And here comes the conclusion! There may be an epilogue, but I have absolutely no idea what it's gonna contain. If anybody's nice enough to help me out with that, I'd be real grateful. Otherwise, there'll never be an epilogue. Because... I really don't know what Haruhi's gonna do once September comes...
(You have no idea how hard it is to think of words to describe the same scene over... and over... and OVER again.)
DISCLAIMER: Haruhi Suzumiya no Yutsuu is owned by Nagaru Tanigawa. If you ever thought I owned it, well...
~~~ENDLESS EIGHT: THE LAST DEJA VU~~~
And faster than I would have thought, the 30th of August arrived.
"Well we've finished it off now. I wonder if this was enough," Haruhi wondered out loud, staring at the list thoughtfully as we sat in the middle of the empty cafe. "But I guess that's about it. Hey, is there anything else you want to do?" she asked us, sitting up straighter, her eyes shining with hope.
When she saw our faces, eyes turned down, she slumped back into her seat and said, "Well that's okay." She tried playing it off as if she didn't want anything else, but you could hear the hesitation in her voice as she stood up to leave. "We got to do a lot of things this summer, so I guess that's enough."
No it isn't! You're not satisfied yet are you!?
"Okay, that's all for today. I had tomorrow set aside, but stay home and rest if you want. We'll meet in the clubroom the day after tomorrow."
Wait Haruhi!
"Okay, that's all for today. I had tomorrow set aside, but stay home and rest if you want. We'll meet in the clubroom the day after tomorrow."
There it is again! And with a strength I haven't felt until now. I can't let her go here. If I do, we'll end up repeating these two weeks how many thousand times again!
I jumped up, my chair clattering to the floor as I ran to Haruhi. But as I reached out to stop her, I realized I had no idea what to do.
What should I do? What should I say?
"Embrace Suzumiya-san from behind, and whisper into her ear 'I love you.'"
My hand made contact with her shoulder, and she was about to turn around, but I put my other arm around her, trapping her effectively. She gasped, whether in surprise or in some other emotion I refused to name, I didn't know, but either way, I held her closer to me and whispered, "I love you."
Seconds passed, and with the SOS Brigade's stares on us, I turned her around and held her by the shoulders. Her hands were clutched to her chest, in a gesture of innocence and vulnerability, and that look made me lose my common sense for a moment, and I pulled her closer for a kiss.
Which never really happened.
Because you see, just a split second before our lips met, I stopped. And just a split second before that, I had a feeling. A bad feeling, like a tingling premonition of something bad about to happen. But I couldn't place it, and at the time, I didn't have enough time to actually think about it. And thanks to that pause, Haruhi, she...
No, she didn't move to kiss me back.
"Are you retarded!?" she practically shouted, then stepped on my feet and left.
It didn't hurt me much, just enough to loosen my hold on her. I was staring at her leave, wondering why she didn't, in Nagato's words, 'inflict maximum physical damage' to me when I heard a chuckle from the direction of our table.
Koizumi, that damn bastard.
Forcing my gaze from the cafe's entrance/exit, I walked over to our table and asked, "Koizumi, do you think that worked?"
"I cannot say the success rate of your actions," he said with his usual annoying smile. "But then, again, who knows? It might work."
I was about to snap at that smiling face, when the Queen of Silence spoke up.
"The cafe is empty."
The three of us, the time traveler, the esper and me shared a look. It was unusual for Nagato to speak up, and when she did, she usually had something helpful to say, or at least, a bunch of factes that we never knew in the first place. She never talked just to state obvious facts. So... was it supposed to mean something?
"The cafe is empty," she said yet again.
Nagato, we know that. We're not blind, you know. So just tell us what it's supposed to mean.
"The cafe is empty."
With that, she stood up and exited the cafe, leaving us staring at her retreating back.
"You get what she meant, Koizumi?" I asked.
"Saa.." He just smiled mysteriously and replied, "Let's wait for tomorrow, then."
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What do you mean? I only needed 3 days to finish that much."
"...urgh..."
"Get rid of the tedious stuff first, so afterwards you can really enjoy yourself!"
"...stop... speaking... in my head..."
"That's the only way to enjoy summer!"
"...summer's... been going on... for too long... Haruhi..."
"It seems Kyon-kun really thinks about our beloved Brigade Chief day and night," said an annoyingly familiar voice. I could feel warm breath on my face, and when I groggily opened my eyes, surprise surprise, I woke up to a nightmare.
"You're too close!" I shouted, falling back in my chair in an attempt to move far far away from you-know-who.
"Be careful, Kyon-kun!" exclaimed a worried Asahina-san as I almost hit my head on the floor. Her hand caressed my head, looking for bumps.
Ahh... Asahina-san. If you would touch me like that, I'd never be careful...
"Kyon, there's something I would like to tell you."
Not now, Koizumi!
Asahinsa-san stood up and went back to Nagato's side, fidgeting while that bastard spoke, not even looking at me, writing on my Algebra notebook.
"To cut to the chase, we've entered an even shorter endless recursion of time."
Didin't we already have this discussion? Did you come here all the way just to annoy me? Wait, what? Even shorter?
"Remember how I told you that the future has been cut out? That we are experiencing the same time frame over and over again."
"August 17th to August 31st, yeah."
"Well, that has changed. Instead of the 17th to 31st, we are now repeating the 30th to the 31st."
"Yeah, right. I completely understand... Don't kid with me!
"It appears that something has happened in the 30th to change Suzumiya-san's mind." He stopped speaking and met my eyes. "I think we all know what that is."
"Yeah, I see." I said, with surprising calm. "Instead of whatever she wanted to do before, she now either wants to do something to me, or wants me to do something more to her."
He nodded. "You're catching up fast today, Kyon," he said, standing up and walking to the bed.
It's not like I wanted to. God.. I can't believe I'm actually getting used to this.
"And... I think that what Suzumiya-san wanted was..." He gestured towards the pile of notebooks on my desk. "...was for you to finish you summer homework."
I almost laughed out loud at that, was about to say, "Yeah, right, Koizumi," when the silver-haired alien spoke again.
"This would be the 998th cycle."
...
998? What are you saying, 998? You mean, that many times, I've hugged Haruhi? That many times, I whispered to her 'I love you'? And that many times, it didn't work?
"That many times, she didn't do anything other than step on my feet? Which didn't even hurt, mind you."
She looked at me blankly, then shook her head. "That has not been the case. In the last 997 cycles, the least damage Haruhi Suzumiya would inflict on you would be a sprain, all depending on where she would hit you. There have been-"
I raised my hand, cutting her off. I wasn't really interested knowing where exactly it was she hit me. "I think I get the point."
Then Koizumi spoke up, "I don't think any harm will be done if you listen to what she has to say next."
I looked at Nagato, not exactly eager, but curious enough..
"-six variations of where she inflict damage on you." She continued as if I never stopped her at all. "Besides punching you on the nose, Suzumiya-san has also slapped you on the cheek, pulled your hair, poked you in the eye, stepped on your feet and-"
Thank God my 'body condition' resets...
She stopped for a moment, sharing a long stare with Koizumi. I noticed this strange interaction between them and said, "What?"
Nagato broke eye contact, looked at me and said, in the same serious monotone, "The sixth way of damaging you was... kicking you in the 'balls.'"
...
"But," said Koizumi, standing right in the middle of the tracks of my train of thought which was now headed to 'Pity your 'Balls' Landia', "I know I said you should hear what she's gonna say, but there's not much we could do with just a minute left anyway."
I gave a sigh and said with exasperation, not thinking about you-know-what, "Then why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"Even if we had, I believe what Suzumiya-san wants has already passed. The only way she would get it would be on the next cycle."
I stared at the members of the SOS Brigade minus the leader. Mikuru-chan, biting her lip. Koizumi, still speaking. Nagato, holding my pencil and adding to the doodles Koizumi and I wrote on my notebook.
Let's just hope yesterday's me would do something.
12:00. Midnight.
~*~*~*~*~*~
August the 30th came.
"Well we've finished it off now. I wonder if this was enough." She looked a bit thoughtful, then gave a small, resigned and not-so content sigh. "But I guess that's about it. Hey, is there anything else you want to do?" she asked us, her eyes almost looking like they're pleading.
Silence.
"Well that's okay," she said, her voice echoing in the empty cafe. She stood up, signaling the end of the meeting. "We got to do a lot of things this summer, so I guess that's enough."
No it isn't! You're not satisfied yet are you!?
"Okay, that's all for today. I had tomorrow set aside, but stay home and rest if you want. We'll meet in the clubroom the day after tomorrow."
Wait Haruhi!
"Okay, that's all for today. I had tomorrow set aside, but stay home and rest if you want. We'll meet in the clubroom the day after tomorrow."
There it is again! And the intensity's greater than it ever was... I can't let her go, not here, not now!
I jumped from my seat, adrenaline rushing in my veins. But as I reached out to stop her, I realized something.
Now what?
What should I do? What should I say?
"Embrace Suzumiya-san from behind, and whisper into her ear 'I love you.'"
Gritting my teeth, I grabbed her shoulder, making her stop in her steps and put my arms around her waist. She gasped, most likely in surprise. I tossed away what was left of my pride and whispered, "I love you."
I was about to turn her around, was about to kiss her, when something passed through my mind.
"This would be the 998th cycle."
What?
"In the last 997 cycles, there have two different patterns of hitting you."
Nagato? Is that you?
"There have been six variations of where she inflict damage on you."
What are you saying? You mean This isn't what Haruhi wants?
"The sixth way of damaging you was... kicking you in the 'balls.'"
Hell no.
Haruhi had frozen. She wasn't moving, and I had a bad feeling that she was going to 'inflict damage on me' very soon.
The hands on her waist moved up. Yes, they did, no comments please.
I lost all common sense once again. You wanna know why? It was probably because of the lack of people. Or maybe it was because I thought it was what she wanted.
...
Okay, I won't lie. Here's what I thought:
If she's gonna make me smash my crotch, then I might as well get something out of it.
God, the pervert inside me has woken up.
Pulling her closer, I whispered "I love you," once again, before grabbing her-
Well, you know what it is.
I guess she just gave the normal reaction.
"Who the hell do you think you are!?"
She practically shouted, punching me in the nose, followed by a slap on the cheek, which was followed by a poke in the eye. Then she proceeded to-
Do I really have to say all this stuff? No, to be specific, do I even want to?
No.
But I'll say it anyway, might as well get some pity from some pretty girl out there.
She pulled a handful of hair and stepped on my feet. But before I could even jump up and down and cry, 'God, that hurt!' she did the one thing I knew she would have done. The one thing I even did the only pervy thing I've ever done in my life for.
Yup, you guessed it.
...
Should I say it?
...
She kicked me in the balls.
...
And as she stormed out of the cafe, the time traveler I usually ogled at, the esper who always had a smile, and the ever expressionless alien staring at me, there was only one thing I could say.
"My children..."
~~~ENDLESS EIGHT: THE LAST DEJA VU end~~~
