Disclaimer: The novel series of Suzumiya Haruhi that began with 'The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi' is the creation of Nagaru Tanigawa. No disrespect is intended by the posting of this fanfiction, as I do not own the characters or settings involved. I'm merely dabbling with another set of paints. TVtropes(dot)org is part of the public domain, I think? I actually couldn't find a 'legal' section on the site!
Notes: Count the tropes! Save, collect, trade for swell prizes!
"Chapter Ten: Time Travel"
"This is the one you absolutely cannot afford to mess up. The most important thing is to pay attention, and not over think things. But mostly, it's about paying attention; the worst thing you can do is assume that just because time travel is involved, you cannot fail."
"Practical Heroism and You: Awareness" -- Tadamichi Kyousuke
"Anyway," Haruhi said, glancing at Kyon again as they topped the hill, "what's it all mean?"
"I'm not entirely sure," he admitted, scanning his eyes across the other two lines before folding the letter back up and stuffing it into a pocket. "I'm guessing it'll make sense when it happens."
"So, you're good at time travel?" she asked, nodding as Mikuru drew in range.
"Ah!" the upperclassman yelped, wincing. "S...Suzumiya-san, you can't talk about it so carelessly! People might overhear!"
"What do I care?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "It's real, so I don't see a reason to hide it!"
"Because if you're careless, you might end up causing a paradox," Kyon said patiently.
Mikuru nodded furiously in agreement. "If the timeplane is shattered," she whispered in a quiet, conspiratorial voice, "then multiple realities could result. A break in the timeline could classified information!" Her face fell again. "Ooh...."
"Geez, that's gotta be annoying," Haruhi conceded. "Well, you can tell me if he's good at it, right? Time travel, I mean."
"He's better at it than I am," Mikuru said with a crestfallen sigh. "I'm supposed to be a professional! But sometimes it feels like I was sent here to learn from him."
"Hah! Okay, I'll admit, I had my doubts before. Mikuru the time traveler? Silly. Mikuru the cute and hilariously inept time traveler, relying on Kyon for support? Entirely plausible!"
"Be nice," Kyon said, shooting Haruhi a mild scowl. "If it weren't for Asahina-san and her bosses helping us out ... things might be a lot worse right now."
"Alright," Haruhi allowed, smothering the irritation that arose when Mikuru's face lit up at Kyon's comment. "But this doesn't get you out of mascot duty!"
As she had expected, Kyon only shrugged at that. Mikuru broke away after they entered the school's front hall, moving to the third year students' shoe lockers. She and Kyon changed their shoes, then she sidled up to him on the walk to class. "But, seriously, is that why you're always seeming so tired and lazy, and your grades tend to suck?" she asked in a soft tone.
He looked at her sharply. "Only sometimes," he said. "Uh ... the week of February -- you remember when I called you in a panic to say Asahina-san had been kidnapped?"
She nodded, remembering it vaguely. "Except, she was with me. I thought you said it was a really lousy prank call?"
"A version of her from a week in the future was with me," he said in a low voice. "And she was kidnapped. I spent that entire week running around making excuses to you so I could try and follow some set of obscure instructions from the future. It's not usually so bad ... that's why I did panic and called you, even though it was probably stupid. Of course, you didn't believe me anyway." He shrugged, sliding open the door to the classroom.
She watched the way his eyes tracked to Taniguchi, the other boy smirking widely. Kyon almost immediately adopted a scowl.
"Well," she mumbled, "you didn't tell me you were John Smith. If you had...."
He sighed, nodding. "Let's talk about that later," he suggested, taking his seat.
"So," Taniguchi said with a huge grin, approaching Kyon's desk during the first break. "I hear that things between you and Suzumiya are getting ... closer?"
Kunikida and Kyon exchanged a look, then turned to the other boy. "Why don't you ask her?" Kyon asked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to point to the girl in question.
"Eh!? Suzumiya?" Taniguchi asked, stunned. "But, it's break! Why are you still in the classroom?"
"Why is that any of your business?" she asked him coolly, her eyes narrowing into sharp lines.
"I just remembered somewhere else I had to be," he blurted out, charging out of the classroom.
Kyon sighed, shaking his head.
"Well," Kunikida said, shrugging and offering a placating smile. "It's none of my business either. But I thought I'd pass on that pretty much the entire school has caught on by now ... I wouldn't be terribly surprised if a teacher were to ask you about it, either."
"Ask us about what?" Haruhi asked, her voice falsely innocent. "We're just ordinary high school students!"
"Er ... that is...." Kunikida bowed his head slightly and shifted his gaze to stare out the window. "Your ... 'display' at the train station."
Kyon groaned and lowered his head to his desk.
"Well, the answer is still going to be that it's none of their business! Absolutely none!"
"Aha ... well ... I'll leave the two of you to yourselves, then," Kunikida said, bowing slightly as he drew away.
Straightening up once his friend had gone, Kyon turned in his chair to face Haruhi. "Do you understand the need to be somewhat subtle with all these things?" he asked.
"You told me yesterday," she said in annoyance.
He blinked, then pulled the letter he had written himself from the future from his pocket and scribbled a note on it.
"I'll be careful ... even if it is boring. But it's not like it's that outlandish for a girl to be close to a guy. At our age, it's practically expected. Isn't that what Grease-ball McGee over there," she said, nodding at Taniguchi as he slunk back into the classroom, "is all about? Aside from which, people are stupid and think that 'something' is going on between us anyway. If anyone asks, I'm tutoring you because your grades suck so bad. If they draw other conclusions on their own, they're obviously idiots and we shouldn't care."
He flinched back from her gaze as her eyes lit up with intensity, adding, "So, unless you've got some other girlfriend I should know about, maybe Miyochiki--"
"Miyokichi," he corrected her flatly. "And it's a real compliment to me that you seriously consider an eleven year old girl to be my only valid romantic prospect."
"Whatever!" she snapped, her face darkening. "If not her, maybe that ... that Sasaki--"
"Ugh," he interjected again, this time with a small shudder. "She's a friend, but I really can't stand who she chooses to associate with these days."
For some reason, Haruhi calmed substantially at that. "Anyway," she said more smoothly, "if you're not actually dating anyone, then you have no actual girlfriend to get jealous of our studying together. And since you're some kind of action hero looking out for me, you can just consider it to be your cover."
"So, you're okay with the entire school thinking that we're dating?" he asked, unconvinced.
"Well," she said quickly, looking away out the window again. "No, I mean, we're obviously not. But hey, if they jump to that conclusion, what do we care? We can set anyone who asks straight."
He allowed his lips to quirk very slightly into a smile.
"Plus," she added, still staring out the window, "you've got to give authorization for all of my powers, so there's no way in hell I'm letting you further out of reach than I have to."
Sighing, he lowered his head to the desk again.
"So," Haruhi asked, her back to the large window of Yuki's living room, "did it work?"
Yuki removed her fingertips from Haruhi's head and said, "Yes."
"You're not going to die?" Kyon asked quickly.
Turning to face him, Yuki gave a small nod. "I am no longer connected or accessible to the Integrated Data Sentience Entity," she said. "They will not be able to delete me remotely."
"Good," he sighed, relaxing. "Thank you, Haruhi."
"I already told you," she grumbled, "I'm not about to let a brigade member get into trouble. And hurting Yuki because.... Hey, actually, come to think of it, what was their reason?"
"To prevent me from committing errors," Yuki answered. "My makeup had been determined to destabilize, and I was scheduled for deletion prior to this error occurring."
"What's this error, then?"
"Unknown."
"Is it going to happen?"
"Unknown."
"Hmm.... Hey, Kyon, you've always known Yuki best." Haruhi turned to look at him sternly. "What's it all mean?"
He frowned thoughtfully, his attention already focused on the smaller girl. "Is this something on the scale of the incident from December?" he asked.
The pale-haired girl blinked. "Possibly."
"Is there any way we can try and prevent that from happening?" he asked, shifting his shoulders.
"I don't like being left in the dark," Haruhi said crossly. "So, what's this 'incident' about?"
Yuki blinked, then passed her eyes over everyone in the room in turn, lingering on Kyon and Haruhi before saying, "I would like to speak of this privately."
"Alright," Kyon agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "I already remember, so I can respect that. Ah ... I know that this is a lot to take in, Haruhi, so is it okay if we talk about it later? Maybe at the brigade meeting tomorrow?"
She hesitated a moment, then nodded. "I suppose that you want me to stay here?" she asked Yuki.
The quiet girl offered a nod of her own in return.
"Well, alright then." In a warning tone, Haruhi added, "The rest of you aren't off the hook yet, you know!"
"Of course," Koizumi said, nodding. "I understand. In that case, Nagato-san, Suzumiya-san ... we shall take our leave?"
"Y...yes," Mikuru agreed, nodding as well. "See you tomorrow."
Kyon waved wordlessly, stepping through the door to the hall outside of Yuki's apartment last.
Once the three of them were in the elevator, heading down, Kyon said, "I'm going to guess that you've got a small encyclopedia worth of questions for me, Koizumi."
"My greatest question," the esper replied without hesitation, "is if this was all necessary."
"It was," Mikuru mumbled, her head bowed as the elevator stopped and the door opened. "This was a predetermined event."
"Is that so?" Shaking his head, Koizumi added, "I rushed over and missed lunch. I suspect you must have, as well. I think we have a lot to discuss ... so why don't we go to our usual cafe? My treat."
"That sounds fine by me," Kyon said with a shrug. The group stepped out of the elevator, only Kyon glancing at the snoozing supervisor in the lobby office. "Asahina-san?"
"Um. Yes, okay," the time traveler agreed. "But ... maybe we could go somewhere closer? Suzumiya-san might call and want to speak with us after ... um."
"Fine," Koizumi agreed, gesturing to the building entrance and leading the way.
Once they stepped out of the tall apartment building, Kyon asked, "Is closed space still a concern?"
"Right now, Suzumiya-san is more bewildered than anything else," the esper said, shaking his head. "But even though I requested this discussion, I still need a few minutes to order my thoughts."
"Okay. Asahina-san, I know I requested your superiors back me up on explaining who you are to Haruhi, but I'm still not clear on why they suddenly decided that it was okay for you to do ... whatever I said," Kyon said, shifting his shoulders. "Was there anything else in that message?"
"Um, no," she answered, her face turning pink, her eyes looking away.
Both boys exchanged a glance, then shrugged.
"Let's have lunch in the clubroom," Haruhi decided, the second the chime rang.
Kyon blinked at her, then shrugged. "Why not?" he asked, shaking his head.
Once they reached the hallway, Haruhi looked around to ensure no other students were nearby, and asked, "So, how long am I going to have put up with you and Yuki being in charge of me using my powers?"
"I was thinking forever," he said with a slight smile.
She shot him a glower. "Stop joking," she snapped. "Seriously! If it's for Yuki's safety, then that's how it has to be -- like I said yesterday. But it can't be permanent, can it? I mean, can't I just fix it so that Yuki doesn't need to rely on me?"
"Then once you can be responsible with your power," he said, shrugging. "It's not like I've asked Asahina-san to let me go back and give myself notes on tests I did poorly on. Or I've come back from the future to warn myself about upcoming pop quizzes. Really, while it's useful to have access to that kind of power, well.... With great power comes--"
"Don't even try and quote that movie at me," she warned him.
"Er ... where it's from doesn't make it any less true," he countered.
"Bah! I never wanted that! Espers with the duty to save the world, aliens with important research missions, time travelers who are only here to work -- the goal was to have fun."
They reached the stairs to the old club building, and he said, "So, speaking of movies.... Now, I don't blame you for this personally, but using your power responsibly? Do you remember the movie we made? Your 'Mikuru beam'?"
"Like I'd forget! What about it?" She paused at the top of the stairs, not far from the clubroom door, musing. "Does she really have one?"
"Throughout the movie, she had several," he said, shrugging. "The very first one would have killed me if Nagato hadn't saved my life."
She blanched at that. "B...but...."
"And you didn't even know," he added, shaking his head. "So, yeah. Once you can be responsible with your power, we can worry about that."
"I can be plenty responsible," she grumbled, following him as he opened the clubroom door.
Sitting oddly stiffly in her usual seat, Yuki stared forward, turning her face toward the pair as they entered. "Oh!" Haruhi said brightly. "Perfect! I was hoping you'd be here so we could talk about things!"
"Hmm," Kyon mused, setting his lunch box down and frowning. After a moment of peering at Yuki intently, he asked, "What's wrong, Nagato?"
"Four hundred and seventy three requests in queue," she answered, blinking.
Haruhi choked on what she'd been eating and Kyon glanced at her, scowling when he realized she'd helped herself to his lunch. "Really?" he asked.
"Program one goal: Cause dinnerware to levitate."
"Denied. Haruhi, I think this is a perfectly good example of what I was talking about."
"That one was on purpose," Haruhi mumbled, shrugging her shoulders. "I just wanted to see if I could use my power."
"Program two goal: Cause parents to increase allowance."
"Denied. Your powers are a gift, but not a toy," he said sternly, shaking his head.
"Program three goal: Grant Suzumiya Haruhi the power to read minds."
"Oh, gods, what a terrifying thought. Denied!"
"Aw, come on!" Haruhi protested. "You're not going to let me have any fun, are you?"
"Program four goal: Replace actor in nighttime television drama with rabid wolverine."
"Denied. What's fun for you isn't necessarily fun for other people! And it really seems that you have no concept of the fact that there are consequences for your actions."
"It's not like I couldn't just fix it! I'd have that ability, you know! Plus, that would only make the plot of Lost better."
"Program five goal: Cause Nagato Yuki to stop relying on affection for you to prevent future errors."
"Denied. Wait, what?" Kyon turned to stare at Yuki, who had turned her gaze to Haruhi.
In a very slightly more hurried tone, Yuki continued, "Program six goal: Cause you to become more amicable to the suggestions of Suzumiya Haruhi."
"Denied!" He turned back to Haruhi and frowned sharply.
She looked away, staring out the window while picking at Kyon's bento, her cheeks a bright red.
"Program seven goal: Replace bathing area with larger facility."
"Denied. And stop eating my lunch!"
Haruhi choked again, her face darkening even further. "That was when I went to take my bath," she mumbled.
"Program eight goal: Cause Asahina Mikuru to stop being loyal to you instead of Suzumiya Haruhi."
"Denied. Why are you trying to change who people are, Haruhi?"
"It's not important," she muttered, turning her face away.
"Program nine goal: Enlarge Suzumiya Haruhi's--"
"Yuki, that's enough! Just forget, um, all of them!" Haruhi yelled, pushing the remnants of Kyon's lunch across the table. "And forget about that one especially! You can't say that kind of thing in front of Kyon!"
"Understood," Yuki replied. She looked thoughtful for a moment, then suddenly relaxed very slightly, turning her attention to her book.
"In the meantime," Kyon said, picking through what Haruhi had left him, "I think my point stands for obvious reasons."
"Yeah, yeah," Haruhi mumbled. "I didn't mean half of those things; they were just idle thoughts. I didn't know it was so sensitive."
"I'm sure. But again, my point stands. Try not to give Nagato so much trouble by coming up with a hundred new things you didn't seriously think about before we actually have our club meeting, okay?" Disgruntled, and realizing he would have no actual meal, he wrapped his bento back up and turned to look at Yuki. "In the meantime, Nagato ... you can safely disregard things that you know are a bad idea. Don't let Haruhi bother you too much; I trust your judgment."
Yuki looked up from her book and regarded Kyon levelly. "Thank you," she said softly.
Haruhi's expression shifted moodily before she suddenly stood up straight. "I'm going to the cafeteria," she announced. "So ... I didn't mean to cause trouble for you two!"
"I'll go with you," Kyon decided before Haruhi could storm out, stowing his bento in the clubroom's refrigerator. If he wanted to eat anything, he would have to buy it.
Haruhi shifted her shoulders, allowing a small bit of tension to fade. "Um, thanks," she mumbled. "I'll let you buy me a sanshoku bread."
He nodded, deciding that silence would be the best course of action for the moment.
After settling into a corner of a relatively new cafe, at least, one Kyon didn't recognize immediately, they sat in silence until their drinks were served. When his latte arrived, Koizumi began, saying, "It is possible that Nagato-san may curtail the creation of closed space, but my suspicion is that the opposite is more likely to be true. That is to say ... with her aware of her abilities, and Nagato-san and yourself being the key to releasing those effects she may desire, Suzumiya-san is likely to create even more closed spaces."
"I think even Haruhi would be reasonable enough to try and stop that once she was aware of it," Kyon countered. "Is there a problem right now?"
"At the moment, no," Koizumi allowed. "But we are entering, for all intents and purposes, uncharted territory. We don't know what might happen next, or if Suzumiya-san might even find a way to ... slip free from Nagato's control, as it were."
"I don't like thinking of it like that," Mikuru mumbled into her glass. "That sounds like putting a leash on Suzumiya-san."
"Sometimes," Kyon said quietly, "I feel that's what the world needs more than anything else. Don't get me wrong ... I don't believe that Haruhi's a terrible person by any stretch, but she's rather careless much of the time. If she has to have power, I think it's best she learn to use it responsibly. Or perhaps not at all."
"I think you're completely discounting the frustration she's going to feel when it becomes more apparent that she is now limited by yourself and Nagato-san," Koizumi countered, rubbing his chin. "I must ask you to take this as seriously as you wish for Suzumiya-san to. That seems only fair."
Mikuru nodded weakly, looking away.
Scowling, Kyon conceded, "Alright. That's true. So, you think we'll need to let her use her ability as she wishes, now?"
"That may be going a bit far," Koizumi said, shrugging. "You are the voice of reason for her, so I am merely asking that you be reasonable as well. Suzumiya-san doesn't seem the type to receive something at no cost and do away with it."
"Also true." Kyon sipped his coffee thoughtfully. "She'd take a cursed item if she was told it was cursed, and for just that reason."
"Well, I shall monitor the closed space situation, and if it--" He broke off abruptly, frowning. "There's one now.... I think I can guess what Nagato-san has just finished explaining to Suzumiya-san."
"What's that?" Mikuru asked, glancing at Koizumi sidelong.
"Okay," Haruhi said, eying Yuki across the table and trying to put everything together. "So, you're telling me that you changed the entire world to fit your ideals?"
"In part," the stoic girl answered. "It was also because I believed it was his ideal as well."
"You made a world where you were just a shy bookworm, and I went to a different school? But, why?"
"It was an error. I was not to act on ... emotions." Yuki turned her eyes to the teapot and refilled Haruhi's cup.
"Well, that gives me your cause," Haruhi said, frowning. "But you don't even explain what emotions you had, or what your goals with your changes were."
"Sympathy."
"I'd like a bit more than a one word answer!"
"My situation was sympathetic to his."
"'His'. You never call Kyon by his name ... why not?"
"His name is not Kyon." Yuki blinked impassively, her face an unreadable mystery to Haruhi.
Lifting her teacup to her lips and drinking half of it, Haruhi mumbled, "Never mind. Back to the earlier question. Why did you do it all? What 'emotion' compelled you?"
Yuki gave a tiny nod, explaining, "During the summer vacation, you caused time to loop. The events from August 17th to August 31st repeated with some minor variations fifteen thousand four hundred ninety eight times. This caused me to become ... frustrated."
"Five hundred and ninety ... four years of summer vacation?" Haruhi asked, taken aback. "I don't remember that!"
"No," Yuki agreed. "Others near you began to experience resonant familiarity with cyclical events. It caused the others to experience some distress, despite your unawareness. I retained perfect awareness because of memories transfered back to me by the Integrated Data Sentience Entity."
Haruhi mulled it over. "So, that's how long you waited before breaking the loop?"
"Negative. I was not authorized by the Integrated Data Sentience Entity to interfere, only observe."
That was an uncomfortable thought. "And you remember it all?"
"I remember it all."
"Wow. If you didn't do it, how did we get out of being stuck?"
"He did it," she answered, blinking. "On the last loop, he did something he had not yet tried in any other iteration."
Realization dawned in Haruhi's eyes, and she winced. "Seriously? His homework? That's what did it?"
"It engaged your interest to the point where another loop did not occur," Yuki answered tonelessly.
"So," she mumbled. "That's why he was so worked up about it? Well ... I didn't know. If you hadn't been-- But I guess, you were only following orders. Well, now I know why you were frustrated. Is that why you made it so you never met me?"
"After this sequence, filming of the movie began. I observed that events here distressed him again."
"Don't I know it!" Haruhi snapped. "That one ... I will never forget."
"In December, when he appeared to exhibit signs of further distress at the announcement of the SOS Brigade Christmas party, I determined the feeling to be mutual. Our situations had become sympathetic. I incorrectly inferred that he and I shared insights and would both prefer a world where you would cause neither of us distress. Acting on my emotions in this manner was an error."
"So, you mean, that time he was in a coma, he was actually in another dimension?"
After a heartbeat of hesitation, Yuki nodded.
"Okay ... I guess. That seems like going overboard, though. Changing the entire world, just because...." She swallowed and looked away, staring out the window. "So, Kyon was really that upset with me?"
"Possibly," Yuki said. "I cannot guarantee my assessments are completely accurate. For example, acting on emotion and inferring his desires incorrectly."
"Fine. In that case, it's now a priority. What can be done to make sure you won't commit another one of these 'errors'? Remember, I'm your boss now, so don't hold anything back! Even if," she hesitated, forcing the words out, as uncomfortable and frustrating as it was, "it means borrowing Kyon a little bit."
"It is related to what Fearless Leader is trying to avoid admitting to himself," Koizumi said, glancing at Mikuru over his drink. "And perhaps, Suzumiya-san as well. On that count I'm somewhat less certain."
"Avoid admitting?" she asked, bewildered, looking between the two. "What is it?"
"I have no idea what nonsense he's going to spout out right now," Kyon grumbled, lowering his face to rest on one hand.
"Um ... what?"
"Well, as subordinates," Koizumi said suddenly, turning to Mikuru, "we should work together, shouldn't we? The problem is this; as far as I understand things, Suzumiya-san has a certain ... interest ... in Fearless Leader."
"Please," Kyon interjected, "stick with the old nickname."
"Of course."
"W...well, that's not too surprising," Mikuru said. She had trouble looking Kyon in the eyes and her face reddened, but she asked, "But, Kyon-kun didn't notice when ... Suzumiya-san jumped on him in the clubroom?"
Koizumi blinked several times, then turned to stare at Kyon. "Excuse me?"
"Not what you think it was," Kyon said in irritation. "She just wanted the last page of my story for the Literature Club anthology. I had hidden it because-- You know, that's actually not important. Back to Haruhi?"
"Well, at any rate," Koizumi said, relaxing into his usual facial expression, "I hope you know what you're doing, and I'm putting my faith in you, so please handle things carefully."
Kyon bit back a retort, realizing that the esper was right. Staring into the mouth of the issue he'd been trying to defer, he asked, "What do you think I should do, then? And please, say something more serious than the advice you gave me about last August."
"It's troubling," Koizumi acknowledged. "For the time being, I can only ask you to be aware of it and hope that it can be dealt with reasonably. Moving on slightly and changing the topic to equally pressing, but only partially related matters, how should I proceed with the Organization?"
Kyon tapped his fingertips on the table thoughtfully, falling silent while the waitress returned, setting down their orders and refreshing his coffee and Mikuru's tea. After a bite of his club sandwich, once the waitress had moved on, he said, "Alright. How much trouble could you really be in with them? You haven't done anything wrong in their eyes; I would be the problem. As long as things are in control, wouldn't they be okay with it?"
"Possibly," the other boy allowed, picking at his salad. "I believe that I will have to write another letter of apology, at the very least. But even so, my 'trouble'...." He shrugged. "Being a double-agent seems unwise."
"How about an official liaison?" Kyon proposed. "If events were beyond your control -- you were outmaneuvered, effectively -- wouldn't it be fine? And this gives your Organization direct access to the brigade. Being a liaison might remove you from some circles in your Organization to protect various secrets or whatnot. That means that Haruhi would be able to see it as you being a part of the brigade more than the Organization, which I think would probably satisfy her."
Koizumi nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, she would be happy about having a connection to a shadowy organization, so that may be true enough. Well, thank you, vice commander Kyon, I will continue to put my trust in you."
Nodding, Kyon turned to Mikuru, who had finished half of her pasta and was just toying with the noodles, curling them into complex whorls on the plate. "Are you alright with this, Asahina-san? Aside from what Haruhi and your superiors say...."
"Ah," she gasped, sitting up straight and looking between the two. "Um, well ... my ... superiors and Koizumi-kun's agency don't always see eye-to-eye," she said, shifting her shoulders. "But I don't mind working with him; Koizumi-kun is a nice person."
Kyon blinked, turning a questioning glance at Koizumi, who chuckled slightly. "Um, Asahina-san, I think you may have missed the question a bit," he said.
"Um, no," she disagreed, shaking her head. "I think this is nice. There's more trust between us than there was ... and that's very likable. I feel bad that I can't say more myself because of -- of things that are classified," she said, grimacing. Shaking her head again, she gave Kyon an earnest look. "Koizumi-kun wouldn't have been able to speak of things like this so openly in front of me if it weren't for the changes that are happening. Even Nagato-san will be able to speak freely if she wants to. Suzumiya-san may be upset now, but I actually believe that once she has some time to come to grips with ... everything we have to show her and talk to her about, she'll forgive us and be quite satisfied!"
"Forgive us," Koizumi said, his smile fading. "I think Kyon's quite ahead in her regard by that measure now."
"First of all, it's not a race," Kyon said, pushing his empty plate toward the center of the table. "Secondly, she gave you the option to stay in the brigade, so I don't think she actually holds anything against you, no matter how upset she might be at the moment." He glanced to Koizumi, raising an eyebrow questioningly.
"No more instances of closed space have been created yet," the boy said, smiling. "And to be honest, the severity of the last one doesn't feel too intense yet."
"Right. So, finally, if the vice commander armband means so much to you, you can keep it and tell Haruhi you lost it. It'll save me the humiliation of having to pin that thing to my sleeve during club meetings."
Koizumi chuckled again, bowing his head to Kyon. "In that case," he said, "thank you, and I will do as you suggest. Though I think we both know that won't do more than slow her down."
Kyon nodded his agreement. "Unfortunately."
"Well, I should be going to meet with my colleagues, and then I imagine I will have a very ... eventful meeting with my superiors," Koizumi announced, rising to his feet. "I'll leave you two to discuss things as you see fit; don't worry about the bill. I'll settle it on my way out."
Mikuru and Kyon nodded their thanks at the esper as he left, and finished their drinks in silence. "Did you want to talk here, or elsewhere?" he asked her after setting down his empty coffee cup.
Smiling shyly, she suggested, "Ah ... let's go for a walk."
After class had finished, Haruhi restrained her pace to a sedate walk, keeping in step with Kyon. "I should say one thing," she said quietly. "I mean, honestly."
"Sure," he said, not even glancing toward her. "What's that?"
"Um.... I guess, all things considered, I want to say thanks for always sticking with me, even when I caused trouble. I just wish you had told me about it beforehand! I mean, if you had--"
She cut off as they reached the stairwell, a smaller first-year student wailing an apology before her compact form slammed into Kyon, nearly throwing him down the stairs. He spun and lunged, managing to save his balance just barely, hanging onto the semi-collapsed form of the other student. "Eeep!" the girl managed, held upright for the moment by his grip. "S...sorry, I-- Oh! Sempai!"
"A friend of yours?" Haruhi asked dourly, leaning close to peer into Kyon's face. "You sure seem close!"
"We've never met!" he protested, looking away from the smaller girl's features. Something about her did seem eerily familiar. "At least, not that I remember."
"Ah," the girl whimpered, eyes fixing on Haruhi. "Y...you're here, too?"
"Well, Kyon's memory may be bad," Haruhi decided, crossing her arms over her chest. "But mine's not, and I absolutely don't remember meeting you before."
"Er, I should go," the girl managed, squirming in Kyon's grip, one foot accidentally tripping the boy from his precarious step, sending both hurtling down the stairs headfirst.
Still hanging onto her shoulders, Kyon switched his stance as he fell, throwing himself down the stairs even faster, actually pushing off from the sides of the steps quickly enough to get his lower body underneath him before reaching the bottom. Unable to stop his rush, he spun in place, clutching the girl to his chest and slamming his back into the wall of the stairwell, smacking his head and barely managing to maintain his grip. He collapsed weakly into a sitting position, the first year girl sprawled across his lap.
His wind knocked out, he was unable to keep her there for questioning as she squeaked out another, "Sorry, Sempai! I'll tell you later!" before leaping to her feet and dashing away.
"Hey, you okay?" Haruhi asked, waving a hand in front of his face as he resumed breathing with a choked gasp. "Now, what was that all about?"
"Not sure," he wheezed. "Maybe she's a slider and knows different versions of us from a parallel universe."
Haruhi's eyes lit up. "I'll meet you in the clubroom," she declared, vanishing after the smaller girl.
"I was ... kidding," he groaned, rubbing the back of his head where it had hit the wall. There was no way he would catch up with her while recovering his breath. Sighing, he trudged to the club room, knocking on the door before entering.
Mikuru was already dressed in her maid outfit, and smiled at him as he entered. "Hello, Kyon-kun!" she chirped. "Tea will be just a minute."
"Ah, thanks, Asahina-san," he said, smiling and rubbing at the spot on the back of his head that had hit the wall. He glanced over, glad to see Yuki in her traditional chair, flipping through the pages of another book. He read the title, 'A Stranger in a Strange Land', then took his seat. Koizumi entered just as Mikuru finished brewing the tea.
At a glance, he didn't seem more tired than usual of late, so Kyon hazarded, "No new closed space so far today?"
"An incident occurred around the first break period of the day," Koizumi replied, shaking his head. "It was rather intense, and the Shinjin emerged rather quickly -- but thankfully it was one of the indecisive ones, so we had a relatively easy time of it. I gather that Sasaki was brought up?"
"Haruhi asked if I was dating her," Kyon answered, accepting a cup of tea from Mikuru with a quiet thanks. "Is it that obvious that mention of Sasaki was involved?"
"No, just a likely explanation," the esper said, nodding thoughtfully. "Shall we explain closed space to Suzumiya-san today, then?" he asked as he turned to the game closet and pulled the go board and stones out.
"Yeah. Right now that's the most dangerous thing," Kyon agreed. "I don't think even Haruhi would intentionally try and use that as leverage for us to remove her limitations, so we should bring that up soon."
"Oh? Was removing her limitations discussed?" Koizumi's eyebrows shot up questioningly.
"That's right. It was at lunch time."
"Very curious. I would have expected her to be irritated ... but even though I was paying especially close attention to her mood, I didn't feel any negative emotions at that time."
Kyon gave the esper a six stone advantage and raised an eyebrow of his own. "How does that work?" he asked. "I know you mentioned you were aware of her emotional state at one point, but I never learned the specifics."
"Only particularly intense emotions are felt," he answered, staring at the board and placing his first stone thoughtfully. "Even then, it's frequently vague ... it doesn't give me any clue as to where she is, for example, just whatever intense emotion is there. Naturally, this was quite awkward when I first was granted my powers, but I can usually tell my feelings apart from hers, now."
"There, there," Mikuru said soothingly, patting Koizumi's shoulder consolingly as she set his teacup before him. "I know how you must feel, Koizumi-kun."
Kyon held one hand out, palm facing toward the esper as though to deflect a beam attack. "Koizumi, in retrospect my question was a mistake. Please never clarify that last remark to me," he declared, dropping his hand to the board and absently placing a stone of his own.
"Haha, if that's your wish," Koizumi chuckled. "Understood, vice commander. Before I forget, I would also like to thank you for your assistance last night, even with your remarkably ... dramatic entrance."
Without batting an eyelash, Kyon whisked the letter from his future self and a mechanical pencil from his bag on the table. "What time did I arrive?"
"Hmm? It would have been at seven forty, almost precisely," Koizumi answered. "How is it that you don't-- Ah, a future instance of yourself?"
"Seems I'll be pretty busy yesterday," he replied nodding.
"We're going back to yesterday?" Mikuru asked, blinking in surprise. "But yesterday you told me you were getting tired of time traveling!"
"Did I? Just after six o'clock, right?"
"Um, that's right. Er ... is it alright for me to tell you that?"
He scribbled another note on the paper. "I should be fine with this," he sighed, putting the note away. "Now, Haruhi ran off in search of--"
The door slammed open with a booming crash. "Caught her!" Haruhi cheered, shoving the first year student into Mikuru, who dropped her empty tea tray and barely managed to keep herself and the smaller girl from falling over.
"Eep," the first year girl squeaked, her face pressed into Mikuru's chest. "Aaugh! I'm in trouble! Someone help me!"
Kyon looked at the slumbering form of Mikuru, leaning heavily against him on their usual park bench, not far from Yuki's apartment. "Asahina-san?" he called, not to the girl at his side.
"Hehe, am I too predictable?" the older version of Mikuru asked from behind him.
"I suppose that may be the case," he agreed, shooting an annoyed glance over his shoulder. "What do I need to do, then?"
"Ah ... come on a walk with me," Mikuru said. "A friend is waiting to take care of her as soon as we go."
"Someone I trust?" he asked.
"I shouldn't say," she answered, smiling mischievously.
"Lovely," he sighed, climbing to his feet. "Lead the way then, Asahina-san."
Her smile faded a bit, and she frowned worriedly. "Is Kyon-kun angry with me?" she asked, seemingly to herself as she walked down the street, back toward the cafe he had just recently vacated
"I just don't like how you treat your younger self," he muttered, falling into step beside Mikuru as they walked away.
"I have to act within the guidelines exemplified by IATT bulletin 1147 concerning similarly important persons of significance," she answered, frowning. "And respectfully, Kyon-kun, if my younger self didn't experience what she did, she could not have grown into me."
He jolted suddenly, looking at her sidelong and allowing a sad smile to come to his face. "I never thought about that," he admitted. "I suppose it's all predetermined events to you, then. And if no one else can...." He sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry. This probably has nothing to do with why you decided to speak to me."
"It's part of why I'm here," she countered. "And no, our discussion here isn't predetermined."
"What does it mean to be predetermined, then?" he asked, rubbing his chin. "I'm guessing it's just if it's been recorded? As in, if there's no record, then the 'unknown' automatically becomes undetermined?"
"That's absolutely the case! I'm impressed at how quickly you grasped that."
"I get bad grades," he said flatly. "I'm not an idiot."
Mikuru stuck her tongue out and mimed a blow to her own head. "I don't mean to say that Kyon-kun isn't smart," she said, giggling apologetically. "I mean ... these are complex theories. Some can't even be expressed in words. But you understand the important and practical risks, even when you pretend you don't understand the foundations."
"Now you're flattering me," he retorted, unable to keep some color from rising to his cheeks at her comment anyway. "But, thanks." It surprised him that he could easily speak to the adult Mikuru when he stopped to think about it.
"Anyway, I'm here to explain to you why you have authority over my younger self."
"So, it runs out," he surmised, smirking at her. "Since you don't seem to be my subordinate."
"You're my subordinate," she said with a wide wink.
"Am I?" he asked, surprised. "I thought we just happened to work together when it was required."
"Well ... I like to pretend," she said, sticking her tongue out again. "Truthfully, despite what my younger self told you, our theory of projection back into time ran into an unexpected complication. That is to say ... if you consider moments to be flat portraits, like frames of animation or film, and we make a projection onto a single frame, it's fleeting, effectively non-existent."
"Now you've lost me," he mumbled.
"After enough time, even a projected image leaves a mark."
"Like it's burnt into a projector screen?"
"Aha! See? You understand! Even then, there could be other factors, such as Suzumiya-san herself ... but ultimately, even if it doesn't last forever my younger self makes more of an impression on the timeline than I realized at the time. In fact, it is this act, following your instructions and drawing even further into the local time planes that allow us to develop more advanced theories and better understanding of time travel."
He nodded soberly. "I'm not sure I understand that implicitly, but I believe I get the general idea," he allowed.
"And so, I know you're a trustworthy person, and I'd know that even if it weren't predetermined."
"I see," he said, frowning. "I seem to have signed myself up for a lot of responsibilities this time around. Okay, I understand that I help you out ... or I will, at least. So maybe the 'why' is explained. I even know your motives ... but can you tell me anything about what will require whatever time travel is needed to demonstrate your theory?"
"Well ... I can break all kinds of classifications, but I have to say I shouldn't mention anything too specific," she said. "If you do something, and then I tell you what that thing is before you've done it ... that can stress time and damage causality. But I can tell you a little, something that doesn't break any rules because you've probably considered it already."
"Other espers, that smirking bastard, and the Sky Canopy Domain?" he asked.
"And of course, Nagato's superiors," she added, biting her lower lip. "There's a very specific reason for us to disregard so many rules and give you carte blanche with time travel ... and it's not just because you can be trusted. Without the ability to define an event as predetermined, our precious discovery may never have come about. Our expanded realization could be taken away from us, because they pursue their own goals.
"That being said, there's still the possibility of them changing our timeline and moving the future we live in into a parallel track ... something that may as well not even happen. So, you're trusted with this power to preserve our hopes and dreams. I apologize for putting so much responsibility on your shoulders."
"It's only half the burden of dealing with Haruhi," he answered after a moment. "But that does explain to me why it was even possible for us to defy them as much as we have. I didn't think they were as stupid as it seemed."
"Ah, see? You understand perfectly," she said brightly.
"Mmm. Is there anything you're allowed to tell me about the smirking bastard?"
"Ah ... that person.... He is not likable. But I can't tell you much because I don't know much. To us, he is a criminal, someone attempting to divert the time-stream, much like Nagato's superiors at the moment. It would be quite troublesome if they were to join forces, but ... I shouldn't speak further of that."
"Well," he said, shrugging. "Is there anything else I should know?"
Down a distant street, he heard the squeal of tires on pavement, then a thunderous crash. He turned his head to look, but found his face being turned back by Mikuru's hand. "Pay no mind," she said, somewhat sadly. "I'll give you something nice to go home and forget about this for now. Get plenty of rest tonight, okay?"
Before he could answer, she drew closer to him and his sense was swept away with the sensation of her lips touching his. She released him with a giggle and pointed him down the road to his home, whispering, "I've missed doing that with you, Kyon-kun."
By the time his senses recovered enough to try and question her, she had been long gone.