Well, I just couldn't seem to keep you all waiting for long this time around. The amount of reviews has empowered me to write the next chapter much earlier than I thought I would. It was really hard to write, so I hope you guys enjoy it! Next up, the intensity of this story rises! Stay tuned, and enjoy!

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I couldn't believe that for once in my high school life, I actually had free time after school.

Yes, it's quite a wonder, considering that most of my school afternoons had involved Haruhi and the SOS Brigade. There was never any time for me to actually go home after school, because that crazy girl always had something relatively ludicrous planned for those precious hours.

When I thought back to that Monday morning about three weeks ago, two days after I was officially out of the Brigade, I could still remember the one thought running through my head.

I really didn't want to go to school that morning.

I wanted to just lie in my bed, stare up at the ceiling, and wish that someone would just strike me down with a Hyper Combo Finish already. Of course, my death wish never came true.

I still had trouble grasping the facts before me. It's been over a good three weeks now since Haruhi Suzumiya told me that I had been barred from rejoining her SOS Brigade. Three weeks since I almost found myself begging to this god of a girl, all because I wanted to prove that I could rectify a problem that I caused.

Who knows if that's the real reason for what I did, because none of this would have ever happened if I just hadn't broken up with Haruhi. Things would have been much different if I just hadn't let my own ego overtake me during our time in that game all those months ago. All it would have taken is me having kept my mouth shut, instead of telling Haruhi off like I did.

Thinking back on these things as I walked to school on this Thursday morning, I sighed deeply. There was no point in trying to blame Haruhi for it all. There was no point in crying, or getting angry, or delving into another bout of depression. No, I would be keeping my emotions in check, unlike my former Brigade Chief. I would do what I always do best, and that would be just dealing with the deck of cards handed to me. It didn't matter if that deck had five Kuribohs dealt into it instead of five face cards, I would still deal it nonetheless.

The days have just passed by so slowly in my perspective, and I felt slower that usual as well. It was like my life decided to enter a tunnel of tar, and everything began to just stick to me and impede me. When my days with the SOS Brigade ended, I had almost considered the notion of Haruhi wiping me out of existence to not be such a bad thing at all.

I had barely seen Nagato, Asahina-san or Koizumi for all of those three weeks. The reality of the situation had hit me like a ton of bricks.

But all that was the past now. I had found a way to cope during my SOS-less afternoons. I should actually thank Nagato for it. She might have assisted me indirectly for all I know, but it was still a huge help.

I've been reading again. And believe it or not, I've been reading just about all the science fiction books I can get my hands on. You name it; I've probably read it by now. It started with Dune, then it went on to Ten Billion Days and a Hundred Billion Nights, Into The Mountains of Madness, The Sun Usurper, The Lords of the Sands of Time…it's insane how many of these books I've been able to just pick up and read on any given afternoon. And do not even get me started on all the manga I've been reading on top of that.

And you know what? As much as it's helped me, I only realized a week later that I had been reading all these books because they were providing me with the thing that I had been missing most. They all had different outlooks in them, different settings of existence. Most of the ideas were bizarre and crazy in comparison to a normal world. In the middle of reading Starship Troopers, I finally figured it all out.

The attachment I had to the books was not out of interest for science fiction. The attachment was really all related to Haruhi.

And as much as I was trying my best to let it all go, the truth of the matter was that I didn't think I would be able to live a normal life again, without Haruhi being a part of it.

But tell me how you win the favor of a girl who seemed to despise you? In fact, I was still a little surprised that I haven't just vanished yet. Perhaps Haruhi had been merciful for once.

No…she wasn't merciful at all. I saw the proof for myself when during the sports festival.

I had no real enjoyment in the events I had been forced to participate in during the day of the sports festival. Frankly, I lost just about all of them, and even Taniguchi was surprised at my utter lack of enthusiasm when I ended up failing miserably in one of the many relay races planned for the day.

And even though I was out of the SOS Brigade, Haruhi still managed to push the club to victory in most of the events they had been in anyway. Clearly, it didn't matter if I was in it or not. Haruhi had been able to get along just fine without me. And when she did notice me, I had been sitting on the bleachers as the rest of our class (mostly Taniguchi) complained about having to run in yet another relay race. While I had a bored and indifferent look on my face, all she did was glare at me.

I had wished that the day of the sports festival was the day that I had contracted a very high fever. It was a huge disappointment to me when my wish did not come true.

And now, we unfortunately approach to the current day, where I was still in the process of walking to school, trying my best to not think of the big event that would be happening today.

But as usual, I miserably failed in trying not to think about the day ahead. Today was the day of the cultural festival. And I really wasn't all that excited for it.

When November had hit, it felt like someone had slapped me on the face with a cold fish. The warmer months before this one had been so much more comfortable, but now I could feel the wind chill constantly attacking me on my most recent hikes to school

And despite my foolish attempts to not think about Haruhi or her Brigade, I was still subject to listening to her while I was in class. She might not have been sitting behind me anymore, but I got to hear her all the things she had to say to us last week regarding the festival occurring today…

"Well, I've finalized the plan for the cultural festival next week, everyone. All you need to know is that all of you are in charge of handing out water bottles and refreshments to people in the auditorium on the day of the festival."

"And just what kind of event are we planning, Suzumiya?"

"That's for me to know and for you all to find out!"

That is what Haruhi told the entire class last week. And today was officially judgment day. You know what one of the saddest things for me has been since I left the Brigade? I've been deprived from Asahina-san's tea for all this time. If I had any actual depression, I would have attributed it to that. But as of last week, I had decided that depression was useless.

After a solid hour of thinking the entire situation through, I had been able to figure out exactly why Haruhi hadn't decided to destroy me yet. To be plain and simple, I concluded that she just wanted me to suffer.

I thought about the notion for quite a bit. If I had been erased from this universe, then Haruhi wouldn't be able to see that I was not in fact going to the club room after school. She would be able to constantly see the expressions on my face, all of which showed no signs of actual happiness. I may not have been completely saddened, but it's safe to say that I have been very, very apathetic.

There was a reason to why I wasn't just gone yet. The old Haruhi was more forward with everything she did, and she usually shouted out her goals in your face. Unfortunately, this new Haruhi has showed traits that I had never seen in her before. Haruhi had figured out how to make me jealous, how to make emotionally suffer, and most of all, how to do those things in the most devious ways possible. This was truly the most manipulative I've ever seen her.

Where's the Haruhi I remembered? Was she locked in some sort of psi-prison inside the brain of this new Haruhi? What had happened to cause this girl to become so mentally-confused?

When I arrived at school, I could see that the set-up for the cultural festival was nearing completion. All down the hallways, students were organizing the classrooms into various restaurants and cafes, and I assumed that most of the clubrooms were being transformed in a similar manner.

I should be excited about today. If I was lucky, I might be able to stop by Asahina-san's class, where she would no doubt be serving fried soba just like last year's festival. Her irresistible costume could very well brighten up my gray day, and make my apathetic mood go away in a flash.

But just knowing that I'd have to be a part of whatever Haruhi was planning for today was more than enough to dash my hopes of being able to pay a visit to Asahina-san's fried soba café.

It was still a bit early, but once most of the clubs and classrooms finished setting up, people would come flocking in no time.

Haruhi said she would need everyone at the auditorium at approximately three o'clock in the afternoon and our jobs would entail being in charge of handing out refreshments and water bottles while she "got everything set up on stage." She hadn't really told us what she planned on doing, nor did she inform us for what reason.

Nevertheless, I did remember her mentioning that supposed trip to Mt. Fuji multiple times, and I had wondered multiple times if what we were doing was related to that in some way, shape or form.

What the hell? I might as well find a way to kill time before I'm forced to work for Haruhi just like the rest of our class. It's just a real downer that I can't go see Asahina-san in her soba café costume. That was one of the things I had been excited about all year!

"Yo, Kyon! Over here!"

Taniguchi's voice echoed down the hallway easily, probably due to the fact that the hallways were relatively empty right now. The hustle and bustle that accompanied the cultural festival probably wouldn't start for another hour. It was still early, and I should have just slept in.

"You look terrible." Taniguchi commented when I reached the end of the hall where he and Kunikida waited. Last year, I had spent only part of the cultural festival roaming around with these two.

"Thanks for the compliment." I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster, hoping to God that Taniguchi got it. He just grimaced, and turned back to Kunikida.

"Maybe you're just sick." Kunikida said, with actual concern in his voice. I didn't really like it however, because it felt like I was being pitied.

"I'm fine."

"I hope so." Taniguchi said, his sentence almost ending in a laugh. I didn't even give him the pleasure of hearing my response. Not that it would have been too nice anyway.

And so, I spent the next few hours wandering around North High with Taniguchi and Kunikida, which was actually a little better than I thought it would be. Well, save for the topic that Taniguchi seemed to be stuck on the whole time…

"You know, I never thought the day would come where guys in this school would actually be into Suzumiya again. You'd think that the girl would have thought of being like the rest of us earlier in her high school career, so she could have these hordes of guys after her all the time." Taniguchi said, gulping down a mouthful of teriyaki chicken he had acquired from class 1-3.

"I heard about that. She's becoming just as popular as Asahina-san now, right?" Kunikida asked, while I remained completely silent. I figured they could talk all they wanted about Haruhi, as long as they didn't have me involved.

"You bet she is! I hear that people are fighting over who the better looking girl is. If you ask me, I would probably have to give Suzumiya my vote."

"Hey! What's all the voting about?" someone asked in a cute voice, and Tsuruya-san had somehow appeared before us from around a corner. She looked a lot happier and more energetic than usual.

Even in my mostly apathetic mood, I could not resist partially smiling at the expression on Taniguchi's face. He looked ready to wet his pants right now, and I thought it served him right.

"Uh…we were talking about the Prime Minister! I said…that one guy…I'd give him my vote! You know…Mr…Suzuki!"

Tsuruya-san looked at Taniguchi for a moment with curiosity in her eyes. I wondered if she actually thought he might be lying, and I also wondered why I even bothered to care.

Tsuruya-san just smiled at her idiot boyfriend, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek instead of punching in the face like I kind of hoped she would. She turned her attention to me and Kunikida, yapping like an excited dog.

"You guys should stop by our class's soba café laters! We got some yummy fried soba nyoro~!"

I wish Tsuruya-san. Unfortunately, I was going to have to be handing out water bottles to disgruntled people very soon. Trust me now when I said that I would have traded whatever was left of my soul to see you and Asahina-san in those costumes again.

"Kyon and I have to do stuff for Suzumiya. I'm still pissed about the whole thing." Taniguchi replied, with genuine annoyance in his voice.

Somehow, I felt for this guy right now.

"I'll see if I can stop by. I might have to do some things as well." Kunikida commented, and Tsuruya-san just gave us another smile.

"Awww…well that's sad. I hope you guys have fun with Haruhi-nyan then!"

Tsuruya-san turned like a top, running down the hall as she waved back to us.

"Bye Tani-kun!"

It took me a few seconds before I noticed that Tsuruya-san kind of failed to say goodbye to myself and Kunikida. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but almost snicker at what she had just called Taniguchi. When I was being this indifferent, anything slightly amusing was a very good thing.

"Tani-kun?" Kunikida said, laughing under his breath. Taniguchi just grimaced at him like he was insulting his religion.

"Shut up…" he replied with a heavy sigh. I almost laughed at that point.

After that, I found myself wandering away from Taniguchi and Kunikida, who had other things they wanted to do that didn't appeal to me at all. Instead, I decided I would just walk around the school and pretend like I was genuinely interested in the festival today. I had no idea who I would run into when I decided to pass by the SOS Brigade clubroom.

"It's been quite awhile." Koizumi said from inside the clubroom. I could see him sitting in his usual chair, the door to the room left wide open. He was the only person occupying the room at the moment.

"A solid three weeks without the Brigade. I thought of it more as a vacation."

My response was nothing more than a blatant lie.

Koizumi laughed under his breath as I took a seat. I almost forgot. He always seemed to have a knack at seeing through whatever I said to him.

"I would suggest being a little more honest, Kyon-kun. It would make a situation like this a lot easier."

"Situation? I'm out of Haruhi's club, she hates me, and the universe hasn't collapsed on itself yet. Not to mention that the girl has gone mad considering her newfound normalcy. Don't you think the situation is just a little difficult at this point?" I stated, but Koizumi smiled, giving me the impression that this was all some sort of practical joke to him.

"Well, a lot of it doesn't surprise me, but I do know that Suzumiya-san is far from hating you right now. In fact, it's times like these where you can see proof of just how much she actually cares for you."

What?

"Well, of course she does. I mean, why else would she want to just kick me out of the SOS Brigade? I'm sure it's all because she cares so much about me! That's got to be it!" I replied, with my voice just a little too loud.

My sarcasm was rising rapidly now, because all the things Koizumi was spouting at me seemed beyond ridiculous. Haruhi's been a nasty human being to me ever since the beginning of summer, and I was having serious trouble believing what this esper was telling me right now.

"Think about it, Kyon-kun. Suzumiya-san probably overheard us on our little boat excursion. What do you think she heard us saying?"

I sighed. Clearly, Koizumi intended to come up with some logical and coherent reason why Haruhi was acting like this. He just couldn't accept that she just might be too crazy for her own good. He's probably got the hots for her! This esper bastard is trying to justify her evils because he probably wants to get with her! Damn it! Now I was acting paranoid!

"What's your point?" I asked quickly, as I was having a little trouble paying attention to Koizumi when images of him and Haruhi making out were running through my head.

"This is her way of showing you her disapproval of your separation. Suzumiya-san probably never agreed to herself that she was finished with you once the two of you actually ended your relationship. She may have told you that, but from what we've seen so far, it is likely that she is not content with being separated from you. She needs something to satiate her, and I've begun to assume that watching you suffer like this is probably that very thing."

It's a wonder that Koizumi was able to say all this like it was completely normal. I still had trouble grasping it. Haruhi lying to me was one thing, but Haruhi lying to me like this is another completely. Now I was beginning to become agitated.

"Haruhi's being an idiot! What kind of goal does she expect to accomplish? All she's been doing is making me miserable, and she expects that to make me come crawling back to her? What the hell did I do to make all this happen?" I shouted suddenly, my stress limit having come to a breaking point. I hadn't seen Koizumi in quite awhile, so all this being dumped on me at once was a little too much for me to handle.

Koizumi looked up at me, as if all the answers were in his mind, and he refused to share them with me. I had no idea what was the original cause of all this. Did he?

"I wonder…"

What do you wonder? Tell me!

"Have you ever had a strong desire for a more normal relationship?"

My mind stopped when Koizumi said that. Of course, I had always been thinking about such things. You couldn't blame me for wanting something badly. A normal, stable relationship with a girl was something that I wanted dearly. I remember wishing that there were more normal girls in my life, back at Tsuruya-san's slumber party in the summ-

Wait. You've got to be kidding me!!!

"Hold on a second. Even if I did have that desire, and even if I felt it strongly, I never recalled mentioning it to Haruhi ever. There's no way she would know about it."

Clearly, I was just trying to come up with a reason why Haruhi somehow wouldn't be able to read my thoughts. It was just too scary to think about the possibility of her being able to.

Koizumi shook his head as if I was a simpleton. He narrowed his eyes, and spoke in a more serious tone than before.

"You forget this is Suzumiya-san we're dealing with. There is and has always been some sort of invisible bond between you, and because of this. Suzumiya-san has subconsciously figured out your desires. I almost can't believe it myself. It's fascinating to think that she can react to your thoughts themselves."

I couldn't believe this. This seemed more unbelievable than Gamera becoming the president of Indonesia. Am I hearing Koizumi right, or is their cataclysmic interference? He's telling me that the only reason Haruhi is like this, the only reason she wants to be "normal", the only reason she's dead set on making my existence a living hell, is because of one stray thought of mine? Has my mind suddenly become an open book to her? Is my freedom going down the drain?

My brain started to hurt, and I felt a painful squeeze on my stomach. I think I needed a break right now.

"Alright, I'm done. This is way too much for me to absorb, and I should probably be at the auditorium by now anyway."

To be honest, this was just my way of avoiding the situation. I didn't want to hear anymore of this "Haruhi can read my mind" theory, and it scared me a little bit that Koizumi seemed excited by the whole thing.

"Suit yourself." Koizumi said to me, as he shrugged with a smile on his face. I had already begun walking out of the clubroom at this point.

"You know sooner or later you're going to have to deal with this problem. I don't think you'd like to even hear the closed space situation right now, but all I will tell you is that if this is left unchecked, everything will end up getting much worse. Suzumiya-san shouldn't be acting like this. It's contradicting the world she's responsible for creating."

I stopped at the door, wondering if I should give Koizumi a response. Everything he was saying was completely true. And I couldn't even admit to him how much I wanted the old Haruhi back. I went silent, and without another word, finally left the vicinity of the clubroom.

Even with all the confused thoughts in my head, the large number of people gathering the auditorium almost seemed like a relief. Middle school students, parents, and lots of other people flocked to take a seat in the huge auditorium of North High.

Our class had been tasked by Haruhi to hand out water bottles and snacks to everyone that came inside. I still couldn't figure out why we were doing this, but Haruhi wasn't even present when I arrived to do the job she gave us. So, I was a bit relieved that I couldn't hear myself think, and I just pulled off a Nagato in handing water bottles out to everyone who wanted one.

I really didn't want to be thinking much right now. Everything just seemed to become a lot more stressful.

After awhile, it seemed like we had run out of things to hand out, and Haruhi still hadn't shown herself to us. The stage curtains were closed, blocking our view of what could possibly be going on back there. I could see one thing however, and it was a row of about nine glass jars situated in front of the stage. What exactly did she plan on doing with those?

"Where the hell is Suzumiya? I feel misinformed here!" Taniguchi complained, crossing his arms in discontent.

You think you're misinformed, Taniguchi? Think again.

Finally, the curtains separated, and there stood Haruhi, a black guitar in her hand. She was wearing her black bunny outfit, and behind her, I could see what looked like Nagato, dressed in a witch outfit, holding a clean white guitar. In addition, I could see two men behind her, one on drums and one holding a bass guitar. Judging from a past experience of mine, I kind of figured what was going to be happening next.

For a moment, the entire auditorium grew silent. Maybe they were waiting for them to start playing, or maybe they were just staring at Haruhi in her bunny suit. Damn, she's almost always hot when she has that on…

And as if my inappropriate thought of Haruhi were meant to be interrupted, they began to play, with Haruhi playing the opening chord.

Not to my surprise, it took them only a few seconds to really get into it. Like last year with ENOZ, Nagato seemed to play all the guitar parts perfectly, and Haruhi's voice couldn't have sounded better. The song itself was catchy and pretty well written, so it helped with mood a little bit.

I still had no idea who these two guys were, and why they were playing alongside Nagato and Haruhi. Nevertheless, they were both played their respective instruments like experts, complimenting Haruhi's voice and Nagato's amazing guitar skills.

And so, I managed to enjoy the song they performed, enough to almost forget about my short discussion with Koizumi. For those four minutes of music, I was able to almost forget just about everything. I almost forgot about all the strange events from the summer, my growing jealously, and even the fact that I had been kicked out of the Brigade. For those four minutes, I actually felt just a little happy. Happier than I've been for weeks.

By the time the song was reaching its end, the crowd was going wild. Haruhi must have planned a lot this beforehand, and it was at this point in time that I realized why all those glass jars were in front of the stage. Even when they finished the song, and Haruhi was readying to speak to everyone in the auditorium, people were already beginning to drop yen bills and coins into the jars.

"I hope you all enjoyed that. It's called "First Good-Bye", and it was quite the challenge to sing. I think I did a pretty decent job, but a lot of the applause should go to Yuki Nagato and our bassist and drummer. Actually, it's a confusing story of why these two are playing with us. Anyway, I want to thank Matsumara-san for playing the bass guitar and Ozawa-san for being on drums. The both of them are doing us a huge favor by playing with us today, so I think they deserve a big round of applause!"

The audience responded almost immediately, and a wave of applause erupted throughout the auditorium. My thoughts were drowned out in the noise, but something began to bug me as I glanced at the drummer. Somewhere…I could have sworn I recognized him from somewhere…from some band…

I sighed. It was probably just a sad coincidence.

"Oh! If you're wondering why we have all these collection jars, then I'll tell you that they're for an upcoming trip that I've been planning for some of our classes this weekend. I really want to have a few classes go all the way to Mt. Fuji for a two-day trip, and we would really appreciate if you just donated something so we could possibly get to go.

I see. I think I was beginning to understand what this was all about. Haruhi must have had this planned for awhile. She probably figured that she could get all these people to watch her perform like this, and then she would be able to pull the pity card and get them all to donate money so she wouldn't have to go through the trouble of asking the school for it.

"And we're not done yet! We still have time to play our hearts out, so listen up everyone!"

With those words, Ozawa-san started the drum beat, followed by the thumping sound of Matsumura-san's bass. I could already see that Haruhi had captured the hearts and minds of all the people in this auditorium. If I had been in the mood, I would have applauded Haruhi for her genius move.

For the next twenty minutes, Haruhi and her band played one song after the other. I believed that the order of songs after First Good-Bye were Super Driver, Sorario Days, Tomare!, and finally ending with a song that I actually knew. Haruhi sang all the songs like a regular seiyū, and not much to my surprise, Nagato played all the guitar parts with the efficiency and perfection of a supercomputer. It was only at the end of their performance, when they played Shissou, that I realized why these two guys were so good at their instruments.

Both of them were members of the band Last Alliance. And I only realized that when I listened to just how perfectly they played their parts in the last song.

How the hell did you happen to convince these guys to play with you, Haruhi? Is there a reason why you didn't just introduce them as members of the band? You'd probably get a lot more glory if you mentioned that to everyone here.

Nevertheless, the applause after the last song was loud enough to break a few windows, and it didn't take long until lines of people were gathering in front of those collection jars. I timed it to be about fifteen minutes before most of the jars were halfway full with yen bills and coins.

I think this meant that the trip to Mt. Fuji this weekend was most definitely on, despite the fact that Haruhi has yet to give anyone any details on it. Either way, I assumed she'll find a way to inform us anyway.

"Wow."

Taniguchi said that single statement next to me as people continued to line up in front of the collection jars, and he sounded very impressed. On stage, Haruhi had a big, but nearly devious, smile on her face.

"I think I have to really hand it to Suzumiya. She pulled through for all of us. I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't seeing it in front of me. She really has changed…"

I didn't really want to stay and hear what else Taniguchi had to say. Instead, I found myself heading towards the door out of the auditorium. I just wanted to go home and sleep now, and try to just go back to be apathetic. Being like that was so much easier.

Ah, Taniguchi. If only you knew what kind of stuff I go through on a daily basis. In fact, I bet you would have probably killed yourself by now if you were in my situation.

Maybe that's a testament to my willpower, or maybe it's a testament to my insanity. But who cares? Haruhi definitely doesn't.

Why the hell do I still bother? When someone can come up with that answer, I promise you that I'll legally change my name to John Smith. Then maybe I'll move to the United States and forget all about Haruhi.

Yeah, I wish.