The performance came around relatively quickly, although I guess I was pretty busy hanging around with Taniguchi and Kunikida while they stared at girls. My aim in this was to keep my mind off of the inevitable catastrophe that Koizumi had alluded to, but in the end my mind just kept drifting back onto the topic. I was mostly concerned about how Koizumi still seemed worried about Ayumu, when there were 5 of us there against her. That is, if you include me.
It was while I was walking along the upstairs corridor, an hour before the performance, when I figured it out. Koizumi was afraid more of how Haruhi would react. Maybe Ayumu's plan all along was not to try and destroy this universe, but to force Suzumiya into destroying it involuntarily. Of course, I may have been using a bit too much imagination at this point, but it was a valid concern.
In the middle of another apocalyptic thought, I found myself suddenly brought to a standstill. Snapping out of my daydream, I followed the arm on my chest forward with my eyes, before landing on the face of Kagami, Izumi's friend. At least, I think they're friends.
"Have you seen Konata anywhere? She's friends with Haruhi, right?" She demanded. I noticed that she seemed pretty shaken up, which I could guess was due to last-minute preparations for the concert. She did have a student council armband and a clipboard, after all.
"Uh..." I mumbled, trying to think if Haruhi had given me any orders involving explaining her plan to student council members. "Yeah, I think Konata and Haruhi went to check out the stage or...something."
"Check out the stage?! Oh, dammit, that can't be good, that can't be good...uh, thanks." And with that, she was gone, rushing back down the corridor the same way she had come. It seemed that this particular corridor was a beehive for student councillors- in the space of a minute, I saw Nodoka, Kitsu and Takara rushing up and down the same one. My thoughts got back to the performance, and I realised that I now had two things to be concerned about- the end of the universe, and the setting-off of Haruhi's fireworks, the latter of which would be sure to make me wince with pity and embarrassment.
And, sooner than I'd have preferred, it was upon us. The entire student body made its way to the theatre, and I left Kunikida and Taniguchi to go ahead with them. I was somehow landed with the responsibility of sitting next to Haruhi and observing her behaviour and reactions. Just great. Koizumi owed me big for this.
After a few minutes of waiting by the entrance, Haruhi came along, and I pushed through the crowd to her. To my dismay, I noticed Izumi next to her, the annoying grin still on her face.
"Hey." I said, trying to be at least a little pleasant.
"...hey." Haruhi replied, looking at me oddly. "Why aren't you in there already?"
"Well," I quickly came up with something. "I'm keeping an eye on you and your little friend there."
"Huh. Well you're too late. Everything's set up, and the plan's going ahead. Looks like you failed, huh?" Haruhi was characteristically dismissive.
"And what do you mean "keep an eye" on us anyway, huh?" Izumi said. "That's just creepy, you pervert!"
"Look who's talking." I murmured. After that, Izumi whispered something into Haruhi's ear, then giggled and disappeared into the crowd. After she did so, Haruhi slyly grinned, then turned to me. After about a minute of this, I had to ask.
"Why're you looking at me like that? At least say something."
"Oh, I think you know, Kyon. You're all excited for this, aren't you?"
By this time, we had taken our seats on the left side of the theatre. I managed to locate Nagato in the seated students, but Kujo, Miss Asahina and Koizumi were nowhere to be seen. This was probably a good thing- if I'd seen Koizumi, I'd have dragged him over to watch Haruhi himself.
"Why would I be excited?" I asked, not exactly paying full attention. Could you blame me, seeing as the end of the universe could be minutes away?
"Because you know you totally want a shot of that Sakaki girl's panties." She declared, making no attempt to be subtle and quiet. To be honest, I didn't expect her to.
"What?" This snapped me back into reality. "What the Hell're you talking about? Keep it down!"
I noticed that some of the people around us were staring at us, suspiciously.
"Oh, don't try and lie to me, Kyon. What good's a Brigade leader who doesn't know her members? Don't worry, I'll sell one to you for half price!" She was still loud as ever, and the suspicions of the ones around us were confirmed. I heard the guy behind me laughing obnoxiously and straight away decided that I'd be forcing Koizumi to pay up big time after this was all over.
We weren't waiting long before the lights dimmed and the curtain rose to a round of applause. The first member I noticed was the girl standing behind the drumkit, her hair held back by a yellow headband and wearing her normal school uniform. The reason I specified her school uniform is because the keyboardist, who I recognised as being the blonde-haired girl peeking through the window of the clubroom earlier, was dressed in what was clearly a pink Nurse's outfit, complete with the little hat. I'm pretty sure I had the same reaction as most people in the room when my mouth hung open in amazement.
"I could set them off now and get a picture of her..." Haruhi whispered in my ear. I shook off my expression and gave her a "shut the hell up" glare. She simply grinned and turned her eyes back to the front.
By this time, a girl with a guitar had entered the stage. I saw that she was wearing a blue school swimsuit, and no shoes. She was smiling as if it was Christmas, not at all looking as though she was cold or awkward. This band was, without a doubt, the weirdest-looking lineup I'd ever seen.
However, I probably shouldn't have judged before Sakaki arrived on stage- she walked on slightly nervously, wearing none other than a black maid's outfit, complete with frills all over. I'm pretty sure most of the guys in the audience were pleased that whoever made her outfit had cut the top about as low as it could go without exposing her- although I have to say, I wouldn't have protested against it.
Despite the fact that Sakaki had told me she was taking care of vocals, it was the guitarist that opened the performance with a speech into the mic. Trust me, it was a speech in the fullest sense of the word.
"Um, hello everyone!" She began, her voice sounding like she had a really sore throat. She still seemed bubbly and happy, though. "We are the light music club! It's been such a long year, and didn't everyone find the exams so hard? It was so horrible! I had to cram all-night one night before the exam, and another night Ritsu had to come over with Mio and help me out, so I was so glad when they were done and we were all able to play together in this band again!"
She moved away from the mic, and I heard the drummer counting in the song, when-
"Oh, Ritsu is our drummer, and Mugi is our keyboard player. Mio is Ritsu's friend, and she wrote lyrics to a couple of our songs, but she didn't want to play in the band, so Sakaki said she'd join. Sakaki is our bassist."
There were a couple more seconds of silence, then Ritsu began to count in again-
"Oh, but it's not like Mio didn't want to join because we're bad people! Really, some of you should join next year, we really need another guita-"
A drumstick flew from behind the drumkit, hitting the guitarist in the back of the head. As she recoiled, I heard Ritsu hiss something to her. The guitarist quickly nodded and turned back for the last time.
"O-okay, please enjoy our first song! This was written by our bassist, Sakaki! It's called- Nekoneko Time!"
Yet as the band burst into life, a shining pink flash engulfed the room. I had no idea where it came from, but as soon as it did, the power for the entire theatre suddenly died. The amps faded into nothingness, and the lights all vanished. An excited murmur began to rise from the audience, not least from Haruhi, who repeatedly pestered me with "What was that? What was that? Did you see that flash, Kyon? What was it?"
As the teachers rushed about, trying frantically to sort out what the problem was, the pink flash came again, this time continuing to shine, rather than simply flashing. The light took up my entire field of sight, before diminishing further and further until it was just a light glow, sitting a few rows in front of me. The audience and band were frozen, staring at the glow as if they were captivated by it.
Then I realised that the glow wasn't just a ball of light. It was Ayumu.