The Vapor of Haruhi Suzumiya

Chapter 3: Interpretation

The first observation we made in the lobby of the apartment complex, before even stepping foot into the city, was the grovelling nature of the landlord upon my appearance. He used to be a kindly old man, accepting my rent with a joke or a comment on how nice I looked. Though I'm not sure this was the same landlord as the previously described person.

"Oh! Miss Nagato! Do you wish for a valet for your excursion? Or perhaps you are on a 'contract'? In which case I'll leave the gates open until your eventual return."

The accented portion of his sentence belied that I had a contract, or frequently left the complex to perform such contract, which were also apparently time-consuming in nature. His beady eyes possessed an acute sense of fear within them, as though I would harm him if he didn't act on my every whim. He appeared to be dressed for a role in an opera, with a dress shirt and an ornate tie encrusted with silver patterns.

I politely declined and informed him that myself and the others would simply be taking a stroll through the city. At this point he nodded vigorously and stepped out of our way, allowing us to continue into the foyer and out the door.

Kyon looked back at the landlord as we left, commenting "That was odd. He gave us a dirty look when we were going up to your apartment. You must be important Yuki."

I nodded, but unable to determine in what fashion I was important enough to reduce the man I pay to allow me to live here into a grovelling exiting the complex and stepping into the streets, I inhaled entire city had changed greatly, as befitting a world-changing effect on technology and the nature of the universe.

The roads were no longer paved with asphalt, but with a form of cobblestone, that upon examination, was extremely fine and almost as smooth as asphalt. The roads themselves had one extra lane in the middle, wide enough to fit three people walking side-by-side, and the sidewalks were much thinner. The apparel most people were clothed in consisted of a multitude of straps, belts, leather, cloth, and in general was very baggy and would be able to conceal something very easily.

A young boy passed us as we began walking, riding on an analogue to a skateboard. The board itself consisted of a thin plate of metal, with the trucks mismatched T's of brass, the wheels apparently taken from a train, as they were almost dinner-plate sized. The wheels were wrapped in strips of cloth to, presumably, soften the ride. The boy had goggles that had multiple dials and switches covering them, multiple lenses on the back, and a constant whirring and the lenses were switched out constantly.

Street-lamps were a metal pole with two large pieces of flint attached to a form of wick, striking at set intervals to create a fire to illuminate the area. As we approached the end of the road, starting onto the hill that led to North High, we were halted by multiple armed guards.

The guards were dressed in plate mail akin to that worn by Kyon, though much lighter, and had helmets with a sharp point to them. A guard with a rose red helmet approached me and asked what business we had on the property outside of school hours.

I took a risk and answered back, without knowing anything about it "We were requested to come here by Miss Suzumiya for a special assignment."

The others nodded earnestly to keep up the lie, and surprisingly, the guard simply nodded and allowed us in, stating "The usual place is set up.", in a rather cryptic fashion.

The school itself had become a sprawling compound of dozens of smaller buildings in addition to the large main building and halls. The additional buildings had large doors that approached the height of the buildings themselves, but we headed for the building which held the SOS Brigade with due haste. The interior to the building was surprisingly similar, being almost identical, with a few changes. There was a small stove in each classroom we passed, connected to a team boiler, which piped into the ground, and apparently powered the clocks, somehow. It could be assumed that the clocks were wound through the steam engine, which was a phenomenal idea, all things considered.

We continued on up the stairs, noting the brass handrails, worn to a dull shine through use. The 3rd floor had a much higher ceiling, with skylights sending shafts of the mid-morning sun streaming down onto us. We stopped at the door to the club room. There was no window on the door, only a metal plate in its plate. We looked at each other. Only our breathing and the sound of armor plates could be heard.

Kyon moved over to the side and sat down.

"I'm not going to look inside until you guys do. I can only imagine what crazy shit awaits us."

Mikuru, who had kept quiet this entire time, cleared her throat. And unsheathed the long, thin sword which I had also forgotten she now possessed. Though she simply laid it on the wall next to Kyon, who looked at it oddly, before turning back to us.

"Um, I don't know if this is a good idea...you see, classified information told me that the classified information that Haruhi possessed, or still possesses, is of such a large magnitude that attempting to gain access to this room may cause classified information to occur, which would be disastrous due to the classified information it emits."

I shrugged and opened, the door, sensing no immediate danger in it. Mikuru squeaked in surprise, obviously not expecting me to open the door. Kyon was right on one account. There was indeed a large amount of "crazy shit" in the club room. Or, as befitting the changes that have occurred, the club armory. The room itself was much larger, almost 4 meters to the ceiling, perhaps more, and the room was rectangular, stretching what I assumed to be to both ends of the building.

There were a multitude of safes, shelves, tables, chairs, and workbenches within this space. Some of the benches had small tags on them, denoting its purpose. We filed into the room to examine things thoroughly, with Mikuru giving me a wary look before noting with a small chuckle that there was no costume rack. This fact was true, though it was replaced by a large closet that, upon opening it, was full of clothing, armor, and even more weapons.

A large tome that sat at the desk in the direct middle of the room caught my eye after I closed the closet. It had "SOS Manifesto Eternus" stamped onto it with bright blue ink. I brought the book to a smaller desk that Kyon was taking in the room from and opened it. The summary was written by Haruhi herself, which I promptly began to read. It read as follows.

"The SOS Brigade is an aspiring contractor operating out of the North High Mercenary Index. We specialize in high-risk, supernatural, paranormal, or otherwise assignments. Our members are able to take risks and ensure they complete the objective, no matter what. We also specialize in contracts that require an elite degree of stealth. Whether its be killing a corrupt politician, or exorcising a hostile spirit, or organizing taboo arcane volumes, or spying on a neighbor you fear is plotting to kill you, we WILL complete the job.

In our nearly 6 month career, we have not sustained even a single member fatality, and only one assignment has resulted in any severe injuries that could not be healed with the arcane arts. The total number of assignments completed as of this writing is over 170, and this number only rises. A copy of this book is made available to every participating member of the Japanese Independent Protection Program, or JIPP for short."

I was dumbfounded. This Haruhi, and by extension, this reality, had no qualms with employing teenagers as hired thugs. I slammed my open hand on the desk, startling the others. They came over to myself and I handed the book to Kyon, who, upon reading it, gave it to Mikuru, who passed it to Koizumi when she finished.

We all sat there looking at each other until Koizumi set the large book down and cleared his throat.

"Well, I think that solves the mystery of what the SOS Brigade does, and Haruhi's role in all of this. Unfortunately, we will have to act as Miss Suzumiya would expect us to."

Kyon rolled his eyes, picking up a claymore from the table he was leaning on.

"So what, do I get to put this in someone's gut? Sounds good to me."

He threw the two-handed sword across the room, lodging it in the wall firmly. Mikuru looked appropriately uncomfortable with the prospect of having to kill a fellow human. Koizumi was humming the Tetris song to himself. I sighed and took a walk around the perimeter of the room. There were such a large mass of swords and small arms that I was forced to wonder whether or not everything was used. There were odd weapons that were quite prominently creations exclusive to the universe we were currently in, and I took a good look at many of them. A naginata with a large gun barrel mounted to the handle was an interesting piece. A large revolver with what amounted to a machete mounted to a piston as a bayonet. A gunblade that held buckshot. Small canisters of a crude form of tear gas, made from elements I had never encountered before. Jars of green liquid that turned out to be acid that burned through metal.

After sitting in the SOS room for a few hours, soaking up information about this unfimiliar world we now live in, we slowly decided to return to our respective houses for the night. We went our separate ways in silence, each thinking about what we learned. I was not aware of what the others were doing while I was off examining everything, so we were unable to discuss the same topic. Kyon mentioned that "that Gatling Gun is awesome", after which I ignored him. I had not seen any Gatling Gun, nor did I particularly want to garner a description from him. I preferred to see things for myself.

Upon returning home, I removed the sheathe from my back, set it beside my British-style four poster bed, and changed from my outfit into something slightly more comfortable. I was beginning to feel the effects of human fatigue, which led me to an interesting conclusion: In this reality, I'm just a normal human. The DITE does not seem to exist, so I am limited to what is possible for a human to do. However, as evidenced by Kyon and his claymore-throwing antics, this is slightly more than in our own reality. I pondered this as sleep claimed me.

I heard someone else breathing just as I fell asleep.

A/N: Yeah, terribad at updating on a schedule. xD I'm good now! xD Reviews would be wonderful, and yes, steampunk now equals magic, crazy, and murder. :D