"I don't think we'll be able to make it without getting caught…" I said uneasily looking past the front gate of the school from the outside of the wall.

"You know what the scary thing is about this reality Kyon?" Koizumi asked.

"What is it?"

"If you fear it, the reality read your feelings and makes it true." He smiled deviously. It's like he wants us to get caught. Whose side are you on?

"Let's say I'm scared of zombies..." I said as an example.

"Do zombies exist?" Koizumi interrupted.

"In a figure of speech." I replied.

"You see Kyon, as I have told you before; the inner workings of this reality reflect Suzumiya. Suzumiya loves aliens and the sort but her common sense (thank god) keeps her powers under control. You know for a fact that zombies do not exist, therefore your fear is harmless." Koizumi described.

He stepped past the front gate and walked right onto the grounds. If there was a sniper on every window on the front side of the school Koizumi would be visible to all. Was he that calm about not getting caught as we sneak in during class time?

"But hall monitors are real." I said crouched down as I walk a useless attempt to not bring attention to myself.

"What I am trying to describe is a variation of 'the game' Kyon."

"The game?"

"This means that you lose." Koizumi started dashing towards the trees.

"Wha? Wait where are you-"

"Hey!" I heard from afar.

I jumped in surprise. There was a guy running towards me, wearing a sash over his uniform,. Definitely one of the hall monitors I was just talking about.

…

"You… bastard…" I panted as I had just finished catching up with Koizumi. We were still outside the school near a patch of grass where it wasn't likely for us to run into anyone.

"I bet you played that mindfuck purpose!" I said angrily.

"I'm impressed Kyon." Koizumi said not sound the least bit exhausted.

"I… what?" I said, to be honest I was speechless. He's enjoying himself isn't he? "Why?"

"Were you not fearing the possibility that the hall monitor might catch you?" Koizumi asked.

"I was distracted by my longing intent to wrap my fingers around your throat." I growled.

The fact that I did not obviously means that he didn't see me as a threat.

"Imagine if you were getting caught. Is it not frightening?" Koizumi said wriggling his fingers in my direction.

I facepalmed.

"I apologize Kyon, it appears that once again my joke has failed to entertain anyone besides myself."

"Bite me."

"We do have some time left before morning homeroom ends. Fear it or not there will be illusions patrolling the hallways inside the school. We will have to wait it out." Koizumi said once again back to his business like tone.

"Why the hell do we have to wait it out? We could have waited at home and came at the right time.

"The reality's sense of time is somewhat inaccurate." Koizumi said. "It would be troublesome if our watches decide to accelerate for some reason, waiting outside guarantees our success in finding Asahina.

"How much do we have left to go?" I asked.

"When the bell rings probably." Koizumi shrugged.

"That doesn't help…"

"It would be quite the quandary if the bell never rung at all." Koizumi smiled.

"Yare yare…"

It's pretty obvious how we passed the time for the remainder of morning homeroom.

…

"Alright Kyon let's keep our heads down and search the second year floor." Koizumi said to me as we were quickly moving across the hallway through the groups of students during the break time after morning homeroom.

"All joking aside it would be troublesome if we run into Suzumiya or even Uru now in the hallways." Koizumi said jogging beside me down the hall.

"I'm starting to not the point in skipping morning homeroom." I said keeping up the pace.

"We won't really know if we will be able to attend the next few classes while having our meeting with Asahina. If we were to properly attend the classes, we would only have the free time between them to hold our meetings. It would also potentially draw Suzumiya's attention if you were to disappear every break." Koizumi said as we turned a corner.

"I see. It wouldn't be much of a meeting if we have to stop to get back to class in the middle. Lose track of where we were before right?" I said.

"Not just the subject matter of the meeting, we can also lose Asahina as well." Koizumi said as we neared Asahina's classroom. "Let's just skip everything today and tell Suzumiya that we were taking a sick day off. Less suspicious don't you think?"

"Stop!" I said right as we approached the front door to Asahina's classroom.

It was a disaster! Haruhi was right in the hallway a few meters away past a few groups of students. Good thing I spotted her or else we would've run right into her. The two of us ducked and took cover behind the corner.

"What is Suzumiya doing?" Koizumi asked.

"She's… talking to Tsuruya." I said.

"Do you see Asahina anywhere?"

I looked closely and saw Asahina a distance behind Tsuruya, close to us. She wasn't in the conversation instead, she was day dreaming while looking out the window. If we sneak in close, we might be able to pull her away without getting caught by Haruhi.

"I'm going in." I said.

"What? You are?"

"I see Asahina; I think I can get to her."

"Can you pull it off?" Koizumi asked unsure.

"I think I can."

"We should wait until Suzumiya leaves." Koizumi suggested.

"We don't know when the first bell might ring. If class starts now, I might have to wait another hour with you. I'm getting her while we have the chance." I whispered back.

At that moment, Tsuruya looked back and we met eyes. I quickly hid behind the wall. I'm one hundred percent sure she caught a glimpse of my head sticking out from around the corner.

"Hey Haruhi!" I heard Tsuruya say loudly. "Look at that guy over there!"

What the hell Tsuruya! Was she selling me out!

"Kyon! Do it now!" Koizumi said to me as he pushed me out from behind the corner. Thank goodness Tsuruya was not giving me away but had her arm around Haruhi's shoulder and was looking off in the opposite direction of the hallway pointing at someone. It was obvious that she was trying to distract Haruhi. Asahina was right there, closer than ever!

"Now!" I said under my breath crawling across the floor weaving through the forest of legs and grabbed Asahina by the wrist.

"Eh?" she looked down at me in surprise.

I quickly held my finger to my mouth. Asahina still looked surprised but nodded, her lips tightly sealed. At that moment the bell rang and at once all of the illusions started to move back to their classes, extremely quickly I must add.

"Oh no…" I said as I tried to pull Asahina away from Tsuruya and Haruhi before all the illusions had dissipated.

"Rats! I'll be late for class. See you later Tsuruya." I heard Haruhi through the commotion.

She was running in our direction ahh! I ran with Asahina down the hallway grabbing Koizumi as well as I passed him. Pulling Koizumi and Asahina at the same time weighed me down and considering the speed Haruhi was going, there was a possibility that she caught a glimpse of us before we were in the clear. The hallways were now clean, no illusions anywhere.

"Eh?" Haruhi said as we just escaped her line of vision.

…

"Mission accomplished." I said as the three of us were getting close to the clubroom.

"Why did you bring me all the way here? Aren't we supposed to be in class?" Asahina asked.

"All in good time Asahina." Koizumi said.

We opened the door to the clubroom. I was expecting to be locked, but I guess not. Inside was Nagato, sitting on her chair and reading manga.

"Erm… cutting class too Nagato?" I asked.

Nagato simply flashed a peace sign in place of a yes.

"Is it alright if she…" I asked Koizumi.

"It's nothing to worry about." Koizumi simply said as he took a seat.

If Koizumi says so then there probably isn't any harm. I also sat down along with Asahina.

"So let's being the meeting!" Koizumi announced as he looked from me to Asahina as if checking to see if everyone was in attendance.

"Let's start with answering Asahina's question. We brought you here because as the only three people from the old world as well as the original SOS Brigade," his eye lingered on Nagato for a moment. "I thought that a meeting between the three of us was in order."

"Let's start then, get to the point." I said wondering if there was anything really to talk about than dull explaining like the usual.

"Asahina, this reality seems to be rejecting you into non existence." Koizumi said. "Not just from this reality, but from the old world as well. It would be safe to say that your existence was already wiped from the old world. It appears that time traveling or in other words slipping in to this reality was your only means of escape. If Kyon hadn't made that opening before hand, even an illusion of you might not even exist."

"H-how do we keep me from disappearing?" Asahina asked.

"In this reality, Kyon has been given the authority to interact with the illusions and determine their importance. Simply, you and Kyon must be in a close relationship in order to override the reality's attempts to erase you."

Asahina looked at me and then turned a light shade of pink.

"Close relationship?" she said.

I gulped. Damn… that would be awesome, but I don't think I'm prepared.

"That wouldn't be too hard would it?" Koizumi smiled at the two of us as we both looked away in opposite directions.

"Indeed it is too easy." Koizumi Leaned back on his chair, arms crossed back in deep thought.

"Is there anyway else?" I asked, this might be too much for Asahina too. Think about it! Close relationship? We could be taking a walk in the park together and I wouldn't expect any of us to utter a word for the next ten years if that kind of pressure was on our shoulders. A close relationship was impossible.

"Uru is the physical form of Suzumiya's powers." Koizumi started. "In short this is the suppressed version of the old world Suzumiya while the Suzumiya in this reality is a special type of illusion."

Asahina probably didn't know that. Or did she? Either way she was taking this very well and well focused on everything Koizumi was saying.

"What kind of illusion?" I asked.

"A variation of what I've told you before, but from what I have discovered we can see her as a blank sheet of paper while every other illusion is like a used sheet of paper. Their roles already determined. Up until now you have been filling her in."

"That explains why she's so different from when I first met her. So… Uru is actually Haruhi?

"Yes, and she is slowly forcing Asahina out of her place in this reality, thus stimulating the back and forth between Asahina and Uru."

Asahina looked puzzled.

"I didn't know." Asahina said. "But… why? Why is Suzumiya trying to erase me?"

"Suzumiya's powers, in this case being Uru, are trying to eliminate Asahina because she sees her as a threat, keeping Kyon from Suzumiya."

"So I'm her toy till the end huh?" I said bitterly. Koizumi and Asahina looked at each other hopelessly.

"Not because you are her toy, it's because she… erm…" Asahina started but was stopped by Koizumi.

"Get on with it! The other way is?" I said impatiently.

"Instead of fighting Uru by sharing a relationship with Asahina. Why not…" Koizumi seemed to be having a hard time getting out the next part. What? It's not like something's going to explode if you say it. "Start a relationship with Suzumiya."

I almost fell of my perfectly stable chair.

"Go out? Impossible! I will not stand for this!"

"The one from the reality!" Koizumi explained. "The illusion!"

"Oh!" I said clutching my chest. "If you put if like that of course I'm going to think… never with that idiot… She's not interested in that… Stuff!"

"You don't even have to share a relationship!" Koizumi said.

"I don't?"

"Just pretend that you are interested in her Kyon, because that is the key to our next course of action." Koizumi said almost breaking his smile.

"And that is?" I asked.

"You must persuade her to return to her former personality." Koizumi said. "You're the only person she has allowed to change her. You're the only person who can."

"Why in the world would I try to turn her into the old Haruhi again?"

"Because that will cause Suzumiya's powers to leave Uru and return to Suzumiya as her personality. In turn that will preserve Asahina." Koizumi sighed.

"Well… if it's for Asahina, I guess there's really no choice now is there? Change her back into the old Haruhi huh?" I said arms crossed fearful of the idea that the quiet new Haruhi that I know will have to be turned into the old Haruhi. "But that will be a pain…"

"Remember that you are allowed to choose which parts of her to keep Kyon. Even bringing back a fragment of her personality will bring her powers back. She doesn't really have to be exactly the same." Koizumi said in exasperation.

"Yeah that's right. I can pick and choose can't I? Well… I'd be nice for this Haruhi to have a little more energy and some confidence, yes..."

That did seem a lot easier than the first tactic. Asahina seemed to approve as well with her smile, although there was a look of hopelessness in her eyes as she was looking at me.

"Kyon, wouldn't it be easier to set Suzumiya back to the way she was?" Asahina asked.

"Nope. I'm only doing this so I can get on with my life." I shook my head. After all the things she's put me through, why continue here?

Asahina looked to Koizumi for assistance. Koizumi just shrugged back.

"Then it's done. We'll do it at the mystery search. You say what you have to say to Suzumiya, we'll leave you two completely alone." Koizumi said. "I must tell you one thing Kyon."

"What is that?"

"When the moment comes where you have to tell her to change, she will not be able to register anything that you are saying."

"Say what?"

"It is something like a password. As soon as you make your final decision the reality itself will change, Suzumiya will change, and her powers will return to her. Choose carefully though, the changes you make to Suzumiya here will be the Suzumiya you meet in the old world, when we return of course."

I see. So this was it huh?

"I can do that." I said. "That's even easier. Really takes the pressure off me if she can't register what I say.

It was simple. Just make sure she's having a good time, and when the moment is right I'll tell her to change. This was a little too surreal though.

"The timing is very important." Koizumi said clearly.

"Sure sure." I replied. "Oh yeah." I said suddenly remembering. "When is the mystery search?" I asked.

Koizumi looked to Asahina who checked her watch.

"This is on a Saturday am I right?" Asahina asked.

The both of us nodded. So did Nagato.

"It's… tomorrow." She said.

I was genuinely surprised but Koizumi wasn't at all.

"Excellent, I was expecting it to be so. Asahina is really the only way to be sure of the time." He said.

To Our Beloved Readers: This chapter was fatter than the usual. Difficult to keep everything together.

There's a new poll on my profile, if you guys can be bothered take a look and vote. This will have influence on my future stories.

I'm also planning to start the Winter Verse next chapter.

Thanks for Reading: LordPlagus777