"What's wrong, Yuki? Do you not like your drink?"
No. You do not wish to drink it, but the reason is not dislike.
This is the 178th time you have ordered this drink. Given that each iteration includes at least 2 visits to the café, you have had more than enough opportunities to sample every drink they have to offer. If you had found any of them objectionable, it is unlikely you would have ordered them even twice, let alone 178 times.
Strawberry soda was the next in your cycle. So, you ordered it.
You should not have ordered it. You were careless. You should have realized.
Realized what?
You stare into the glass. Carbon dioxide bubbles rise and fizzle at the surface.
There is no milk in it. Discounting the ice cubes floating in it, it is completely liquid. It is a much deeper shade of red.
The artificial strawberry flavoring is similar. But that is the only similarity between this situation and that one. And the artificial strawberry flavoring was not the cause of the explosion of error data 10 days ago. There is no reason to expect negative consequences from drinking more than a single sip of this soda.
...
You do not wish to drink it.
4 seconds have passed since Haruhi Suzumiya's question.
"It's fine."
You do not drink it.
They're staring at you.
"Yeah, you look like you're really enjoying it."
"..."
"Uh, I mean. It's no big deal, you know? You can get something else. You could try the orange soda, it's pretty good," he says, lifting his own, half-empty glass.
Haruhi Suzumiya lifts her lowered shoulders and narrows her relaxed eyes. She furrows her eyebrows and pinches her lips. She raises the volume and lowers the pitch of her voice.
"Don't be stupid, that's a total waste of money. You shouldn't get something if you're not gonna drink it."
"Ah, perhaps Miss Nagato was trying to broaden her horizons? I know I've been disappointed many a time when I've experimented with new items on a menu. And just as many times been pleased. Such are the risks and rewards of adventure."
"Besides that...it's my money, Haruhi."
Her angry eyes briefly meet his, but she ignores his statement, choosing instead to focus on Itsuki Koizumi's.
"Yeah, and if you take that risk you've gotta accept the consequences! There's no sense in letting perfectly good food go to waste! You've gotta drink it! To the last drop!"
Choosing to interpret her pronouncement as an order, you lift your straw to your mouth and drink your strawberry soda. To the last drop. 2.1 seconds.
Haruhi Suzumiya hangs her mouth open for half a second, then grins. "Yeah, that's the spirit, Yuki!"
The blood vessels in your head expand rapidly.
He looks at Haruhi Suzumiya for a moment, his own eyebrows furrowed and his lips curled in a grimace, but then he turns back to you.
You don't look back. You stare at the empty glass. Strawberry-flavored carbonic acid burns your throat.
Haruhi Suzumiya goes back to wondering over her list, questioning if there's anything else you should do on the last day of vacation.
He stares at you, the corners of his mouth downturned.
You stare at the empty glass.
You stare at the 5 empty glasses. They, along with the ripped straw wrappers, the crumpled napkins, and the paid-for check all attest to the fact that the others had been here. But they've gone now.
The waitress has yet to clear the table. You have no reason to wait for her. You stand up and begin walking towards the exit.
She emerges from the kitchen and approaches your table. She begins to clear it. The automatic door opens in front of you.
"We will still be present on Earth, so we can be reactivated in case we are needed."
You turn. She continues to place the empty glasses on a tray.
"The decision has been finalized. All nonessential humanoid interfaces will enter hibernation at the end of tomorrow."
"I know." The Data Integration Thought Entity had thought to inform you of that. The decision had been finalized "in the event that this is not the final recursion of time" before you had left your apartment today. And with Haruhi Suzumiya's uninterrupted departure from the café, the hibernation plan had been officially adopted.
"I see." She sets her tray, now full of unclean glasses and trash, on the table beside the one you had been at. She begins to wipe it down with a wet, cotton rag.
10 seconds. The automatic door closes behind you.
"It took longer than was expected for consensus to be reached."
13 days.
"Are you aware of the reason?"
You hadn't asked for the information. You didn't involve yourself in the debate. Conflict of interest.
"You."
"..."
"How best to handle you going forward in relation to other interfaces was the final issue to be resolved. The prevailing argument for hibernation was that we do not currently know the nature of your errors. Cause is unknown. Transmissibility is unknown."
...
"Contact cannot be avoided indefinitely, but, as long as other humanoid interfaces are unnecessary, we can suspend contact between you and us, and suspend the possibility of contagion."
Your shoes are brown leather with rubber soles. With the number of steps you have taken in them, they should be worn through. But they, like everything else on this planet, bear no sign of the journey they have gone on 2142 times.
"The losing argument, although it has not been dismissed entirely, is that since the nature of your errors are unknown, and you admit that there is a possibility it could affect your ability to fulfill your duties, then your actions should be monitored by another interface."
She has finished cleaning the table and set the rag aside. She is facing you. Her shoes are a different shade of brown, but they are of the same material. No signs of wear.
"The position gained strength after your recent unexplained actions, but, since the deviations were minor and did not result in contamination of the data gathered, you have been deemed fit to continue observation alone. However, you have not given your own opinion. I believe it could still affect the decision."
…
"Do you believe you require monitoring?"
...
"No."
"Very well. Will you create explanations for our absences for all future iterations of these 2 weeks? I will need to be excused from my job."
"..."
"Miss Nagato?"
"I will make the alterations."
She approaches you. "I will transmit the necessary alterations for myself as well as all other interfaces." She holds out her right hand, extending her index finger. You touch it with your own.
She withdraws her hand. "I believe that will be all, then."
"..."
"I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer vacation."
...
The orange light from the star on the horizon reflects off of Emiri Kimidori's eyes. You've seen it there before.
She bows. "Goodbye, Miss Nagato. I'll see you when school begins again."
She turns. She collects the tray and the rag. She reenters the kitchen.
...
You are alone.
The Takahashi sisters are fighting again.
"You're a baby! We don't want to play with you!" Fujie Takahashi yells at her younger sister.
"Yeah, well at least I'm not a...um, a...I'm not annoying! Like you!" Mei Takahashi responds.
Fujie Takahashi laughs. "Oh, you bet you are!"
This is their 1888th visit to the pool. Mei Takahashi is younger than the majority of Haruhi's potential playmates. And this is the 1661st argument she and her sister have had while here. Either or both of these facts could be the reason that this is only the 79th time Haruhi Suzumiya has chosen to play with them.
"Both of you, cut it out!" her voice exceeds theirs in volume. "Do you want to play with us or not?"
"I don't want to play with her. I don't want her germs!" Fujie Takahashi crosses her arms and sticks her tongue out.
Mei Takahashi's lacrimal glands begin producing excess fluid. She clenches her hands into fists.
"Oh, that's not nice! You shouldn't say things like that to your sister!" Mikuru Asahina attempts to intervene.
"It's just the truth!"
Mei Takahashi unclenches her left hand and brings it up to her face. She slowly drags her tongue across her palm and over her fingers and then lunges.
"Ew! Get away from me!" Fujie Takahashi nearly slips but manages to begin running. She seeks cover behind Haruhi Suzumiya, who only watches their chase, arms crossed.
"Mei! What are you doing?" Their mother stands from where she had been sitting under the awning.
Mei Takahashi stops running. She starts wailing.
"You are too old for this kind of behavior! It's embarrassing!" Her mother reaches for Mei Takahashi's left hand, then stops and grabs the right one instead.
"Ugh! Fujie! We're leaving!"
Fujie Takahashi grumbles but follows her mother and sister. Mei Takahashi's wails grow louder as her mother says, "Absolutely disgraceful!"
"Huh. Well, that was a bust."
"Yeah. Couple of brats."
Haruhi Suzumiya snorts. "If that was my Mom, I don't think I would ever stop throwing a tantrum."
He presses his teeth into his tongue.
They stare after the retreating family for 3 seconds before Haruhi Suzumiya resumes shouting. "Anyway! We can play water soccer without them! Everyone in the pool! Yuki! Hey, where's Yuki?"
You are 46.4 meters away, beneath the shade tree of a tree in a planter. You sit on the side facing away from your group, with your legs drawn up to your chest and your shoulders curled in. The tree's trunk blocks you from their view.
You did not visually observe the SOS Brigade's activities for the last 15 minutes and 32 seconds. The data had come through regardless.
Haruhi Suzumiya has called your name 3 additional times. She is running around the pool.
She wants to find you. She will find you. It is inevitable.
It must be so. You must observe Haruhi Suzumiya. It is your purpose.
"Yuki!"
If it damages you, then that is the burden of your position.
She runs past the tree, but then abruptly stops and comes back, circling around it to look down at you.
"Yuki! Geez! Couldn't you hear me? We're gonna play water soccer!"
...
Across from you, 21.9 meters away, a woman lies on a towel directly in the sunlight.
Her nose and her cheeks are beginning to inflame. They will be visibly red within the hour. And in her epidermis, cells, their DNA damaged by the ultraviolet radiation, are mutating and proliferating.
She had already possessed the damaged cells before today. The additional exposure to the sun will not be beneficial, but cancerous growth was already inevitable.
"Yuki? Hey...are you OK?"
It would be senseless to blame the sun for her disease. It has no awareness of the damage it caused. It had no intention of causing it.
"Yuki, come on, you're seriously freaking me out, here!"
And she would have no life without it.
You stand up.
"Are you overheating, maybe? We could go sit inside for a bit."
"No. I am fine."
You will do your job. You will accompany her for every iteration of summer she wills to exist. You will attend every activity she plans. You will collect all of the relevant data to aid the effort in understanding Haruhi Suzumiya's abilities.
You will cause no disruptions. You will not interfere.
Until that day comes.
"Well, then, come on! Water soccer!" Haruhi Suzumiya smiles. Sunlight glints off of her teeth.
You will play water soccer for the 1836th time.
"We can't do it without you!"
You can.
You will.
Author's Note: to the best of my knowledge, the real cafe does not have strawberry soda, and has orange juice, but not orange soda. indulge me.
I am very grateful to all readers! And in case there was any doubt: reviews are always welcome and always greatly appreciated!
...unless you're trying to sell me something :'(