April 18th. Early Friday morning. Kyons Room.
I woke up that morning to the ring of my cell phone. After trying to tune it out for a few rings, I grudgingly reached for it.
"What?" was the best greeting my groggy self could come up with.
"Oh? Kyon-kun isn't a morning person?" The person at the other end of the line said.
"I don't like anything that bothers me before my alarm clock rings," I muttered.
My caller made a piercing cheerful laughter, "Then you must not like me, what a shame, I was going to offer you a ride to school today."
"…what?"
"I think you could make good use of me, and I of you."
"…who the hell is this?"
"It's Tsuruya, mr. sleepyhead, or maybe the proper address is sleepyhead-san?"
...how tired must I be to not recognize her voice?
"You're calling to threaten me again?" I asked.
She laughed yet again, I'd prefer the alarm clock to this treatment so early in the morning.
"That depends, have you been kissed by any girls other that Haru-nyan since I talked to you yesterday?" she said mockingly.
Yes.
"No."
"Then you're safe, but we need to talk. Would you like a ride to school?"
Far too sleepy to do anything than just go along with this bizarre turn of events, all I did was murmur some agreement.
"Okey greats, I'll pick you up at that parking lot by your building at 7:40, see you then."
Tsuruya picked me up at the promised place and time. She, or rather her driver, was driving an all too familiar black SUV. It didn't have modified seating so it wasn't the same car as I was in yesterday but it still was the same model. I wonder where the organization gets their cars…
"So…what did want to talk about," I asked once I had stepped into the car.
"How was the date with Haru-nyan last night?" Tsuryua asked enthusiastically.
"It was…good. Is that all you wanted to talk about?" I said, making no attempt to hide my annoyance.
"It needs to be better than good if you're going to work off your penance after what you did," Tsuryua teased.
"Look, I don't even…what penance?" I asked.
"You and Haru-nyan where on equal footing, equally hopeless, and then you went and did something stupid so now you owe her," Tsuryua said with a wide smile on her face. Is she being serious or is she just mockingly repeating lines from Haruhi?
"I…guess that's hard to argue with," I conceded…can't really defend what I did without starting a potentially ugly argument.
"But no, that's not why I wanted to talk to you," Tsuryua said and her mood suddenly turned serious. She turned and grabbed her schoolbag and began rummaging through it while she spoke.
"I told you that I know you and your brigade are special, right?"
"…yes."
"And I know that you special people have special problems."
"…Tsuryua-san, just how much do you know?"
"Enough."
She handed me a small laminated piece of paper.
"This is for you. These are telephone numbers you can call and addresses you can go to in case your special problems catch up to you."
"…Are we sure we're talking about the same thing here?"
She laughed and gave me a smile that confirmed that indeed, we were.
We talked about some trivial things for the rest of the drive. Tsuruya seemed eager to hear details from the date, or rather my side of the story, and she really wanted to know what the brigade had planned for the future. Once we arrived at school I just thanked her for the ride and the offer to help and we parted ways.
Once I got to the classroom, Haruhi was already there in her usual seat. I wasn't sure what was an appropriate greeting now, so I just turned around and gave her a casual "Hi."
Haruhi didn't answer back, just glared at me with disapproval in her eyes.
"…Is something wrong?" I asked after enduring her scrutinizing stare for a few moments.
Her response was two simple words, yet they carried so much significance; "They know."
By the context, I was able to make the following assumptions:
They; refers to the class we're in.
Know; are aware of the fact that yesterday we went on a date.
"…I see, how do they know?" I asked, although I had my suspicions.
"Maybe if someone hadn't gossiped with Tamura yesterday, they wouldn't know," Haruhi said, not hiding the accusation towards me.
"Don't worry about Tamura, I've already reported her to the proper authorities…but how do you know that they know?" I asked.
"They asked me for clarification, turns out a few of them had a pool going," Haruhi said with a mix of embarrassment and annoyance, "those in our class that bet that we'd be dating by April just made a few thousand yens."
"…I'm honestly not sure how to react to that," I said surprised.
"Perhaps if you hadn't taken so long this wouldn't have happened," Haruhi shot at me, trying to keep her voice down and glancing around the classroom. I followed her example and noticed that quite a few students were watching us with knowing smiles. Too knowing, I think I can see were Haruhis annoyance comes from…
"Why didn't anyone tell us about it, seems like almost everyone was in on it," Haruhi muttered.
"You mean we could've gotten in on it, bet on a month at our convenience and then make some money?" I joked.
Haruhi narrowed her eyes at me. "This isn't funny," She said, "just look at them, staring at us like we're some sort of comedy routine. I don't get the joke."
"Maybe it's the fact that we've grown so used to arguing that we've adopted the style of bickering that only people who argue with each other all the time for a long time use. You know, old married couples," I explained cautiously, "couples our age are usually more…I don't know…lovey-dovey, for the lack of a better term."
"That's ridiculous!" Haruhi declared, "Just because we're not acting like some idiots who need to get rid of their excess hormones as soon as possible doesn't make us a joke!"
"Yes dear," I said with feigned defeat in my voice.
"…Shut up," Haruhi said annoyed with a hint of embarrassment, "And don't call me that."
"Call you what? Dear?" I asked.
"Yes, I don't like it," Haruhi said crossly.
"Then what do I call you?" I carelessly asked without thinking.
"Well…guess we haven't really talked about that…" Haruhi said, suddenly speaking cautiously and quickly raising her guard up.
"What do you mean?" I asked slightly confused.
"This morning when the girls were talking to me, the asked if we are…you know…If we we're just dating or…damnit, don't make me spell everything out for you!" Haruhi shot at me, turning her defensiveness into and offensive seamlessly.
Crap. I did not mean to steer the conversation in that direction. We are not prepared. Abort.
"I assume 'the old ball and chains' is unacceptable," I asked in my attempt to derail this conversation using my finely tuned sense of humor.
Haruhi didn't answer, just stared at me with an utterly unamused expression waiting for a proper answer.
"Look…lets just let them gossip, who cares what they have to say?" I said.
"Fine," Haruhi muttered, "It's obvious that this is going to be done with baby steps."
Shortly after that lessons began. This time around they were a little easier to follow, my mind was more at ease than it had been for some time now. Once lunch break arrived Haruhi didn't immediately go to the cafeteria as she usually does but instead jabbed me in the back with her mechanical pen.
"Kyon," She said, "That girl from Wednesday…"
Sigh…
"I've been thinking about this…I didn't get a good look at her because your face was in the way," Haruhi said with clear disapproval in her voice, "but she kind of looked familiar and I think I finally realized this…she was one of Sasakis friends, wasn't she?"
"…Yes," I admitted, "That's probably where you knew her from."
"I see," Haruhi said like she had just been informed of something to trivial for her even to notice, "and just what we're you going with her? How do you even know her?"
"We met though Sasaki, like you probably guessed." I was trying to make this sound like a casual conversation but the tension behind her nonchalant mannerisms is quite tangible.
"You met though Sasaki? You've been meeting with Sasaki much?" Haruhi asked in that specific tone only young women seem to master, when they're clearly offended but try to sound like the barely care enough to ask.
"A few times," I admitted, "but we just met for drinks for a short time. Nothing improper."
"I see," Haruhi kept the same tone, "So while you were being annoyed at me for no reason these past few days you were casually meeting Sasaki for drinks?"
"Uhm…" Crap. Why is she more interested in Sasaki then the girl she saw me kissing anyway? "If you're feeling…I don't know, threatened by her or something…you really don't need to be. When a girl and a boy are just friends for a long time there's usually a good reason why they haven't started dating.
"Is that so," Haruhi said coldly, "and what good reason was there that we were just friends for a year and never when anywhere?"
That's it. I'm not playing this stupid game of accusations, especially when there's nothing behind them.
"Stop this nonsense," I said annoyed and rubbed my forehead, "It's like you're trying to pick a fight, just…drop it."
Haruhi and I stared at each other for a few moments, she with stern disapproval in her eyes and me with firm defiance in mine. I think we were both waiting for the other person to show weakness by looking away.
Suddenly, Taniguchi appeared before us.
"So it finally happened!" He loudly declared, "You did cost me a bit of money by not waiting until June but still, well done!"
We both turned and focused our glares at him. We withstood that for only a few seconds.
"Erm, I can see you're busy so…" He rambled and excused himself.
We refocused our looks at each other.
"Look," I said after a few moments, "I'm not dating Sasaki, and I'm not dating Tachibana. I'm dating you."
Haruhi didn't immediately respond, she seemed to be weighting the value of my words.
"Will you be meeting with Sasaki again?" She finally asked.
"At some point, probably," I admitted.
"Then I'm coming with you," Haruhi stated like she was a supervisor making a decision on something she had full authority on.
And that's how far we got without me getting in trouble for intentionally keeping things away from her…Sasaki and I can't speak freely with Haruhi present so my options are to cut off Sasaki, or somehow talk to or meet Sasaki behind Haruhis back…and in my mind cutting of Sasaki simply isn't an option. Doing stuff behind Haruhis back hasn't turned out so well either…Damnit, this doesn't need to be this difficult, Haruhi only has to relax a bit…
"That's…not how this works," I said cautiously, "This…'we'…we're not like the brigade with you as leader…you can't just decide something like that."
"So you don't want me along?" Haruhi shot at me, "Maybe you should just accept that in any context the two of us will be leader and subordinate."
"It's not that," I said, ignoring her second statement for now, "But we need to…"
I drifted off as I ran into difficulties picking my next words, this is getting far to convoluted. We need something to cut through the nonsense here. A clear impartial mind like…like Sasaki. Haruhi seems to have let her mind run loose with her ideas about Sasaki and what Sasaki is to me, maybe if I can somehow show her that she's worrying about nothing...A crazy idea struck me. Crazy enough to work. I reached for my phone. To be honest it was potentially a horrible idea but if Haruhi can just be reasonable for a moment…
"What are you doing," Haruhi said and raised an eyebrow, "We're not done here!"
I scrolled though my contracts, found Sasaki and called. Her school probably also has lunch break about now.
"Hello, Sasaki?" I greeted once she answered. Haruhi glared at me like I had done something especially audacious.
"Yes? Why are you calling me? I thought more time would pass until we next would speak after last time," Sasaki said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about calling so abruptly, but Haruhi wants to talk to you."
Haruhis eyes widened and she stared at me in disbelieve.
"Does she?" Sasaki said.
"Well…She seems to be misunderstanding some things and I think it would help if you two just…talked."
"I see…put her on then, I have a few minutes."
I handed Haruhi the phone, she blankly stared at it for a few moments before taking it and putting it to her ear.
"Hello? This is Haruhi Suzumiya…yes…yes…we did…uhm, just a movie…he did? I see…when was this? Yesterday?" She looked up to give me a disapproving glare. "No, it's not a problem…what did you talk about?...Oh, I see…what? No, we haven't really…thank you…yeah, so do I…he didn't say…yes, I knew about that…he told you? That's still up for debate…but why…"
Suddenly Haruhis face turned kinder and for a brief moment she looked at me like I had suddenly given her a thoughtful gift. That only lasted for one fleeting moment before her face turned serious again.
"…he said that? Really? But…yeah I know but…thanks…so you never…and he really…yes, I believe you, It's just that…I understand, goodbye."
Haruhi hung up and handed me my phone back, then leaned back in her seat and stared out the window. After a short while of that she simply stated, "If you meet with her, you tell me about it. Okay?"
"That's fair, I guess," I conceded. I almost wanted to ask her what Sasaki said but I wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Suddenly, the president entered the classroom and walked up to me.
"Kyon-kun," He said, "I was wondering if I could have a word."
"Uhm…sure," I said, stood up and followed him out. I glanced back at Haruhi and saw her shooting daggers in the back of the President.
Once we were out in the hallway, the president stopped and turned to face me.
"What's this about," I asked.
The president took a deep breath and pushed the bridge of his glasses.
"We had less time than I thought," he said firmly, "There have been enemy movements, big openly hostile enemy movements, and we need to act now."
"What do you mean?" I asked, "I though you guys had this under control? Just what is going on?"
"The so-called French Incident hurt us more than we imagined," He said and gave me a stern stare.
What could he mean by 'French Incident'...oh, that.
"Judging from what has happened in the last hour there have been more defections, more leaks, and our position has been damaged more severely than we previously believed, and the enemy is taking every advantage. We don't know who to trust but from how efficiently our foes are fighting us it's obvious they have people from the organization helping them…and just now, our enemies decided to make a move directly towards the school, attempting to surround it," The president said. I think it's the first time I've seen him visibly nervous.
"Hold on a second, what do mean by a move? Attempting?" I asked. My heart was racing faster now, what he's saying…could thing really turn so bad so fast?
The president sighed impatiently.
"I don't really have time to explain this to you. Look, Koizumi tells me you're good at games? Imagine a chessboard. The enemy pawns just got into position to make things easier for the more dangerous pieces to move in and capture the Queen."
I swallowed. That I did understand. This isn't good.
"I can see you understand me," The president said, "to make matters worse the time travelers have fallen silent, we just can't reach them. But that's not the worst thing. The Data entities have disappeared. All of them, with no warning they suddenly…just disappeared."
"…what? How could they…that's almost more unnerving than your enemies moving in for a strike."
"Yes, I agree," The president said, "It's like walking home alone at night when all the insects suddenly fall silent. You have to wonder just what the hell could have that effect."
"I don't know what to make of it…Yuki has been more worn out but I never thought she might disappear, I don't think there's anything that could harm her but still…but I guess we have more immediate problems, you say your enemies are moving in?"
"We wouldn't even have seen it coming if it hadn't been for a fluke that allowed us to catch on in time to pre-empt the agents they've installed in this school and around it. Seems they were trying to surround it to prevent any escape, but a slip up on their part allowed us to intercept their communications and react in time. We've countered by capturing the agents we know of closest to us and creating a gap in their surveillance just large enough for you and Suzumiya-san to disappear, but you need to go now before they realize. "
What.
"That...That's your plan B! Have me grab Haruhi and run?" I snapped at him, "I thought you guys had this huge organization with meticulous planning and massive resources. Koizumi even told me you had the upper hand in this town?"
"Trust me, Kyon-kun, when I say that it wasn't plan B. It wasn't plan C or D either," The president growled. He spoke hastily yet very clearly, like he was used to explaining complex things quickly, "The eventuality that we would need to ask you to take Haruhi and disappear is known as contingency plan G. It was only to be used if our nearby resources where tied up, we had been infiltrated and didn't know who of your own people to trust, and had no time to react and where toughly at a disadvantage. Don't be fooled by our initial success, The enemy has the upper hand here right now and will be coming for us reinforced once they've realized what we've done. It's even a possibility they just allowed us to interrupt them so they could lure us into a whole different trap while we had our agents tied up in dealing with the ones they allowed us to capture. You need to run before this get worse because it will, and then Suzumiya will be captured along with you."
"I...why me? Run where?"
"Anywhere, go as far and deep as you can get." He handed me a par of keys. "These go to locker 243, in it you'll find a bag with money, forged credentials and so on. A fugitive starter kit. You can also take my bike, it's the red one at the very end of the bike parking, the key to the lock is on the keychain. Go out the gate and head left and go that way for a few blocks. You should then find a way out of the city, I suggest by train but it's up to you."
I reluctantly accepted the keys. This was getting overwhelming. "But why me? What about Koizumi?"
"Haven't you been listening?" The president snapped at me, clearly in no mood to have this conversation any longer. "Koizumi is very preoccupied right now. You're the only one we can be certain hasn't defected, at least you'd never hand her over to those people, and one of the few people she would actually follow, and this is an emergency measure. A total last-ditch effort. We have effectively been defeated here, a tactical defeat anyway."
"Her following me?" I said sharply. "She always does just whatever she wants! I can't just pick her up in my arms and run!"
"Yes, I know," The president said coldly, "and I knew having someone like you as a part of contingency plan was a huge mistake."
Those words actually got to me for some reason, before I could come up with a response the President continued.
"I've watched you and I've read the reports. From what I've seen you're not much more than a dog on a leash. Sure, you bark whenever something rubs you the wrong way but you have no teeth. Your master does listen to you from time to time, but will never let you take the lead. You're always the grunt."
The nerve...what's his deal and why does this make me so angry? He doesn't even know what he's talking about! She does lead the way but I'm not lead around on a leash...I glanced at my tie...dammit!
"Just look at you. Even now when your life, both your lives, depends on it you can't even take the lead. It's just pathetic." The president was getting vicious.
I was seriously pissed off now. "I'll show you!" I yelled without thinking and turned around. For a second there I thought I saw a smirk on the president's face when I glanced back at him as I stormed back to the classroom.
I barged into the classroom. I got some confused or annoyed glances for the way I rushed in. I stopped just in front of Haruhi.
"What's gotten into you?" She said, unimpressed at my entrance.
"I...uhm...We have to..." Damnit. The president wasn't right. I'm not just some spineless dog. I looked down. At the tie, my leash. I can't turn into a coward now, I've never done that when push comes to shove.
"What is it, Kyon?" She said slightly annoyed.
"I need you to...come with me for a minute," I said hurriedly.
"What? Lunch break almost over, we can just talk in the clubroom after lessons." She seemed a bit surprised but still dismissive...goddamit.
I stared at my tie for a second. I can't act so timid now. The president was right...partly. I've had this leash on for a long time. Long enough. It's time for a more equal partnership, or something like that. I began loosening my tie.
"Stand up, Haruhi," I demanded.
"What? You're being weird Kyon," Haruhi accused.
"Just do it," I insisted.
To my surprise, she did stand up. There was a slightly intrigued look in her eyes.
I had taken of my tie now. I grabbed each end of it and whipped it around Haruhi's neck. Her eyes widened.
"Whaaa- Kyon! What do you think you're doing?"
Now let's see, how does this go...the rabbit goes twice around the tree, does this, down the hole...
"KYON! I demand to know what you think you're doing to your leader! The whole class is staring." She said that last part in an uncharacteristically hushed tone. Since when has she cared about what the class thinks…
I tightened the knot. Haruhi made a slight choking noise. More from surprise than the tie being on to tight.
"Just shut up and follow me," I said and dragged her by the tie out to the hallway. I tried to look just straight ahead so I wouldn't see the infuriating knowing looks of my classmates.
I pulled her along with me to the entrance of the school. I have to admit that the satisfaction from this role reversal did a lot to lessen my anger, which only made me rational enough for it to sink in how bad this situation was if the president was telling the truth. Once we had reached the lockers by the exit I let her go.
"Kyon! What the hell!" Haruhi yelled at me, sounded angry but still I think I saw a more of surprise in her eyes than anything else. Well, now is the moment that I spit it out.
"Haruhi...Let's take a trip together!" I said like I was ordering an underling. Maybe I sounded too harsh. Staying cool under pressure wasn't easy even if I have more experience in dealing with pressure than I'd like. I thought the situation had fully sunk in. It hadn't. It just kept sinking. I saw some students staring at us from across the room...why are they staring? And that teacher? I don't remember seeing him before...
Haruhi used my moment of paranoia to get over the sheer shock her face gave away.
"Whaaa- You…Kyon! You Idiot! What's gotten into you!"
That unfamiliar teacher, was he reaching for his cell phone? Crap. He's looking at us. And those students who were staring at us just seconds ago where nowhere to be seen. Are they behind me? I don't have time to convince her...she just has to think it's interesting and she'll follow. Don't I have to tell her whatever she wants to hear? For now I think that justified. She just stared at me, uncertain what to make of this. I continued.
"Well...I have to say it, our...date yesterday was kind of...boring. You thought so, didn't you?"
"I-" She now looked downcast "I guess it was..."
"I want to make it up to you," I said. I really did sound sincere, but was I? I was sincere that it wasn't a great date, and I wished to make it up to her by not having her captured. Lets leave it at that. Why is that other girl staring at me? She's on the phone! Who's she talking to! We need to get out of here.
"I have money enough to take care of this," I said, trying to sound decisive. The president did say something about money in that locker. "Let's just go now. We can both miss half a day of school and it's the weekend anyway."
"But, to just run away! And after just one date!" Haruhi said confused. "Isn't this too much? You where the one who wanted to go slow."
She was right of course. Normally I'd never whisk a girl away like this but fate has forced my hand, or something like that. But she with her eccentric views should be excited about this. I can tell she's on the verge of accepting this abrupt suggestion, she has a hint of that demented look she gets when she gets an idea and turns into the unstoppable barrel of fun we all know her as. Do we really have to analyze where we stand now? I don't think so...wait. I think I can just tell her that.
"Haruhi...how do I put this…Look, we don't have to decide where we stand right here right now, lets just not be boring. Let me take you to the nearest train station and find somewhere interesting to visit." I said, trying to sound enthusiastic, "I'm trying to be spontaneous, work with me."
The look of surprise faded and turned into a contemplative one. For a few moments Haruhi said nothing and just stared outside. Those few moments tried my patience even more than Haruhi usually did. Every glance from a fellow student was now hostile every phone call made in my presence was now an enemy calling for backup. The President said we had a few minutes? Hadn't few minutes passed by now? Dammit Haruhi...
"Okay!" She declared with a sudden wide smile "I didn't know you had this in you! I'm gonna have to keep a closer eye on you!"
And I'm on you.
"Great! Wait here for a second, I have to get my bag." I left her standing there with her thousand watt smile...she sure got into a good mood all of a sudden...and tried to find that locker the president had told me about. After a little hurried looking around I found the locker and quickly opened it. In it was a bag about the size of my schoolbag. On top of it was a wallet and...a small Taser gun? Good grief...I put the wallet in my left front pocket, the Taser in the inner pocket in my school jacket and put the bag on my shoulder and hurried back to where I had left Haruhi.
Once I got back she wasn't there. This was where I left her, wasn't it? I looked around...A few students there were staring at me. Why the hell did I take my eyes of her for even a second? I called out her name.
"...Kyon?" said a female voice, coming from a girl standing at the end of the locker row. The only way you'd miss her if you were out of your mind. I need to get myself together.
I walked to her, grabbed her wrist and led her out the door.
"Let's just go."
I headed for the bike parking, dragging Haruhi along with me.
"Wait, Kyon, what about our schoolbags? They're still in the classroom!" Haruhi asked.
"I'll call Taniguchi and ask him to take our bags and leave them in the clubroom," I said.
"You're going to tell that guy we're going away and won't be able to make it back?" Haruhi said accusingly, "Do you realize what he'll make of that?"
"…right, I'll ask Kunikida."
We had arrived at the bike parking. I let Haruhi go, picked up the keychain and walked to that red bike and unlocked the chain around it.
"Is this your bike?" Haruhi asked mildly surprised.
"Yeah, it's new," I said like she was asking the obvious, "I just rode it to school for the first time today."
"But…" Haruhi said, suddenly confused, "Tsuruya said she was going to give you a ride to school today."
Oh for the love of…
"Why are you trying to lie to me?" She asked sternly and gave me an especially dirty look.
"I…I wasn't sure how you'd react to me spending any time with another girl," I said apologetically and got on my bike.
Her dirty look continued for a few moments. We don't have time for this…
Suddenly her faced turned from angry to merely a bit annoyed, she took a seat on the bike.
"Common, what are you waiting for, pedal on!" She commanded, and I obeyed.
I rode out the school gate, with Haruhi behind me sitting sideways with one arm around me and my bag resting on my shoulder. I turned left like the President had told me. Then again, I hadn't thought of it before but can I trust him? Though I suppose that if he was planning to defect and lead me to a trap he would've given me widely different instructions than 'Run and disappear'.
"Slow down, Kyon" Haruhi scolded, "don't be so reckless, you're carrying precious cargo!"
Indeed, and I intend to get it away from here. I slowed down a bit but not significantly, I think this isn't a good time to be talking it slow.
"So where did you want to go?" Haruhi asked once we had been going for a few minutes.
"I'm heading for that big train station that's a few blocks from here," I said.
"The big one? But the trains there go out of town. You were planning on a long trip?"
I don't really have a solid cover story here, do I? How do I explain to her that we can't come back for some time after this daytrip? Screw it, priority number 1 now is to get her away, I can deal with the fallout later.
"Yeah, I think we've explored this town enough. Isn't there any neighboring town you want to see?"
"Well…" Haruhi thought for a moment, "There is this one that has a few sights I wanted to see."
"Great," I declared, "We'll go there!"
I pedaled on for a few minutes and then we arrived at the train station. There was a bike parking nearby so I left the bike there, didn't have a lock on me but I don't think I'll be needing that bike again.
Haruhi and I walked into the station. It was spacious and mostly empty. Felt like a perfect place for an ambush. Wouldn't they place people at the nearby train stations if they wanted to prevent escape? Oh well, I don't see anybody suspicious around…
Haruhi found the departure schedule and glanced over it.
"Hm…There isn't a train leaving for that town I wanted to go to for another hour…I guess we can wait?" Haruhi murmured.
"What about that one," I said and pointed to a name where it said that departure would be in 15 minutes.
"What? I don't know about anything interesting there…" Haruhi mused, "why do you wanna go there?"
"Because it's leaving now," I answered with all honestly. Can't think of a convincing lie and I don't want to.
"Do you even know where that town is?" Haruhi asked and raised an eyebrow.
"No."
She gave me a skeptical look.
"Look…we don't have that much time if this is going to be a daytrip, do you want to spend it waiting in a train station? I'm sure we can find something to do once we arrive, I don't think traveling with you will ever turn boring."
Her skeptical look continued for a few moments before she allowed a subtle smile.
"You think such cheap flattery will melt me?" She said cheerfully, " And now you're trying to take command? I'm interested in seeing where that goes. Fine, we'll go to your town. This better be good!"
We hurried to the ticket counter. There was enough cash in that wallet I had just picked up to pay for both our tickets, which was lucky because I wouldn't want to open that bag in here or use my debit cart and leave a paper trail.
Escaping from these organizations shouldn't be this easy. Could it be they haven't noticed us being gone? Or could Koizumis group be locked in fighting and preventing them from following us? Maybe there was something bigger at work here…with the Data entities gone and the time travelers silent I'm really not sure what to make of this. I just hope Nagato and Asahina are all right…and I do hope Koizumi survives whatever he's up to now.
Wait. Could this be related to whatever Asahina was trying to warn me about the other day? She didn't give me much information, just 'don't put yourself in danger'. I'm going away from danger now so I'm hardly going against her warning…either way, I have to escape these people.
Maybe I'm worrying over nothing. This is just too easy, that's all.
We got on the train. It was actually a quite nice coach train and Haruhi and I got a whole room for ourselves, even if it was a small one. I sat down, just now realizing how sweaty and tardy I was after all that pedaling. The seat was quite comfortable and I allowed myself to take a rest. The train got started and in a few short moments we were going fast, me lounging lazily and Haruhi staring excitedly out the window. After a short but well deserved rest, I decided I needed and answer to the question 'what's in the bag that the president gave me?'
"I'm going to go the bathroom," I said and reached for my bag.
"You're talking your bag with you?" Haruhi asked
"Yes, I'm going to...go freshen up."
Haruhi grinned. "Looks like you need it!"
Yes, escaping from some sort of Esper conspiracy may result in tardiness.
"Just stay here, don't go anywhere."
"Go where? We're on a train Kyon," Haruhi said annoyed.
"Just…stay. Behave."
"Wait!" Haruhi yelled as I as leaving the room. I turned around to see her holding out my tie to me.
"You'll be needing this back," She said. I decided not to ask what she had in mind and accepted the tie.
I found the nearest bathroom, went in and locked the door behind me. Now the moment of truth. I zipped open the bag. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when saw what I saw.
What immediately caught my eyes where great big rolls of the almighty Yen. The Organization could really take that amount, shove it in a locker and leave it as a part of plan G? There were also envelopes along with the rolls. One marked 'Russian rubles', another marked 'Renminbis', 'Euros', 'Dollars'. The amounts in these envelopes weren't as generous as the Yens but more than enough to support us for two weeks at least, and the Yens…
Why the foreign currency? Did they honestly expect me to leave Japan? The next thing I noticed confirmed that. There where passports in the bag. A Russian one, Chinese, Japanese, American, French, British, South African, Brazilian, German, South Korean…two of each, 'Hers and his'. I opened one of the French ones. It had a photo of Haruhi. I glanced over the info. Nom(Surname): Modisette . Prenom(Given name): Audrey. Nationalité: Francaise. I'm guessing that means French. I put 'Audreys' passport back in the bag and picked up a Russian one. It had photo of me and the name Vladimir Davydov. I couldn't make out the Cyrillic letters, but it said in English that my claimed nationality was Russian.
What is this? Are we supposed to just blend into a country we've never even been to? I don't even speak a word of Russian and I don't really look like a Vladimir. Haruhi does however look like an Audrey, for what that's worth. I continued digging. I found a driver's license (A Japanese one and an Italian one, for some reason), credit cards, pepper spray, a small gps computer, an old cell phone, charger for the Taser...
I stopped digging when I found a notebook that had the title "Contacts". Its first page listed the contracts by categories. "Medical assistance. Weapons and defense. Law enforcement contracts. Forgers. Smugglers. Special skills..." I swallowed. This notebook listed number and location of various shady people and a brief description of each. It wasn't thick but had thin pages and small lettering. From a brief inspection I saw that it contained an impressive amount of information in such a modest book. I read the info on few of the contacts. Some were official Organization contacts. It when downhill from there and some were outright criminals that, according to the book, where competent in their field and would not ask questions given the right price. If the passports made me feel uneasy then I don't know how this made me feel. Overwhelmed seemed like an understatement.
I put the notebook back and rummaged some more. I found a small bag. I opened it an in it there where jewels. Necklaces, rings, earrings and a few gems. They did not look cheap. A tool for bartering or gifts for the goddess to keep her happy? Time would tell.
It was then that I finally noticed an envelope that had written "Contingency plan G" on it. I opened it and in it was a letter.
If you're reading this that means that the Organization has utterly failed in ensuring the safety of Haruhi Suzumiya and Contingency plan G has been activated. Due to the nature of the circumstances that would cause this plan to be called into action we cannot give you details about what your next steps should be or even what our next steps will be. All that we can give you is the simple order "Take Suzumiya and run until your trail has gone cold, then disappear and stay gone" and give you the means to do so. In the bag you'll find a list of contacts. Depending on the circumstances you might wish to avoid exposing yourself to official Organization contacts and rather use unaffiliated specialists. Spend only what you have to. Do not resurface unless you are absolutely certain that the safety of Suzumiya can be guaranteed. We apologize if you've been thrust into this without much warning, but the success of this plan relies on the enemy not expecting it and therefore only a few people know this plan even exists. We know you've gotten into bad situations before and come through and we've every confidence in you carrying this out successfully.
Good grief…I'm way passed overwhelmed. What plan are they referring to? Run and hide while specifically avoiding us? This isn't a plan, it's a lack thereof. I honestly just tough they meant take her to small hotel a few towns over and stay there…and now it seems they expect me to leave the country or even the continent. Dammit, why has no one prepared me for this?
I closed the bag. Maybe there was something there I hadn't noticed but I honestly had seen all I could take in for now. I washed my face, for the sake of my cover story, put on my tie and left the bathroom.
In the hallway I ran into Fujiwara.
"You!" I declared once I realized who it was. My hand instinctively reached into my pocket and pulled out the taser. Fujiwara raised his hands.
"Whoa! Easy there, I don't have time to deal with your stupidity, just listen to me for a second!"
How did he find us? How does he even fit into this whole mess? I though we weren't being followed. That disgusting sneer of his is one of the last things I wanted to see here.
"I can tell by that idiotic expression on your face that you didn't expect to be followed," Fujiwara said, "it wasn't much of a challenge. I mean seriously, you leave the school through the front gate and stay in your signature school uniforms? If it weren't for me you'd be in the back of a van by now or worse."
"What? What do you mean? First off, why would you help us?" I asked.
I kept the gun aimed at him. Wonder what part of the body would be most effective. Personally I'm going for the neck. Though the chest would be a better place to aim.
"I helped you for the only reason I could have for helping you, because it fit my agenda."
That I could believe.
"What do you mean it fits your agenda?"
"There was a predetermined event today that you were supposed to be a part of. It didn't happen," he said with a triumphant smirk.
"Didn't happen?" I said, "I don't understand. I though predetermined events always happened."
"Yes, but think for once in your life," he said with that condescending tone he has perfected, "If there was one and only one way to prevent a predetermined event from happening, only one thing that could possibly break the temporal flow like that, what would it be?"
I swallowed. The answer to that is painfully obvious. Haruhi Suzumiya.
I grabbed the Taser tighter. I'm going for the chest, may hurt less but I'm more confident in landing a hit there. I'm in no mood for this convoluted time traveling talk. Still, I guess I'd be stupid not to at least hear him out. I can just shoot him afterwards.
"You're saying Haruhi prevented something from happening?" I asked, "I don't understand…what event was supposed to happen? And what has this got to do with me?"
"Actually, there were two events predetermined," Fujiwara said, "One followed the other. One of these events was a fire at North High due to a freak accident involving the electrical system, a very unlikely accident but it did happen."
My heart sank. I fire at the school?
"And you prevented the fire?" I asked.
"No," He answered like he barely even cared, "It was the second predetermined event that I prevented."
Screw it, now I'm aiming for the face.
"There was a fire at my school and you let it happen! You…you Bastard!" I yelled at him, "Is anyone hurt? Is anyone…how bad was the fire!"
"I don't know what happens now as the timeline has diverged, I only know what was supposed to happen in which case it was a pretty bad fire. Even so we've got even bigger things to worry about."
"Bigger than my school burning down and my friends getting hurt!"
I was trying to keep my voice down but it was getting harder. My friends faces where now flashing in my mind. It was bad enough to have to worry so badly about Haruhi and the SOS brigade but now to worry about everyone?
"Yes, the timeline having diverged due to predetermined event not happening is bigger than that," Fujiwara explained impatiently, "You need to see that there are bigger things at stake here, if you're even capable of comprehending them."
The time traveler gave me the sneer of all sneers.
"The second predetermined event was your death in that fire," He said.
My hands gave away and the Taser now just aimed for the floor. I felt dizzy. He had to be lying. Why would I…was I supposed to be dead right now?
"Yes, when that fire broke out one of your friends got in danger. You tried to be a hero, rushed into the smoke and got yourself killed."
That does sound like me, stupid and noble.
"But…...why? How…...why would my death be predetermined?" I asked once I had gathered myself enough to form a relevant question.
"Because of the effects it had," Fujiwara explained, "The mark your death left on the future turned it into a key event. One that defined that era so it has to happen, predetermined."
"What…what you mean by that? Why would my death be some key event in history that simply has to happen?"
"I actually agree with you," Fujiwara said, "Your death should've gone by unnoticed by history, but Suzumiya didn't think so."
"…What did she do? Did she re-create the world?" I asked with all due apprehension, I don't like where this is going at all.
"Of course she didn't," Fujiwara scolded, "If the world was supposed to get overwritten today it wouldn't have a future for me to come from, now would it?"
"But…she threatens to overwrite it over the smallest things…" I muttered confused.
"Unfortunately, I don't have a window into that girls psyche," Fujiwara said, "but there has been a lot of speculation regarding this in the time I come from and there are a few theories. The one I happen to agree with is that any recreation by her would be a version of this world that has somehow been modified to fit whatever she thinks is better. If the world is boring she can make one that is more interesting, if the world is frustrating she can make one that is more agreeable to her. She could just apply whatever fix she thinks would work. That fact that she didn't recreate the world after your death was because she was convinced the world couldn't be fixed. The world stopped being her playground and became a harsh and undeniable reality."
"I don't…couldn't she just resurrect me or create a world with me in it?" I asked. I hadn't planned on dying or getting severally hurt but Haruhi seems to prefer to have me in good health and I think that's the best health care plan one can have.
"If Suzumiya didn't believe death was permanent, it wouldn't be. At her core she's rational enough not to change something so fundamental, if she wasn't she would have made many more modifications to the world." Fuijwara said.
"So what did she do?" I asked, making not attempt to hide the anger that was building up in me.
"She saw the world differently, and the world got reshaped accordingly. All over the world, whole societies got more cynical, pessimistic and downright unethical. That shift defined this era and had a cascading effect that led to many things turning…uglier than they should have. This is the timeline all time travelers come from."
"Wait…" This is getting far too…what's the word? Convoluted? Perplexing? Tangled? "You're saying you somehow made it so Haruhi doesn't reshape the world? How?"
"I told Tachibanas group about the predetermined event of the fire and they decided to use the confusion of the fire to strike. Normally it'd be impossible for them to plan something like that without getting noticed but the fire was different, it would happen on its own without warning and then they could just sweep in and advantage of the situation. They already had them on the ropes and the chaos of the fire would make the situation hopeless for your 'defenders'. I also made sure the Organization heard enough about it to strike back and get you out and thus unknowingly preventing your death, and I made sure they were just desperate and weak enough to send the two of you on your own and not do something stupid like make a stand at a building that's about to be set on fire. That's why I convinced Tachibana to do something that would cause defections and weaken the organization so they wouldn't trust their own people. Then I used the misplaced trust her group has in me to make sure they wouldn't find you but I messed one thing up. That's why I'm here."
"Wait, wait, let me get this straight…" I murmured, "You convinced Tachibana to kiss me to weaken the organization so they would be desperate enough to send Haruhi and me on our own, used your position to weaken their rivals so that they wouldn't be able to track us, and told them there would be a fire so they would attempt a strike today?"
"Yes, this is the accumulation of several do-overs."
Dammit.
I didn't ask for any of this.
"And…the timeline has diverged but you're still here?" I asked, although a part of me really didn't want to hear whatever reason there is for that.
"Yes…there aren't really any solid rules for what happens when a predetermined event doesn't happen," Fujiwara said, "It's like if a star suddenly no longer had a gravity well, it doesn't make sense and breaks whatever physics models you throw at it."
I just stared blankly at him for a few seconds.
"So…Haruhi broke time and now nothing makes sense?" I summarized.
"In short, yes." Fujiwara said, "but the temporal flow is dynamic enough to resolve itself and there are basically two things that can happen now; either Suzumiya reshapes the world like she was supposed to and the original timeline is more or less restored with some differences, or the divergence gets so great that the original timeline becomes an impossibility and gets overwritten."
"Why would she reshape…" I stopped talking as the realization hit me. Just as I though this couldn't get any worse. "You're saying my death will cause her to reshape the world even if it doesn't happen exactly it did originally? Killing me would restore the original timeline?"
"Yes, and enjoy your moment of being relevant to the happenings of the world," Fuijwara said dismissively, "The time travelers that sent Asahina to this timeplane still have a chance to restore their timeline before it gets overwritten, expect them to try."
"… the time travelers are trying to…kill me? The same group Asahina-san is from? I don't believe they would do that!"
"Don't judge that group just based of the Asahina you know, she has no say in anything," Fujiwara said and reassumed his sneer, "She's just a pawn that hasn't moved to the end of the table yet, unlike her older counterpart. As for her associates, wouldn't they kill you even to save their timeline? Everything and everyone they know? In their view unless you die and Suzumiya reshapes the world accordingly the world they know disappears and it can be prevented by killing someone who in their mind was supposed to die."
I fell completely silent.
"That's their nature," Fujiwara muttered crossly, and I could tell he wasn't really directing his anger at me, "Interfering with other timeplanes no matter the damage they do, doing whatever they feel they have to no matter what and ruining the temporal plane by bending time… It's extremely likely that the grim atmosphere of the world when time travel was invented was the direct result of Suzumyias alterations and because if that their methods are what they are. Their mindset is simply warped. If she never changes the world and that timeline gets overwritten then the damage they have done gets undone and I have my life back. There is of course a chance I'm never even born in the new timeline but that's a chance I'm willing to take."
There was a short silence. I couldn't…how can this still be getting worse? Do I believe him? I don't see any reason for him to lie or any huge gaps in his story but still...
"Why wouldn't the time travelers just re-do today?" I asked, "You know, make sure I'd get killed today when I was supposed to, apparently."
"The situation surrounding that school is very volatile, as I intended it to be," Fujiwara said, "because Suzumiya is involved and with different factions circling in, it's a very unpredictable situation and that's not something a time traveler wishing to fix something gets into. A far better tactic is to catch you off-guard later. That's why you need to disappear."
He just summed it up for me. I don't have to think about time travelers hunting me, organizations fighting over me or Data entities doing something beyond my comprehension. All I have to do is hide and maybe, just maybe, this will all blow over.
"You don't know anything about the Data entities?" I asked hopeful.
"They didn't disappear in the original timeline," Fujiwara said, some frustration in his voice, "I don't know what they're up to…I think I may have stirred up a hornets nest here but that remains to be seen, timeline alteration is the priority now."
"I…see…" I don't think his priorities match mine…
"I can see I have told you everything you can process for now," Fujiwara said, "and I don't want to overload your monkey brain because I need you to use it. You had the good sense to show up in a train station near the school wearing your school uniform. Didn't you notice the security cameras?"
"…no."
"Your pursuers have the means to access them and they could certainly pick you out from the crowd, see which train you got on and have people placed at your destination. They've caught on to the fact that someone with access to their communications is working against them so they've cut their communications, so I don't know what they're up to anymore. Instead I arranged for this train to get stopped in a few minutes. Take Suzumyia, get to the door at the very end of the train, which I have unlocked, and get out the second the train stops."
"…how did you arrange-"
"Time travel," Fujiwara shot at me as if that explained anything.
"Once you're out, head east, the direction the sun rises from, you'll find a town a couple of kilometers away. I can't babysit you and fight a war so for now it's best if I you stay out of everyone's reach. Just try to do a better job of hiding."
"but…"
"You're almost out of time, go."
At that moment I decided I believed him. He had no reason to make all that up just to get me off a train so he could spring some sort of a trap on me. If this all was a trap it was needlessly elaborate. I also believed him that my pursuers really could have placed people at my destination. I turned and ran towards the cabin I left Haruhi in.
"Haruhi, come with me," I said and walked on without her. She followed.
"Kyon? What is it?" Haruhi said, "You were gone for a long time…did something happen?"
"Just…follow me."
I walked to the end of the train. There was indeed a door there, one that could be opened from the inside, and better yet there wasn't anybody there…what are the odds of that?
"What are we doing here?" Haruhi said confused and looked around, "You have something planned?"
"Hang on a second," I said and looked out the window to the east…you could indeed see a town in the distance, across a large field, though it was probably more than two kilometers away.
After a few moments, the train stopped.
"Follow me!" I called to Haruhi and opened the door.
"What!" she yelled at me surprised, "What do you think you're doing!"
"Come on," I said and jumped out the door, "The train will keep going any second now."
After staring at me like I had gone mad for a few moments she walked to me and hesitantly climbed down. Once her feet where on the ground I began walking towards the town. Haruhi followed. Less than a minute after that, the train kept going.
"You want to explain what we're doing?" Haruhi asked sternly, "What town is that? What's its name?"
"I don't know…You'll see what we're doing. Just follow me," I said. A pathetic excuse but she didn't call me out on it for now.
Haruhi and I walked across the huge field for several minutes, towards the east like I had been instructed. The grass was quite tall so we had to wade our way through it. There was a slow wind, with occasional sharp gusts. We were surrounded by the sound of insects, the sound of grass and leaves moving in the wind, the sound of birds singing in the distance...if the circumstances were different this would have been a very calming place.
We were moving at a steady pace. Haruhi has always had more endurance than me so she was less worn down but I could still hear that she was breathing more heavily than at the beginning of our walk. As for me; my shirt was now sticking to me because of the sweat which, combined with the coldness of the sudden gusts, was getting quite uncomfortable. I imagine Haruhi was dealing with the same problem, though I dared not turn around and take a better look.
Suddenly, Haruhi stopped in her tracks.
"Kyon," She said sternly.
"What? We need to get to that town," I said without stopping, "Come on!"
"No," She replied in anger, crossed her hands and glared at me. "I honestly don't know why I followed you this far, but now I'm not taking another step."
I stopped, made a heavy sigh and turned around to face her.
"What? We don't have time for any pointless delays," I said impatiently.
"Why?" Haruhi asked sharply, "Why did you demand that we jump out of that train when it suddenly stopped? Why are we walking to some random small town when you told me we would be going by train to the next city? Why are you in such a hurry to get to nowhere?"
"We…I'll explain later. Come on, we need keep moving," I said.
She ignored my plea and extended her hand out towards me.
"Give me the bag," She demanded.
"…why?" I said and instinctively grabbed the straps of the bag tighter.
"You keep holding on to that bag, never letting it out of your sight. You're giving it more attention than me. You're being stubborn and are obviously not going to tell me anything willingly so maybe what's in the bag will tell me what you're planning. The bag won't lie."
"Look…it's just stuff you'd need for a trip…Of course I'd pack a bag with all the necessities! You're being childish," I scolded.
"Then you wouldn't mind me looking into the bag, so give it over," Haruhi insisted and kept her hand extended as if she expected me to hand it over at this instant.
"Just follow me and I'll explain everything once we've found a place to rest. Trust me on this," I said, not attempting to hide my impatience. I was in no mood to waste time on thinking of a convincing lie for her right now.
"No," She said firmly. "I'm not taking another step until I know what's going on. I thought you were going to take me on a fun trip like you said but now I don't know what the hell you're planning. If you don't hand over the bag I'm turning around, following the train tracks back to the nearest station and going home."
"You don't mean that," I said with defiance.
"Why shouldn't I turn back? You said this was just a daytrip but you seem to have more planned and I don't like where this trip is going. You clearly misled me and I'm not happy about it. So go ahead, call my bluff, walk on and see if I follow."
For a minute we just stared each other down. Me clenching my hands around the straps of the bag with defeat in my eyes, she holding out her hand with a quiet fire burning in her eyes.
She really would turn back wouldn't she? I think I've overstepped what her trust in me will allow...I'm losing control here. The fire at the school, the news of my planned death, the all-out war that has erupted with the organizations, disappearance of the entities…My brain is far too overloaded and stressed to think my way out of this. If that oblivious fool goes off on her own she'll get captured and then it's all over. I can't let that happen, and I think she really means what she's saying…God knows she's stubborn enough to follow thought with it. This has gotten way out of hand and this is simply too big to hide completely from Haruhi.
I began a slow walk of shame towards Haruhi while she stood there like a statue. An angry, demanding, fierce statue. When I got close enough to her I handed her the bag with an outstretched hand, leaving me about two-arms lengths from her. I don't think that'll be outside of the blast radius once she opens the bag and sees what's in it. She instantly put the bag on the ground by her feet, got on her knees and zipped it open.
I couldn't see her face as she was taking in the contents of the bag and she didn't make a sound. She didn't touch anything, just stared into the bag for the longest time. The multiple passports, the rolls of money in several currencies, the state-of-the-art taser, the rest of the gadgets, almost everything was in plain view. After her moment of comprehension was over she slowly turned her head up and stared at me with wide eyes.
"What…what is all this." She asked, completely stunned.
"It's…You could say that this is my emergency-only bag," I tried to explain as if any of that was even remotely normal.
"But…" She continued, clearly overwhelmed, "I don't know what I was expecting but…not this!"
She stuck a hand down the bag and gabbed out a roll of Yens. "How much money do you have here!" she said and examined the roll close to her face.
"I'm not really sure," I said apologetically.
"You don't..." Haruhi drifted off for a few seconds, and then turned her attention back to the bag. She grabbed one of the passports and read it, an American one I think. Her eyes widened even further as she was reading it.
"That's a picture of me!" Haruhi yelled at me in disbelieve, stood up and pointed at her opened passport. "It says my name is Summer Halleck and I was born in California! Is this real? Why do you have forged passports?"
"Just…you know, in case," I said, but I don't think that meager excuse will do.
"In case of what! And why so many? Do you have different identities? Is Kyon even your real name?"
"You know it isn't!" I shot at her.
"Then what is your-" She yelled before she cut herself off and I could see the gears turning in her head. "Oh, right. I guess Kyon isn't your legal name," She admitted. She then glared at me like I had betrayed or harmed her somehow.
"Who are you?" she said, looking at me as if I were a stranger.
"I'm still the same Kyon you've known for over a year, Haruhi," I said.
"The Kyon I know doesn't have a bag full of passports, money and how knows what else!" Haruhi accused.
I took one step towards her with the intention of closing the bag before a sharp wind would blow any of the contents of the bag away. Haruhi instantly flinched and took a step back.
"Don't come any closer!" She commanded nervously, "Explain yourself! What are you planning and why did you take me with you out here to such a remote place? What have you gotten yourself mixed up in? What is all this?"
I thoughtlessly took another step towards her as a sharp wind struck and one of the money rolls fell out of the bag.
"Stay back!" Haruhi yelled, snatched my taser from the bag and pointed it at me.
"Wait, don't! You're overreacting, I'm not a danger to you!" I said startled.
"Hah! I'm not taking this because I need it to defend myself, I'm taking this because it'll hurt if I use it," Haruhi said to me coldly, her amazement had apparently worn off and her fierceness was back with a vengeance. "You dragged me out to the middle of nowhere only for me to find out you've been lying to me this whole time, for the past year even. I'm not overreacting, tasing you down is the proportional response!"
… By what logic?
I raised my hands at her as if that would calm her down. I'm not used to be at the business end of that weapon.
"Calm down, I can explain all of this," I said in my best attempt at soothing tone.
"I'd like to hear you try," Haruhi hissed and fixed her aim at me. She's probably debating with herself which part of my body to go for.
"About a year back, about a month after we met, I stumbled into something I shouldn't have," I said. My voice was suddenly a lot more relaxed than it should be under the circumstances, although 'resigned' could've been a better word for it. I guess I had just accepted my fate, there's no way of hiding the fact that something's going on from her. All I have to do is to decide how much of the truth I'm going to tell her.
"What do you mean? That's too vague! Explain yourself properly," Haruhi yelled at me, finger still ready at the trigger.
"Relax. I'm getting to it. I can't tell you what I saw, but because of what I witnessed and what I did in response to it I caught the interest of an international organization specializing in…strange phenomena," I explained, "They had the option of making me forget but instead they decided to recruit me."
"What? You expect me to believe that? You? Recruited by an international organization as some secret agent? I seem to recall you severely injuring yourself when you attempted to walk down a flight of stairs," Haruhi said with clear disbelieve.
"Anyone can slip and fall…but that's beside the point. My unique experience made me a candidate for the organization, but it also made me a target for their rivals because of what I had seen and done. And now this morning they decided to make a move and try to abduct me. But I caught wind of it before they struck and managed to get away," I explained. This was a half-lie, but I think it'll do.
Haruhi stared at me for a while with a strange look like I had just gone insane, glancing a few times at the contents of the bag.
"And what did you see?" She asked skeptically, as if she was just humoring me.
"What I saw and what I know made me a target. I can't tell it you anything," I said like I was apologizing for something.
"Okay," She said firmly, "Let's say for the moment that this is at least partially true. Why did you take me on your dash for freedom?"
She's asking for a truth that I can't tell to her. What lie can I tell her now…aren't the best lies the ones that make you look bad or make the one you're lying to look good? I think I'll use that.
"Because they would've used you to get to me. If I hadn't taken you with me they would've abducted you and blackmailed me," I said.
For a second Haruhi viewed me suspiciously, then for a moment her expression turned kinder before it returned to her familiar frown.
"I don't believe that. If anyone wanted to blackmail you they wouldn't have to go for me. Your sister, your parents, or even some of your good friends would suffice. I've seen the way your protective instincts get all fired up around Mikuru and Yuki. You'd never just take me and leave the others to their fate," Haruhi accused and narrowed her eyes at me.
"I planned their escape beforehand, others have made sure they're safe," I improvised.
"Shut up," Haruhi snapped at me, "I've already caught you lying so don't dig yourself deeper. You didn't know which city you wanted to go to and let me decide, you had no convincing cover story and you just lead me on a hurried escape from a train that had to stop in the middle of nowhere and now we're walking to a town neither of us has ever even heard of before. You didn't plan any of this, you idiot."
She got me there…
Her anger faded as she gave me that lecture and she lowered the taser. Her face turned into one of determination with some weariness thrown in.
"Tell me the truth," She said. She was partially begging me and partially ordering me. That's a tone that I've never seen anybody but her pull off. Of course, any demand from her is an order. "This is your last chance before I leave you here electrocuted," She threatened.
I took a good look at our surroundings as I was thinking of what to say next. This really was a calm place, beautiful even. This landscape looks like a piece of art. Perhaps someday I will commission a painting of this standoff. It will include this magnificent nature around us and in the middle of all Haruhi will stand, pointing a taser at me with fire in her eyes. I shall call it 'The end of the lie'.
The status quo is broken, it's beginning to sink in now that we can't just go back to our lives without a fight and I'm though being pushed around by these factions while living under the regime of a dictator that is completely oblivious to the dangers around her. We'll never get through this with Haruhi completely unaware so I'm just going to end this charade that everything's normal and fine, It's more of a burden than an advantage now.
"Fine," I conceded.
"Fine?" Haruhi repeated crossly.
"I'll tell you the truth," I said. "I wasn't lying when I said there was an attempted abduction this morning. I wasn't the target. You were."
"…what? What do you mean, why would anyone abduct me?" Haruhi asked, clearly not buying my story.
"I said I stumbled into something I shouldn't have a year ago, that wasn't a lie," I said, "It was after I met you, and that wasn't a coincidence. It was because of you that it happened. That strange phenomenon…you caused it."
Haruhi stared at me in disbelief. "What do you mean? How…I'm not…"
"There's something strange and powerful locked within you. We don't understand it yet but it's valuable if anyone can tap into it. That's why people are after you and that's why I had to convince you to come with me. This trip was basically just one hasty and poorly planned escape."
"But…what you're saying is…how does that even…" Haruhi looked down, her face was one of sheer confusion.
"Haruhi," I said, mirroring her firm tone at the beginning of this conversation "You've always been able to catch me in a lie. Look me in the eyes and tell me, am I lying now?"
She looked up to face me, her apprehension increasing as what I had said began to sink in. I can't really describe the look on her face right now, but it's a piece of art all on its own.
Did I tell her too much? No. She needs to know this. She needs to know that there are people after her and that she's valuable to some people. We can't go into hiding without her knowing this, and we need to go deep into hiding.
For a moment we both stood there in silence. Haruhi barely even moved, just stared into the distance.
Suddenly, her face showed anger and she turned to face me.
"Is this your idea of a joke?" She accused.
"This is as serious as it gets," I said firmly.
"Do you think you can toy with me like this!" Haruhi yelled at me.
"I'm not toying with you," I said in the same tone that a lion tamer speaks to an agitated beast, "Everything I said was true."
"You have ten seconds to give me even a slightest proof of what you just told me," Haruhi demanded, walked up to me and grabbed my tie. "Ten!" She yelled into my face.
"What kind of proof?" I asked, I was trying to keep my head but when she gets like that…have to be careful what I say, even if I end the charade I can't tell her everything.
"Nine!"
"The stuff I've got in the bag has to be-"
"Not good enough, Eight!"
"Just give me time to-"
"Your time's running out, Seven!"
"You're not being very-"
"Six!"
"What are you planning to-"
"You'll see, Five!"
"I don' have any-"
"Four!"
"Look, you have to-"
"Three!"
"Just calm down and-"
"Two!"
"I'm John Smith"
"On-"
Haruhi cut herself off and stared at me with a face of gradually building astonishment.
"What…" She muttered completely stunned, "What did you say…?"
"I'm…I'm John Smith" I repeated. "The man that helped you write that message on the school yard when you were in middle school. The message that read 'I am here'. "
"You…how did you…I never told you. I never told anyone…" She murmured nervously and let go of my tie. Her face was one of complete bafflement. She backed away from be as her knees began to give away.
"Is it really…All this time…" she said with a weak voice before her knees completely gave up on her and she fell down to the ground.
Wait, she actually fainted? She did almost faint the last time I told her this, and back then she was nowhere near as tired and worn out but I still didn't expect her to lose consciousness…How long do you stay down once you faint? Few seconds? A minute? Fifteen minutes? At the risk of sounding malicious I'd rather she'd stay down for a while so I can relax a bit after this. It also makes traveling with her a lot easier even if I have to carry her.
I bowed down on my knee and zipped closed the bag, remembering to pick up the things that the wind had blown out of it. Then I placed the strap of the bag on my shoulder.
Haruhi is still out cold. It doesn't feel right to just stand here with my hands in my pockets over her lying in the ground. I sighed…we need to keep moving and she probably wouldn't be happy if she woke up in lying in the dirt with me standing over her doing nothing…
After a brief moment of maneuvering her unconscious body, without taking improper advantage of the opportunity, I had managed to place her resting on my back with her hands resting over my shoulders and legs held along my sides. Then I walked on, enjoying this brief peaceful moment.
So now it happened, she knows there's something special about her and she knows I'm involved with powerful factions. It's not the whole truth but it's enough for her to understand.
She didn't force it out of me. I could've found some lie but instead I made the decision to tell her the half-truth. I did it because we're talking our lives back and I can't do it without her, and she can't help me if she doesn't understand what's going on. There's a daunting road ahead, but with the help of the Brigade and with Haruhi on my back I feel like I have a legitimate chance. I'm done with pretending to be an ordinary high school student.
Suddenly Haruhis arms moved up my chest and she held me tighter for a moment, then I could feel her head move against the side of my neck and her hold on me loosened as she made a labored sigh. I didn't stop though I could tell she was conscious, just kept carrying her in silence. After about a minute or two of this, Haruhi finally spoke.
"Kyon," she said with an uncharacteristically weak voice.
"Yes?"
"Put me down, we need to talk."
AN: As usual I'd appreciate any feedback on my writing. On a side note, on the story plan I have this chapter marks the end of the "Escalation" arc and begins the "Hidden" arc. (Couldn't find a way to shoehorn the arc names in so I'll just leave them here.) I'm aware there are probably some inaccuracies regarding how trains work but I never use them and did a limited amount of homework on them.