Disclaimer – I don't own The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi franchise, any of the characters, or scenarios. Haruhi and all related characters are the property of Nagaru Tanigawa. No copyright infringement is intended and no money is being made, thank you.
A/N – Time for an IRL mini-story. (IRL? What's an IRL?)
*Ten minutes ago*
Me: Hey, that's a cool quote, I should incorporate it into my FanFic sometime…
…
Me: OH GOD, MY FANFICS. How long has it been since I updated? What do I have still going? *Reviews latest updates and FanFic popularity* Okay…that H/D one got a lot of reviews, but An Untold Story has gone the longest without an update, other than my Wizard of Parody which nobody reads any way I think…I'll put it on hiatus and get my popular FanFics updated before thinking about that…
Friend: Uh…yay?
Me: *Re-reads last chapter of AUS* Oh man…
*End flashback*
I 'Oh manned' because only now have I noticed the constant typos and past/present tense shifting. I'm sorry, I was roleplaying at the time, and for that we use present tense, so if it confused anybody, I'm sorry. The typos, I'm going to leave. Some are rather amusing. 'Walking towards the cat' instead of 'car', for instance.
So uh, I hope you're not going to come after me with torches and pitchforks because of my slow updates…
Kyon: Of course not, this is nowhere near as popular as your fluffy Naruto/Sasuke or that other…ugh, Haruhi fic you did…
Me: _
…Long A/N is long. Do people even read these?
Koizumi made the trek up the seemingly never-ending staircase, grateful that at least he didn't have to be up at the crack of dawn for this meeting. He had finally gotten a decent breakfast that morning, the first one he could remember in, well, ages.
He glanced down at the note in his hand, just to make certain for the 14th time that he was heading to the correct room. Despite his calm, collected attitude when he had left his room earlier, inside, he was extremely nervous.
What if they make me go back to my home? What if they decide I need to room by myself? Or, ugh, what if they decide to put me in a room with even more people? That would be terrible…Souta I can stand, but if I had to deal with that Kinjo guy on a daily basis, I'd probably jump out the window. Not there are windows. Hey, are we underground? We did have to go up a lot of steps when we went out yesterday…
His thoughts came to a halt as he finally reached the door with a plague reading 'executive assignment transfer' and below it, a smaller sign; 'subsequent training'.
He rolled his eyes.
Everything sounds more impressive if you put 'executive' in front of it. What does it even mean, anyway?
His new sarcastic thoughts gave him the confidence to knock loudly on the heavy wooden door, and he waited briefly for a response.
A buzzing, crackling noise came from his right, and he looked down to see a small speaker. "State your name," a gruff voice said.
Koizumi grinned slightly, amused by the theatrics.
"Koizumi Itsuki!" he replied, pompously. A small pause, then a loud 'click' noise resounded through the hallway, and it took Koizumi a second to realize the door had unlocked itself.
He tentatively pushed against it, and it fell open with an ominous creaking sound. He shook his head, and laughed.
"Look like you need to get some oil in this," he quipped, stepping into the room and gesturing at the hinges of the door.
An un-amused gaze settled itself on him, and Koizumi responded by lounging against the doorframe.
"Well, why'd you call me up here?" he asked in annoyance, casually studying the man sitting in front of him.
He was middle aged, with graying black and beard, and he was scrutinizing Koizumi in just the same way.
"Sit," the man said suddenly, waving his hand at the chair in front of him. Koizumi gingerly sat on the edge of the chair, and once realizing that it wasn't wired up to anything suspicious, allowed himself to relax.
"Koizumi-kun, you've been called up here to undertake serious training for a new assignment," the explanation came as quickly as the previous command, and Koizumi had to stop looking around in order to focus on what was going on.
"The cause of Closed Space has been closely monitored-"
"Wait, you know the cause? Souta said you had no clue!" Koizumi interrupted, frowning.
"By the Organization for some time now," the man continued, as though Koizumi hadn't said anything. "Although we doubt that she is aware she is doing it, everything you see around you, indeed, even what you have become, was caused by this girl," the man slid a photograph across the desk. Koizumi picked it up, looked at it for a grand total of 5 seconds, and slowly placed it back down again.
"Ri-ght," he said slowly, doubting the strange man in front of him. "You're saying that your entire world was created by a thirteen year old girl?"
"Not just ours. We believe that she is quite capable of rebuilding the very structure of the Earth, if she so wishes. Closed Space is just a manifestation of her feelings, the Shinjins are a way for her to express her pent up emotions. If she became aware of her own power, she could well destroy this world and make another one, on a mere whim," the man said seriously. Koizumi scoffed.
"So, the fate of the Earth is in the hands of a middle-school girl. Perfect. God-modding if I ever saw it…" he mumbled.
"What?" the reply was quick, and Koizumi realized he must have said something he shouldn't.
"It's an…uh…expression, used in games, when one player is controlling everything…" he explained, uncomfortable under the sharp gaze of this strange man.
Apparently satisfied with the explanation, he sat back. "Yes…I suppose that is an accurate assumption," he muttered, just barely loud enough for Koizumi to hear.
The silence stretched on, it almost seemed as though this guy had forgotten Koizumi was even here.
"So, I don't get it, what is it you want me to do?" he asked, impatient.
"You are the closest member of our agency to her, age-wise, that is. Suzumiya Haruhi begins high school in a matter of a few years, and we believe you have the ability to get close to her, for closer study and control of the situation. You will continue with your ordinary training, but will also undergo rigorous social and personality guidance, so that you have a higher chance of her wishing to befriend you," Koizumi was told, to his utter shock.
"Wait, what about my say? Do I get an opinion?" he realized how ridiculous this notion was as soon as it left his mouth, however, and slumped back in his chair. Affecting a false look of nonchalance, he put his hands behind his head and looked away.
"So for the next two and a half years, you're going to teach me to behave exactly like one of your little puppets, right?" he asked lazily.
"You will be doing important and dangerous work for the Organization. Allowing yourself to get close to the target will ensure our ability to procure a method of stopping her strange abilities. Koizumi-kun, get your feet off my desk," he added sternly.
Feeling rather like an admonished schoolboy, Koizumi complied.
"Your training will begin next week, please make yourself present in the A wing study hall at 10AM sharp on Monday morning. You may go."
The dismissal was brief, and left Koizumi feeling a bit brushed off, even as he closed to door behind him.
"So I've got to baby-sit some emotional bitch, huh?" he mused, already beginning the walk back to his room. His stomach gave a loud grumble, and he remembered that it had been several hours since he had had breakfast. He changed course slightly, heading for the dining hall.
* * * * *
"Koizumi-kun!" a familiar voice greeted him as soon as he walked through the doors. "What did they want, are you getting moved onto the field?" Souta asked excitedly.
Koizumi eyed Kinjo, who was attempting to surreptitiously listen in to their conversation.
"I'll tell you later. What's on the menu today?" he changed the subject. Souta looked put out for a moment, before answering.
"The same as yesterday. Fried rice with onigiri," he informed Koizumi. Koizumi groaned. He hated onigiri.
Vaguely hoping that something different would be available the next day, he piled his plate high with the rice, allowing no room for Souta to force the onigiri onto him.
With Souta chattering in his ear about what he'd been up to that morning, Koizumi made his way over to the nearest empty table, and made a useless attempt at getting Souta to stop talking.
"Eat," he commanded briefly, picking up one of Souta's own onigiri with his chopsticks and roughly forcing it into his mouth. Souta took the food automatically, but it didn't even start to slow down his speech. Apparently, this boy was a wonder at multitasking.
"So, when will you tell me what you got called up for?" Souta asked around a mouthful of rice.
"So, the new guy got called into head office, did he?" a jeering voice came from behind them. Koizumi didn't even have to turn around to know who it was. He continued eating his lunch as though uninterrupted.
"What does it matter to you, jealous?" Oh no. Souta had risen to the bait. Koizumi let his eyes close in frustration.
"Of him? Hardly. In fact, I really thought that you could do a lot better," Kinjo replied, a mocking tone underlying his words.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Souta asked defensively.
"As thrilling as this argument is," Koizumi interrupted before Kinjo had a chance to reply. "I'm sure I can find something better to do. Let's go, Souta," he added, standing up. As he passed the scowling boy who had come to interfere with them, he casually put his hand on his shoulder.
"By the way," he started, glancing at Kinjo. "You have something on your shirt," Koizumi informed him, removing his hand from Kinjo's shoulder to reveal what remained of his own lunch. Before the boy could get angry, he grabbed Souta's arm and bolted.
Making it back to their shared room, Koizumi slammed the door behind him and collapsed with laughter.
"Oh, did you see the look on his face?" he asked, his face shining with the excitement of a fourteen year old who had just pulled off a successful prank. Which, Souta had to remind himself, he was.
"You're going to cop it for that one, Koizumi-kun," he reprimanded, although he couldn't keep the grin from spreading across his own features.
Once they had both composed themselves, Souta broached the topic he'd been trying to start all afternoon.
"So, are you going to tell me why they called you up?" he asked, noticing the change in his roommates expression as he was reminded of exactly where he was.
"Oh, yeah, some new special training thing," he waved his hand dismissively.
"Special training? What for?" Souta pressed on.
"Just a theory they have, I guess, about Closed Spaces. I don't know, I didn't really get it. Don't ask me, I just work here, right?" he feigned ignorance, even though he had understood every word that was said to him.
"Right…" Souta replied, knowing that he was being kept out of the loop, somehow. "When does your new training start, then?"
Koizumi racked his brain for the exact time said to him earlier. "Uh…10 O'clock on Monday, I think it was," he announced.
"Wow, it doesn't even clash with our normal training? You're still doing that, then?" Souta asked, very eager to know more.
"No, I guess not. The guy said I'd be doing both. Are we done talking about this?" Koizumi replied, showing discomfort for the first time. Souta realized how strange it must be for him, not even two weeks after being abducted into this strange new life, and he was already receiving special tasks.
"Yeah, sure. What do you want to do for the next few hours? We've got time before dinner. How about we go to the games hall?" he asked, deliberately changing the subject.
"You have a games hall?" Koizumi asked, a glimmer of interest showing itself under his projected mask of calm, calculating suspicion.
Souta grinned. "Yeah, probably the best one you've seen. It's huge. Come on, let's go." He got up, leading Koizumi out the door.
"Fine, but I'll beat you at anything they've got," Koizumi answered, casually enough, but a definite challenge in his sentence. Souta smiled.
"Yeah, I'm sure you will."