I want to apologize for allowing this chapter to take so long to be posted. The truth is that I didn't intend for this chapter to be delayed this long. What happened is that my computer's video card crapped out and I had to wait for it to be replaced before I could finish the chapter. In the mean time, I could only use my father's computer, which is a piece of crap that barely works.
A lot of you guys have been taking stabs at where I got the inspiration for the monster in this chapter from. If I had to think, I'd say it was from the D&D Monster Manual, but for the most part it's made up from my head. Sorry if it's not the most original idea. I still hope you find the fight to be enjoyable nevertheless.
Oh, and I'd like to voice my frustration to KyoAni for making the Endless Eight at least five episodes long. I mean…WTF? It's almost too much… -_- Oh, and this chapter contains spoilers for Endless Eight. If you don't want to know what happens…then I guess you can't read my chapter. :P
Anyway, I know you've been waiting for this. Here's the conclusion for Saturday.
Chapter 14
You know, it's not like I should be overly surprised by all this. I had always wondered if sooner or later I was going to get caught like this by some one who wasn't supposed to find out. I'd initially figured it would have been Haruhi, but I'd also considered the possibilities of Tsuruya-san, Taniguchi, Kunikida or even my little sister being accidentally caught up in this strange world that goes on behind the scenes when no one is looking. Never once did I really think that Haruhi's parents were going to be the ones that would catch us. In hindsight, I should have considered the possibility more seriously.
And now, the two of them are staring directly at the monstrosity on the other side of the room. I haven't known the two of them long, but I was certain that they'd never seen anything ever remotely like this before.
Oruki's reaction to it was a mix of awe and terror. To be honest, I almost enjoyed seeing the look of fear on his face. It kinda served him right. No matter how tough he thought he was, he sure as hell was out of his league here.
Naru-san's reaction was…completely different. The best way to describe her reaction was fascination. She appeared completely enthralled by the site of the disgusting Tentacle Beast before her. It was clear from the look on her face that the possibility of extreme danger did not even register. Does she even realize that her life is at risk? I mean, I'm sure she must have been bored as hell staying in her home all day, but there's a limit.
I turned back to Koizumi and Nagato, who were both still staring at Oruki and Naru-san. I was about to ask what had happened, but apparently Nagato already predicted my question and answered it before I even opened my mouth.
"I was careless…"
Careless? What do you mean careless? Just how often does it happen that you make a mistake? Hell, I personally can only think of one myself. That would be your inability to detect Ryoko Asakura's rogue behavior until she almost killed me. Other than that, your execution was flawless.
Koizumi interrupted us before Nagato could explain further. "I would hate to break up this conversation, but unfortunately, we have a bigger problem to deal with."
Oh right, the monster. Might be a good idea to deal with it before we figure out what went wrong.
In the mean time, the Tentacle Beast had begun to walk towards us with its newfound legs. Its pace was slow and lumbering, but the room was definitely not large enough to give us a lot of time before it would be right on top of us. Koizumi took the initiative to launch another ball of energy directly at it again. Once again, it collided and exploded with enough force to easily decimate a tank, but when the dust cleared, the monster still appeared unharmed.
The creature decided it was its own turn to counter-attack. It swung one of its own tentacles directly at Koizumi. He was barely able to leap out of the way before the tentacle smashed into the concrete below, delivering enough force to crack it into pieces. Koizumi rolled away and tried to launch another attack, but another tentacle had snuck up and managed to grab him by the ankle. He was picked up and swung around in the air in a circle multiple times before he was thrown directly into a nearby wall. I noticed that just before he crashed into it that he transformed into a glowing red ball, presumably to protect himself.
"Koizumi!" I yelled out of concern for his well being. I mean, sure he was an annoying, smiling bastard, but I still considered him my friend. When I didn't see Koizumi exit from the hole in the wall, I'd assumed the worst.
"It's an oni, isn't it?! I can't believe it! It must be an oni! Oni, oni, oni, oni, oni!"
I turn to the door to find that Naru-san now had a million-watt smile plastered on her face. The same one Haruhi had when she saw the Shinjin in that closed space nearly a year ago. I almost wanted to yell at her for her lack of concern at the severity of the situation. After all, it was entirely possible the Koizumi was seriously hurt, or worse.
Unfortunately, there was no time to mourn the loss of the esper or yell at Naru-san, as the monster had now begun to focus its attention on Nagato and myself. It swung several tentacles in our direction, all of which were moving with enough force to easily kill an ordinary person. Luckily, Nagato reacted quickly and put her hand up just in time to create a shield. The tentacle crashed harmlessly into it, causing the light around it to bend and shift. The tentacles continued to bash repeatedly against the shield, each impact seemingly having no effect on the shield. I had always wondered how much punishment her shield could take. Apparently, it seemed indestructible, as no matter how hard the tentacle hit it, no actual damage was apparent.
The assault continued for about thirty seconds before I noticed a pair of tentacles from behind the creature smashing into the concrete below it. At first, I wasn't sure what was happening until I suddenly the sensation of the vibrations from the ground below. Realizing what was happening, I immediately warned Nagato. "Nagato! Behind you!"
Just as I finish saying that, the tentacles burst from the ground below from behind Nagato and had swung horizontally to hit her. Fortunately, my warning came just in time and Nagato swiftly ducked under the attack. However, her shield deactivated the moment she moved, meaning that the tentacles in front of her could now strike at her. Just as they were about to, Nagato suddenly leapt high into the air.
Seeing her up there was like watching poetry in motion. Nagato was the picture of athletic elegance. She had leapt right over the top of the creature, twisted and turned in mid-air, and then held her hand out all in the time the average person took to blink. I was glad I didn't blink, or I would have missed it. I then watched her mouth move at impossible speeds before I noticed the metal support structures turning into a half dozen long, metal spears. The spears were then launched directly at the Tentacle Beast before Nagato landed on the other side.
To my surprise, however, the spears did not penetrate the monster's body. In fact, they bounced off harmlessly. How could that be possible? I remember those same spears launched by Ryoko went straight through Nagato when those two fought. Just what is this creature's skin made out of?
Nagato repeated the same attack, once again leaping elegantly into the air and chanting away to gather more metal from the support structures above. I had momentarily worried that the ceiling might collapse, but I figured that Nagato probably knew what she was doing. However, this time she created one very large spear and once again launched it at the Tentacle Monster. Incomprehensibly, even that spear failed to penetrate and once again bounced off harmlessly. I was beginning to seriously wonder if this thing was completely invincible.
Nagato landed again and had begun to do several back flips in order to put more distance between herself and the monster. Unfortunately, by doing this, I was now left with nothing between myself and the mass of powerful tentacles that were now poised to strike. I noticed one of the eyes on a tentacle looking directly at me before it instinctively swung itself at me. Nagato tried to rush forward to protect me, but there was too much distance between her and myself. I thought for sure that my life was about to end.
Fortunately, a small red flash appeared from out of nowhere and deflected the attack just before it hit me. I then turned towards the direction from where the flash came from to find that Koizumi was alive and well. He suit was now ripped and torn, which made me a little happy inside. Hey, I maybe glad that Koizumi's alright, but absolutely hated his suit.
As Koizumi continued to throw small flashes of red energy to distract the beast, I soon heard another exclamation from Naru-san. "This is absolutely freaking awesome!"
"Are you out of your mind?!" screamed Oruki in response to what his wife said. My sentiments exactly. I'd figured it would be a cold day in hell before Oruki and I would find something to agree on. Perhaps he and I were not so different.
Meanwhile, Koizumi continued to launch his small flashes of light at the creature as he continued to back up. Eventually, he ran out of room to back up, and was now cornered. Just as the Tentacle Beast was about to attack, I noticed it doing something unusual. Five of the tentacles began to wrap themselves around each other before they merged together into once extremely large tentacle. Right after it had done that, the enormous tentacle was swung down directly at the esper, almost certainly to try to finish him off. Just before it landed, Koizumi transformed into a ball of red energy again and quickly evaded the attack. He then moved directly over the creature in a flash of blinding speed before landing near Nagato and myself. I watched as Koizumi hunched forward and began to breath heavily, obviously winded.
"I can't keep transforming like that. If I do, I'll burn through all my reserves." He then stood up straight again and looked directly at the monster, his face now displaying complete seriousness. "This isn't good. It doesn't seem like any of our attacks have any affect on him at all."
"Analysis has indicated that the super-analog lifeform's epidermal layer is completely impregnable," said Nagato.
"I see," said Koizumi. "Then it doesn't look like we can beat it."
"Further analysis has indicated that the internal structures within the lifeform are far more easily compromised."
"Ah, so that's it."
What's it?
Koizumi smile returned upon hearing this information. "So if I manage to land an attack directly inside that oversize mouth it has, I should be able to kill it, right?"
"Correct."
Are you kidding me? Don't tell me that it's the good, old fashioned attack the mouth weak point that's way overused in video games. Now that I think about it, I already knew that Haruhi occasionally played video games. Maybe she subconsciously gave this thing that weakness because of it.
By now, the monster was once again about to reach us. Koizumi created another ball of light as it approached. "With some luck I should be able to guide this attack directly into its mouth and put an end to this." Koizumi then threw the ball of energy. "Second Raid!"
The ball soared in an arch directly on target. It looked like this would be over for sure, but something happened that was unexpected. The creature's mouth suddenly closed and then retracted inside itself. The ball of energy smashed right into where the mouth would've been, but the attack was once again rendered harmless. The monster's mouth reappeared shortly afterwards as if nothing happened.
Even Koizumi could only barely hide his growing frustration. "Not good…I certainly did not expect that." He then tried to launch another attack at it mouth, but it simply did the same thing, retracting its mouth inside itself and preventing any damage from being sustained. This was starting to look hopeless.
How the hell are we going to beat this thing? The one place where it had a weakness keeps being blocked off. I was seriously starting to think that we all might get killed.
Still wielding the giant tentacle, the Tentacle Beast swung it directly to where Koizumi and Nagato were standing. However, to my absolute horror, the tentacle was also directly in the path of where Oruki was standing. I don't know what came over me, but the instant I realized that his life was in danger, I instinctively dove right at him. Fortunately, I tackled and moved him out of harms way. I noticed Koizumi and Nagato had also leapt out of the way of the tentacle. It smashed down with thunderous force, almost deafening me, but I was safe…and so was Oruki. He seemed in daze, but otherwise unharmed. Naru-san, who was standing nearby, now had her hands on her mouth in horror, as if for the first time since the battle started that she realized just how much danger we were all in.
"Are you alright?" I asked the both of them. Oruki never responded, but Naru-san nodded. It was then that her eyes widened in further horror. "Kyon-kun, look out!"
I turned towards the tentacle to see what it was doing, but it was too late. It had apparently split back into its five original tentacles, and one of them grabbed me by my ankle. I screamed in fear as it hoisted me up in the air. Once again, I thought for sure that my life was going to end. I was about fifteen feet in the air, and I got the sudden feeling that I was about to be slammed directly into the ground. I knew for sure that such an attack would kill me instantly.
Fortunately, Koizumi launched an attack that landed in one of the smaller mouths that was sitting at the base of the tentacle. It blew the entire tentacle off, sparing me from being splattered onto the concrete below. To my dismay, though, I was quickly snatched up by another tentacle, this time wrapping around my waist. Koizumi tried again to free me, but he was hit directly in the chest with a tentacle the came from his blind side, knocking him against the wall. He collapsed onto the ground, looking badly injured. Worse yet, the tentacle he blew off quickly regenerated.
I began to beat my fist uselessly against the tentacle, hoping to break free of its grip, but it was to no avail. I then watched in horror as one of the tentacles with a mouth at the end had moved directly in front of me. I watched as it began to open up, a clear indicator that it was about to attack. I unthinkingly grabbed it before it did, and began to fight with it to prevent it from biting my face off. Unfortunately, it was much stronger than me, and I could feel myself losing ground as the mouth came closer and closer. I also noticed the other tentacles with mouths at the end getting ready to bite the rest of me. There was no hope of me surviving. I was done for…
Except that a white beam-like light swooped upwards and smacked the tentacle away from my face. It then came around and smacked the other tentacles away as well. It only deterred them momentarily though, as they then tried again to attack me before being smacked away again. It was then that I noticed where the beam-like light was coming from. I looked at Nagato and saw that her hands had been replaced by long, bright, beam-like tentacles, similar to the ones Ryoko used to attack her with almost a year ago.
Dozens of tentacles were now attacking me simultaneously from all directions. Nagato continued to whip her appendages around at blazing speed, smacking away every tentacle that tried to attack me in a desperate attempt to save me life. The lights danced around in a manner one would have to see to believe. What was just as amazing was that the beam-like appendages never came close to touching me, always moving around me to smack away the next tentacle.
Eventually, the Tentacle Beast grew tired of not being able to finish me off and instead put its focus back on Nagato. It then merged every tentacle it had except the one holding onto me and the ones used as legs. It now had an absolutely monstrously large tentacle that easily dwarfed the earlier ones. It then swung it down at Nagato with incredible force.
Nagato was force to block the attack with both her beam-like appendages. It smashed right on top of her devastatingly, but she was still standing. The tentacle was swung down again, smashing her yet again. This time she was force down onto one knee, and the concrete around her began to break and collapse below her. Again and again, the enormous tentacle pounded away at Nagato as she could only helplessly continue to block it. Every blow pounded her deeper into the concrete as a huge indentation began to form underneath her. I began to wonder how she could take it. She looked so small and fragile that you'd think the lightest attack would break her into pieces. Nevertheless, I knew that even she had her limits. I could tell that her body was starting to show signs of breaking from the relentless assault. I wasn't really sure if Nagato had bones like normal people do, but if she did, they were definitely broken by now. Just when it seemed like Nagato was about to be finished off, a huge red ball crashed directly into the beast, smashing it directly into the wall next to it.
I realized that Koizumi had gotten back up and turned himself into a ball or energy again. He then charged directly into the monster in an attempt to prevent the monster from finishing off Nagato. Doing so, however, caused me to fall to the ground as the monster was knocked off balance. I hit the ground hard, but I wasn't hurt seriously. Unfortunately, the tentacle around my waist was still holding onto me.
"I can't do that again," said Koizumi, looking completely exhausted. "If I do, I'll be completely spent."
And worse yet, the monster was getting up again, still not appearing hurt at all. This was bad. At the rate we were going at, we were all going to be killed, even Nagato. I looked over to where she was. She was on her hands and knees inside the crater that was created while she was being smashed inside it. I knew that it wouldn't take very long for her to recover, but she was out of the fight until then. The creature was now standing on all of its legs again and was about to pick me up. Just before it did, I spotted one of the metal spears that Nagato had made earlier. It was just within my reach. I grabbed onto it and pulled it towards me as I was lifted into the air.
I took the spear and began to whack away at the tentacle holding onto me, hoping beyond hope that it would be enough to make it let go of me. I even tried to stab it, too, but just as expected, I was unable to cause any actual damage. It was when an eye moved up the tentacle and looked directly at me that I decided to stab at that instead. Big mistake…Apparently, the eyes were not immune to damage the same way the skin was, so when I stabbed it, it was painfully injured. Sadly, all this really did was piss the creature off tremendously. It gave another deafening roar as it began to move me directly towards its main mouth. Oh crap! It's going to eat me!
I continued to struggle helplessly as I slowly moved toward the mouth. I could see it dripping with what I could only assume was something close to saliva. I could even smell this thing's breath. In fear and panic, I thrust the spear at its mouth in the hope that it would protect me…And then a miracle happened. Somehow, when I thrust the spear in there, it got stuck in its mouth at the right angle to prevent the beast from being able to close its mouth. I watched as it shook its head and jaws violently to try and dislodge the spear, but it stayed put no matter how hard it tried. I quickly realized that this was our chance. I turned to Koizumi and yelled out his name.
"Great job, Kyon-kun! I should have just enough power left to finish this off."
I then watched as one last giant ball of energy appeared from his hand. He threw it up into the air and jumped up after it. He then hit it with a double-fisted hammer. "Final Cascade!"
The ball spun in a spiral as it made its way directly into the exposed mouth of the Tentacle Beast. I watched as the eyes of the monster quickly dilated completely just before it exploded into a million little pieces. I was thrown several feet away from the force of the explosion, along with the tentacle that still clung to me involuntarily. When the explosion subsided, I landed hard on the broken concrete, the impact wrecking my shoulder pretty badly. I also soon felt the sensation of small slimy pieces of goo landing on my body from the monster. After wincing in pain, I looked around me to see that there were tentacles all around us on the ground, still writhing about involuntarily. After about another minute, they all began to dissipate in much the same way Ryoko Asakura did when Nagato defeated her. Eventually, all remnants of the Tentacle Beast were gone, and all that remained were myself, Nagato, Koizumi and Haruhi's parents.
I looked at each of them to see if they were okay. Koizumi was down on one knee, obviously completely spent and exhausted from the battle. Nagato was now standing, looking like she'd fully recovered from her attack. Finally, both Oruki and Naru-san were fine, too, but I noted that the spear that I used to wedge open the monster's mouth had flown directly at them during the explosion and became stuck in the wall only a few inches from Oruki's head. He was staring at it now, looking somewhat disturbed.
I soon got to my feet and approached Koizumi and Nagato. "Well, now that we've taken care of that thing, mind explaining to me how 'they' got in here?"
Nagato began to explain, showing subtle hints of shame while speaking. "I was unable to detect their approach while I was converting the space inside this structure into super-analog. Care should have been taken to ensure no one would have entered the premises while the conversion took place."
"What? You mean that while you were chanting away, that those two entered the grocery store?"
"Yes."
I remembered the fact that Nagato's "spell" took almost a good minute for her to cast before we were suddenly warped inside this blurry, blue world. In that narrow span of time, Haruhi's parents must have entered the building, so when we got transported to this weird place, so did they. The only questions left now were why they came here in the first place, and what do we do now.
"I'm afraid it doesn't matter why they came back," said Koizumi. "The truth is that the both of them have seen too much. We can't let them leave this place with their memories intact."
I felt a sudden, overwhelming sense of dread when I heard this. "Wait! Hold on! Are you going to do what I think you're going to do?"
Nagato nodded lightly. "I will have to manipulate their memories to prevent the both of them from ascertaining the truth."
My heart raced violently at the thought that Nagato was about to mess with their heads. Never once did I like the idea of it, and I knew I couldn't stand for it. "Stop! Do we have to do this?!"
"We don't have a choice," said Koizumi with complete seriousness. "In order to prevent Suzumiya-san from discovering the truth about her powers, leaving her parents ignorant of the truth is necessary. The risk that both of them could go and tell her the truth is extremely high."
I knew that, but despite all of that, I still hated the idea. "Couldn't we tell them not to tell Haruhi the truth? If we explained why, I'm sure they'd understand."
"Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. The risk will still be far too great."
I looked back at the two of them. Oruki had begun to pull away at the spear in the wall while Naru-san watched us with definite curiosity. "This is wrong. Messing with their minds. Didn't you say yourself that this wasn't the perfect solution to this problem anyway? There's always the chance that they could find out again. Or there might be the chance that they could upset Haruhi enough to cause another world ending closed space to appear again. This is our chance to tell them the truth and prevent what happened earlier this week from ever happening again."
"That maybe true," said Koizumi. "But our superiors both agree that…"
"Forget your damn superiors! Do you two always agree with what they want you to do?"
Koizumi was silent for a few seconds. "I've told you before that I'm only a low ranking member of the Organization. My personal feelings cannot get in the way of my orders."
"Your superiors don't even know these people personally. How can they possibly know what could happen if we were to tell them the truth? And besides, didn't you once tell me that if you were ever given the choice, you would choose to take my side over your Organization's. Well, right now I need you to be on my side about this."
Koizumi didn't answer me right away, but I could tell he was becoming very conflicted. I then turned to Nagato. "What about you? You've defied your boss before. Do you really agree with him on how we should handle this? Do you really think this is right?"
Nagato was silent as well for a brief time before answering. "Even if I do not personally find satisfaction with the act of removing their memories, I cannot argue against the calculations made about the risks."
"I see," I said as I took in a deep breath, realizing what I had to do. "Okay, then. If you guys won't help me, then…" I held my arms out to the sides to block their path. "You're going to have to go through me, instead."
I knew that my resistance was completely futile. Neither one of them would have even the slightest difficulty defeating me if they were to ever seriously try. However, I also knew that neither of them would ever try to hurt me, as I was both their close friend and the one person Haruhi was closest to. I banked on the hope that the two of them would be too afraid of hurting me to try and get through me.
The face off between the three of us felt like it lasted forever, even though it was probably closer to two minutes. Eventually, I noticed Koizumi's expression began to soften, and eventually he gave me his trademark smile.
"Is that how it is?" He then gave a large sigh. "You've grown quite fond of them, haven't you?" After watching me blink in confusion from this statement, he put his hand on his chin and chuckled lightly. "It's amazing. You've only known them for a mere two weeks and you're already willing to put your own life risk for their sake. You must've bonded with them quite a bit in that short period of them."
Have I really? Is it really possible that I've really grown that close to them since I first met them? I mean, I guess I could say that for Naru-san for sure, but Oruki…to be honest, I thought I hated him, but…maybe somewhere deep inside me, I thought that maybe he was okay. I can't say I really liked him, though. Then how do I explain the fact that I just saved his life only minutes earlier? But…wouldn't I have done the same for someone else? Aw man, now I'm really confused.
"Very well," said Koizumi. "I'll do this your way, but I can't guarantee that my superiors would be happy with me about this. For now, however, we'll see how this works out."
I looked at Nagato. "And you?"
"The Entity has decided to recalculate the probability that Suzumiya-san parental figures will reveal the truth to Suzumiya-san. Until then, I will suspend the action of removing their memories. However, if the Entity decides that the probability is still unacceptably high, either myself or others will be forced to act."
"I see…" I said, feeling slightly relieved. There was no way to know what would happen in the near future, but for now, Haruhi's parents would be spared. I then turned to Oruki and Naru-san. By now, Oruki had managed to pull the spear out of the wall and was brandishing it as a weapon, and Naru-san had completely lost interest in what we were saying, finding the weirdness of the blurry wall to be of much greater interest.
"I guess we need to explain everything to them, then," I said as I looked back at Koizumi. "I think it's best if you do the honors. Explaining stuff is what you do best anyway."
"Very well," said Koizumi as the three of us began to walk towards Oruki and Naru-san.
"Stay the hell away from us!" screamed Oruki as he raised the spear, ready to thrust it at any of us if we got too close.
I held my hands in front of me and tried to calm him down. "Hold on, Oruki. I'm sure you're pretty freaked out right about now. And I know that we have a lot to explain…"
"You're damn #$%ing right you do!"
"And we will. Just put the spear down and we'll talk. There's a lot you two need to know."
Oruki looked at us suspiciously for about a good minute before Naru-san began to plead with him.
"Oruki-kun, please calm down. I'm sure Kyon-kun wouldn't hurt us."
It was only when he heard his wife's pleading that he began to calm down. He slowly put the spear down. Eventually, he let it rest on the ground vertically, still holding onto it with one hand. "Okay…talk!"
I turned to Koizumi giving him his cue that it was his turn to begin to explain. He stood there for a minute, obviously trying to think of what to say. "Let's see…where we should we begin…Well, I guess I should start with where we currently are and what that creature was that we just defeated." He waves his hand about the room while explaining. "It's a bit complicated to explain what this place is. I guess it would simplest to say that this room we're in is another form of reality. My colleague, Nagato-san, calls it super-analog space. It's okay if you don't understand what that means. All I can say is that we came here in order to fight that monster you saw earlier. It was the real cause of the rapid decay in all the produce."
Naru-san nodded her head, completely absorbed into what Koizumi was saying. She acted like she knew what the hell he was talking about. On the other hand, Oruki appeared completely baffled and speechless. While it was obvious that both Naru-san and Haruhi were people who loved the supernatural and actively sought to find it, Oruki was the exact opposite. He was a man who was perfectly happy with reality the way most people perceived it. I didn't expect him to take any of this well.
Oruki then shook his head a bit and held out his hand. "Hold on! Just who the hell are you people anyway?"
"Yes, I was just getting to that," said Koizumi as his smile grew a bit. "I'm sure by now you've realized that both Nagato-san and I are not what you call normal. I myself am what is called an esper."
"And you?" asked Oruki, pointing to Nagato.
"I am a human interface created by the Integrated Data Sentient Entity as a means to make contact with human beings."
"Huh?" said Oruki, looking completely confused.
"It's easier just to call her an alien," I said, scratching the back of my head. "And also, the other girl in our club, Asahina-san. She's actually from the future. She's what would be called a time-traveler."
I noticed Naru-san's excitement beginning to peak. She ran up to me with all the energy of a young kid meeting Santa Claus. "Ooo let me guess! I bet that you're the reincarnation of some great Japanese hero!"
Uh…no.
"Are you the some lost spirit that possessed the body of some random teenage boy?"
No.
"Are you a devil that surfaced from hell and has taken a human form?"
No!
"Oh, I know! You're from an alternate universe in search for adventure!"
NO!
Koizumi chuckled while he listened to Naru-san's guess at my identity. "I'm sorry, Naru-san, but I'm afraid my colleague Kyon-kun is nothing more than an ordinary human."
"Yeah, right," said Oruki, obviously not believing what Koizumi said. "Are there any other weirdoes you haven't told us about?"
"Technically, myself, Nagato-san and Asahina-san are merely representatives or our own respective factions. I am a member of an Organization that consists of other espers and supporters. Nagato is only one of many of her kind that live on our planet, and I'm also quite sure that the people from the future have sent other agents besides Asahina-san. However, only the three of us, plus Kyon-kun and Suzumiya-san are officially a part of the club called the SOS Brigade."
"Speaking of my daughter," said Oruki as he marched up to Koizumi and poked a figure into his chest in an intimidating fashion. "What the hell does any of this have to do with her?!"
Koizumi's smile grew even more, obviously showing no signs of intimidation at all. "Your daughter is without a doubt the most important part in all of this."
"Go on," said Oruki, eagerly anticipating the explanation.
Koizumi continued his explanation, slowly beginning to pace around us. "You see, whether you realize it or not, your daughter is a very special person and is of extreme importance for all three of our respective factions. The reason for this is that your daughter has an absolutely incredible power."
"Power?" asked Oruki, looking somewhat baffled. "What kind of power?"
"Our three respective factions disagree on the very nature of her power and how it manifests, but we all agree on this. She has the ability to alter reality to her whims and desires."
Oruki continued to glare at Koizumi in disbelief while Naru-san appeared completely at awe from the revelation.
"I'm sure Nagato-san and Asahina-san could better explain their theories and beliefs about the nature of Suzumiya-san's powers than I could, so it's probably best if I don't go into detail about what they believe. However, the theory that the Organization that I work for currently holds is that your daughter is, quite literally, God or something close to it. She's isn't aware of her powers, though, nor is she aware of the true nature of myself, Nagato-san and Asahina-san and our respective factions."
"Hold on a minute!" yelled Oruki, shaking his head in disbelief. "Maybe I can buy this garbage that you're an esper and that girl is some sort of alien…thing. But now you're telling me that my daughter is God? What a load of crap! I've been living with my daughter her whole life. If she really had this kind of power you're talking about, don't you think we would have noticed something by now?"
Koizumi continued to give Oruki that annoying smile of his. "Haven't you?"
Oruki was a bit taken aback by the question. I watched as he stuttered, obviously thinking back to the past to try and remember anything unusual before responding.
I took the liberty to ask him a question. "Do you remember ever having a strange feeling of déjà vu during the last two weeks of last August?"
Oruki raised an eyebrow at me. "I don't know. That was a long while ago."
I noticed Naru-san also thinking about my question, trying hard to remember. Her face suddenly beamed brightly as she turned to Oruki, obviously remembering something. "I remember now! Oruki-kun, do you remember those couple weeks where you were able to guess the exact scores of every baseball game you watched. That was the last two weeks of August wasn't it? I remember you raving about it every time it happened."
"Yeah…" said Oruki as he continued to think. "I remember that…now that I think about it, I do remember feeling déjà vu a lot during those two weeks." He then looked at Koizumi. "But what does that have to do with my daughter?"
"During that two week period at the end of August, the universe had been stuck in a nearly endless recursion of time. Those same two weeks repeated themselves over and over, and anyone who was close to Suzumiya-san, yourselves included, were likely to experience remnants contained within their memories of those past recursions of time."
"Wait, you mean my daughter made those two weeks repeat themselves?" asked Oruki. "How many times did that happen?"
"15,498 times," answered Nagato.
"What?!" exclaimed Oruki, both he and his wife completely taken aback by the large number. "Why the hell would she do that?"
I reluctantly answered. "Uh…because I never completed my summer homework..."
Oruki looked at me with complete incredulity. "You're kidding, right?"
"I wish I was."
Oruki turned his eyes away from me and began to blink, completely at a loss for word. He then rubbed him face for a bit before speaking again. "I'm still not buying it. It's impossible!"
"I'm sure other strange things have happened to you guys," I said. "Just think about it."
Naru-san seemed to remember something. "Ooo, remember that time a couple years ago when Haru-chan wanted to make a snowman? And then we got more than 30 centimeters of snow the next day, but it only landed in our neighborhood."
"That was a coincidence," said Oruki.
"But it was in the middle of June."
"Do you remember reading about how the cherry blossoms bloomed in the middle of last autumn?" I asked. "That was Haruhi."
Naru-san remembered something else. "Remember when Haru-chan wanted a puppy and you told her no, and then we had all the stray dogs in our neighborhood bark at our front door until they were all captured and taken away?"
"The fact that you hurt yourself every time Haruhi is mad at you isn't a coincidence," I said. "I can guarantee you that."
"Oh, and then there was this time when Haru-chan wanted us to buy this blue colored drink at the store and you said no. And then later that day this blue colored stuff kept coming out of our faucet all day." Naru-san then giggled a bit before continuing. "I thought some poison had gotten into our water system or something, but now it all makes sense. Now that I think about, I can't believe I didn't figure this out sooner."
They do say that hindsight is 20/20. However, I started to remember something that Koizumi told me about Haruhi's parents. There was a reason why they'd never realized what was happening sooner. The reason was that the both of them were hardcore realists, just like their daughter. It's likely that strange things had been happening around them for years, and they'd always found a way to try and rationalize all of it. Never once would they have ever had guessed that their daughter was behind all of it.
Koizumi continued to explain to them reasons for why all of us were in the club together and what each of the three faction wanted with Haruhi. He told them about how we all had to do our part to make sure that Haruhi never became bored or angry, as these emotions could potentially lead to the destruction of the world. He also explained how Haruhi apparently recreated the world about four years ago, because she wanted aliens, time-travelers and espers to exist and as a result, they did in fact come into being. Ultimately, it was a lot of information for the two of them to take in, and I could see that it was taking its toll on them, especially Oruki.
Eventually, Oruki began to rub his face, looking very defeated. The even despite the bluish tint that he had around him, I could tell that his face had drained slightly in color. He looked to me with one last question. "There's one thing I don't understand. What do you have to do with all this?"
I answered him the best I could. "To be honest, I'm not really sure. Like you, I guess you could say I'm a bit of a bystander…no…I'm more than that now. For whatever reason, Haruhi made me join her club, and since then, I've been heavily involved with pretty much everything that involves your daughter and all the weirdness that seems to follow her."
Satisfied with my answer, Oruki then turned away from me and rested his arms on a nearby self. He then buried his face in his arms, as if trying to escape this madness that had forced its way into what used to be an ordinary life.
Naru-san had a light giggling fit. "I always knew our daughter was special, but not 'this' special…" She then giggled again.
"There is one last thing we must discuss before we are done," said Koizumi, his face becoming serious again. "As we've said before, your daughter is completely unaware of what is happening around her and is ignorant of her power. We would like to make sure that she remains that way."
Oruki quickly lifted his head and looked at Koizumi. "What? Are you saying that we need to keep our mouths shut? Forget it!" He then began to walk towards him while pointing his finger directly at his face. "I'm going to tell her everything!"
An incredible amount of fear and dread rose up in my chest when I heard this. I looked to Nagato. I could see her lifting her arm, obviously preparing to do that memory wiping thing. I quickly put my hands up towards her to stop her. "Wait! Hold on!" I then turned to Oruki in a desperate attempt to change his mind. "You can't do that!"
"Why the hell not?!"
"Think about it. You should know your daughter better than almost anyone. What do you think would happen if she were to know about her powers? Do you honestly think that if she knew she could manipulate the fabric of reality that she wouldn't abuse that power? I'd be surprised if anyone in the entire universe could have that power without it eventually corrupting them. You have to believe me that for the sake of the universe, she must never find out."
"But…" Oruki continued to try and find a response to what I said, but I could tell that he really had none. Eventually, he turned away from me and buried his face in his hands. "I give up…"
Feeling relieved, I then turned to Koizumi and Nagato. "Is there anything else we need to tell them?"
"I believe we've covered all the basics," said Koizumi. "I'll be honest, I'm a little worried that this might've have been a bad idea, but I guess we won't know until later as to what may happen."
I then turned to Nagato. "Can we go now? To be honest, this place gives me the creeps."
Nagato nodded and lifted her hand out. She began to chant away again inaudibly. This time, it only took a mere three seconds before we were hit with a bright light. Soon after that, we were back in the store room, and the smell of the rotten plant matter wafted back in our noses. Any and all damage that was done to the ceiling, walls and floors completely disappeared. To my chagrin, even Koizumi's suit was repaired. As an added bonus, any injuries both Koizumi and I received were now gone, as if we'd slept at an inn in one of those RPGs. Yep, Nagato really is amazing. Unfortunately, all the stains that I received after digging through the rotten produce earlier were still there. I don't know how I'll ever clean those out.
Only seconds later, my cell phone went off. When I looked at it, I saw it was Haruhi. I then quickly answered it. "Hello?"
"Where the hell have you been?! I've been trying to reach you forever!"
Great, now I'm in trouble. She obviously couldn't get a hold of me while we were in that super-analog place. "Sorry…I must have been standing in a dead zone or something."
"What the hell have you guys been up to?! You better not have been goofing off!"
"Nope, we weren't. In fact, your parents have been here watching us the whole time."
"Figures. I knew they were up to something. Well at least you guys were trying to be productive. We tried to get inside to building of the supplier, but security came and kicked us out. I was going to try and find another way in, but every door except the front one is locked. I haven't been able to question anyone about anything."
I was actually a bit relieved that she didn't get into anymore trouble than she did. Well, guess it's time to tell her the good news. "Well, there's no need for that. I've got good news. We figured out what was causing the produce to rot."
"Oh my god! Really?! Awesome! You guys wait right there! We'll be back as soon as possible! You better be ready to explain everything!" I then could hear her screaming cheerfully and loudly, obviously overjoyed to know that we were able to solve the mystery. No doubt in her mind that her club was saved. She then hung up.
"Well, she'll be back soon," I said after giving a sigh of relief. I then turned to Oruki with a question in mind. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you two come back? Haruhi told me that you guys were going home."
Oruki sighed deeply, reluctant to answer. "…Before we left, I noticed you talking to those two. Also noticed that Mr. Smiles over there had stopped smiling, and that the girl, who hadn't spoken a single word since we met her this morning, was finally talking. I got suspicious when I saw that, and I thought that the three of you were up to something. I thought at first that maybe you guys were the ones really behind this whole thing and that this was all a set up. So I tried to have Naru and I sneak up on you when you weren't expecting it to see if you were really were up to something."
That figures. Once again, Oruki's keen senses and instincts picked up on something suspicious. I should have been more subtle when I started talking to the both of them earlier. I didn't like the fact that he thought this whole thing was a setup, though. I mean, sure we were going to create a fake mystery if this one hadn't shown up, but still…
I then turned to the others. "So how are we going to explain to Haruhi and Morimura-san as to what caused the produce to rot?"
"You leave that to me," said Koizumi. "I have an idea…"
Haruhi, Asahina-san and Morimura-san had all returned. We were all standing opposite of Koizumi, who was now holding onto two bottles of cleaner. One was a floor cleaner and the other was an all-purpose cleaner. I waited with baited breath as to what Koizumi's explanation was going to be. Moments before the others came back, Koizumi asked Nagato if she could tell which cleaning products were the ones used the most by Morimura-san. Obviously, he was going to put the blame on these two harmless looking products.
"As you can see here, I'm holding onto two different types of cleaning products. On the surface, they appear to be your standard, ordinary cleaning chemicals. Believe it or not, we've determined that these are the cause of what was ruining your produce." I could see the looks of disbelief on Haruhi's and Morimura-san's face as he continued to explain. "By themselves, these products are harmless as long as they are used properly. However, it turns out that the active ingredients in both of these products react to each other if they come into contact. This chemical reaction results in the formation of a new chemical agent that is released into the air. That chemical then damages and eventually destroys the cellular structure of any plant material it comes in contact with."
Morimura-san appeared confused when he heard this. "I don't understand. I've been using those products for years. I've never had any problems before."
"Indeed," said Koizumi. "However, it's very likely that you've been careful not to have both of these products come into contact with each other. After all, one is a floor cleaner while the other is an all purpose cleaner. If used properly, they shouldn't come into contact with one another. However, it possible that the last time you cleaned the storeroom before Friday that you may have spilled some of the all-purpose cleaner on the floor."
Morimura-san began to think, trying to remember if he did. "I'm not sure. I think maybe I did."
"And that's what started it," said Koizumi. "I'm also guessing that you used these products again when you started to realize the problem. Am I right?"
Morimura-san nodded. "I did. I cleaned this place from top to bottom using those cleaners. Maybe I got more of it on the floor when I did."
"And thus you exacerbated the problem. I would recommend that you clean your storeroom from top to bottom with regular soap and water, and that you air out your storeroom for a day. Once you do that, I'm certain that the problem will be solved. I would also recommend that you change the products that you use as well."
With that, Morimura-san began to smile, feeling incredibly relieved to know that the nightmare was finally over. I looked at Haruhi, too. I could tell she was thinking about whether Koizumi's explanation made any real sense. I knew she was smart, so I was worried she might figure out that his explanation was a bunch of crap. Ultimately, she smiled, too, perhaps deciding that it wasn't worth questioning whether it was possible for two cleaning products to react that way. It was then that Morimura-san turned to Haruhi.
"How could I ever repay you for all that you've done?"
Haruhi smiled proudly before answering. "Repayment is unnecessary. It was a lot of fun helping you solve this mystery. Although, if you really must repay us, you can just help sponsor the sequel to our movie, and we can call it even."
"I would be more than happy to," said Morimura-san, nearly in tears.
Haruhi then turned to her father. "Are you satisfied?"
It took a moment for Oruki to realize that she was talking to him. "Oh…uh…yeah. Fine…whatever. Do what you want."
It was then that Haruhi cheered loudly in excitement. The nightmare was over. The SOS Brigade was saved. "Great work everyone! This calls for a celebration! My mom told me yesterday that if we were successful in solving this mystery that she'd bake us a cake! Let's go back to my place and party our brains out!"
And with that, we all made our way back to the Suzumiya residence. Once again, I was forced to sit in the back of Oruki's car with Haruhi and Asahina-san while Morimura-san was nice enough to drive Nagato and Koizumi back. I noticed on the way back that Naru-san would occasionally turn around and look back at her daughter before she would go into a giggling fit. I suddenly began to worry. I remembered the fact that she was really bad at keeping secrets. I was going to have to watch her carefully. Oruki, on the other hand, tried as hard as possible not to look at his daughter. I could tell that this whole ordeal had disturbed him greatly, and it would likely be a while before it all sunk in.
When we all returned, Naru-san got busy making both the cake and dinner. While she was doing that, the Brigade hung out in the living room, watching movies, playing games on the game system they owned, goofing off and the what not. After such a terrible week, it was really nice to finally let loose and relax. While we were having fun, however, Haruhi made an announcement.
"As you all know, the events of the last week prevented us from being able to spend time on Brigade activities. As a result, we have a lot of catching up to do with all the time we lost. So as to not waste anymore time, we're going to have another city-wide search tomorrow, at nine A.M sharp! It's been way too long since the last time we've done one. It's totally unacceptable! Thanks a lot, Kyon! It's all your fault!"
Hey, it is not my fault. We missed the city-wide search last week because you wanted to come with me on my search for apartments instead. And we missed the week before because you were helping me move out of my house…and into yours. She is right about one thing, though. It's been too long. It's been about three weeks since our last one.
Shortly after Haruhi made that announcement, dinner was served. It was European night, so Naru-san made a large roast that was enough for everyone to eat. The cake was finished shortly after we got done with dinner. Naru-san even went through the trouble to write "Congratulations on a mystery solved!" on it before we ate. As usual, Haruhi was a pig and ate way more cake than she deserved. Not that I really cared. I was in way too good a mood for it to bother me..
During all this, Oruki was strangely aloof, cooping himself in his room the whole time. I never figured him to be the sociable type anyway, especially with teenagers, but I was certainly worried about his behavior. What was he going to do when he got over the shock? I knew I was going to have to keep an eye on him as well…
Shortly after we were all done eating, Nagato, Koizumi and Asahina-san bid us farewell and left. Haruhi and I continued playing games on the game system for a while longer after that (which basically meant I got my butt kicked over and over again) before Haruhi eventually shut the system down and passed out on the couch. I was surprised at first to see her pass out so fast, but then I remembered that Haruhi had slept very poorly all week and was likely many hours behind on her sleep debt. Feeling a bit bad for her, I decided to take the liberty of picking her up and carrying her to her room.
After I had placed her on her bed, I stared at her for a while, watching her breathe rhythmically. Whether I liked to admit it or not, it was hard to keep my eyes off her while she slept. She was a beautiful girl. It was with this realization that I was reminded of last Saturday night when Haruhi snuck into my room and kissed me while I was "asleep". I swallowed hard when I also made the realization that I was becoming increasingly tempted to return the favor. I began to lean in towards her face, coming closer and closer until I feel her breath on my face again. My heart began to race again in the anxious anticipation of what I was about to do.
I was mere centimeters away from kissing her when I suddenly stopped myself. I suddenly started asking myself what the hell I was doing. Kissing girls in their sleep was definitely something that didn't sit well with me. It went against my principles. Not only that, there was also the fact that this was Haruhi. Why the hell did I want to kiss her? What was I thinking? It was then that I decided against kissing her. After all, I'm not Haruhi. Kissing people in their sleep was not my style. I instead decide to lean into her ear and whisper something.
"We did it, Haruhi. We saved the SOS Brigade. I told you we would, didn't I? Let's have fun tomorrow, okay? Good night, Haruhi…"
I pulled the covers over her after that. I then got up and began to slowly walk out the door. Before I left her room, I looked back at her one last time and smiled. I didn't know if she heard me while she was sleeping, but I hoped she did. I then left her room and closed her door before going to my room and getting ready for bed. No doubt we were going to have a busy day tomorrow.
I was actually looking forward to it…
Finally it's done!!! I have to apologize again for having it take so long. Stupid computer. :(
I have a favor to ask you guys, and it's a shameless one, especially after such a long delay. Anyway, I was hoping that as many of you could review as possible. I know I've never asked this of you before, but I'm doing this because I'm getting really close to surpassing "The Melancholy of Kyon" in the shear number of reviews. I really, REALLY want to surpass that story. It know it's a lot to ask, and I won't be too upset of you ignore my request, but damn I want the top spot bad! :P
Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. I'll try not to have the next one take a week and a half to come. See ya later!