Part 3, Chapter 13

Haruhi sighed. "So there is another group of aliens, time travelers, and espers that have gravitated around yet another supposed controller of the universe? Why should I be surprised. Nothing else in the world is the same anymore. Anything else I should know about her? About them?" She sounded too tired to be agitated.

Itsuki coughed, "It's not so different. In fact, there is no actual evidence that Sasaki has any powers herself. The others who are following her have displayed some abilities, but she herself never makes any changes to the world as far as we've been able to detect. Nothing at all like you do."

Mikuru spoke up, "Um. Sasaki is also an old friend of Kyon's. They weren't dating though. Or, I don't think they were."

Yuki continued the trend, saying, "I will warn you that their non-human interface is… orthogonal to observable space-time. Much in the same way that your reality is orthogonal to data. You might have issues spotting the interface known as Kuyou Suou."

Not wanting to be left out, I asked, "Where's your house again, Haruhi?"

Haruhi growled, actually growled, before saying, "You guys are teasing me now, aren't you? What did I say about having a club full of Kyons? I don't need this kind of heckling. And my house is just down the street."

Itsuki took a step closer to Haruhi, putting his hand on her shoulder. "Sorry, Haruhi." She seemed surprised at his touch, but she didn't look exactly displeased. "We are probably excited to be able to talk to you about this. Do you think that you will be able to come with us to our meeting? We'd love your help."

Haruhi shook her head, "What are you stupid?" She looked back to Itsuki, asking, "Do you think I'd let you decide the fate of the world, yet again, without me? I thought you could read my mind."

Itsuki laughed, "Well, to be honest, we're both tired, and I am having trouble keeping up with your shifting mood."

"Hmm... And are you saying there is something wrong with how my mood is shifting?" Itsuki looked stricken and was about to say something, but Haruhi cut him off, "Mikuru, what did you say? Kyon dated their anchor?"

I hastily inserted myself, "We didn't date, really. And what did you call her, an 'anchor'?"

"Sure, sure," She waved off my complaints, "Also, that's what I've decided to call myself and the others like me. I'm like some 'anchor' for weird crap, right? Well, I am claiming the name for us first." Haruhi sighed, "What's she like, Mikuru? Might as well size up the competition while I can." Everyone gave her a strange look, and she sighed, exasperated, "I mean my competition as anchor! I don't care who Kyon was dating in middle school!"

I sighed as Mikuru blinked, "Um. Well, Kyon and Sasaki were good friends in middle school. Um, or so I was told. She seemed to be surprised by Kyon's changes since then, though. She's got short hair, and goes to Kyouen Academy with the other girls in their group? I think they all go there, at least."

Haruhi nodded, "And what about their other members of their anti-SOS Brigade?"

Itsuki asked with reproach, "Anti-SOS Brigade?"

Haruhi pouted, "What, they are like the evil version of our group right?"

Itsuki hmmed, "Well, I don't want to outright deny that, but we are trying to enlist their help, so calling them the anti- or evil version of us is a little harsh."

I wasn't so sure they were *the evil group* between the two groups, myself.

"What was that, Kyon!"

"Just wondering where's your house again?" I answered quickly.

"I told you, just down the street. Now Mikuru, tell me about Sasaki and others."

Mikuru seemed to want someone else to take over, but Haruhi was focused on her for now, and It's not like my opinion won't be biased. Haruhi knew that, and she'd probably get annoyed by me trying to answer.

Mikuru hedged, "Well... she's serious minded and not as... mean as some of the others. I... she was a little more... wry and sarcastic? But she was obviously very smart. Even so, she didn't believe her friends when they told her their secret. She doesn't believe in time travel at all, or in the stories we tried to tell her. She might have suspected something was off by the end though... Haruhi?"

Haruhi had frozen, falling behind a few steps before we all realized, and we looked back at her. Her voice was low, a snarl of brimstone, "How do you expect me to feel-" She paused as she looked at each of us, "-when I hear that their anchor is trusted enough to learn about the secret of her life, when I am kept in the dark for nearly a year, a mock leader of mock underlings." Her voice switched from snarl to hiss as she continued.

"Sasaki's friends trust her, but you barely trust me? You trust them, unknown forces, possibly enemies from how you describe them, but the Anti-SOS or the Kouyouen Brigade- or whatever!- is your first ally in all this?!" She motioned, her arms spread apart, asking, plaintively, "How am I supposed to take that, Itsuki? How am I supposed to feel about you trusting some other group that seems to be better friends than us, before groveling back to me when things get dicey?! What in hell! I mean, seriously, am I just a damned alien god like monster that you only spend all your time pleasing, so I don't induce Ragnarok?! I didn't form this group to have people to cater to my damned will! I formed it to make friends with you!"

I was standing near enough to hear Itsuki's phone buzz twice over her thunderous panting after Haruhi's outburst. Haruhi held herself small and inward, her face turned away and arms crossed. I doubt anyone but me, Itsuki and likely Yuki heard the buzz.

"I did it to make friends with people like you… but all you did was fear me and run away when things got bad." The mist formed by Haruhi's breath in the dimming light looked like it could be steam from fury, even as it wound down. The world grew darker. I hoped it was just the sun falling behind the horizon.

Itsuki didn't sigh or look upset as he explained. It was cold out, so his voice did quiver, "Haruhi, you frighten me more than anything else on the planet. I've seen the power you throw, the veil you pull across the horizon, so large and vast I can't see either end of the bubble. Sometimes I think I am going to die with how vicious some of those giants are. I was afraid of telling you because if you feed those demons, me and my friends will die. I want you to meet them before that day. They want to meet you too." No, his voice shook from more than just the cold. There was a tension in his tone, in how he held himself, and I wondered what maelstrom of emotion he was fighting in his head.

"You are right. Of course you are right. We should have come to you first. But we want you with us." He gritted his teeth and paused, as if trying to gather his scattered thoughts.

Mikuru bravely stepped forward, "Sasaki does not believe any of her friends. She thinks they are-are playing a joke on her, or, um, deluded. Their friendship is ho-hollow. They are more a collection of people than a group of friends. You can see how their-their group barely likes each other. I was m-more afraid of losing your friendship like them, after I met them. There's no… no love between them." She blushed, and interrupted, "I mean, I mean, you know, friendship, they have no, ah, love of friendship not love-love Ugh, I mean..." Mikuru paused flustered, trying to figure out where to start again.

Yuki put her hand on Mikuru's arm and spoke up, "It is the Integrated Data Thought Entity who wishes to observe you, Haruhi Suzumiya, in order to evolve. I am here as a friend. Data flows freely among aligned states. We are reserved around the other anchor group, and they are even more wary of us. Our end goal is the continuation of the universe, which is at peril due to causal distortion. My end goal is to be with friends as long as possible, as comfortably as possible. You should be comfortable around us. We should be comfortable around you. There will be dropped data packets between us, occasionally, but this is not about us versus you. It is about us versus nature. And you are important in that fight with us."

Haruhi looked a little baffled at Yuki's comment, before turning to me, "What, no anecdote about my power? I was expecting a full chorus, and you don't have anything to say? And wipe that smug grin off your face!" I couldn't help it. She was angry as usual.

"I am not as afraid as you think I am. You want me give you a speech? I know you want to be here with us. I know you want to listen. You are annoyed, tired, and your world has changed in barely more than a day. But you want to be here, listening to us."

She scoffed, "And why do you think that?"

"Because we've been circling this block for the last half hour, because you don't want to leave." I motioned, and she looked around, confused, "You kept telling me your house was a couple blocks away, but you kept taking us on right turns. I am guessing you've been unconsciously moving your house just a little further, just around the corner, in a circle, because you don't want to get home yet." Yuki nodded to back this up. "What's your address, Haruhi? Where is your address?"

Haruhi's face had already looked confused before I asked my question, blinking and looking around as if for the first time. I looked around myself, but the area was only vaguely familiar to me. I lived about a four blocks away, if you could believe that. Haruhi's confusion grew, and she spun around, before looking to Itsuki first, trying to understand.

Itsuki, oddly open, gave her a sympathetic half smile and offered his hand to her shoulder, "Sorry, Haruhi. Welcome to a weirder world."

Haruhi shook her head, "No, that doesn't make sense. My house has always been…" She glared at the ground, shaking her head, "What-what time is it?"

It was dark out, but Mikuru was able to answer, "Um, its five twenty-five."

Haruhi looked around again, and as if feeling it for the first time, she shivered, wrapping her hands around herself, "It… we left around four thirty...We've been walking in circles for thirty minutes? Its…" She steeled herself, and asked, "What happened to the people who were displaced, or moved when I-... when my house moved around?"

Itsuki smiled, "They probably didn't notice a thing, and will never notice. Your changes, if anyone notices, are more curious and interesting to people, not alarming. When they are bigger, most people never notice, as if your changes are how the universe has always been. They are fine."

Haruhi shivered, this time from something other than the cold. "I don't know how to… I should get home."

I motioned, "Let's go. I want to see where our illustrious brigade leader lives."

She glared and looked about to say something, before stomping off. We followed, and made it to her house.

"I'll stop in and say hello, if you guys don't mind. Apologize for our capitalization of their lovely daughter," Itsuki said, as we admired a nice looking home in the suburbs.

"Itsuki!" Haruhi said hotly, and I almost felt the blast of heat from the word, meaning many things at once. It was too dark to really see Haruhi's face, and I was a little sad for that.

"Sorry, sorry. I am tired. I wasn't thinking about what I was saying. Please forgive me," I'd give Itsuki's apology a four out of ten, but Haruhi seemed appeased, "I wrote down that recipe for your mom too, and I wanted to drop it off. You guys mind waiting?" He glanced at us, and I shook my head.

They walked up to her surprisingly sedentary home. I am not sure what I expected, honestly. It was, maybe, just a little smaller than my own house, but the yard was bigger to compensate. It wasn't anything like Yuki's barren flat, nor Tsuruya's massive estate.

It was terribly, unsurprisingly mundane.

It fit Haruhi. I wonder where it was originally. I wonder how Haruhi felt about a new address.

Itsuki came back relatively quickly, because without the distraction of impending doom or an inquiring Haruhi -they were interchangeable in my mind- kept my thoughts off of how blisteringly cold it was. With the absence of sun, the night air ate at the outer edges of my being, whittling away my resolution.

"Well, that could have gone worse, right?" Itsuki said, cheerfully. If I didn't know otherwise, it would have almost been like he'd gotten a full night's sleep last night.

"I suppose… you doing alright? I heard the buzz."

Itsuki nodded, "Yeah. Everyone else got some sleep last night. It was dicey for a moment, but we are okay now. Some of them were on light watch last night, others had to fight some small pockets, but they should be able to take the shift tonight. And all we have to do is hope that they can keep an exhausted, frazzled, and angry Haruhi under wraps."

He smiled at that, but I wasn't too relieved. "So what, we just go home and hope the world is here when we wake up?"

Itsuki nodded, "That's what I am going to do. I can barely stay awake as it is."

A cab drove up, conspicuous in this suburb of houses. I looked at it suspiciously. A familiar old man was in it. Itsuki smiled as if he was proud of himself as he offered it, "Mikuru, Yuki? Would you like a ride home?" He looked at me and shrugged, "I'd offer, but I know your house is just a couple blocks away."

I waved dismissively, "No worries. Have a good night all. Hopefully see you tomorrow."

Mikuru laughed and said, "A little more time would be nice, I suppose. Have a good night."

Yuki just nodded to me, but I didn't mind. Itsuki closed the door behind her, and stepped into the front seat, saying, "Thanks, Kyon. It was closer than I joke."

I waved him on, "Its teamwork. Or friendship. Something like that. Anyway, go get some sleep."

They drove off. I went home. We all woke up in the morning.