Chapter 20: The Recruitment of Alice Pendragon

Packing up our bags the two of us exited Estate. Just like the night before Alice rode atop the pegs on the back wheel while I pedaled. As I thought Alice looked quite cute in her uniform, especially with her hair tied off in a ponytail. Initially our route was devoid of any familiar faces. That of course changed when we reached the hill leading to the school. Ahead of us was Haruhi, a boy walking alongside her. A boyfriend perhaps? One would have to wonder either how insane or how patient he is to be able to deal with her.

"Good morning, Haruhi. And to you as well, Haruhi's lover" greeted Alice as she got off, walking with the others. Wow I can't believe she just said that. I mean more likely than not, he's probably just a friend. Well may as well join them too.

"What? Kyon isn't my boyfriend…" she said blushing red. You may not be romantically involved with him but that doesn't mean you don't hold feelings for him. Well she's not the type to openly (and conventionally) admit her feelings anyhow.

"Anyway…Kyon, this is Alice, a potential candidate for a new Brigade member" explained Haruhi. What, you're not gonna introduce me?

"Nice to meet you Alice" replied Kyon. "Well Haruhi, I'm genuinely surprised that you found a real mystery."

"Well I'm gonna go ahead and get the other recruits. Why don't you get acquainted with her!" Haruhi said as she ran ahead of us. For a 'normal' girl (and I use this term loosely) she sure runs fast.

"So what are you really?" asked Kyon suspiciously.

"Immortal, magic-using, knight princess" Alice replied back quite seriously. Oddly enough Kyon seemed to take it all in stride. I wonder what the other Brigade members are like for him to be so casual about this.

"Hmm. How about we settle for immortal then? I'm sure you'll be accepted into the Brigade without much trouble" said Kyon. "What about your friend?"

"Lover," corrected Alice, "to be honest I would simply generalize Riku as a Slider. In terms of specifics I am not sure and likely neither is he." She then held my hand in hers. This is nice and all but I am still lugging this bike along as well.

"Morning, Kyon! Hey who's this beautiful young lady?" asked who I believe is one of Kyon's friends.

"Don't bother Taniguchi, she's already taken" said Kyon as he pointed towards us holding hands.

"You're a really lucky man! If you want my opinion she's definitely more than an A++. You should know that's higher than the previous best!" commented Taniguchi. He better not try to harass Alice anymore or I'm gonna kick him right in the-

"Oh? Lost your devotion to Asakura have we, Taniguchi? Anyhow Alice, Riku, I hope both you enjoy it here at North High" said Kyon. Seriously…how can Kyon put up with all these kinds of people? Is he a reincarnation of a saint or something?

Alice hopped back on the bike as we continued on our way. We should drop by the office before we head to class to drop off our transfer papers. Heading to the office we did just that. Apparently our class is 2-5. Guess the two of us better look for the second years' hallway.

We made it in time to hear our teacher, Okabe-sensei, saying to the class that they would have a pair of new students. The two of us had a pretty good laugh when he said 'pair'. Opening the door, he gestured us to come inside.

Alice introduced herself first "Hello I am Alice Pendragon. I am an exchange student from England. I hope that all of us will have a great year together!" Just like with Haruhi, everyone in the class understood her even though she was speaking in another language. Although I'm sure most of her captivated audience is composed of guys having a nosebleed moment, not people interested in her apparent gift of Tongues. This is gonna be a long year…

"I'm Riku Furude, an exchange student from Canada. I'm sure we'll all be in for an interesting year together." It would seem I have a similar effect on our female peers that Alice has on the males. I thought people tended to be more intimidated by my appearance…But then again there is Solipse, so I guess there must be others who share her preferences. However as my introduction sunk in, I seemed to have garnered the interest of our male peers.

"Do you know someone named Ryoko Asakura?" asked quite a few of them. Asakura? Oh the stab-happy, blue haired alien. Wait come to think of it, how does Friedrich know that? I thought this world was cut off from all the other worlds. So does that mean he came over from the Reality side? Making a mental note to get answers for these questions later I responded "Actually yes I do know her. She was in one of my courses back in Canada. Unfortunately I don't know her all that well." Well my response looked like it scared the crap out of Kyon. I wonder if he was her unfortunate knifecushion.

Okabe-sensei pointed to a pair of desks side by side by the windows. Mine seemed to have the benefit of being right in front of Kyon. I'll make sure to question him about the SOS Brigade. With formalities out of the way the two of us began our classes here.

I was thankful that I ended up with the window seat. I thought the classes here could offer me some new tidbits of information. It turns out I already covered most of this material back at Fantasia. I'm kinda missing the combat and scenario simulations. They really helped to vary things and thus more interesting. Talk about all-encompassing education. For Alice though this is probably the first time she's formally learned about these things. She seems enthralled with it all. Well I best make some detailed notes she can use as supplementary notes later. Come to think of it I almost completely forgot about Ange in all this. I hope being quiet for a long time isn't driving Ange nuts. I'd rather not have a Skynet Mk. 2 who can hijack my body and use it as a WMD.

Soon it was time for lunch. I didn't even get a chance to speak with Alice before Haruhi dragged her away. Kyon gave me a sympathetic look as he motioned me to have lunch with him and his friends. Great…more Taniguchi… I was really hoping to ask Kyon about the Brigade in private.

"So how are the classes?" asked Kyon.

"I've already learned most of this back in Canada" I replied back as I took out my bento. Damn it Haruhi…you forgot to let Alice get hers. "Hey Kyon, could you bring me to your clubroom? Alice forgot her bento here" I asked holding up Alice's bento.

"Oh so you even make her bento huh?" said Taniguchi in a suggestive manner. Guh…I should've seen that one coming.

"Well we live together. I'm better at cooking than her so I figure I may as well make it since she's my girlfriend" I replied. Taniguchi spat out his drink. Kyon and his other friend simply acknowledged it as logical thinking. Hmm…I wonder who this other guy is. I already think of him more highly than Taniguchi.

"You live together? How long have you been going out?" asked a shocked Taniguchi.

I ignored Taniguchi. Not only is he getting annoying, I can't think up of a logical answer for that without saying we're sliders. Kyon asked me to follow him. The two of us made our way to what he called the Old Building. It seems like a dilapidated wing of the school. From what I can understand of Kyon's explanation this building is allocated to clubs. Going up the stairs, we saw Haruhi and Alice.

"Alice! You forgot your bento in the classroom" I said as I handed it to her.

"So are you giving her the grand tour?" asked Kyon.

"Yep! I've already introduced her to everyone else, so the clubroom is the last thing I need to show her" replied Haruhi. I guess Alice decided to join after all. I hope she's doing this just as much for herself as our favor to that girl. Haruhi opened the door to reveal a strangely well equipped clubroom. Add a portable stove and I could easily be their chef.

"So Riku…I heard from Alice you're quite well off. I might be able to recruit you if you can prove that. We can always use more financial support" she said as she glanced at Kyon. Oh, was that a faint blush I saw? I can just show her Estate for proof. But where the hell am I gonna get money to help fund Brigade activities? Maybe I can work for Kanata. Although I still never did figure out how much money Luci had.

With lunch approaching its end all of us returned to the classroom. More somewhat boring classes later, school ended. Haruhi told all of us to come along to the clubroom. We once again made our way to the clubroom. Upon entering we found three more people there that I haven't met yet.

"This is Riku. He's another of my potential candidates" Haruhi said as she introduced me to everyone.

"Itsuki Koizumi, nice to meet you" introduced who Haruhi described as her Vice-Commander. That just slightly worried me but I banished the thought away soon after. I wonder if he's always smiling like that.

"I'm Mikuru Asahina, a pleasure to meet you" said the one who Haruhi called their 'moe' mascot. Thank goodness she's not in Kyon's class to hear how Taniguchi talks about women.

"Yuki Nagato" said the girl who was reading a book. She took her eyes off her book and stared intently at me as if she were reading me like a book. "He is…interesting" she concluded.

"If Yuki says you're interesting you probably have a good chance of being recruited!" exclaimed Haruhi.

We spent a considerable amount of time just hanging out. Is the Brigade simply Haruhi's way of saying friends? Given what we're doing here it seems like a logical enough conclusion. I guess her eccentricity goes beyond her habits. Well at least she seems to enjoy it here. The others feel the same way too. Somehow though I can't shake the feeling that there's something about all of them (Kyon excluded). Maybe if I join the Brigade Alice, Ange and I can investigate this further.

However all things come to an end. All of us began to leave the clubroom to head home. As we headed to where I kept my bike, I contemplated how I was gonna take two people on it.

"Let's just walk there. It's pretty far but we can probably get there within a reasonable amount of time" I suggested.

"Nah you'll be able to take both of us" said Haruhi. Now how do you plan on doing that? As if to defy conventional logic (and obvious safety hazards) she stood on one peg while Alice was on the other. Well I'll give her kudos for that. Thankfully the orichalcon frame supported their weight and my own as I got on. Praying to God that none of us will get hurt, we went on our way.

I think even Haruhi was surprised as she saw it. We went inside and I asked them to head to the dining room. It would seem there's another note here…and a credit card?

Hey Riku! Hope everything is going fine so far. Since you're stuck there I figure I may as well give you some money. I still suggest you get a part-time job so people won't think you're some kind of criminal. Enjoy things there little brother!

-Luci Onee-chan

A big sister huh? I'm surprised she didn't just say that earlier. I already thought of her as one anyway. Well I better get dinner ready for us.

"This is awesome!" complimented Haruhi as she wolfed down all the food I served her.

"So tell me the real reason why you want me in your Brigade. Tsuruya already holds the position of 'heiress'" I asked her.

"Alice told me about your relationship with her. Apparently it wasn't easy for you two to be together so I didn't want to ruin that," she said blushing in embarrassment, "just don't tell anyone I said that alright?"

"You bet"