The Realization of Haruhi Suzumiya
Original Author: Nagaru Tanigawa
Fan Fiction Author: NagatoYuuki13
Recap of the story so far:
"Being juniors in High School, the SOS Brigade plans to have a slumber party by Nagato's house. He receives a warning from Kuyou, part of an organization that is the opposite of the Integrated Data Thought Entity, to be careful, a warning from the leader from the Thought Entity to choose between his life, Haruhi's, or some other option, and at almost the same time, Shamisen the cat is nowhere to be found. Nagato is taken back to her entity in failure to fulfill the order of killing Kyon and the Brigade, but Kyon loses their memory of her. Kyon experiences a lot of supernatural events, including almost getting killed by a replica of Nagato, getting Nagato's powers, and going into the Thought Entity itself, which was basically a huge invisible ship above Earth. Before this adventure of saving Nagato, Kyon gathered people, including the Brigade, the North High Student Council, which consisted of two interfaces and the former enemy, Asakura Ryouko. One in particular was hard to persuade to get Haruhi into the whole idea, but Kyon proved that he was strong enough to protect her. They faced many challenges inside the ship, including Nagato herself. In this time, Kyon harnessed the power that Nagato gave him, and in the end he came close on saving her. But his efforts went down the drain when the Student Council President betrayed them. He intended to kill Kyon, but was saved by Ms. Asahina, and the missing cat, Shamisen, who turns out to be the thought entity leader. Both of them explained what is going to happen if he doesn't step in to stop Nagato's madness, and pursues him to come up with a plan that will save the future." I take a pause… "Wait, why did I need to explain all this? Read the previous chapters to actually feel what's going on. Yours truly, Kyon"
I seriously need to get a better nickname…
Chapter 7
"What are you doing here? I had you stabbed in your vitals! You should not be alive! And what do you mean mistake?" this bastard shouted as I tried to dodge Nagato's beams while I carry him on my shoulders.
"Look man, it's kind of hard to concentrate with you shouting right in my ear you know!" I shouted back. You don't have any idea how irritating it is to save someone who just tried to really kill you. I teleported in front of Haruhi, who had a confused expression on her face. "Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Just hang in there." I carried her on my shoulders, too.
"Hey, wha-!" She yelped. I just realized where I was grabbing her, but that really doesn't matter right now. Come on Koizumi. Any second now.
"Shamisen!" I shouted. "Once Koizumi and Ms. Mori come through that door, initiate 'that' right away!"
"Understood!" He shouted back while trying to fend off Nagato's beams that are coming towards him and Ms. Asahina (big). The giant door suddenly came flying with two shining figures coming in. "Ms. Suzumiya!" Koizumi shouted. "Are you in here!"
"Shamisen now!"
"Initiating time deceleration program. Effects only upon target: Nagato Yuki" He chanted. Suddenly, Nagato's beams became sluggish. "This will only last one and half minutes in our time. Better hurry up, John!"
"Thanks, Shamisen!" I landed on the surface below Koizumi and Ms. Mori. I took a look at Nagato. Man, she's really moving slow. It was as if her movements were moving only a millionth of a mile per hour. Anyway, I gotta explain to these guys what I had in mind earlier…
… Alright, maybe I won't say the last part. I'll keep that one for myself.
"Kyon, what's going on?" Koizumi asked.
"Long story short?" I said. "Well, Nagato's gone mad since she thought I was dead and she was about to kill this guy on my left shoulder. That guy over there is my cat, and that is the future version of Ms. Asahina over there with him. Lastly, we are going to save the future. Short enough?" I said while putting both of them down.
"I understand for the most part." Ms. Mori said without even a second though after what I just said. "Basically we just need you to get close to her in the right time to inject some type of program into her that will stop her from acting like this, correct?" She said. She got it exactly right.
"… Yeah… That was the gist of it. Since we have time, I'll explain some of the things that happened and some extra parts of the plan that I had in mind." There was a minute left, and it took at least fifty seconds to say everything I had to say.
"I can't believe I'm helping you do this." The President said.
"Yeah." I paused. "You better thank me for this."
"As if." He rolled his eyes. I'll take that as a token of gratitude. I noticed that the 'me' that he tried to stab is gone… I guess Ms. Asahina, the other one, already time travelled with him.
"Haruhi," I said. "You make sure you hide somewhere safe, alright?"
"But…"
"No buts. Even though I told you that you had powers like that earlier, I'm not sure what will activate them in this situation. Plus, we don't want to lose our cute brigade leader, right?"
"Wha-?" She blushed and I burst out a short laugh. "Idiot, Kyon! You better succeed in this plan!"
"You better pray we do." I grinned.
And… Zero! "Now!" We split up. Ms. Mori, who was holding her katana dashed towards Nagato. As she slashed down, Nagato looked at her with her dead looking eyes and faded in a second. Ms. Mori ended up slicing up the floor of the room, but luckily it wasn't deep and the floor regenerates itself. Nagato appeared ten feet on top of her with six glowing blades floating on her back. It looked like wings. Deadly wings. Nagato grabbed two of them and attempted to crash towards Ms. Mori.
Fortunately, Ms. Mori had fast reflexes so she side stepped out of the way. But the landing that Nagato did didn't even slow her down. At a brink of an eye, four of her blades swiftly went towards Ms. Mori. She managed to swing her katana to fend three of them, but one of the blades grazed her.
"You're quite skilled, Nagato-san!" She shouted. A sudden small circular glow appeared in the dust cloud surrounding Nagato. "Oh that's right…" She sighed. "You're not Nagato-san." Nagato quickly sprung into the air and went down as quickly as she did. Both were fighting gracefully, as if they were in an action-fantasy type movie with especial effects. As I watched them both fight, I couldn't help but wonder where Ms. Mori learned how to fight like that. If there were different types of those creatures in the close spaces that Haruhi creates, I wonder how in the world they fight the type almost as strong as Nagato over there every time.
… Okay I take that back. As the fight progresses, I notice Nagato is really dominating Ms. Mori. Every swing was targeting vitals, and all Ms. Mori could do is block them. Soon enough, Nagato drover her into a wall. "Shoot… You got me."
"I complement your skills considering what kind of creature you are. But now you must go. Begone" Nagato said in her demonic, auto-tuned sounding voice. Shit. I have to step in, but it will totally ruin the plan. She started to swing her blade.
"Ms. Mori! Watch out!" Koizumi shouted and he caught Nagato's blade in the speed of light.
"Nice save, Koizumi-kun!" Ms. Asahina (big) shouted from behind me. I was thinking the same thing, but why didn't you do earlier? I mean you had a lot of time.
Oh, for those who are wondering, this is basically my plan. Ms. Mori and Koizumi are to create time for me, Ms. Asahina, and Shamisen to create a portal to the "void" in all time and space. Think of it as "limbo." But that takes a lot of time, and honestly, a lot of energy. Even Shamisen, the freaking powerhouse that was responsible for the creation of this entity, is dropping a few sweat drops on the floor. He will be the one programming it along with Nagato's powers amped up by his, while I plot what's going to happen ifwe even get there. Without his help though, it will take me maybe three days in total, and I'm not exaggerating. I'm a human for crying out loud. But with him, it will take fifteen minutes. It's a long time, but compared to what I could have done alone, it's hell of a lot better.
Thirteen minutes left… Man, this feels like forever. I took a peek at Haruhi and made sure she was okay. Fortunately, she's in one piece, but she looked like she was pondering about something. I hope she's not thinking of doing something irrational. Knowing her, she would totally go out there, banzai-style. I looked over to the fight. Koizumi and Ms. Mori are in sync. They totally looked like they were coordinated when attacking Nagato. When Koizumi summoned his lightning, which was completely nulled by Nagato's barrier, Ms. Mori sprung towards her. I get it… It takes time for the barrier to recover… If Koizumi and Ms. Mori were together back when I was trying to pursue Koizumi to get Haruhi to join us, I would have been beaten… Hard. But in Nagato's case, unfortunately, it hardly had any effect at all.
"Do you espers think that you can go through the layers of barrier I had created with your Earthly abilities?" She said while looking at them with an indifferent expression. Then she began to grin and chuckle… Yeah. I totally think that Nagato has gone… What was the term? Yandere or something? Whatever. You know what I mean. Her hair grew longer as it glowed menacingly. "Pathetic! I take back what I had said, espers. You are not even worth of praise of making it here in this space. You are merely fools!" The extended hair strands suddenly separated from her original hair style and began forming into countless spears. Oh damn! They're surrounded! I have to do something!
"Kyon-kun!" Ms. Asahina caught my hand as I attempted to leap off from where we were. "I know what you are feeling right now, but if you move from this position, you will completely disrupt the process!"
"But…!"
"I'm sorry, Kyon-kun… In order for this plan of yours to work, you cannot leave from here!" She said with a saddened and regretful expression.
"Damn!" I turned towards the two. "Koizumi! Ms. Mori!"
"Disappear!" Nagato swung down. The countless glowing spears of light came raining down on them. Damn! No! This can't be happening! Without thinking or hesitation, I jumped off the invisible flat form that we were on.
"Ah! Kyon-kun!" Ms. Asahina (big) shouted from above. I could also hear Shamisen saying something about me being a fool, considering we only had eight minutes left. I don't care right now! I have to see if those two are alright. Suddenly a big metallic spear came hurdling towards me. I dodged it in mere reflex, but I lost my footing and tripped… Pathetic, but I managed to teleport to the spot where those two were. Thank goodness. They were not sliced up into pieces, but they were unconscious. I feel Koizumi's aura surrounding me, so that's probably what saved both of them. Damn bastard. This guy had a lot of power in him. I teleported to the flat form where Shamisen and Ms. Asahina (big) was.
"You fool!" Shamisen shouted. "We only had a few minutes left, and you interrupted the process! Now we are delayed half as much as the original time!"
"You wanted me to sacrifice these two! What kind of comrade are you!" I turned away before he could say anything. "Just take care of these two. You should have enough information from my powers, right? I'll be back."
"Wait!" He shouted. I heard him screaming out of frustration while I descended to the ground. Sorry, man. I'll give you cat treats once everything is done, and I'm sure you'll be happy.
"You…" Nagato started, but held her head afterwards. She looked like she was in pain.
"Nagato!"
"Stay away!" she swung her blade, creating a shockwave. One that was strong enough to take me back ten feet from where I was standing, and I was thirty feet away already. "I don't know who you are, but…" she pointed her glowing blade at me. "Don't get in my way!" She swung it down and came towards me in the speed of a supersonic jet. I summoned a huge wall and a sword that looks like one of those RPG games that had the ability to create some kind of force that slices anything in its path. Cheap, but effective for now. In the next second, Nagato came on top of the hundred foot wall and came crashing towards me. I blocked her dual swing, but it hurt like hell! No, not even! Shit! Gah, this pressure! I managed to swing her off to the side, but she managed to recover quickly. As expected of Nagato. She is as skilled as a cheat code with over nine thousand power or something. Look, I can't think of anything that can describe the way she is alright. Give me a break here.
She swung at me at least twice as fast as she did with Ms. Mori and Koizumi. What the hell? I'm not more skilled than them! Surprisingly, though, I managed to block every single one of her blows. Hell, I even managed to swing at her once and knocked her twenty-five feet away from me. She raised her hand and once again, the countless spears appeared. She swung her hand down, and all of them came towards me simultaneously. Crap! I swung my sword down, and hard as I could, hoping that a huge force would appear… And hell yeah!
A huge beam of light came hurdling towards the spears, obliterating them. Slowly fading in, though, Nagato was coming in. Fast. I got ready and charged in, too, but she suddenly disappeared and appeared at my right. She side kicked me, knocking me back, then she jumped and did a spinning slice move. I barely dodged that. Seriously. My bangs were cut.
"Nice dodge." Nagato grinned. "… for a human!" She swung upwards and sideways. She was coming from every angle you could think of in an amazing speed. I can't keep up with this for long!
"Nagato, stop this!" I shouted and I managed to almost reach her arm. She dodged and double kicked me on my chest and chin.
"Stop calling me that!" She shouted angrily. "Only one being can call us that!" She started to shake and, the ground started to tremble. "And the other me failed to save that being!" She literally caused the floor to launch up as she went towards me with a crossed-arm tackle in the speed of sound. I attempted to summon a titanium wall that was thirty feet wide, but I forgot… She can just bust a hole through that. Luckily, though, it softened the blow on me and only knocked me a few hundred yards… Sarcasm intended there. Damn! That's all I can say right now. I'm lucky enough that it didn't blow me to pieces.
She can't be talking about me… Can she? I mean, I'm right here. And… "other me?" What the hell does that mean? "Nagato, what are you saying! I'm right here!"
"I don't care who you are! All I want to do is erase every existence in this universe! That way I can create a happier one! Where everyone is happy!"
"Bullshit!" I shouted.
"Shut up!" She charged.
"Virus activated." Someone shouted from a distance. Nagato suddenly dropped and rolled.
"What in the… What did you do to me, creature!" Nagato shouted.
"You better be thankful for this, human!" The President shouted while having both of his hand extended towards us. You bet I am.
"You insolent piece of defect! Release me from this bind!" Nagato shouted fiercely towards the President.
"And if I don't?" The President said nonchalantly while panting.
"If you don't…" She suddenly disappeared. "Then you are going to disappear!" She teleported above him.
"Shit!" The President didn't say anything else as Nagato went down and attempted to pierce him. I was also expecting for the worst, but…
"It's this bad, huh?" Asakura said while saving catching the blade with Ms. Kimidori beside her. It seems like the fight is over.
"Mr. President, you will have a lot of explaining to do later." Ms. Kimidori grinned at him.
"What? You expected me to trust you?" he replied in a worried tone.
"Chat later," Asakura said, and then she threw Nagato to the side.
"I see…" Nagato paused. "You two, who are supposed to be my back-ups, are now going against me… What failures."
Yeah. This is definitely not Nagato… She would never say anything like that. Ever. But yet... It feels like that is Nagato… How do I explain it…? Ah, never mind that, because I'm about to get sliced by Nagato looking figure if I don't move.
… Wait what? Totally unfair! There are two Nagatos now! What the hell!
"Duplication mode" Nagato said, once again, in her auto-tuned voice. Seriously. Is there any need for that, whoever you are? "Easy enough to comprehend, human?" Enough with the insults, damn it. I'm kind of tired of being called "human" as if it's supposed to be a bad thing.
As I tried to dodge and block every move that the "mirror" Nagato is doing, I'm still trying to comprehend by what she said about the "other me." It's either this isn't the Nagato we're supposed to save, like a replica of some sort, or she's talking about something else. If that's the case, then what is it? Something else… There's something I'm missing here. I realized it long ago, I know that, but why can't I remember now?
Man, I have no time for this! "Get off me!" I swung my sword at the replica, and disarmed her. What? Miracles happen from time to time. But I digress. Enough with the stupid jokes. I found an opening while she's trying to regain her balance. "I know one thing for sure…" I dashed and slashed through her. "You are not Nagato." How did that sound, huh? If anyone is watching this, you have no idea how I wanted to scream at that moment. Screams of joy, of course. I can't believe that I actually defeated Nagato's replica or whatever.
"I applaud your performance, human." Nagato said, and holy crap… Are you serious? "What's with that expression? Are you that surprised that I defeated these defects?" She started chuckling with a non-Nagato expression. It was more of a maniac's expression, which I cannot imagine on Nagato. But, as I was saying, Ms. Kimidori and Asakura we're lying on the floor. At the very least, though, she kept them in one piece. "Ryouko Asakura was not capable of creating a virus that will be able to contain me in the first place and Emiri Kimidori had defects in her body that hindered her of being capable of containing me. Both of them coming at me with only physical tactics we're futile. It was illogical and foolish." She looked at the President who had an extremely panicked look at his face. "And this one." She raised her hand. "The one who destroyed the very thing I cared the most." The President shielded himself with some type of barrier. Idiot! That won't block it! Shit! I can't make it in time.
Suddenly, a flash of golden light came out of nowhere, and with it, the President disappeared from where he was. What the hell just happened? I looked up and saw something unbelievable. Not that I haven't seen it before. In fact, this is the second time I've seen it. Golden eyes, golden everything, like her personality. That person was floating up in mid-air.
"Your Brigade leader to the rescue!" Haruhi shouted while holding out her palm and holding the President by her waist. Oh hell yeah! I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but thank God that her powers awakened. But… Why? "I know what you're thinking, Kyon." She said through my head. "Ew, Kyon. What kind of dirty stuff do you have in your head?" She shouted in my head.
Since you can read my head, stop shouting in it! And also, stop reading everything! That's invasion of privacy you know. Still, this is a hell of a surprise.
"Bleh! Anyway, as for your question, I can't answer that. I just… You know… I was feeling so helpless." She sounded depressed. "If I'm supposed to be this 'time-shaker' or 'potential for auto-evolution' or even what Koizumi calls me…"
For the record, that was supposed to be secret.
"That doesn't matter right now! Anyway, as I was saying… If I was all of those, then why was I so powerless? So weak? I know I made those things back then disappear, but there was something else that was bothering me… Then I realized that whatever that was it doesn't matter!" Her vigorous voice, once again rattled my brain, and it's actually in my head this time. "All that matters is that Yuki comes back to us, and I'm betting on you! As the Brigade leader, this is an order! You better not lose or you are going to lose your head!"
Meaning a treat to the café?
"Something worse! Taking me to a date!" Silence… "Wha~! Forget what I said there!" I saw her panicking in mid-air. I totally didn't see that coming out of her. "Ah! Whatever! Just follow your orders! You got it?"
Oh hell yeah, Ms. Brigade leader.
"Are you done with your telepathic conversation?" Nagato also said in my head. What the hell? "I am also capable of doing such things. It's the same mechanics as human radios on Earth except with different kinds of waves. Don't panic. Of course… Humans are not capable of doing it, so I guess I should understand." She started to chuckle.
Will you stop chuckling like that? It's disturbing the hell out of me.
"Who are you to order me around of my emotions? There is only…"
"One person who can do that," I know. But the problem is, that is me you are talking about.
Silence. It was only ten seconds, but it felt like eternity. In that time, Nagato stopped chuckling and her facial expression changed… Changed to something grim.
"So you're saying you're 'that' person?" She finally said. There was another pause of silence. She began to laugh, maniacally physically. That would totally kill a lot of brain cells if she did that in my head. Then she stops her laughing abruptly and she stomped at the floor, causing it to crack in half. The air that is inside the ship is being sucked into space. Actually, not just air.
"Crap!" I said out loud while trying to grab on for my dear life without drifting into the zero gravity. Even if I had powers like her, I wouldn't able to teleport myself before reaching the atmosphere of the planet before me. I've seen it on TV. It is not pretty burning up like that.
Nagato went to where I was and she looked down on me. She suddenly stomped on my right hand furiously. "Don't mess with me!" The magnitude of her voice almost shook me off. Luckily, I don't fall, but my hand hurts like hell. She continued to stomp on it. "That person is dead! Do you get it! He's dead! The only way I can see him again is if I erase all of this! All the things that 'she' created! That's why…" She raised her foot above her head… Oh crap… This is going to be bad if it lands on my hand. "… don't get in my-!"
"No you don't!" Nagato's axe kick was interrupted by Haruhi's signature kick, also causing her blade to come flying off her hand. Remember that day with the Computer Club when they were trying to challenge us? Yeah. It looked like that. My God… About time!
"You..." Nagato said while trying to wipe her face of the blood that Haruhi's kick caused. That was a hell of a kick to cause something like that. I'm sure glad for the President of the Computer club that Haruhi didn't have powers when he got kicked. Actually, I think Haruhi would have the sense not to do that if that was the case… Right? "Interruptions coming all over the place! Why must you intervene!" Her blade once again appeared in her hand. "You should understand, right! You should understand what I feel right?"
"Yeah. I totally understand…" Haruhi started.
"Then why…"
"I totally understand that you're crazy!" Haruhi rushed in two times the speed of light (yes, I'm exaggerating), and palmed Nagato right in the chin, sending her flying to the wall. "I don't know who this 'he' is, but I won't let you hurt one of my brigade members, whoever you are."
"Whoever I am?" Nagato said under the dust. "I'm the one you labeled as the 'silent book girl,' right? A part of your so-called brigade."
Oh crap… I think the "so-called" part totally did it… And I think I heard one of Haruhi's nerves pop out…
"You little…" I see a cat fight coming up…
I finally managed to get up from the crack and fixed it. That was the easy part. The hard part is to tell Haruhi that our purpose was saving Nagato, not beating her into a pulp.
"Shut up, Kyon!" Haruhi said in my head. "I know what we're supposed to do! It's just..." She screamed out of irritation… In my head… "I don't know! You really better fix this, Kyon!"
Planning to… But can you please not do that again?
The two went at it again like how it was in the video. Thing is, though, that I interrupted the process of the "void-plan." I need to get back up there as soon as I can.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Nagato said while spotting me trying to get up to the flat form where Shamisen and Ms. Asahina were. Not now! Haruhi!
"Not so fast, Ms. Faker." I heard Haruhi say from the distance. In the next second, I heard bangs and clashes. Yeah. I think Haruhi is our best chance right now to create time for this thing.
"You idiot!" is the first thing I heard once I got back up. Not from Shamisen, but from Ms. Asahina. "Why did you leave! We were so close on finishing it!" I kind of want her to keep going just because she looks so cute right now, but I'm not a masochist and I don't have time to be happy.
"If I came in any second later," I pointed at Koizumi and Ms. Mori still unconscious. "Those two would have died! Do you want me to do that?"
She sighed and her irritated look face changed to a smile. "You haven't changed a bit, Kyon kun… I'm glad." Wait… So were you mad? "Anyway, Shamisen-kun, how much do we time do we have?"
"Well, if John here did not leave, we would have finished by now. But since he did, even with the help of your so called 'president,' we still have five minutes." He said worriedly. "And I'm not sure if Suzumiya Haruhi can hold any longer." I looked down and saw Haruhi getting slower and slower, but at the same time, Nagato was, too. Come on, Haruhi. You can do it!
"How about if we add me?" I said to Shamisen.
"Well, we would have a minute and half at the latest."
"Well, get to it! We have no time to lose!"
"Roger."
If that ten second pause earlier felt like eternity, imagine what it feels like to have a minute and half. Even with Haruhi and Nagato's epic cat fight, I couldn't shake the feeling of being clueless on what Nagato was talking about. What is she talking about? I hope I find that out soon, because I'll need it…
Finally…
"That was quite an impressive show. It seemed that you had a lot of power in you, even if I'm like this." She said almost the same thing as the last time, except this time she's extremely exhausted. I guess her power wasn't fully awakened after all. "But isn't it about time we end this?"
"Indeed," Nagato said sounding auto-tuned again. It's almost time… Five, four, three, two, one "Executing emergen-" Nagato started to dictate.
"Now!" I shouted.
"Portal program completed. Now locking on to enemy program execution." Shamisen chanted. Nagato's chanting stopped, but it seems like her program was still running loose. The big orb of light seemed to have tentacles that were destroying everything it touches with its strength.
"What is that!" Nagato exclaimed, looking at where we are.
"Shamisen!" I shouted.
"Fire!" He shouted as the program and I went towards Nagato and her creation in an imaginable speed. Now I can imagine what a bullet feels, if it has feelings. Nagato tried to cover herself, but the speed was beyond her. She got sucked into the semi black hole portal with me.
"Let me go!" Nagato said in my head while trying to escape my grip.
What the hell? You can't even escape this? And here I thought you were high and mighty.
"Silence! If it wasn't for this speed, I would have crushed you already."
The hole behind us closed, and there was an incoming piece of land. It was coming towards us… Fast. Luckily Shamisen planned ahead for this, right?
… Or not! We crash-landed about a thousand miles per hour on that freaking thing. If it wasn't for Nagato's shield, both of us, particularly me, would have been splattered like an omelet!
"That was an excellent plan you have there!" Nagato said while trying to distance herself away from me. "You sacrificed yourself just to trap me in here? What kind of saving do humans do? Because if this is it, then I am not impressed."
"No, that's not it." I said flatly.
"Then is it a special request for me to end your life personally? If it is, then it will be an honor!" She started to laugh menacingly.
"No."
"What a kill joy…" She looked at me. "Oh, I see… You wanted to talk to me."
Stupid mind reader. If you know what I wanted, then why even bother asking me verbally?
"What? Don't you want to use your voice as much you can before you die?" She said, in my head this time.
I'm not so sure about that. I don't think I'm dying tonight.
"Oh? Such confidence." She paused. "But do tell me, human. Why do you intend to 'save me'?"
"That's such an obvious thing to ask." I said verbally. "Nagato's our friend, that's why."
"Friend?" She grinned. "If that is your idea of humor, I do not commend you."
"Humor? I wasn't trying to joke around."
"Then you're talking nonsense." She raised her right hand horizontally, pointing at her side. "… Because the only friend we had died a few minutes ago." A sudden surge of force rushes out of hand. "We couldn't do anything about it… We tried to negate the effects of the program… We tried reconstructing the tissues that were heavily damaged… And yet…" She paused and suddenly… "… So don't say anything about friendship!" She was crying. Her raged yet saddened expression looked over me.
"And that's another thing." I started. "Who is this 'we'?" I just can't my finger on what she means… No matter how much I tried, there wasn't anyone coming to my head at that time with her besides Haruhi.
"Ah, that's right… She never said anything after he said that he would protect us… That 'that' part of us was born…"
"Oi, stop talking riddles." I exclaimed.
"Fine, I will explain it, even though it's useless…" The force gushing out of her ceased. She looked at me with deadpan eyes. "Month of August, two years ago: A time loop was caused by the main subject of observation. It happened 15, 532 consecutive times. During that time, something in the internal systems of the interface named Nagato Yuki began to surface. It surfaced specifically at the 2,019th loop of the time. She realized that it would be the cause of the great change that happened December 18th of the same year. She tried to execute some countermeasures for the sudden 'problem,' but the programs she used were useless. After the 10,238th loop, she finally decides that there are no countermeasures for it. She informs the entity for an internal scan, but they found no errors. She was… You could say dumbfounded."
I don't like where this is going. During that explanation, I took the liberty of creating a table and two chairs for us to sit on. As she continues her explanations, I can't help but look at her face. It relaxes me, because it looks just like the Nagato I knew. But yet, it also doesn't. The way she's stating it… Something about the tone of her voice is really bothering me… I knew at that time, where Ms. Asahina and I travelled back in time six years ago to get help from Nagato to help us get the world back as it was that she also said that she had no countermeasures of a "certain error." I realized what that certain error back then… But it couldn't be…
"After realizing that there are no countermeasures against this certain problem, she just calmly waited for the loop to end. She just observed and observed since it was…" Her job… "… That was until we get to the 15,125th loop. There was another problem, and the cause of that problem was the very first time where four members of Suzumiya Haruhi's group realized that the loop was present. She merely explained the current situation as if it was no problem, like she normally would, however, there was something different. It was almost she was 'hoping' that that was finally the end of the 580 years of repetitions, but she was designed to be to be void of any of that kind of thinking, or rather she's not supposed to be capable of doing so."
That's right… She was. Those sights of her sitting by the side of the pool and by the batting fences looking bored were a total giveaway. I didn't realize it back then, but I did sooner after.
"But yet after a few days, he couldn't figure out what was wrong. Another problem came to surface. That night, where she was reading a book that she has read 2508 times, there was a pain in her chest area. At the time, she didn't treat it as a problem, but the second time the members realized it a failed to solve the mystery of the time reiteration, that problem became enormously different from what she had before. After the seventh time that they have failed to stop the reiterations of time, she has done something unexpected." She looked at me. "A request of her own termination."
"Her own termination… You mean, suicide!"
"Yes."
What? What the hell? That Nagato… Really requested for something like that?
"As interfaces, we cannot terminate ourselves. We have to receive an approval from the entity. They needed a logical explanation, of course. Nagato Yuki was a very powerful data interface. They cannot easily just agree to what her request for termination. But as she attempted to give a reason, she could not. Something was stopping her. But knowing the radical faction, they wanted her gone and so they wanted our father, the leader of the entity, to approve of it. He simply couldn't do it. A few reiterations later, though, she continued to request the same things over and over again. After so many tries, he finally conjured up a compromise. He said after the next time that 'John,' the person who we failed to protect, does not solve the reason of the time reiteration, he will approve of it."
That Shamisen… Why would he compromise something like that? Was it because Nagato really wanted it?
"She agreed and… 'Felt' like she accomplished something, finally. But then, in the café of the last day, at the last minutes before Suzumiya Haruhi decided to leave the café, sudden data of memories went through her head, which includes the times when 'John' was with her, and the time she had with the group. She suddenly had a… 'feeling' of 'regret'. But despite this feeling, she didn't say anything. It was her job to observe such beings, whether they failed or succeeded. But yet she wanted to say something. With her mouth left ajar right at the moment where Suzumiya Haruhi was finally leaving the store, John stood up and shouted the thing that was needed to solve the puzzle. Her functions stopped for thirty milliseconds. She could not think. She could merely nod at every word that he was saying, even though she could not comprehend them at the moment. She was… Overjoyed."
I would be, too. If I could never forget such things like that, in that amount of time, I actually would probably literally die of happiness after it's all over.
"The next day was treated as a miracle. She was doing something different. Even though it was insignificantly different, it was different. The next day after that, she did not wake up. Not because she has been terminated, but because her system was exhausted. The entity granted her twenty-four hours of rest." That explains why she wasn't at the clubroom at the time. "She was truly feeling happiness beyond words and expressions at the time. She couldn't think of anything else. She was drifting off into her own state of happiness, where there are new books to read, and surrounded by the members of the group that Suzumiya Haruhi has assembled. In the end, she realized that this was something she truly wanted. But yet something was bothering her."
After all of this talking, I have a feeling I know where this is going… A really bad feeling. Not the "bad" where you're about to get killed, but like the "bad" where you'll learn a truth you never really wanted to know.
"That was… 'What if something like this happens again?' Will she experience the same 'grief'? Will she experience the same negativity of thoughts? She thought that more of that will only bring upon destruction to her. But she couldn't think of a solution to stop those thoughts. It just kept going. The thought of changing the world from the way it was in the future was illogical to her. She continued to ask herself why she must do it. What is the anomaly that causes her to change it? As time goes on, the usual days went by. The school festival was in progress in the month of November. Nagato Yuki was suddenly asked to play the guitar. It was a simple task, but yet, she felt relieved of doing it. She… 'enjoyed' it. The sight of amusement of the humans surrounding her, watching her performance was something she was 'glad' to see. Even she 'wished' that the festival would not end at the moment, even though it was illogical." She paused and looked at me. "You're not a very good audience. At least provide me with refreshments."
"What the… Fine." I reluctantly agreed. She was giving me information after all. After she drank a bottle of cold green tea, she sighed.
"Interesting taste. It has such a different feeling than when it's warm." She set the bottle down. "But continuing with from where I left off moments ago, two days after the festival, it rained. It was mostly a quiet day after Suzumiya Haruhi was playing with Asahina Mikuru's clothing. Nagato Yuki ended up alone in the room. She was just doing her normal routines when she wasn't observing Suzumiya Haruhi closely: reading. A few hours afterwards, John entered the room with an electric powered heater. He immediately turned it on and dozed off. Nagato Yuki, without thinking, closed her book, stood up, and put her cardigan over John's shoulders. She left afterwards with her brown hooded jacket. At this time she was stable, until she saw Suzumiya Haruhi and John together under an umbrella. Something accumulated in her. She ran off without even understanding what was going on at the current moment. Once she got back to her home, she immediately went under her covers. She was just like a human girl with her 'heart' broken."
Wait a second… This sounds like… jealousy… What the hell? This doesn't sound like Nagato at all.
"I understand what you are thinking right now. She, too, didn't understand what was going on. But it was then she decided officially that she's going to change the world from what it is."
"What the hell? Just from that?" I stood up unexpectedly, causing my chair to fall over.
"What an impatient human you are. Let me finish." She pointed at the chair and it stood up. Why am I getting angry anyway? "That is what she decided then. Logic did not matter to her any longer… And thus, I was born…"
"I see… Now I understand… I now understand who you are and where you came from…" I calmly said. I can't believe it, though. Why did "she" come out rather than just staying in her? "You are her…"
…Emotions…
"I am the cause of that change in that time. I am the cause of it all. But yet a small part of her remained. Her logic and reason provided an escape for John just in case he didn't want what I was making us do. He managed to find the keys and reverted the universe back to its previous state. I regretted that we gave him the power to do something like that. It only brought us grief and despair in the end… We were to be terminated at the time, then at the evening of December 21st, but John goes on saying that he will protect us. That gave us hope and reassurance. We thought that he could do it. His power to persuade others was more than anyone else. The entity also grew… 'frightened' of him due to the statements he made. Two months afterwards, we considered ourselves a free individual. The power to change the universe and was only to be unsealed by a certain power. Present year: two week ago. We were given orders to remove John because he was considered a threat. We were dumbfounded."
Uh… Yeah. Not to mention that I was also dumbfounded.
"She asked 'why?' but the entity did not give an answer. They did not even mutter an answer. She went and tried to find the main body, or leader, of the entity, but it was nowhere to be found. Logically, she would have done what she was told, but 'I' was there to intervene with those thoughts. She returned to the surface for one night for a celebration of some sort. That was when she decided that she'd refuse to follow the order. Of course, the entity knew what she was thinking, and thus, they made countermeasures. At exactly midnight, they were to transport her back to base, and replace her with a copy. A thoughtless entity who just blindly followed orders and believed that she was more superior than us."
Yeah. I remember that. That crazy woman could have killed me if Ms. Kimidori didn't arrive in time.
"Many events occurred afterwards: John trying to convince the members of Suzumiya Haruhi's party to come in a venture to save us. He also went and used the ability we gave him and harnessed it. We were observing it all. Even if there was only a tenth of a chance that he was going to make it, we were filled with hope. That's what he taught us. We waited. We waited until…"
She stopped. "Until what?" She raised her hand to the side and a screen appeared.
"Watch."
The President appeared in a room. It was dark inside. There was nothing to see but his shadows. He walked in the corner, and then suddenly grabbed onto something.
"You insolent piece of trash! Look what you have left us with!" He said while grabbing on Nagato's hair. That bastard! "See this?" He pointed at his side and a screen of my group running towards the giant doors. "You left this, you defective!" I saw Nagato flinch a little. "Do you see what we have to do? Our ship has 76% damage because of his group alone! We were forced to cooperate with him to fool him, but look how much it has cost us! This is your fault defective! I really should have gotten rid of you."
Suddenly Nagato slapped his hand off.
"I… am not defective… You may not call me… defective…" Nagato said in monotone.
"Is that so?" The President said, grinning. "Then erase this human. If that is done, then I will take back what I have said."
"I refuse." She responded immediately.
The President grinned at the answer. "Then you are a defective!" He touched her forehead with his index finger, and Nagato suddenly looked… Terrified. It looked like she was about to cry. It was like he was transferring something in her head.
"A virus." The Nagato in front of me said.
"Eh?"
"He was attempting to insert a virus in our system. He wanted to corrupt my system in order to carry his will. However…"
I looked back at the screen.
"Do not touch me." The Nagato in the screen said. However, it wasn't "my" Nagato. With that sentence, an invisible gust of wind took the President and slammed him to the nearest wall. He looked terrified and confused. As a matter of fact, I am, too.
"Im… Impossible! Your abilities are supposed to be…" Nagato suddenly grabbed him by the collar and picked him up.
"I am not defective. You need not insert a virus in me, for I understand what I must do…" Nagato said.
"Oi. What's going on?" I asked Ms. Emotions over here.
"This is where we…"
"Where you what?" She suddenly kicked the table at least 15 stories high. "What the hell are you doing!"
"The rest is none of your concern." She lunged at me with a wrist blade with lightning speed. In fact, she was actually covered with lightning. So she can move like Koizumi… However…
"You're forgetting something." I said while catching her hand. "I have your powers."
"You have a 'duplicate' of my abilities." She emphasized on the "duplicate." She released her wrist from my grip and came at me once more. The lightning surrounding her stings a bit… Wait… Crap! I forgot I'm wearing metallic clothing!
"Electrocute." She commanded.
"Ha!" I shouted, forcing the electricity that was conducted on my clothes out. This is probably one of the rare times I'm going to say this, but thank you, school.
"You are not as dumb as you look, human."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"Take it as you want to take it…" She started to… Smile. Is she enjoying this? She jumped and came like a drill coming down.
"Wait, Nagato!" I dodged while the ground that she crashed into turned into dust. "What were you saying earlier?"
"It's none of your concern. For you are not… him." The joy on her face faded.
"That's what I've been saying since the damn beginning!"
"Shut up!" She shouted loudly. In fact, she shouted so loud that the shock wave from her voice made me fly. "I do not give a mere atomic dust to what you are going to say. For even if you..." She's… Shaking? "… for even if you… look like him…" No… More like trembling… "For even if you… Act like him…!" She lunged at me, but with hardly any power. I had no problem catching her hand and light body. "Even if my systems analyze you as 'him.'" She tried to punch me… She's really turning… Frail. "You cannot possibly be him!" She kicked me in the stomach, which also made me fly. "For I… For we…!"
Don't you dare say it!
"For we are useless!"
I teleported right in front of her and slapped my hand on her lips. "How many times…" My hand was trembling with anger… "How many times do I have to tell you…!" I paused and she blinked. Twice. "Didn't I already say it? You are not useless!" I grabbed her shoulders, despite the fact that she was still hostile. Hell, it didn't matter to me. It would have been idiotic of me if I didn't grab her like that at the moment. "How many times have you saved my life! How many times have am I indebted to you! How many fucking times do you need me to nail to your head that… That…!" Ah! This is embarrassing! "That you are an important person!" I embraced her. "That's why don't say any bullshit like, 'I am useless' or 'I am defective.' You got that? No matter what happens, in my heart, in my mind, and in my soul, you will be nothing like those things. Hell, even if you were, my whole existence wouldn't care." I pushed her off a bit with my hands still on her shoulders.
"But… We saw your… We saw your vitals gone… We analyzed it…!"
"But here I am." I flicked her on her forehead. "Don't underestimate my 'soul' okay? I'll come back to everyone as long as you guys want me to come back… That's why don't overreact, okay?"
"… Kyon…" She said softly.
"Hey, don't go calling me that now."
"…Kyon…" She said once again, but this time… It's her own voice. "Kyon…! Kyon…!"
I smiled. "I'm here…"
And with that, Nagato fell on her knees and cried, while I embraced her. It was only two minutes, but it felt like a blissful eternity. Nagato… You finally showed your inner emotions… And I couldn't be more glad. Having fun, worrying, feeling happy, feeling emptiness and despair… That's what being a human being is all about…
Yeah… I feel that's what this "evolution" thing Asakura was talking about earlier while fighting Ms. Kimidori. Sure you are an all powerful species that can manipulate anything. Sure you can fight like a badass and be completely unharmed. You can act perfectly according to the situation, you can just act like it's not affecting you… But if you didn't have the emotions to be in the moment… There's nothing to it… Right?
I am so glad that I chose this world over the other one two years ago… Because if I chose that one, a situation like this would have been impossible.
And with that… Operation: Rescue Nagato (I forgot whether we even had a name for it… Good grief): Complete.
Author notes: Thank you for the long wait! Summer has also been busy but I'm glad that I got to finally finish the chapter. However, towards the end of this chapter, I felt a little weird because I really had no idea what to write anymore. I had to come back and read my previous chapters just for me to remember how I wanted this chapter to end. Fortunately I still know how to end this story, so hopefully you guys will be there until the end.
Please give me your honest reviews of this chapter.
Until next time,
NagatoYuuki13