By the time I was ready to post this fic, I have discovered that this story has become the second most reviewed Haruhi fic on . Thank you so much for your support. It's a bit overwhelming. ^^'

And some as you mentioned that there hasn't been enough of the other Brigade members in this fic, and I totally agree, especially Yuki. I have every intention of giving them some more story time from now on.

Anyway, it's time that we move on. Enjoy!

Chapter 12

It was cloudy again today. I hadn't noticed it yesterday, but was cloudy then too, wasn't it? I had almost no doubt that it was a reflection of Haruhi's mood. I had wondered as to how many more days it would be before it would be sunny again. I almost wondered if it would ever be sunny again.

Never mind. My mind is just going off on a tangent over nothing. I was just trying to keep my mind occupied while walking to the café. I was almost there now. For obvious reasons, the recent events had reached a level of seriousness great enough to require this meeting. To be honest, I was curious as to what the others had to say about the recent events.

When I finally entered the door to the café, it took a minute to locate the others. As expected, I found that all three had beaten me to the café and were sitting at a window seat. When I approached them, I noticed that Koizumi was the only one not in his school uniform. Must've taken another day off from school in order to recover from shutting down that closed space.

The moment Asahina-san saw my face, she gave an expression of horror. "Oh my goodness, Kyon-kun! Are you okay?" She got up from her seat and rushed up to me to get a closer look. "What happened to you?!"

I gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm okay, Asahina-san. It's not as bad as it looks." That was kind of a lie. It still actually hurt pretty damn bad.

Asahina-san looked at my eye carefully before sighing miserably. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help." She almost looked like she was going to cry.

You're overreacting, Asahina-san. There wasn't a whole lot you could have done to help, anyway. "I said I'm okay. There's no need to cry. Thank you for your concern, though."

Asahina-san swallowed hard and nodded. After that, she and I sat down next to each other. Koizumi was directly on the other side of me, and Nagato was sitting near the window.

Koizumi was to first to speak after we sat down. "Nice weather isn't it?"

I narrowed my eyes at Koizumi when he said that. No the weather was not nice. "I doubt you called this meeting so that we could just talk about the weather."

"Indeed," said Koizumi with his plastic smile. "I just thought I'd try to break the ice with a simple question. The question was ironic of course, since the weather was indeed not nice at all. In fact, it's quite depressing. I'm sure you've already suspected that the weather might be linked to Suzumiya-san's current mood.

"Yup," I said as I sat back.

"Perhaps now would be the best time for you to inform the rest of us of what has been happening with Suzumiya-san."

It was then that I began to explain to Asahina-san and Nagato as to what happened last Monday and what was going to happen this Saturday. I told them about Haruhi's parent discovering the SOS Brigade, her father banning Haruhi from going to it, the assault I received for Oruki, and the plan the Brigade has for this Saturday. Asahina-san had her hands on her mouth as I described the details of what happened Monday, making me almost feel bad for saying them. It was really cute of her to act like that.

"And that's everything."

The other three were silent for a few minutes as they took in what I had told them. Once again, Koizumi was the first to speak. "I had to admit, that hour on Monday was…exhilarating to say the least. My superiors are still in a panic about it. It took the combined efforts of the entire Organization to shut down the closed space. Even the highest members of the Organization were forced to help, which has never happened before since I first joined it. It's certainly a moment we don't want to have repeated."

I was a bit shocked to find that even the highest members of his Organization had to help. I turned to Nagato after Koizumi was done speaking. "Nagato, can you tell me how large the closed space was before it was shut down?"

"The time-space distortion known as "closed space" had successfully covered 98.7836% of the earth's surface before it had dissipated. The last digit in that decimal has been rounded up as the decimal system used by the people on this planet cannot represent the correct percentage without the number going on an unlimited number of decimal places."

My eyes bulged when I heard this. "That close?!" I was told by Koizumi that if the closed space ever covered the entire earth, the world would end and the closed space would take over.

"As I told you before," continued Koizumi. "The closed space did not stop growing after you intervened. It only slowed it down enough to allow us a chance at shutting it down. I heard reports from members who'd entered the closed space earlier than I did. They said that the "Shinjin" inside when destroying things at a rate never before precedented. It was as if they were in a blind murderous rage. It was so bad that those who were inside could barely even kill one of them. Fortunately, by the time I got there they had calmed down to their normal raging state. One thing was sure, though. If you had delayed even a minute on your intervention, it probably would've been too late."

My heart raced a bit as all this disturbing information was relayed to me. I turned to Asahina-san to ask what she had to say. "You have anything to say, Asahina-san."

Asahina-san stared down at the table as she spoke, holding her soda close to her body. "I can't tell you too much about what had happened, as much of what we know is classified information, but I can tell you this. We have our own theory as to what would happen if the closed space would have grown to overtake our world. We believe that such an event would have resulted in a time quake so large that it would have shattered the current time plane altogether. The term we use for such an event is called a "Time Tear". We currently are unsure as to what may happen should a "Time Tear" occur, but the two competing theories are these. The time plane either continues in a new direction, forever separated from its original direction, or…" Asahina-san paused briefly, displaying obvious anxiety. "…or the time plane stops."

I blinked in confusion when she said that. "What do you mean stops?"

She looked directly at me, her eyes shining with all of her fear and concern. "It's like coming to the last page of a flipbook. There isn't another page to turn. We are forever stuck on that last page!"

You've got to be kidding me! You mean that if the closed space had taken over the planet that we would've been stuck in one instant of time forever?! It was then that the reality of my actions Monday night truly sunk in. I really did save the universe, didn't I? From my perspective, there hadn't been anything too unusual, other than the enormous storm that came out of no where. But the true consequences of what happened that night where quite visible to these three. No doubt they were incredibly troubled, if not terrified by what was happening. I somehow realized that their positions were not enviable.

"I can't tell you anymore about our theory about "Time Tears", as that information is classified, but I'm sure that you agree that it's not a good thing."

I nodded at Asahina-san and looked to Nagato again. "Is everything that Asahina-san said true?"

"The theories on how time interacts with space are too complicated to be explained in this setting. Instead, I will say this. Through the billions of years the Data Integrated Sentient Entity has collected data, it has made the conclusion that should closed space successfully enclose this planet, it would result in an explosion of data that would quickly replace all previous data, possibly even the Data Integrated Sentient Entity itself. Even if it survived the data explosion, all data that the entity currently possesses would be rendered obsolete. The potential for discovering the secret to allowing its auto-evolution would likely be lost forever."

So I guess to conclude what she said, no matter what actually happens, allowing a closed space to envelope the world was bad. Really bad.

"Okay guys," I said. "We know what could have happened. The good thing is that it didn't happen. I think it's more important to think about the future than dwell upon the past. Including what happens this Saturday."

Koizumi nodded in agreement. "Indeed you are correct again. However, knowing what happened Monday night give us a very good idea about what to expect should things go wrong this Saturday. We cannot doubt that this club is of an importance so great that we must protect it at all costs. If the club goes, the universe goes with it."

I knew where he was going with this. "Which means, we have to do whatever we can to convince Haruhi's father that this club is worth existing."

"Precisely," said Koizumi as he flicked his hair to the side. "Right now, he is uncertain that the club is what you told him it was. He wants proof that our club is about solving mysteries. And how do we go about doing that?"

"Simple, we need a client who has a mystery for us to solve. Haruhi and I already talked about this. The problem is that in the year that this club has existed, we've only had two clients."

"True. This of course means we'll have to give the club a client no matter what."

Is he suggesting what I think he's suggesting?

"I could go and contact Arakawa, Mori-san and the Tamaru brothers and see if we can put something together for us to try and solve come this Saturday."

"Hold it," I said while holding my hand out. "There's a big problem with this plan of yours. If you remember, the first time you gave us a little mystery to solve, Haruhi and I sniffed you guys out and exposed your attempt to fool us. The problem is that there's no guarantee that Haruhi's father will be fooled by your attempt to create a fake mystery to solve. In fact, there's a very good chance that he'll figure it out and bust us right then and there. If he does, the club is screwed." I already learned the hard way that Oruki was not easily fooled.

Koizumi sighed deeply, his plastic smile still intact. "True. We also don't have the benefit of having more time to plan ahead like we did the last couple mysteries we did. Not to mention the four of them are as exhausted as I am. However…" Koizumi smile slowly disappeared, and his face had become more serious. "There is one more option on the table should all else fail. It was an option Nagato-san had discussed with me earlier. I think it's best if she explained it."

I turned to Nagato after that. "What is he talking about?"

Nagato was silent for a few moments before answering. "…Controlled Memory Manipulation…

"Wha…What is that?"

"Through the manipulation of data, the neural pathways in the brain can be distorted, resulting in the altering or outright removal of a person's memories."

"You mean you'd wipe the memory of the SOS Brigade from the minds of Haruhi's parents?"

"Yes."

Removing someone's memories. I can't say I like that idea…wait a minute!

"Hold on! Wouldn't we have to also remove the memories that Haruhi has about her parent finding out as well?"

"Yes."

Now the idea of messing with people's minds really bothered me. The thought of Oruki head being altered didn't bother me much, but the thought of screwing with the minds of Haruhi and Naru-san made me feel a little sick to my stomach.

"Don't you think the idea of messing with Haruhi's memories is…wrong? Doesn't that bother you at all?"

Koizumi put his head on his hand, his face still serious. "We've all known and been through enough with Suzumiya-san that we can safely say that we are close friends with her, but we have to look at the big picture here. The universe must be preserved at all costs, regardless of the moral implications of the actions needed to preserve it." He then sighed a bit and smiled again. "But in the end, even wiping out their memories is not a perfect solution. It's really only a band-aid fix. There would be little to prevent Suzumiya-san's parents from making the same discovery again and having the whole mess repeat itself. We could try harder in order to prevent them from finding out, but the risk would always be there."

"There has to be a better solution," I said.

"Do you have any suggestions?"

I had to think for a little bit before I answered. "Why can't we tell her parents the truth?"

"We can't do that."

"Why the hell not! If they knew the truth, they'd know that they would have to let Haruhi continue with her Brigade regardless of what happens on Saturday. We could prevent her parents from ever upsetting her again. Especially her father."

"There are many in the Organization who advocate for that exact action, but as of right now, the majority of the highest ranking members of the Organization do not believe that the benefits of taking that action would outweigh the risk it also gives. They believe that if Suzumiya-san's parents discover the truth, the likelihood of Suzumiya-san also discovering the truth rises to dangerously high levels."

I looked at Nagato for her opinion. "Does your boss agree?"

"The Entity has calculated that revealing key information to Suzumiya-san's parental figures regarding her abilities would increase the probability of Suzumiya-san discovering her abilities by 428%. It has determined that risk to be unacceptably high."

Great, no help from Nagato then. I then turned to Asahina-san. "What do you think?"

"As you may know, we time travelers strive to ensure that the flow of time does not ever become disrupted. All events must happen as history in our time said they happened. All I can say is that it's imperative that at the present time that Suzumiya-san's parents do not learn the truth about their daughter's powers or our identities as well. I'm sorry, but any other information on the matter is classified."

So I guess that blows my idea out of the water. I looked at Nagato again. "This memory wiping…have you done it before?"

"I have not, but other human interfaces have done so in order to protect themselves or to prevent the discovery of our existence by those whom the Entity has determined should not know."

"Are there any weird or harmful side affects to it?"

"As long as the procedure is done correctly, no."

Correctly, huh? I sighed and buried my head in my hands. I guess that the plan was going to be this: Koizumi would get together with his Organization buddies and try a put together a fake mystery to present on Saturday. Should that not work, Nagato would be forced to wipe the memories of Haruhi and her parents to prevent Haruhi from creating another world ending closed space. Even though I knew that we would have to do this, it still bothered the hell out of me.

"There is one other important factor we must consider," said Koizumi. "And that factor is Suzumiya-san herself. As you may realize, it's certain that she will want a client to appear, no matter what. It should come to no surprise that a client would appear, if Suzumiya-san subconsciously creates one. We should be prepared for that possibility as well."

"That has its own set of problems too, though," I said. "If we get handed a real mystery to solve, there's a chance we won't be able to solve it. If that happens, the club might be doomed anyway."

"True, but at least if that happened, we wouldn't have to do anything but act naturally and try to solve it. I actually look forward to the idea of solving a real mystery."

I guess solving a real mystery could be fun. And with Haruhi, Koizumi and Nagato on our side, the chances are pretty damn good that we'd figure it out. Unfortunately, we still don't know if we'll have a real mystery.

"I think that it's best to remain cautiously optimistic about this upcoming Saturday," said Koizumi. "Who knows, it might end up being a very fun experience, and then we can rest easy knowing that the club and the universe are safe and sound. I will of course make preparations on my end in order to try and have something ready in case we don't have any real clients. It won't be easy, but I'll do my best."

I guess the rest of us can do nothing but wait until Saturday comes.

We all finished our drinks and left shortly after that. We came to our usual meeting place and parted ways, but before I went back to Haruhi's place, I called out to Nagato.

"Hey, Nagato! Wait!"

Nagato turned to face me after I called to her. "What?"

I rushed up to her and nervously made a request. "Uh…could you do me a favor? You see, these bruises and the black eyes are pretty unsightly and they hurt like hell. Do you think maybe you could help me with that? I'd really appreciate it."

Nagato nodded and began to lift her hand. I had to stop her, though.

"Wait, don't heal me completely! If you did that, Haruhi and everyone else might get suspicious as to why I was suddenly healed so quickly. Could you…maybe make it so that I healed faster, without it being too fast?"

Nagato nodded and held out her hand. "Your arm…"

Understanding what she was asking for, I gave my right arm to her. She then leaned over and gently bit it. Once again, it didn't really hurt. It was more like how a mosquito bite was painless before it started to itch. When she was done, I watched as the two puncture marks she made quickly disappeared. I didn't feel any different, though.

"What did you do to me?"

"Time release nano-machines," she said. "They will speed up your natural healing factor by five times."

I smiled when I heard this. "Pretty cool. How long will this last?"

"The nano-machines will deactivate as soon as you are fully healed."

"Oh…" I was a bit disappointed to hear that I wasn't going to receive permanent fast healing. "Thank you very much, Nagato."

She nodded after I said that, but before I could turn around to leave, she surprised me with a question. "Have you read it?"

I blinked in confusion. "Read what?"

"The book…"

I suddenly realized what she was talking about. She was referring to the book of Haikus she gave me. A huge pang of guilt overtook me when I remembered. "I'm sorry, Nagato. With all the crazy things that had been happening over the last week and a half, I haven't really had a chance to read it." It was kind of a lie, since there were a few opportunities for me to read it that I didn't take advantage of.

It was subtle, but Nagato appeared to be disappointed when I said that. Oh man, now I really feel bad.

"I promise I'll read it tonight. Okay, Nagato?"

She nodded and began to turn around to go home. I decided to do the same.

The rest of the night could easily be summarized as uneventful. When I returned, Oruki questioned me as to where I was. I simply told him that I was meeting with the other members of the club to tell them what was happening. After that, I was excused. He told me he didn't have anything for me to do. I ended up spending most of my time in my room. I did actually start to read the book of haikus, so I couldn't say to myself that I was a liar. I got maybe 25 pages in before I put it down.

Dinner was awkward as well. It'd become an even quieter affair than before, since Haruhi's appetite had shrunk considerably. She took only small bites of her food and didn't even finish her plate. For the first time since I'd known her, I actually out ate her. Maybe it would be best if Haruhi and her parents forgot about this whole ordeal.

So now it's the next morning, and I was awake, feeling quite refreshed. Why? To be honest, I wasn't quite sure, either. I looked at the clock and saw it was half an hour before Haruhi usually got up to find some tortuous way to wake me up. When I sat up from my bed, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I barely felt any pain at all, including my wrist. I then realized that this must've been the work of Nagato's nano-machines. They must've sped up the recuperation time for sleep as well. Nagato, you are amazing. Man I wish this was permanent.

The first thing I did was go to the bathroom and look in the mirror. As I had expected, my eye had cleared up considerably, and the puffiness in my cheek was gone altogether. I poked my eye a bit to test it. It was still a little tender, but considerably better than it was yesterday. After I had finished my investigation, I went and took a shower.

When I had finished my shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and began to leave the bathroom. As my luck would have it (or lack thereof) Haruhi had been walking by the bathroom door, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. When she noticed me leaving, she shrieked briefly and threw a kick towards my groin. Due to my incredibly well rested state, however, I was just barely able to react to the kick by turning my hips. The kick landed on the side of my leg instead, preventing what would have an enormously painful blow to my family jewels. It still hurt, though.

"Ow, what the hell?!"

After Haruhi got a better look at me, she spoke. "You scared the heck out of me! You're never up this early!"

I sighed and shook my head a bit. I guess I could see how someone who was only just waking up would be freaked out by a guy suddenly coming out of the bathroom in only a towel, especially if it was unexpected. I scratched the back of my head and laughed lightly.

"I guess I was feeling optimistic or something. I don't know why, but I just woke up early today."

Haruhi narrowed her eyes a bit and pointed her finger at my nose. "Why can't you ever be like that for our Brigade meetings during the weekends…?" It was then that I could see Haruhi's melancholy suddenly rush back when she was reminded of the Brigade. She stood there of a minute, absorbed in sadness while staring down at the floor. Eventually, the both of us were reminded of the fact that I was still standing at the door to the bathroom in nothing but a towel.

Haruhi blushed lightly before giving me a scowl. "Idiot! Don't just stand there like that! Get dressed!" She quickly yanked me by my hair and pushed me into my room. That hurt, dammit! Did she really need to do that?

Haruhi proceeded with her own shower while I got dressed. I made my way downstairs and went into the kitchen. I figured that since I was technically ready to go that I'd take a crack at making breakfast and lunch. I already knew that I wasn't half as talented at cooking as Haruhi or her mother, but I figured that as long as I didn't burn everything it would be fine. A simple western breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast was well within my capabilities, I figured. It would sure as hell beat that instant microwaveable stuff.

I had finished preparing breakfast just as Haruhi was finished getting ready for school. She was pleasantly surprised to see that I had made breakfast for a change, and she grabbed the plate I handed her and began to chow down. She didn't say anything, so I figured it must have been at least edible. Just as I was about to take my plate, Naru-san entered the kitchen, cutely wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Oh, Kyon-kun is making breakfast for us, huh? Wonderful!"

I gave Naru-san the sweetest smile I could muster. "Y…yep. I was doing just that!" I then handed her what was going to be my plate. I was originally only going to make breakfast for Haruhi and myself, but since Naru-san had entered the kitchen, I knew it would be rude not to serve her, too. Now that I think about it, Oruki was probably up now too. I'll probably have to make him breakfast as well.

Sure enough, Oruki entered the kitchen shortly after I handed Naru-san her plate, newspaper in hand. He looked to me after I started making his and my plates. "Make them scrambled." Not so much as a hello, I see. What, do you just figure that I don't deserve one anymore?

I smiled at him, doing whatever I could to hold back my displeasure. "Coming right up."

Due to the fact that I had to make breakfast for Haruhi's parents as well, I never really got the chance to enjoy my breakfast. I had to shovel it down my throat as fast as I could before Haruhi whisked me away for another wonderful day of school. When the two of us finally made it to out class, Haruhi once again buried her head in her desk.

I had hoped that Haruhi would have felt a little better today, but I was wrong. I once again talked to her, if only to console her a bit. "You alright?"

Haruhi didn't bother to answer me, which got me really worried. I kept talking. "Koizumi said he was going to talk with Arakawa-san, Mori-san and the Tamaru Brothers to see if they can help like they did during our summer and winter getaways."

Haruhi raised her head ever so slightly, allowing me to barely see her eyes. "It won't work." After staying silent for a minute, she spoke again. "There's no way that my Dad won't see through whatever they're going to try. They're going to screw up. I know it. And then my Brigade is gone forever."

"Well, there's still always the off chance that someone might come forward with a real mystery."

"Even if that were to happen, I can't help but worry that we might fail at solving it. What then? Maybe my dad might let us off the hook if he thinks we genuinely tried, but there's no way to know for sure."

"With yourself, Nagato and Koizumi, how could you not solve it?"

Haruhi sat up a bit and started playing with her mechanical pencil. "I don't doubt the abilities of my Brigade members. Not one bit. They're all incredible people. They wouldn't be in my Brigade if they weren't. But they're only human. Even they have their limits."

Yeah, about the "only human" part…heh…And did she just say everybody was incredible? Did that include me?

Haruhi eventually grew tired of fiddling with her pencil and put it down. She then buried her head in her arms once more. Apparently I was failing at cheering her up, but I tried to say one more thing before giving up.

"Don't give up, Haruhi. It's not like you to be like this. We need your leadership come Saturday. We'll get through this. I'm sure of it."

For some reason, I felt compelled to grab her hand. And for some stranger reason, I complied with that desire. I held on to her hand and gave it a light squeeze. She didn't squeeze back, but she didn't pull away either. Sensing no sign from her that she wanted me to remove my hand, I kept it there, enjoying the warm softness. I knew that a few classmates were going to see what I was doing, including Taniguchi and Kunikida, and I didn't care. I'll just ignore any snarky comments they make during lunch. I didn't let go of her hand until Okabe-sensei entered the room.

Why did I do that? Why did I hold her hand?

School came and went as usual, and before I knew it, I was working on my homework in the living room. Normally I would have put it off until later, but Haruhi insisted I not put it off, and since her parents heard her talk to me about, I felt obligated to work on it now. I did what I could to stave off boredom while doing it. I could hear the sounds of a buzz saw going off in the background. Oruki was wood working again, and the sounds he was making down there were annoying. Really, really annoying.

But then there was another noise that I heard coming from the basement. "OOOOOWWWW!"

Startled by his cry of pain, I instinctually got up and headed down into the basement to investigate. I saw him running his hand through some water in the sink that was down there. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said in a tone that tried to make this appear as no big deal. "I just nicked my hand while using the saw."

I went up to the sink to take a look at his injury. I could see the blood from his hand mixing with the water that was splashing on it. I wasn't able to make out what the wound looked like because of the water, but it looked pretty bad.

"Do you want me to grab some bandages upstairs?"

"I got it," he said while opening a cabinet with his other hand. He then pulled out some hydrogen peroxide and some large bandages. "When you work with knives, saws and sanders, it helps to prepare for the worst."

He then pulled his hand out of the running water. I was able to see a small gash on the side of his hand. It wasn't terribly deep, but it still looked painful as hell. He then began to clean and dress the wound, doing it in a fashion that seemed to indicate that this wasn't his first time. When he was finished, he stared at his wound and shook his head.

"It never fails…"

"Huh?" I said, looking for clarification.

"I was just talking about this weird pattern I'd noticed. It seems that every time my daughter is mad at me, I always find a way to hurt myself. It's like karma's trying to bite me in the ass or something. It's weird. It just…never fails…" She then gave a mild smirk while looking at his hand once more.

I smiled as well when I heard this, but for very different reasons from Oruki. If only he knew. I was sure that this was no coincidence.

Oruki then looked at me once more. "You're not doing anything right now, right?"

"I was doing my homework."

"You can finish that later," Oruki said as he motioned me towards his work bench. "I need a hand with something. It going to be harder to work on this with my hand the way it is."

I reluctantly agreed and followed to the work bench that he was using. He pulled out a measuring tape and held it out to me. "Hold onto the end of that."

I complied, holding onto the end of the tape while he pulled on it. He then put it down against a piece of wood. He then grabbed a mechanical pencil and began to mark on the wood where he expected to cut. He then took the wood and began to cut it with the saw. We repeated this step a few more times before he was finally done cutting.

I became curious as to what he was building. "What are you making?"

"A dog house," he said without hesitation.

I was a bit surprised. "Are you getting a dog?"

Oruki stared at the ground, his face looking a bit regretful. "We can't afford a dog, right now." He then narrowed his eyes at me. "We can barely afford to have you around. When are you going to give us the rent anyway?"

"Oh," I said. I had actually forgotten that I still hadn't paid them. "I could give it to you now."

"I wasn't going to make a big deal about until you found a place to live. I do expect you to give it to me eventually. In the mean time, I'll sell this thing when I'm done with it."

I began to wonder just how tight expenses were starting to get for the Suzumiyas. Now that I think about it, I hadn't seen Oruki going out to work all that often since I moved here. I had wanted to ask about it, but I got the feeling that I shouldn't. He would probably tell me it wasn't my business anyway. Instead, I tried to change the subject.

"Hey Oruki…let's just say, hypothetically, that your daughter didn't have an extracurricular club and wanted to spend her free time hanging out with friends and having fun…would you be okay with that?"

"Absolutely not," said Oruki without even the slightest pause. He then looked at me suspiciously. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

I shook my head nervously. "N…no. I was just curious. Can I ask why?"

Oruki put his pencil down before answering. "Because it would be such a waste!" He then rubbed his forehead before continuing. "I mean, I'm sure you know by now just how talented she is. It's incredible! Do you have any idea how incredibly rare it is for someone to be able to do almost anything well? A person could consider themselves lucky if they were so talented in only one thing. But her, she could be almost anything she wants to be when she grows up! Can you imagine having that kind of gift?"

I think I understood what he was saying.

Oruki continued on his rant. "I knew ever since she was little that she was amazing. She's brilliant! I knew then that I would do whatever it took to make sure she didn't throw it all away. So I forced her into doing lots of things, like karate lessons, sports, piano lessons, anything I could think of. I had hoped that one of those things would catch her interest, and she'd stick to it, but she didn't seem to care about any of it. She just wanted to do stupid things like paint things on our walls and vandalize people's property. It was so frustrating. The more she acted out, the more I pushed her, and thus she would act out even more."

I could see the frustration on his face as he looked back at some of the event he must've had with his daughter. I decided to ask him another question. "Weren't you afraid you were pushing her too hard?"

"I was afraid that I might be by the time she reached high school, so I made a deal with her. I'd leave her alone as long as she picked an extracurricular activity. Whatever it was, it didn't matter, as long as it was constructive. Her grades have always been great, so that was really the only thing that concerned me, other then the fact that I wished she didn't pick North High as her high school. No offense, but I'd wanted her to go to Kouyouen. She kept insisting that she go to North High, though. I couldn't figure it out of the life of me."

I knew why. It was because of the things I told Haruhi four years ago when I went back in time. I wasn't going to tell him that, though. I don't even want to imagine what he'd do if he knew I was the one who actually defaced the field at her middle school.

"Are you worried that she might hate you after all that's happened?"

Oruki was silent, as if he didn't want to answer the question, or didn't have an answer. Eventually, he gave me a response. "It doesn't matter how she feels about me in the end. What matters to me is that she's ready for the real world when she's an adult and that she's successful at whatever she chooses to do in life. If that means she has to hate me…then so be it." I then noticed that he looked almost regretful. I had wondered if maybe he'd wished he could try again at being a father for Haruhi. Nobody gets second chances with raising children. If you screw up, then you're essentially responsible for ruining someone's life. I have little idea what it was like to be a parent, but I know that for now I wouldn't want to experience it. And I definitely wouldn't want to be Haruhi's parent.

By the way, none of this meant that I was actually starting to like Oruki. It just made me realize that he might actually be human after all.

Oruki gave me a very serious look after that. "You know, my wife's pretty damn excited about Saturday. She won't shut up about it. She better not be disappointed."

"I understand," I said, swallowing hard. "I'm…pretty excited too."

"By the way," said Oruki, appearing to change the subject. "How the hell is it that your eye cleared up so fast?"

I blinked in surprise when he asked that. I'd completely forgotten that I was healing super fast thanks to Nagato and that my eye was quickly fading. Almost too quickly in fact. I simply scratched a back of my head and smiled. "I guess I just heal fast."

Oruki looked suspiciously at me for a moment before dropping it. He then positioned the boards where they needed to go and grabbed a nail. "Hold this still while I hammer it in."

I widened my eyes slightly in fear. "Why do I have to?"

Oruki pointed to his bandaged hand. "I can't hold onto it right with my hand like this. I need you to do it. Relax, I'm not going to hurt you."

You know, that hand of yours makes me think twice about that. I'd hate to be the next person to need bandages.

I eventually gave in and held the nail for him. I cringed a bit in anticipation of the tremendous pain that I was afraid would come next. My only comfort was knowing that the nano-machines that were still inside me. Nagato said they'd only deactivate if my body was free of injuries, so if my fingers were smashed, the nano-machines would have to stick around until they were fixed. At least I knew it wouldn't hurt for long.

Thankfully, only the nail itself was hit by the force of the hammer. I moved my hand after the nail was set into the wood and let him finish hammering it in. We did this several more times before Oruki finally decided to call it a day. I was very relieved to have my fingers intact.

Afterwards, I left the basement and went up to my room. I decided to pick up the book Nagato gave me and start reading it some more. However, I wasn't able to finish a page before a knock was heard from the window. Must be Haruhi again.

When I opened the window, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Haruhi was…smiling. For the first time since Monday in fact.

"I've got great news! We've got a client!"

I blinked in surprise when I heard this. I couldn't believe it. We really had a client! It couldn't have been a coincidence. It was almost certain that Haruhi had something to do with it.

"Who is it?"

"Guess."

How the hell am I supposed to guess? It could be anyone of nearly seven billion people, most of whom I don't know the names of.

I figured it must have been someone we knew if I had to guess. "Sakanaka-san?"

"Nope."

"Kimidori-san?"

"Wrong."

"Taniguchi?"

Haruhi narrowed her eyes at this point as if she was disappointed I hadn't guessed right yet. "No."

I was starting to become stumped. "Kunikida? The Computer Club President?"

Haruhi looked genuinely annoyed now. "No. No! Come on, Kyon!"

I sighed in defeat. "I give up…Just tell me."

Haruhi groaned before telling me. "Kiyosumi Morimura!"

I raised an eyebrow when she said the name. "Who the hell is that?"

"Don't you remember him? He was one of our sponsors for our movie."

Doesn't ring a bell…let me think. Morimura…Morimura…Wait! I remember now. He was that heavy-set guy who owned that grocery store downtown, wasn't he? He was even in our movie for a brief scene too if I remember correctly…Hold on, how the hell was I supposed to guess him?

"Too bad! You failed to guess. However, since I'm feeling generous, I'll give you a point for trying."

Oh boy! A whole point! Now Koizumi's point lead on me is only a mere 19,999. He better be careful, or I'll over take him for sure.

"Back on topic," I said. "Did he tell you what was going on?"

Haruhi shook her head. "No, but he seemed really distressed. He said that he had no one else to turn to. It must be a pretty desperate situation for him."

Yeah, one would have to be pretty damn desperate to turn to the SOS Brigade for help…and probably a bit crazy, too.

"I told him that we couldn't meet with him until Saturday. He seemed pretty upset that it couldn't be sooner, but I told him we had prior engagements. I told him to meet us here on Saturday and even gave him directions."

"So we're good to go, then?"

Haruhi nodded. "As long as he shows up."

I gave her a smile, feeling much relieved myself. "See? I told you things would work out."

Haruhi took a deep breath, looking very anxious. "Now we just have to solve it." After that, Haruhi began to get up. "I'm going back to my room. I want to make sure we're as prepared as possible."

"See ya," I said as I closed the window. However, before I could lie back down, I heard a knock on the window again. I got up again and opened it once more.

"By the way, did you finish your homework?"

My eyes widened a bit when I realized I forgot about it when I went into the basement to help Oruki. "Oops."

"Dammit, Kyon! Stop procrastinating! You're so lucky that I'm stuck in my room for now, or I'd give you the biggest penalty you could imagine!"

How are you stuck in your room? You're up on the roof right now.

"Just shut up and do it!" yelled Haruhi before finally getting up and going back to her room.

I sighed in exasperation before closing the window and heading to the living room. Oruki was already in there watching TV while drinking a beer. He saw me sitting at the coffee table where I had left my homework. "Forget something?"

I ignored his smartass remark and went back to finishing my homework. Oh well, at least Haruhi seemed to be back to her old self again. Let's hope that she can stay that way come Saturday.

I was able to finish my homework just in time before dinner. During it, Haruhi did the honors of telling her parents that they had a client set up for Saturday. Oruki merely nodded, but Naru-san oozed with excitement. Man, she's bound to be disappointed if she's hyping herself this much. She needs to get out of the house more…then again, the rest of the world might not appreciate having Naru-san running loose out in the world. She'd be almost as bad as Haruhi, if not worse.

After finishing dinner and cleaning up, I went back to my room. Just as I was about to relax, my phone rung. I sighed as I reached for it, thinking it must have been Koizumi again. When I looked at the phone to see who it was, I was surprised to see that it was Asahina-san instead. What could she want? You know, hearing her sweet voice would really hit the spot right about now. I answered the phone gleefully. "Hi, Asahina-san! How're you?"

"Um…Kyon-kun. I have some things I need to inform you about." Her voice didn't sound happy or cheerful. Something bad must be happening.

"What's wrong Asahina-san?"

She paused briefly before she told me what was bothering her. "I can't tell you much, but there was some kind of time anomaly that occurred last Friday."

"Really? Why didn't you tell me about it at the meeting yesterday?"

"Well, that's the thing…you see, we didn't know about it until a few hours ago."

"We" must be referring to her faction of Time-travelers. "How could you not have known about it until a few hours ago if it happened on Friday?"

"I'm…not sure how to say this but…it didn't exist until a few hours ago…"

Now I was really confused. "How can something that existed last Friday not exist until a few hours ago?"

"It's really hard to explain without revealing classified information. It has to do with Suzumiya-san, though."

Well of course it does. Does anything strange ever happen without her being involved in some way, shape or form?

I thought about what she said for a bit. It took some doing, but I eventually got an idea as to what she was talking about. "So, you're saying that the Haruhi of a few hours ago altered time and events on last Friday?"

"That's close enough. Yes."

"What did she do?"

"I can't tell you as it's classified information. However, soon enough Itsuki-kun and Nagato-san will explain it to you better than I could."

"Soon, huh? Like Saturday soon?"

"That's classified…"

Figures. I have a feeling that it'll have something to do with what happens on Saturday…Great.

"By the way," I said. "Haruhi got us a client on Saturday. Does this…anomaly stuff have anything to do with him?"

"That's classified…"

Of course. As sweet as Asahina-san is, it sure bugs me that she rarely can give me a straight answer about stuff. At least Koizumi and Nagato gave out answers easily enough.

"I'm sorry, Kyon-kun. I can't tell you much more. The only thing else I can tell you is that when you do confront this anomaly, you're likely to be in great danger."

Danger? Well that's always a good thing. Especially when it's "great danger".

I sighed deeply before ending my conversation with Asahina-san. "Thank you for informing me. I'll try to be careful."

"Okay, Kyon-kun. I'll see you Saturday, okay?"

"Okay. Bye Asahina-san." I then hung up the phone and facepalmed. She didn't say for sure, but I could assume that a few hours ago, Haruhi altered events for last Friday in a way that affected Morimura-san. How nice of Haruhi to do such a thing to one of her sponsors…Well, whatever happened, it was bad enough that he needed our help to confront it. So I'm guessing that Saturday we'll find out what it's about with the help of Koizumi and Nagato. Unfortunately, if danger is involved, we'll have to deal with making sure Haruhi and her parents are as far away from it as possible. Sounds like a pain. I should have figured that we weren't going to have an ordinary mystery to try and solve.

It was then that my phone went off again. Looking at it, I was surprised to find that it was…Haruhi? Why the hell is she calling me when she right in the next room? Can't she just climb onto the roof again to talk to me? "Hello?"

"Who were you talking to?"

Crap! I totally forgot that the walls between our rooms were really thin, and it was easy to hear what the other person was talking about on the other side. Was she eavesdropping on my conversation with Asahina-san? Oh no, what if she heard too much?

I tried to play it off as coolly as I could. "I was talking to Koizumi."

"Liar! I heard you! You were talking to Mikuru!"

If you already knew I was talking to her, why did ask who I was talking to?

"What were you two talking about?! I heard my name mentioned! I demand answers!"

I was really becoming nervous. How much did she hear? I really hoped she didn't hear everything. "She…was asking for my opinion on a question. She needed a guy's opinion."

"And what does it have to do with me?"

"It's nothing, Haruhi. She asked something about you, yes, but it wasn't a big deal."

"I want to know. As your Brigade Chief, I order you to tell me?!"

"No, Haruhi. I won't. It was a personal question. I promise you it wasn't a big deal."

"Violation of a direct order is grounds for treason, Kyon! Do you hear me?"

I rubbed my faced in annoyance. I guess I'd have to humor her. "She…wanted to know who I thought looked better…in the bunny costumes…" Was that the best I could do? Oh man that was lame.

"And what did you say?"

"I told her I didn't know."

"You're lying! Tell me the truth!"

"Goodnight Haruhi…" I then hung up the phone. I soon heard banging on my wall followed by a surprising audible "Damn you, Kyon! Answer me now!"

I put my pillow over my head to drown her out. I really didn't want to answer the question. Besides that, I was glad she didn't hear what I actually said to Asahina-san. That was a pretty bad slip up on my part. I'd hoped that Haruhi didn't create a closed space over such a stupid question, but if she did, I at least knew Koizumi wouldn't have to worry anymore about wasting time that he needed making up a fake mystery. Eventually, I took the pillow off my head since Haruhi had stopped making a racket. I got dressed in my pajamas and lied back down. I pulled sheets over myself and fell asleep.

Saturday was going to be one hell of a day…

Whew…Hell of a chapter, even if it was another setup chapter. I hope you guys got enough of a dosage of Mikuru, Nagato and Koizumi from that one. There'll be more in upcoming chapters.

I also wanted to say that it seemed that a lot of you started to really hate Oruki. Granted, you were hating him in a good way, but I still wanted to remind the readers that he was still a human being. A flawed human being, but a human being nevertheless. I had to at least try and make him relatable again.

Anyway, I promise you it shouldn't take too long before I finish the next chapter. I know you're waiting for it eagerly. I can't wait to write it!