Disclaimer: I do not own Haruhi Suzumiya or anything related.

This is dedicated to my friend and partner-in-crime, Patty.

A/N: The notion that I have abandoned writing fanfiction is partly true. Abandoned, in a sense that I have not been active lately as I have recently been busy with other things. Also, personal matters have arisen, which actually sort of discouraged me to continue.

Anyway, now that that's settled, we continue.

Title: The Origin of Koizumi Itsuki

Synopsis:

He was. And that was what he knew. He didn't know why. But he was chosen. Koizumi Itsuki searches for the reason why he was.

The Note

"The wood star. Muxing. Also known as Jupiter… You fascinating thing."

I lie flat on the rooftop, staring up into the night sky. The telescope was propped on a tripod by the edge. I closed my eyes.

"C'mon, Itsuki. It's pointless trying to get back there." I told myself.

Three days after I accidentally went into Haruhi Suzumiya's dream- or was it a memory? I really don't know- and I've been trying to get back there ever since.

I want to get back in there and know more about her.

Although the question remains: Why do I want to know more about her?

"Hey Koizumi!"

I turned around. It was Yutaka Tamaru, calling after me from behind. I was walking to school as usual, as if nothing that happened in the past few days was ever out of the ordinary.

"I heard you got off with a probation!" Tamaru whispered, putting his arm around my shoulder. "Not what we wanted, but at least they're not gonna deneuralize you or something… I hate it when they threaten us with messing with our heads."

"What exactly happens when they deneuralize you?" I snapped back.

"Well, I think they put you into a deep sleep and kinda delete anything you shouldn't even know about." Tamaru said. "At least that's what I heard. It could be worse."

"I suppose." I sighed.

"Anyway, you look stressed, man." Tamaru said. "Have you done your algebra homework?"

I snapped from my stupor. With everything that had happened, I seem to have forgotten that I was still a student in junior high. Try as I might, I could not recall doing anything involving mathematics for the past few days.

"Algebra is, unfortunately, first period, right?"

Without saying a word, Tamaru handed his notebook.

"Tamaru…"

"Well, looks like you could always need a help." He smiled. "Read it carefully. I might've made mistakes in solving."

I would've never expected that I would one day, copy off of someone else's notebook plainly because I've forgotten to do my own. As I stepped inside to grab my shoe from my shoe locker, I saw a hastily placed note in it.

"[K, 5F WW. 17.00 – N12.]"

That's pretty odd. As far as television programs and romance novels were concerned, this would seem to be a rather unlikely love note. It looks more like coordinates for something, or a chemistry equation.

Or a message, perhaps.

N12.

Let's see… N could be Nitrogen. But Nitrogen has an atomic number of 7, right? Is this talking about an isotope or something?

5F.

5 degrees Farenheit? Sounds familiar, isn't that the kindling temperature for paper? No, wait, that isn't it. It's 451 degrees Farenheit.

WW.

It lacks one 'W'to form WWW. But I doubt that it involves the internet. Does it stand for West? What about the other W? West-West?

"Gibberish." I said, stuffing the note into my pocket, as I made my way to the classroom.

"Koizumi, I've brought you some food."

I looked around. Mori stood behind me, carrying yet another batch of bentos, and smiling serenely. She then proceeded to sit on the rooftop floor to my right. The night was peaceful, and yet a lingering tension hung around us both.

"Thank you. Mori."

"Since when did we stop adding suffixes to our names?" she said, wistfully sighing as she looked out to the sky.

There was a sort of lingering tension between us. It was as if both of us were waiting for the other to say something, or admit to something that isn't right anymore, but neither wanted to bring up the topic, let alone acknowledge it existed. Naturally, I did what I always do, and chose my words carefully as I replied:

"Probably about two minutes ago, when you said you brought some food?" I replied jokingly.

She just looked at me and smiled weakly, before turning away and whispering she thought I could not hear.

"Perhaps."

"So, I was saying, Class 1-3's got more students who are planning to go to a prefectural public high school rather than a private one. Mind you, Kouyouen's got a decent passing rate for the sciences and they only take girls in. I wouldn't want to go to Yaminochi even if they do have the same passing rate as Kouyouen. Because Yaminochi is a private, all-boys school. And high school without girls isn't fun. Don't you think that's a bit unfair?"

Yutaka Tamaru was so caught up talking in lunch today, he hasn't even touched his food. Apparently, the teachers thought that today would be a good day to remind us that choosing which high school to enroll in was as important as choosing which college program we want to take. It was this information that made Yutaka Tamaru lose his 'cool, collected and calm' attitude… Well, at least in front of Mori-san and myself.

Come to think of it, I haven't quite thought of that myself, but I'm leaning towards the Liberal Arts. That's where they have courses on Philosophy, right? Or was I mistaken, and was it in the Sciences?

Finally taking a bite off his omelette, Yutaka looked at Mori-san.

"You know, I think Itsu-kun over here will be fine wherever he goes. He's top of our class, anyway. Heck, I think he can turn a non-descript, unknown prefectural high school into an academically-famous high school by becoming a topnotcher in exams."

"You say that like it's a bad thing, Tamaru." I replied. "And please, stop referring to me as 'Itsu-kun'."

"It is a bad thing! It upsets the status quo!"

At this comment, Sonou Mori chuckled.

"Isn't Koizumi-kun being top of the class actually a status quo in itself?" she said.

Tamaru's face contorted in a contemplating frown.

"Yeah… So does that mean that Itsu-kun being the top of the class is a higher truth than unknown schools being academically mediocre?"

"Hey, it isn't the school that determines one's intellect!" I chuckled.

"Whatever, Einstein." Tamaru replied.

"Exactly, Tamaru! Einstein wasn't exactly the top of his class either, and yet he had ideas which questioned the status quo at the time and revolutionized so much!"

"Ergo, questioning the status quo on something will revolutionize it?"

"Well, yes… probably. Depends on what kind of questioning you have in mind on the status quo."

"In order to revolutionize the educational system, I therefore question the status quo that 'Koizumi-kun is in the top of the class'!" Tamaru loudly proclaimed.

"Non-sequitur!"

"Objection!" Tamaru said, while pointing his finger at me, reminiscent of Gyakuten Saiban. It was at this point that Mori couldn't control herself and started giggling in fits of laughter.

"You know, one thing is for sure… If we're all going to different high schools, this is what I will miss the most." She said.

I still held the note as I walked across the hallways to get back to class. Tamaru said he needed to purchase something at the school store, so he told us to go on ahead. Mori went the other way, towards the school's west wing, where their class was located.

"Still can't understand what this means…" I said, not looking up from the paper, when I realized I wasn't where I was supposed to be.

This definitely isn't the way back to our classroom.

Mori and I sat there, not speaking for a couple of minutes under the night sky. I was actually running out of things to talk to her about, and she seemed to feel the same way. I was about to start up a conversation about something so particularly mundane when we heard footsteps from behind.

"Hey, you two! I brought some drinks!" Tamaru boisterously entered, swinging bottles of questionable beverage content.

"I sure hope that's nothing illegal, Tamaru." I said, looking over my shoulder, smirking.

"Oh come on, what's a little beer?" Tamaru grinned.

Mori looked mortified.

"We're twelve."

"Where's your sense of adventure, Mori-san?" he said as he handed her a bottle. "Besides, it's only a bottle. It's not like I brought an entire truck of them with me."

"Liar." I said.

"What did you say?" Tamaru turned around to look at me.

I was already five minutes late for my next class after the unexpected detour courtesy of my absent-mindedness. The teacher let me off with a warning, this time, and I couldn't be more relieved than that. Upon making my way to my desk, I saw a haughtily placed note on it.

Why the hell were you late, K? I actually got back from the school store before you did.

-T

No doubt it was from Tamaru. You have to admire the guy for using codes in case the teacher discovers this note. I wouldn't want to get into any more trouble. I then scrawled a quick note, saying:

I got lost. Ended up in the fifth floor of the school.

-K

A couple of minutes passed, and I received a note from him.

What? You ended up in the 5F? What possessed you to go there? Out for a little stroll? Have you taken M with you? ;)

-T

M? He must have meant Mori. Alright then, using acronyms, are we? I started writing on the paper:

She went back to her room in the WW. I forgot to tell you and M about this. I received a cryptic note this morning in my shoe locker:

"[K, 5F WW. 17.00 – N12.]"

Does that make sense to you?

-K

I was about to send this note when I realized:

K Koizumi.

5F Fifth floor.

WW West wing.

Could it be possible that the note I received is actually a note asking me to meet someone?

If there's a place, there must be a time. That must mean that 17.00 is the meeting time. If I subtract 12.00, assuming it's in military time, it becomes 5.00, which means, whoever wants to meet me wants to meet at five in the afternoon.

Which makes N12…

"Mister Koizumi…"

I looked up to see the teacher calling me.

"As I was saying, what is N-12?"

Smiling confidently, I said, "Nitrogen has an atomic number of 7, so, N-12 would be an isotope, ma'am."

An unstable one at that.

"What did you say, Koizumi?" Tamaru repeated the question, as Mori apprehensively examined the bottle he gave.

"This…" I said, taking a swig of the beverage "…isn't beer."

In the dark, I recognized Yutaka Tamaru's smug smile, as Sonou Mori's eyes widened in realization.

With a glint in my eye, I said: "You did have enough free time to put root beer inside beer bottles instead, didn't you?"

Fifth floor, in the school's west wing, 5 PM.

"You didn't have to be incredibly cryptic about the message. Not when it's practically staring me in the face."

"Security protocols."

Number 12 stood at the end of the hallway, the golden afternoon sun illuminating his mask, yet barely revealing his features.

"Has something come up?"

"Quite. In fact, the Agency wishes I deliver this news to you, personally."

"Is it about the Inquest?"

"Not quite. It's about your training."

"What about it?"

Number 12 took a step closer.

"You are to train under a rigorous training facility under a master of skilled combat in order to defend yourself in case of attacks. The Agency feels that the incident with Kurosaki might happen again, if there are those from the Faction who believe the same."

"What's wrong with the training we have?"

"Nothing. Except for the fact that it is inadequate. You can only use your powers in Closed Space, which leaves you vulnerable in reality. Furthermore, this training will be located far from here, on a private island of undisclosed location."

"Sounds like a spy thriller."

He gave a hearty laugh as he patted my shoulder.

"Koizumi, in case you haven't noticed, you're smack dab in the middle of one."

"So, this training facility… do I go here on weekends or anything? You can have my Sundays. Sundays are boring."

"Oh no, Koizumi… You will have to take up residence in this training facility. You will have to temporarily drop out of school."

"How long will I have to stay there?"

"A year, perhaps. Depending on how fast of a learner you are."

"A year? I hope you realize, Number 12, that I'll 'disappear' for a year. How am I to catch up with my studies? What about my 'disappearance'? It won't go unnoticed. I suppose you have a good, solid alibi that my mother would probably believe, then?"

From inside his coat, Number 12 pulled out an official-looking envelope with a name of a school written in English.

"I have arranged some 'documents' regarding your 'transfer' to a boarding school in England. You are to be part of a special foreign exchange program for gifted students there. I suggest that you read up on these documents here to make your story believable to your friends and relatives. As for your teachers here, they have already been informed of your 'transfer', which is why your chemistry teacher let you off the hook today."

"So when do I 'transfer'?"

"Next week. I suppose you should spend as much time with your friends as you like, because while you are under training, there will be no contact with the outside world. Also, I would like to stress that Yutaka Tamaru and Sonou Mori must not know of the true nature of your transfer. I'd understand if Mori would pick it up, she's a mind reader after all, but all the same… Rest assured, Yutaka Tamaru has not been informed of this, and I advise you to keep it a secret as it might come as a shock to them both."

"Of course I did have the time to do all that stuff. You just had to deduce and reveal my plan, didn't you, Sherlock?" Tamaru said, sitting on my left.

"You can't fool me."

"I did not have the intention to. I just wanted to see how Mori would react." Tamaru replied, looking over at Mori. "Besides, worst case scenario, Mori is completely mortified and angry at me, and you'd take her side. Like always."

"You had me for a second there…" Mori smiled. "I guess you'll keep the pranking down to minimum when Koizumi's gone?"

Silence. The three of us looked at the sky.

"Do you think it's that far? England?" I asked.

"Nah… Probably isn't." Tamaru shrugged.

"Then I dare you to walk it, Tamaru." Mori chuckled.

At this, Yutaka Tamaru laughed and stood up, singing in English:

And I would walk five hundred miles,

And I would walk five hundred more…

Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles

To fall down at your door!

"Keep it down, Tamaru! You're tone deaf!" I yelled, grinning at my friend's antics.

Yes. I consider them my friends now. It probably took a while, but maybe, it only took the prospect of being miles apart to realize what I had and what I'm leaving behind.

"Is this the facility, Number 12?"

"Yes, Koizumi. We have arrived."

I stepped outside the car to see a manor that looked nothing like a top-secret training facility. Carrying the luggage, Number 12 and I walked towards the stone steps leading towards a huge wooden door, engraved with a coat of arms and a huge letter "T". The manor looked old, but well-taken care of. A fountain was on the grounds adjacent to the front door. The entire place's design was Western and elegant, the stuff of which reminds me of fancy dress parties with cocktails and dancing and such… This made me feel incredibly shabby, dressed only in my hoodie and some ragged jeans.

"Please don't tell me the training facility is actually a boarding school in England."

"Alright then, I won't."

"But am I in England? The plane ride took hours!"

"Classified information."

"Not helping at all."

"Koizumi, this is where I leave you. I was only told to drop you off here, and nothing else. I will not be conducting any other training with you for the meantime, as I have some other matters to attend to. Don't worry, your new trainer lives in this house and will know you upon sight. Good luck."

With that, Number 12 walked away and got back into the car, which promptly drove away, outside the gates and out of sight.

As if on cue, the huge doors opened with a loud creak. Expecting to meet some sort of nobility on the other side, I bowed immediately.

"Eh? Wha'cha doing?"

The sound I heard was not a booming voice from a nobleman, nor was it from a refined butler, as one would expect from a house this size. In fact, the sound I heard wasn't even in English. It was in Japanese.

I looked up to see a young girl, who was probably as confused as I was. She had long dark green hair and a longer left canine tooth.

"Oi! Don't look at my fang like that! I'm not a vampire!" she chuckled.

I said what any sane man would, in this situation:

"What?"

A/N: I think I hinted on including Tsuruya before, haven't I, nyoro? :3 Oh well, the good news is that I'm getting more traction to continue with this one. I hope the same goes for my other unfinished fics too. :D

By the way, I also do not own the song Tamaru sang. I got the idea from that video of David Tennant and the cast and crew of Doctor Who… It's called "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" and it's sung by The Proclaimers.