her tea.

Yuki's eyes slid away from the rivetting card action on the table, where Itsuki continued to dominate me with every turn. She looked at Haruhi through the computer monitor, saying, "It was my intention to wait until the others were finished with their subterfuge before making an attempt to 'dig out' secrets myself." I scoffed in amusement at her wordy statement.

Yuki was talking more often to the group than before, but it tended to be either stilted short responses or longer over-elaborate sentences intended to be funny. These longer statements were always deadpan, but I could tell she was trying to convey humor.

She seemed a little worried too, like maybe she wasn't sure she was doing it right. I don't think the others picked up on her nervousness though.

For some reason, it harkened back to that first night at her apartment where she explained that she was an alien. Looking back and thinking that she might have been nervous explaining everything to me was enough to make me smile. Like she had anything to be nervous about. She was downright adorable in her attempts to be a bigger part of the group.

I was only amused, of course, by her forays into 'light' conversation, nothing more. I absolutely don't want to give any more credence to the fact that I might feel anything more than normal, friendly affection for the resident humanoid interface. Especially with all the trouble she has had to deal with.

I forced my thought away from those quiet moments on a silent, cold balcony, where my mind was trying to settle.

Haruhi was yelping, almost spit-taking on her tea, "Even you Yuki? Oh man! Betrayal! I can't get anything done with this troupe harassing me." She stood up in what seemed like exasperation. I wasn't sure, but I had the feeling she wasn't as annoyed as she claimed to be. "Alright!" She clicked on the screen a few times, likely saving and hiding her work, then stomped around to the front of the desk.

"I am at a good stopping spot anyway, so I suppose I could make some time for team building exercises. What games do we have that we can all play?!"

We were all stunned a little as Haruhi deigned to play a boardgame with us. She usually was off in her own world, making plans or ranting about something or thinking to herself.

We made room at the table and started a new game. And she played with us. Maybe I wouldn't have to do all the legwork in bringing us together after all.

We spent the next few weeks trying to get a little info out of Haruhi, to a far less excessive degree than we had that first day of coordinated assault.

Just a little dig here, a little nudge there. We were getting close to the end of September, and still she wouldn't budge.

I was walking to the club room one afternoon when Itsuki casually walked up beside me. This was a momentous occasion, as I have never actually had him escort me to the room before now. "To whatever did I owe this pleasure? "

Itsuki looked a little surprised, like I stole his line. He finally spoke up, "Well, I actually have a bit of a plan. I need you to help. I am not worried about the others, but you might be attuned enough to Har- Miss Suzumiya to succeed."

I had no idea what he was talking about, more than usual.

His smile turned a little self-admonishing, as he said, "I don't have time to explain. You will get it in a bit. Trust me. Just, when its your turn, lose. Think of anything but what could be the right answer."

With that baffling bit of advice, we were at the literature club room which was currently under hostile occupation by the SOS brigade.

I knocked on the door, as had become my unfailing habit, and got a soft "Come in!"

Yuki and Mikuru were already there, one dressed in the school uniform, the other dressed like a school nurse. Only one guess as to which was which. Mikuru had only tried out a different outfit twice before, since school started, but she seemed to enjoy changing it up a little once a week.

I glanced at Itsuki, wondering if he would explain further, but he kept an especially enigmatic look on his face as he took his usual seat at the table. He hadn't grabbed a game, instead sitting serenely, his head resting on one hand staring out the window, into the late afternoon sun.

Since he didn't seem interested in playing any games, I went over to the bookshelf that was filled with novels that either were left behind by the actual literature club or were Yuki's. One of them looked well worn and I pulled it from the shelf to glance through while waiting for… whatever was supposed to happen to happen.

The book was weird, something about a square talking about spheres and lines. Fortunately, the club room door slammed open. I glanced at Itsuki, but he still did nothing.

Haruhi went straight to the computer, as was her unfailing habit these days. Whatever had grabbed her attention seemed to be stronger in pull than her usual whims.

She settled in and seemed about to begin typing furiously, as she had for the past few days in particular, when Itsuki finally spoke up. "So Miss Suzumiya…"

I could hear her grumble already, a tone that I usually associated with how she responded to me, "Yeah?"

"I have a proposal for you." He seemed to remain idly conversant, like he was only speaking as an idea came to him.

"Uh-huh?" She wasn't quite dismissing him, but she seemed ready to start ignoring him at any moment. She had grown, well, not frustrated with our antics, but well used to them now. Disdain, I think, would be the proper word for her tone.

"I propose to you a game. Win or lose, we stop bothering you about our future project."

Haruhi, who had remained steadfastly behind the computer monitor before now, perked up from behind, "Oh? What's this game?"

Itsuki shrugged, as if not sure it was worth the effort to go on now, "I was just thinking. What if we made a guess at what your plan was? Whoever gets the right answer would get to help out with the project and the rest will leave it be."

Haruhi huffed, "What would guessing the project prove, to earn the exclusive rights to be my executive assistant?"

I could sense that Haruhi didn't want help but wasn't necessarily opposed to the idea either. Maybe with a little push, "Huh. Well, if anyone could guess what you were trying to do, they probably would have enough insight into your 'brilliance' to follow along with your plan…" I opined, emphasising that I thought whatever she was doing was not quite the brilliance she thought it was.

Haruhi scoffed, "You guys are good brigade members but you aren't leadership material like me. You couldn't guess what I was doing in a million years."

Mikuru was organizing her tea supply. Casually, far too casually for it to be an actual intentional goad, she sighed, "Too bad. It might have been fun."

Haruhi looked at Mikuru, then back to Itsuki and I, as if trying to figure out something. I went back to my book, not daring to add any more.

It was quiet as Haruhi went back to tapping at the keyboard, slower than her usual menacing relentless assault on the poor keyboard.

So quiet and calm had the moments followed that I was almost starting to get into the book when Haruhi finally shouted, "Okay! Fine! One guess each! And you have to write it on a piece of paper so you can't change your guess after hearing someone else's! Whoever gets the answer exactly right can help! After this, no more pestering me about it, win or lose! Fair?"

I was woken from my reverie, looking at Haruhi, who glared at us as if we put her to thumbscrews to make the decision.

Itsuki calmly pulled out a stack of index cards from his bag, saying, "Will these do?"

Haruhi waved dismissively her ascent, a queen humoring her subject. Well, perhaps that she wasn't quite that imperious, which surprised me more than Itsuki's gambit working.

Itsuki handed out the cards to each person, Yuki having moved her chair to the table to write her answer and Mikuru taking a seat as well.

We all got a card and I sat there staring at it.

I was supposed to write a wrong answer, according to Itsuki. Let me say that this was, by far, one of the easiest requests that Itsuki could have given me.

I can't imagine how I could possible get this right. Haruhi was crazy. She defied comprehension. If I could guess what she was doing, I needed to be shipped off to the loony bin.

So. Knowing I couldn't get this one right, I couldn't go wrong, right? Or did this merit more than the cursory thought?

I then realized that if I did accidentally get this right, then I would have to help Haruhi get it, whatever 'it' was, done.

Suddenly, this was way more pressure than I had expected. Okay. What could Haruhi not be working on? She couldn't be working on building a new school that was an exact replica of this one, to trick some ghosts or something. She couldn't be working on a script for a play with us as actors playing ourselves as characters in a bad sci-fi movie. She couldn't be working on plans to invade Canada. Could she? None of these were remotely close. I could put any of them down. What if I was right?

I swallowed. I didn't trust myself to put any of them down. Instead, finally, I decided to put one word down. If I had to guess, I was totally wrong. I wasn't sure though. Damn it, Itsuki. Why did you suddenly saddle me with so much pressure?

I flipped my card over, uncharacteristically nervous as I put my pencil down, waiting for the others to finish.

I was the last to finish, as my minor internal panic attack had slowed me down enough to get behind. Haruhi had stood up from behind her desk, arms crossed over her chest, as if she couldn't believe she was doing this. "Alright. One person at a time. Yuki, you first."

Yuki held up her card in front of her face, which had only one word on it. She read it aloud, "Library."

I chuckled. Itsuki looked amused too, and Mikuru was watching Haruhi, as if ready to find out if that could be the right answer. Haruhi asked amusedly, "Were you guessing what I was doing or what you wanted to do? Nope, nothing to do with a library."

Yuki put her card down and gave the impression of a shrug. She didn't actually shrug but she gave off the same emotional sense that a shrug might have displayed.

I would have laughed, but I didn't want to seem like I was laughing at her. Besides, Haruhi had already moved on, "Mikuru, go."

Mikuru didn't show her card immediately, seeming nervous, "Well, I don't think I am right, but I think this idea would be fun, if we had time. If we could get to do it." She held her card out to Haruhi, who took it and glanced over it.

Haruhi's face scrunched up a little, as if considering, "'Volunteering to help in some way with children'? Thats a cute idea, Mikuru, and completely fitting your character. It definitely was not my plan." She looked up at Mikuru, who seemed a little disappointed, and added, "But we can find some way to do that if you like."

Mikuru perked up at the promise, and Haruhi turned to Itsuki next, "Your turn, Koizumi."

He held up his hands in defense, "Alas, since this was my idea. I think it would only be fair if I went last."

Haruhi nodded and turned to me. I gulped and turned my card over, pushing it to Haruhi. All it said was, "Santa."

Haruhi read it and rolled her eyes. "Wrong season, Kyon! That's not for a few months!" Wait, she has plans for Santa?

Haruhi looked to Itsuki, measuring. I breathed a mental sigh of relief that at least I wasn't helping with her latest plot.

He smiled a little more confidently than usual, handing his card over to Haruhi. "I think you are planning on something a little more cinematic, actually. Are we going to make a movie? Or a TV show?"

I started to smile at the absurdity of that idea, but then I noticed that Haruhi's hand. She had extended her arm to grab his card but she stopped, mid motion to stare at Itsuki.

She looked a little dumbstruck. Well, given that Haruhi being taken by surprise almost never happened, any amount of dumbstruck was huge.

She took the card from him a little hastily and read it to herself, as if trying to catch him giving a different answer than was on his card.

She scowled, looking from the card to Itsuki and back. She put the card face down on the table. "Fine. Koizumi, I want you to me at the school library for lunch tomorrow. I am going to have to go over the details so you aren't behind. You better put everything you have into this, mister, or you will regret it!"

Itsuki looked pleased as a salaryman after a promotion for a moment, but quickly stifled his glee. "Absolutely, Miss Suzumiya."

So we were working on a movie. Dear gods, we were working on a movie?