A/N: This chapter is subject to future editing and changes. Future chapters are also not guaranteed.

Nagato Yuki. A soft spoken, polite, ideal-woman in the making, interested in sciences and president of the literature club. Like me, she tries to avoid attention. Then it turns out she's an alien. I saw the UFO with my own eyes, so there isn't any denying it.

Asahina Mikuru. Friendly, outgoing, enjoys teasing people, but a little disconnected from the world. She goes about her life without a care in the world. And she's a time traveller. I suppose that explains why she seems to always be a step ahead yet also a step behind everyone else.

Itsuki Koizumi. He transferred in just recently. He's a pretty decent person, but he's gloomy and lacking in confidence. He's normally carried about by the winds of fate rather than his own will. An ESPer. There's a certain closeness I have to hold to that, so I don't really doubt he's an ESPer.

The above three are all somehow connected to one another like competing members of a secret cult, and it's only now that I've started to realise that I'm part of that circle myself. Even though I'd sworn to let go of everything that I was three years ago, even though I'd gotten over the incident, it's still haunting me. It's a disease I can't escape.

Then there's Suzumiya. She's everything I'm not. She's loud, she attracts attention without caring, she's interested in aliens, time travellers, ESPers, and all those supernatural things. She's excited about the idea that the world is large and brilliant. She still has the enthusiasm that most people would've given up. She wants in on this amazing adventure, and yet... she's the only one that's watching from the outside. She's gotten the chance to hear of the truth from an alien, a time traveller, and an ESPer, but she isn't part of the group.

Such irony. Both of the two of us stand where the other one wants to be, which puts us both at a loss of what to do.

The morning was horrid. Nothing about that ever changes. I get up. I go to school. I sit down. Taniguchi and Kunikida talked to me about something. I don't even quite remember what it was. My mind was elsewhere at the time.

Suzumiya showed up, but she didn't say anything all morning, nor during class or lunch. To the class it wasn't anything unusual, since they rarely saw how energetic she secretly was anyway.

It was only about the time class ended that she spoke.

"I don't get it."

She says that in a way as though I'm supposed to follow with 'What don't you get?', but frankly I don't want to care. I knew, though, that she would just let me leave ignoring her, so I remain in my seat, waiting for her to continue.

"It's unfair..." She says like an angry spoiled child.

Unfortunately for you, that's life.

"I've worked so hard to look for aliens, time travellers and ESPers all these years and they just suddenly show up like that."

One would expect you to be happier for getting what you wanted. And you know we're still in the classroom right? I don't think Asakura appreciates you just revealing everything to thirty plus people.

The girl shakes her head, "No, it just isn't right. I feel like everything I tried achieved no results, and that everything was just a lucky coincidence. It feels like I didn't really contribute to my own success."

Good to know you believe that hard work should be proportionately rewarded. Why not try to direct your spirit to something else?

Besides. That's not really what you find unfair. A fool could work that out.

"No... I suppose not..." she admits with some hesitation. "What find unfair is... why you?"

Why me? I really want to ask myself that same question, honestly. I want to ask Nagato, Asahina and Koizumi one by one. Maybe I can figure out a way that it won't be me. Maybe it'll all go away someday. It's not like I chose this path. It should be obvious to everyone that this is everything I've been trying to avoid.

Turning at least half-way towards Suzumiya's direction I start to address her a bit more seriously. I want to stay away from her as much as possible... but I get the feeling that staying away isn't at all possible, so I might as well get this over with.

"Honestly speaking, I used to be kind of like you," I said. "Not to the same extent of course. But I was into things like aliens and time travel. A lot of people used to think I was quite weird too. I got mocked quite a bit."

This seemed to make Suzumiya pause for thought as she regarded my statement with surprising seriousness. Maybe I should address her like this more often. Though... I'm sure if I did it'd lose the intended effect.

"I didn't find anything," I continued. "Then I just gave up. I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere and I was sick of all the attention. I wanted to blend into the normal crowd. Then you show up and trample all over that too. And now here I am."

In saying what I said I was expecting Suzumiya to react with anger or annoyance at my accusation that she had ruined my mundane lifestyle and wish, but she somehow continued to regard my soberly. In fact, she even looked a little bit guilt ridden. I didn't know she could ever make that sort of expression. Perhaps not as shocking as the first time seeing her smile, but still quite impacting.

I notice that Asakura, Taniguchi, Kunikida, and a few others are starting to glance at our direction already.

"I can't accept that sort of life," Suzumiya said, though with much less decisiveness than usual.

"What can't you accept? Being just another, miniscule part of this large universe?"

She gives a small nod. She's staring down at her desk now, thinking about things beyond her usual supernatural hype and far beyond this classroom.

"When I was in sixth grade my family and I went to see a baseball game. I didn't think much of it at first, but when I got there... I was amazed by how many people there were. At the other end of the stadium the people looked so small... like grains of rice. It was so crowded... it was like everyone in the whole country was there at that stadium.

"But when I asked my dad he said there was only somewhere around fifty thousand people that could fit into the stadium. That compared to the population of Japan..."

"About one person in every two thousand." I answered in my usual seemingly detached tone. I only made it as a subconscious comment voiced out loud, but my voicing out the ratio seemed to add to Suzumiya's moment of sad reflection.

After a pause Suzumiya continued, her voice weaker than even Koizumi's. "After that... it was like the world changed for me. I couldn't stay interested in anything anymore... I used to think I lived such a great life, and that my friends and classes were so interesting... but after that baseball game I couldn't help but think that everything I was doing, somebody else had to have done it somewhere, sometime. I felt like I was just another number to add to the world statistics, nothing more.

"So... when I entered junior high I decided to be different. I decided to try and stand out from the rest of the world, and to find others that could be irreplaceable, and to do things that nobody else can or will do. I ended up coming here... then I met you. You were like everything I didn't want to be. Quiet. Unexciting. Completely ordinary."

Thanks. I take all those as genuine compliments.

She gives a wry half-smile at my comment. "I was so annoyed by your attitude. I followed you when you were looking at clubs and tried to make the SOS brigade, and attract interesting, amazing people because I wanted to rub it into your face: 'Hey! Look at what you're missing out on!'... but... everything I did only seemed to make you want to dig even further into normal high school life. I felt like I was getting further and further away from being able to find anything amazing.

"Then... suddenly... I discover that all the amazing people I was gathering were even more amazing than I originally thought of them. And it turned out... you were more in touch with those amazing people than I was, even though you still didn't want anything to do with them. I suddenly started to doubt myself. I started asking myself... maybe I screwed up. Maybe, in my frantic search for novel, wondrous things I ended up missing a lot of potentially interesting stories and experiences that were right under my nose. Maybe... I should've just appreciated what I had."

'Maybe I should've appreciated what I had.' Those words somehow echoed through my mind. For once... I felt like Suzumiya and I had a lot more in common than what's on the outside.

Suzumiya, after her long-winded story, had fallen silent once again. She had turned to look outside the window at the sky, with a bitter smile on her face.

I contemplate, for a moment, just leaving the silence stay. I really do like silence over everything else. Something about it was relaxing. But... I suppose since Suzumiya had placed so much of her true self out into the open I should try to be a decent human being and give a thoughtful response.

I couldn't think of anything else.

"You know... when I was still interested in supernatural phenomena I used to go to great lengths trying to convince my little sister to join me in my glorious expeditions. My sister's actually how I got the nickname 'Kyon' stuck to me, originally."

The slightest shift in her hair showed that Suzumiya had turned her head in interest.

"She's five years younger than me, so it was hard to explain how trivial our individual lives were. Even though she was perfectly happy taking part in whatever grand scheme I came up with at the time she was also perfectly happy staying out of it. To her, the normal life she lived was already much more excitement than she could ever ask for. She was someone that certainly did appreciate what she had. In that... I think she was more mature than either one of us going out exploring at the expense of our normal lives."

Suzumiya turned her eyes to glance at me. "Is that so...?" she asked. Though she left part of the question unspoken, I could feel she was also hinting at asking why I decided to tell her about my sister.

I shake my head and shrug. "It's not important..." I say. "I was just partly explaining why I'm the way I am now, since you did the same just now. That makes things fair, right?"

Suzumiya took another moment to soberly regard my statement before giving another wry smile. "I see..." she said. "Well... your sister must have been a pretty normal and boring person for you to end up like this."

"... Yeah..." I say. "She was."

I turn around facing forward, once again, to notice that just about the whole class ended up staying behind to listen silently on our conversation. Seriously? You were all staring this whole time? Eavesdropping? Judging us? Can't you people just go home and leave me alone!?

Taniguchi and Kunikida were looking at me with those expressions. They knew exactly what I was talking about. They had typical responses. Asakura had that same expression. A lot of other classmates did too, actually.

Sympathy.

"Come on, Kyon," Suzumiya said as she stood up behind me, slinging her bag over my shoulder. I notice quite a few people wince or cough disapprovingly as they hear her call my nickname. "Let's go to the clubroom."

I comply to her order, but this one time I complied out of will and with genuine agreement. Even though the literature clubroom was a place filled with so many harsh truths that I don't want to face it still felt more welcoming than the silence of my home, or the pitying, condemning stares of the classroom. Besides... I know I'll have to face them eventually.

I too sling my bag over my shoulder and I head out into the corridor, walking in pace to Suzumiya at her side. Not a step more, nor less.

As I walk into the literature clubroom after Suzumiya (we walk at the same pace but it's polite to let others through the door first) I note that all three of the others were there before us.

"Glad to see that you haven't decided to drop out yet," said Nagato, the first to greet us. She sat at her usual position with a book in her lap. "I'm actually a little amazed you still want to come."

Would you have preferred it if I didn't?

"Oh no, not at all. I was just thought that we all might've left too bad of an impression." The bespectacled girl gave a courteous smile, half-joking, but only half. "You seemed in a terribly bad mood yesterday and I was worried you'd stop showing up."

"Eh... you don't have to worry about him..." Asahina said, leaning on the table dejectedly and trying to amuse herself with a pinwheel like a board kindergartener. "He's still around in December."

How comforting to know that you care enough to keep track of what months I'll be here.

Nagato, for her part, shoots a quick glance at Asahina. "Well excuse me for having shown concern," the short haired literature club president said, "since I don't exactly know for certain the uncertain."

"Ah... that's right..." Asahina sat up a little, glancing back at Nagato with a teasing smile. "Sorry. I forgot that that was a spoiler. You'll have to get used to it though. The 'me' you'll see for most of the rest of the year is even less sensitive than the 'me' before you now."

The two maintained a shared gaze for a while, both maintaining their usual expressions of serenity and playfulness respectively.

Ah... even without time travel or ESPer powers I can tell that those two will not get along through the year.

Deciding to stay out of the cold conflict between the two opposite and bizzare girls I take the seat next to Koizumi, whom seems to be quietly playing Othello by himself. As he sees me sit next to him he manages a sort of a weak smile and wave.

"Hey..."

"Yo," I respond. "Playing against yourself?"

"... Yeah... I must seem so silly..." he says shyly. "But... I don't think anyone here would really want to play against me..."

Considering that you're an ESPer that can read minds? I don't blame them.

Asahina suddenly wraps one arm around the each of us, pulling Koizumi closer to her large, soft breasts. "Naww, it's okay. You could always play against Yuki-chan. I know for a fact that you can't read her thoughts."

I try my best to remain neutral, and ignore Asahina's attempt to drag us into her 'argument' with Nagato. Koizumi, for his part, shuffles nervously, shooting several glances at Nagato, trying to avoid staring into Asahina's breasts.

I'll be honest. Even a wholesome man such as myself would have a hard time not looking at a time like this.

Our attention was soon taken once again by Suzumiya after we notice her locking the door. Slowly and ominously she turned to look at us with a face of seriousness.

"Err... do you have to lock the door...?" Koizumi squeaks.

"Be quiet."

Suzumiya barked with such force that Koizumi and the rest of us are stunned into silence. Walking to about the center of the room and addressing each one of us with her eyes she takes a seat by the table, now opposite to where Koizumi and I sit. Interlocking her fingers and putting her hands to cover her mouth she announced to us like she were the school principal.

"There's going to be some changes around here."

Now under normal circumstances people would find this a most peculiar display. Why the sudden call for change? Why the sudden seriousness? Why lock the door? Why should we listen to what she has to say anyway? But of course it's been made obvious that nobody in this room is normal. Not even myself. So instead of confusion or doubt she is responded with a matching degree of seriousness. Even I find myself positioning myself to fully face her to better hear what she has to say.

"First of all, Asahina, Koizumi, Kyon," she names us out as she scolds us. Indeed she is seeming increasingly like a principal. "You three are acting too casual about everything. If somebody was just walking down the hallway and overheard you then rumours might start flying around."

Rumours are already flying around.

"No, I mean rumours about what is actually going on in here."

You mean the fact that we actually have an alien, time traveller and ESPer?

"Yes, precisely. And I want you to try to avoid mentioning those three things if you can now."

Asahina gave a childish whine. "Eh...? But why?"

"Because most of us don't want more people finding out." It's remarkable how rational Suzumiya is sounding now that she's putting her mind to it. I suppose, though, she doesn't want everyone to know about the fact that there's an alien, time travller and ESPer in the school because that'd detract the uniqueness of her position.

There was a brief moment of silence, before Koizumi suddenly said, "Okay, I'll try..."

Which was followed by a quick glare from Suzumiya, to which he responded by apologising.

Ah, I see. So she also added a rule on 'No mind reading'.

"That should actually go for all of you, by the way," Suzumiya said, turning around to Asahina and Nagato. "Nobody should be allowed to use any sort of supernatural powers or abilities in this clubroom or when we get together as a brigade unless the situation calls for it. We should try to all get along as ordinary people."

It's amazing that she of all people is adding that rule. Who'd have thought? And how does she expect to maintain that rule, anyway?

"Another thing. Even though you guys have already revealed a lot I can tell you're all keeping secrets from me." Suzumiya sounded severely unhappy as she said that. "I know there's a lot of things that you guys don't want me or the others to know, but if we're going to spend the rest of the year together in this clubroom we have to be able to trust each other. Either don't say anything, or spill it all."

Nagato politely raised her hand. "I'd like to make an objection."

"Denied." An immediate imperative response. The way in which she quickly shot down Nagato's attempted objection caused Asahina to giggle a little, and Koizumi to squirm.

"On the other hand," Suzumiya continued, "There are also things that you shouldn't say in the brigade."

Quite a contradictory set of statements.

"For example, Mikuru-chan. No telling Yuki-chan things about the future if she doesn't like it.

"Also, things that are said in the brigade stay in the brigade. We don't want to cause mistrust between one another because we all start taking advantage of each other based on things that are said here."

The addition of those lines were sufficient for both Asahina and Nagato to silence their discontent for now.

"Now that that's established," Suzumiya turned her eyes now to me. "Tell me everything."

Everything... huh?

"Yeah." Suzumiya glanced around at all of the rest of us in the room. As she did so it seemed like there was some sort of barrier between us, still. Like Nagato, Asahina, Koizumi and I were on one side of the room, and her on the other. "I mean, it's too convenient. An alien, time traveller and ESPer all gather together in one clubroom just because I wish for it? And the guy who gives me the idea to start the club is somehow connected to all three of them by some event three years ago?

"Yuki-chan, Mikuru-chan and Itsuki-kun have all given out part of their story, but all you've told me so far was a story about how you used to be interested in the same things as me while your sister wasn't. There's still something you all aren't telling me."

Heh. Of course she wants to know about that...

I note that the tension in the room drastically increased as well.

Koizumi was suddenly trying to speak up, saying, "Ah... I don't think you should talk about that... err... how about I go first...? There's still a lot I haven't told you about... so..."

Asahina gave a mischievous giggle, murmuring something along the lines of, "Oh, you'll get to see for yourself anyway..."

Nagato just shook her head as she adjusted her glasses.

Each of them averted their gaze when I turned to them. Almost like they're still trying to cover it up.

I put my hand on Koizumi's shoulder, breaking him out of his frantic and pitiful attempt to try and divert Suzumiya's attention. "It's okay," I say, glancing at Nagato and Asahina in turn as I speak. "I suppose I might as well tell her sooner rather than later."

There was an almost audible amount of awkward shuffling from everyone present.

"But first, I want to add a 'rule' to the list."

Suzumiya opened her mouth, at first no doubt to object, but after a pause she ended up saying "Go ahead."

Leaning forward, elbows on the table, and intertwining my fingers the way Suzumiya had done upon entering the room I spoke my terms.

"From here onwards I want absolutely nothing to do with aliens, time travellers, ESPers, or any other supernatural thing that may cause me harm in any way."

A fair term, I think. And not one too out of character for me.

Suzumiya, after some thought, nods in agreement. After all, this is a fine chance for her and me to switch our positions; she'll be in on the amazing world of the paranormal, while I'll be able to retreat to the life of the normal.

"My story is quite simple. It only builds on the story that I've already told you." I speak, staring down at the table. Everyone in the room was listening to me, now. All eyes on me. Everyone watching. Listening. Staring.

All of them.

Go to hell. All of you.

"My sister," I say. "She contracted a mysterious disease three years ago and was hospitalised. The disease made her increasingly delusional. Just a week before class started, she passed away."

I glance at Nagato. The first person in the circle.

"It's her fault that my sister got sick."

I glance at Asahina. The second person in the circle.

"It's her fault that my sister wasn't sent to hospital in time."

I glanced at Koizumi. The third person in the circle.

"And it's his fault that my sister was delusional."

I glance finally at Suzumiya. Whatever enthusiasm she still had for this wondrous adventurous story that she expected from me was suddenly gone now. In her mind she had never considered that these three things that she sought could've been things that had ruined so much for others. Most likely it's only the tip of the ice berg; these three would end up causing more pain for each other, and for Earth in the future, simply by being here together, in one club, in one room, forced into pretending to be cordial to one another because Suzumiya wanted to be special.

Such is reality.

A/N: Sorry for the late update, but they'll only slow down from here, since I'll be getting busier over time.

This chapter is rushed. I started writing faster than I could fill in the mental gaps in things I wanted in the story, and not sure when I should place certain events etc. One of the biggest things I was conflicted with was when to put the 'reveal', and I decided to put it here rather than leave it ambiguous for most of the story, only because it lets the reader better understand why the changes are as they are.

I do like, though, that from this chapter onwards the story will take a turn way, way different from the original series.