Chapter 4

"S-so. You did that because you loved me?" I whispered.

"It would appear to be so, according to the definitions you have given to me," said Nagato. "In this case, I would rather defer to your expertise, as I am probably the first of my kind to experience these –" she gestured to herself "– emotions. Also, in that case, Asakura was right."

"Right about what?"

"About her accusing me of saving you because I loved you."

"Really?" I inquired.

"Yes. She said the following shortly after I intercepted the dagger that would have taken your life, 'You love Kyon-kun, don't you? You have realized it already.'"

"W-wow," I stammered. "Even back then.." I trailed off into silence.

As I was trying very hard to compose myself, the room fell silent. I was actually elated! She really does feel that way about me. I then felt a soft tug on my arm. I looked at Nagato and she was lightly tugging my sleeve, just like in that other world. However, in this case, the circumstances are definitely different, and I was happy for that.

"May I hold onto your arm? According to the data I've gathered recently, those who are in love with a person prefer to keep in close physical contact with that person," said Nagato nonchalantly.

Okaaaay. It may be weird, but what the hell. I do like her too after all. She's done so much for me, the least I could do was to make her happy. Fortunately for me, making her happy also made me happy.

"Sure Nagato. Or do I call you Yuki now?" I said.

"Nagato will be sufficient."

"That's settled then. Shall I bring you home now?" I asked.

"Yes."

We then walked out of the clubroom, locked the door, and strolled out of North High arm in arm with each other. Mercifully, I did not run into Taniguchi or any of my classmates, but I did see a few guys stare at Nagato looking shocked. Apparently, she was more popular than I thought she was.

We left North High and made our way to Nagato's apartment complex. Walking arm in arm with Nagato felt so great! She was finally acknowledging her so-called "erroneous files" A.K.A. emotions. At the very least, she felt happy about it, and knowing that I'm letting her do this, she probably won't rewrite reality anymore.

A feeling of nostalgia suddenly hit me when we arrived at Nagato's apartment building. I remembered very clearly the day she told me about her true identity, calling me out via a bookmark left in a book she had lent me. I remembered not wanting to believe everything she told me, that she was a human purpose organic interface created and sent by the Integrated Data Thought Entity to observe Haruhi Suzumiya, who was dubbed as the secret to autoevolution, due to her capacity of creating data from nothing.

Nagato punched in the code to open the door, and we stepped into the elevator that would take us to the seventh floor. She still had not let go of me since we left the clubroom. Perhaps she's enjoying this as much as I am. I couldn't help but smile at the thought.

When the elevator reached the seventh floor, we stepped out and proceeded to Room 708. When we reached the door, I excused myself and told her I'd pick her up tomorrow but instead she said:

"No Kyon, you must stay for just a bit longer. There is much more we have to talk about. Especially the impact of what we are doing on Haruhi Suzumiya."

Oh shit. I had totally forgotten about what Haruhi would think if she found out that the person Nagato was in love with would be me. We had to do something about the situation that would make everyone, Haruhi included, happy. Apparently though, this probably isn't going to be an easy task, though it would be possible with Nagato by my side.

We then entered her room and she told me to sit at the same table as before, before pertaining to the time when she revealed her true identity to me, while she went to the kitchen to prepare our dinner.

Yare yare. Perhaps I am governed by rules of happiness that state that my happiness always must have something negative to balance it out. I am happy right now since Nagato and I have come to a mutual understanding about our feelings for each other; I probably didn't even need to explicitly tell Nagato that I liked her, intuitive as she is with her data manipulation powers. However, now I have to deal with the problems that may arise if and when Haruhi finds out about our relationship.

It's going to be a long night…