I was drifting through a dark space. It felt like I was flowing through cool water. With a familiar sense of nostalgia I tried to remember what had just happened. Was I dead? Was this place heaven? No, I have a feeling that I've been here before.
"There are no mysteries you idiot! There never will be! This whole thing is a waste of time! I don't give a damn who the hell you are." Thundered a voice inside the dark space.
"Ouch!"
I yelled into the space. Just what was this voice? I had ears, obviously. By the fact that I just had screamed 'ouch', apparently I had a mouth as well. Soon I was aware that I had my body back. My personality was intact, but I still remembered nothing.
"No! I do give a damn! This whole thing is your fault!"
What was this feeling of regret? It was starting to sound familiar.
"Do you think I actually enjoy wasting time with you? After buying all of you lunch every single weekend, you'd think a guy would actually get a day off from this bull crap!"
"Wait… no…" I said "Stop."
"Being next to you makes me physically ill. I can't believe some of the stuff you're stupid enough to do. I haven't met a more inconsiderate, shallow, irritating person in my entire life!"
"He doesn't mean that…" I said into the dark space in vain. The dark space began to quake. The speech became distorted and impossible to translate. Then I remembered everything. As the memories returned, I felt a feeling of falling, not in my stomach, but in my head. It all returned backwards, from the moment darkness took over all the way down to the faces of the SOS Brigade during my last few seconds in the old world. I remember it all, clearly, vividly... The quaking stopped.
"Nobody likes you! Do you think these three over here joined this stupid club to play with you? NO! You'd still be alone and bored out of your mind if you weren't a…"
"What?... What was she…" I asked myself. The three over there? Was that really… the thing that saved her from boredom? Do they really change the way I've felt about her? Alone? No… I was… I don't think so… she's… she's…
"You've lost Kyon! You've declared your hatred and rejected her! She doesn't want you anymore! I will have her!" Another voice replaced the first once.
"Kyon!" Koizumi called out from the darkness overlapping the previous voice just as I was about to swear. The voice came from a light, far away. I was drifting towards it. It became brighter and brighter. The space was quaking again. No… it wasn't the space… it was Koizumi shaking me awake…
I was leaning forward on a table as if I was asleep. I got up quickly to check where I was. I was in the literacy clubroom. Something was different about it. The texture of everything seemed simple, like a video game with bad graphics. If there was an illusion in the form of a room, this would be it. Koizumi was sitting across the table from me. Both of us were the most detailed things in the room.
"Koizumi! Why are we here? I thought you were gone!" I said.
"Gone, in a way, yes. It appears that the new host was the boy who introduced himself to me as Fujiwara. I was attacked and was sent here while I was busy with my customer."
"You ended up here? Speaking of which, where is this place?" I said picking up a cup on the table. It only had one color and didn't have shading, I had an urge to try and throw it on the ground to see what kind of sound it would make.
"I didn't think anything of it before… But in the clubroom when Nagato bit you here." Koizumi said pointing to his neck.
I put my hand to where Koizumi had pointed at himself. There wasn't really anything different, like the first time I checked it.
"That time, Nagato had administered some kind of alien program of some sort." Koizumi explained. "If you're here, that means this Fujiwara had gotten to you too. Nagato's program was the thing that saved you." Koizumi smiled blankly looking up at the ceiling touching his neck.
"Nagato bit you too?" I asked noticing that Koizumi was here with me after being attacked by Fujiwara.
"A similar method…" Koizumi said pensively.
"But why the clubroom?" I asked. "Is it some kind of respawn point?
"Do you have to book Nagato gave you?" Koizumi asked.
That's right the book. Where did it go? It wasn't anywhere on the table. Not in my hands or I would have 'found' it by now. It shouldn't be too hard to find. If it came here with me then it should be more detailed than anything in the room. I stood up to look on the book case and felt something on my foot.
"Ah, here it is." I was stepping on it. Dusting off the dirt smudging the handsome male character on the front cover.
"Is anything in there? Anything important like a letter or a note?
I began to look.
"This is quite the quandary. The search is tomorrow. I wonder how we're going to get back."
"Oh damn!" I yelled dropping the book on the table. "The search! It is tomorrow!"
"And what of it?" Koizumi asked.
"That bastard Fujiwara is going after Haruhi, he told me that he had a code for her." I said walking over to the door.
"It appears that he wasn't expecting you to live if he has revealed all his plans to you." Koizumi said as I began pulling on the door knob.
"It's not opening!" I said in frustration.
"I have tried it before. It does not open without a key." Koizumi said.
"A key." I returned to the book and began shaking it. Out of the pages fell out a bookmark.
As quickly as I could I tried to fit the bookmark into the key hole. I tried folding into shape, sliding into the crack on the side of the door, tried to pick the lock with it, nothing worked and in the end all that was left was a crushed remains of the book mark and Koizumi's silent laughing fit at the sight of me fiddling with the knob in this ridiculous fashion. It was then I decided to calm down and read what the book mark says.
"Pocket"
I checked my pockets but nothing was there.
"It just says pocket." I grumbled.
"Try putting it in." Koizumi suggested.
I slipped into my pocket. I let a few seconds pass but nothing happened, the door didn't open. I was beginning to regret making a fool out of myself by shoving it inside the keyhole. I grabbed Koizumi by the collar.
"You're joking again aren't you?" I said in a kansai accent.
"No. I am being completely serious. Check your pocket."
I pulled out the book mark, fresh and new without any of the previous damage I'd done to it.
"Whoa." I said examining it.
"I believe that it takes shape of whatever you're in need of. Try putting it back in." Koizumi suggested.
I did as he said still annoyed. It fell into my pocket, but it had become something heavy the moment my fingers had separated from it.
"Now pull it out." Koizumi said noticing my surprised look.
I took it out, but I don't expect it was to be for opening the door. It was a dagger and on the scabbard there was a little picture of Koizumi with a red X across his comically exaggerated stupid smile.
"Wow! You're right." I laughed tossing the sheathed dagger up and down.
"Surely you jest." Koizumi chuckled nervously noticing the picture "May I see that?"
I handed it over to Koizumi. He unsheathed the dagger and examined it.
"I was expecting a sword, but I guess this is all a book mark can do." I said.
"This is a high quality dagger." Koizumi said impressed with the design. He pretended to slash something in midair.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I was reenacting a scene from one of my plays." Koizumi said. "This was the scene where I murder the servant!" he resheathed the dagger.
Something bothered me about resheathing the dagger after using it to kill somebody.
"Shouldn't you clean the thing first?" I asked.
"How come?" Koizumi asked handing the dagger back.
"You know… It's a good dagger…" I reasoned admiring the design and little picture on the scabbard as I turned it over in my hand. "Putting it back in with all the blood kinda ruins it don't you think?" I said pocketing it once again, the weight immediately disappeared as it hit the bottom of my pocket. I picked up the book and walked back over to the door.
"There really wasn't any time for my character. Placed in a similar situation, I would have done the same. You can always clean it later." Koizumi shrugged.
"Yeah… sure…" I pulled out a small key instead of the dagger, the key to the clubroom door. I inserted it into the key hole and turned, it opened with a click.
"And I'll just wipe my ass later…" I said sarcastically pushing the door open.
"I doubt something as useful as that
I expected to find something surreal one the other side of the door. It was the same hallway that was outside of the clubroom. Koizumi followed me outside. The room behind us began to distort. When I returned to normal, the details of the room were restored and no longer looked like an illusion.
"Do you know what time it is?" I asked Koizumi.
"I cannot say. I have been in there since late afternoon." Koizumi said. "By the looks of the sky, I'd say about, early morning?"
I looked outside the window. As Koizumi said it did look like early morning.
"What day?" I asked with the search on mind.
"Looks like we have spent the night in the clubroom." Koizumi shrugged.
"Let's get going then." I said moving quickly down the hall, headed towards the station where the Brigade usually met for the searches. "We're going to the station, if today is the search, we're going to find Haruhi there, with Nagato and Asahina."
"Can you tell me more about this Fujiwara?" Koizumi asked.
"He's a time traveler. He's been getting help from other fractions. Long story short, he has a special kind of code he's able to manipulate. If he gets that to Haruhi he's going to erase her powers along with everything that had to do with it. That includes you and Nagato, Asahina, Asakura-"
Koizumi ran ahead of me.
"It's still a little early, they might not be there yet. In addition the code take time to deliver. He has to wait for the right moment." Koizumi said. "We have a good chance of getting yours delivered first." Koizumi said. "Are you still being partial about returning Suzumiya her powers? If you don't, Fujiwara will have his way with them."
"If I don't the bastard will." I said.
It was a long run. I saw memories of the search before I awoke in the clubroom. It really has been a long time now that I stop to think. To remember all the stupid things she's said then. When I look back, I've said some stupid things as well. We arrived in front of the station. There was a clock on top of a post nearby.
"It's one hour before the search begins." Koizumi let me know.
I looked around to see if anyone was there. The illusions were missing, probably not a good sign. Koizumi and I continued to walk across the outer area of the station. There on a bench nearby sleeping, was Haruhi.
"Wake up." I said in relief. We've found her before Fujiwara did.
Haruhi woke up.
"Kyon? Is that you? Did I fall asleep? Don't tell me I missed the search." She said rubbing her eyes.
"You didn't. in fact, it's an hour before it starts. Did you camp out?" I asked her, she might as well have been.
"No, I haven't been asleep for long I guess. I woke up really early so I decided to come." Haruhi said.
"Koizumi's here too, all we have to do is wait for Nagato and Asahina." I said.
Haruhi got up and looked around for Koizumi. He was a small distance away on the lookout for anything unusual. The absence of people around a station usually busy at this time didn't bother her. I met eyes with Koizumi, he gestured me to come over.
"I'll be right back. You can go back to sleep if you want." I insisted.
"No thanks, I'm not that tired." Haruhi yawned. It appears that she has been up all night. Her black hair was slightly unkempt. Nowhere near as free and energetic as the old Haruhi's hair style. It's a wonder how she sees with her hair covering her eyes. Shaking thought out of my head I went over to Koizumi.
"What is it?" I asked.
Koizumi's expression was grim as he handed me over the phone.
'Hello?" I said into the receiver.
"Good morning Kyon. Up as usual?" Fujiwara asked.
"Haruhi's right here next to me, and you aren't getting within ten feet of her if I can help it."
"Kyon… How does he know that we are alive?" Koizumi said.
"That's right Kyon! How do I?" Fujiwara laughed.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"You're in clear view Kyon." Fujiwara said it sounded as if he was speaking right into my ear.
At that very moment I sensed his presence. He was right across the street from the station. Koizumi had done so as well.
I reached into my pocket praying for anything that'll let me finish him on that spot. My hand froze when I saw who was with him. He had Asahina in a head lock.
"You wouldn't dare!" He smiled from ear to ear putting his gun like device to Asahina.
To Our Beloved Readers: I hope you enjoyed the filler lol.
Thanks For Reading: LordPlagus777