Epilogue: The Universe of Haruhi Suzumiya
It took approximately fourteen hours for the play to be performed in its entirety, with four intermissions being given to spectators in order to get refreshments, food and a proper bathroom break.
Kyon was right that a week would be way too short to actually get this production wrapped up and polished to perfection, with nothing short of a miracle making the project possible. Thankfully, they had a real miracle-factory at their disposal, with all the time in the world and all the props they could need available to them. As such, the SOS Brigade did actually get everything done for the premiere… and sole performance of the complete Arabian Nights.
Luckily for them, the actual book did not actually contain 1001 tales like the title suggested, several hundred at most. Still, they needed to do them right. Thankfully, Haruhi was there to remind them of every single line, every single stage-direction and what came next, able to use her powers to properly guide her vision through her friends. With costumes made by Mikuru, expertly made at that, props and effects conjured by Haruhi and the whole play going off almost without a single problem, it actually lived up to poster's claim of being the greatest show in the universe. Many talked about how fascinated they were when Morgana (Mikuru in that case) danced for the leader of the forty thieves (Koizumi), or when the waves kept crashing down on the vessel of Sinbad (also Koizumi).
What really drew attention however was the surprising turn by Yuki - as the loyal and faithful genie of the ring, with whose aid Aladdin (Kyon) outwitted a far more powerful foe, she managed in a humble way to outshine the mightier genie of the lamp (Haruhi, of course), but she surprised everyone in the role that held the entire piece together, that of the storyteller Scheherazade, performed with a subtlety that many agreed demonstrated both keen intelligence and considerable heart. The cheers she had received during the curtain-call had been voluminous, and from her blinking (some believed tearful) reaction, the approval of the audience seemed to touch her.
The consensus was clear; for something made by students, the play was stupidly impressive. And at the end of the fourteen hour extravaganza, many talked about it and demanded an encore, for a world tour even, this was something that everyone had to see!
Yet Haruhi had moved on to other projects and thus this would be a one-time show, though not one to miss an opportunity she subsequently sold her script and stage directions to a production company that took it global - the resulting show raked in awards and packed theatres to capacity from Broadway to the West End, but never quite achieved the mythical 'magic' of that student production in the auditorium at North High.
Life continued anew for the SOS Brigade, who were now continuing with a secret performance of their own: that of being ordinary students, this time with Haruhi in on the joke. They had meetings, attended class, extended their membership (to a select and trusted few) and continued with their daily lives… Yet the adventures they shared were assuredly more interesting now that Haruhi was not someone they had to simply watch and keep track of. Other planets, other civilizations, games of D&D that got all too real and other such projects were theirs to try out, explore and experiment with.
Haruhi continued to address herself as a genie, complete with the outfit that she wore more often than not because it fit her wonderfully, to judge from her own words. The rest of the Brigade knew, however, that it was also probably because her boyfriend loved seeing her in the costume so much, which was (probably) why she also kept her hair long and attached in a ponytail.
All of them had helped to grant the other's wishes, their lives being far more interesting, with no more secrets to tell and all the time in the world to find out just how wonderful everything could be.
It was no longer a time for melancholy, but a time for dreams.
Hare Hare Yukai...