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 licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License (and it's possible that this fic technically is, too; seems fair to me). Additional characters are borrowed from Higurashi, which is the creation of Ryukishi07.
Notes: Count the tropes! Save, collect, trade for swell prizes!
"File K:3453.3.1/2011.4.17"
"I probably raised more questions than answers. Maybe that's for the best, though? An inquisitive mind is a prepared mind, and that's desirable ... I think.... But, saying that, I have the impression that he understands the situation better than I do, ultimately. Why would that be?"
"[CLASSIFIED]" -- Peraea Mons T.E.S.A. Dataplume
From the safety of her borrowed office, Akasaka Miyuki studied the growing stacks of paperwork she'd collected. Her operatives -- handpicked NPA agents, naturally, since she wasn't certain how far the police corruption went -- had done well. It wasn't much of a lead, and she'd really hoped it would lead directly to Kyon more quickly, so she could see how everything had tied together....
But instead, she'd put a tail on the Tamaru brothers. They had split up, but Yutaka had gone to an outdoor cafe downtown to meet a woman, where there was too much noise to try and overhear. That woman was an interesting anomaly, as well. Some time about four years in the past, she had abruptly quit her job and begun to travel. Her trail had become increasingly sporadic as time went on, and she got better at covering her tracks.
Not that files on her didn't exist. Sonou Mori, a graduate of Kyoto University, then working as an intern at a law firm in Kyoto before her sudden departure into the unknown. There weren't any open cases on her, surprisingly, but that behavior stuck out more than enough for Miyuki, especially when she was meeting with one of the officers that Miyuki was certain was corrupt.
So a tail had been put on her, as well. Mori's driver, a still-unidentified older gentleman, was able to lose the tail, making the effort somewhat moot -- until watchers trying to observe the Tsuruya family caught a glimpse of her joining the family head and some of his advisors on the way to a clandestine meeting.
From the Tamaru brothers, to Mori, to the Tsuruya family head -- the chain was clear enough. Miyuki wasn't satisfied with the idea of exposing it yet, though. It was just too needlessly complex; the Tsuruya branch of the Yamaguchi-gumi were not stupid, they wouldn't set up extra steps in a chain of command if they didn't need to. And they wouldn't allow something as obvious as bribery to link directly to a family head. Some convenient underling would meet directly with the corrupt officers for the payoffs, leaving the patriarch's hands ostensibly clean.
Even without her direct instructions, the field agents thought that Mori and the Tsuruya patriarch together were worth monitoring. Though it came with a melodramatic account of the agent in question belly-crawling beneath an abandoned van to get a good angle for the shotgun microphone and camera, their efforts were rewarded. Aside from the grainy, almost impossible to see video, there was incredibly clear audio.
And even then, there was a single very good shot of Mori stepping into a pool of light, so that much was confirmed.
The audio was significantly less incriminating than she would have liked ... but it did point out that 'Kyon' was there, and named another associate, the previously unknown 'Nagato Yuki'.
Still.... Given her dual agendas of exposing the gun smuggling operation and investigating police corruption, all of her evidence at the moment helped the latter more than the former.
Although ... if she had this Fujiya Masao character arrested, he'd admitted he did know who the supplier of the weapons was. Another branch of the Sumiyoshi-rengo, but if he could be brought in on other pretenses, that information might let him plea-bargain his way out. It would be very difficult to persuade him to turn against his organization, but it would be possible. If she arranged for the Tamaru brothers to make the arrest, that might work even better.
There was the nagging possibility that this could spark violent conflict between the Sumiyoshi-rengo and the Yamaguchi-gumi, however. Normally, she wouldn't really be concerned about boryokudan groups fighting one-another, but there were, well, basically children involved. It wouldn't do to end up getting Kyon injured or worse before she could find out what strange conspiracy he was involved in.
Her fingertips drummed the stack of papers she was using as a mouse pad thoughtfully. She couldn't really afford to reveal what she learned. If it got back to the Tamaru brothers, they would undoubtedly inform Mori -- and once they were aware that Miyuki was trying to find them, they would become much more cautious.
Solving the gun smuggling operation was still going to be the best option, because then she could at least make it look like that was the only concern of her investigation. Straightening, she decided she had the answer.
It would take time to set up, but all she really needed was for Fujiya Masao or his underlings to make a mistake. And that, she was confident, would not take long. Since he was already in custody, she decided that she would start with Watanabe Daichi. And while the Tamaru brothers were busy trying to expose the gun smuggling operation, her NPA operatives would double-check their recent investigative records. They were, after all, the same officers who responded to Kyon's first ... altercation with Yamane Jun.
She smiled softly. "If it were easy, it wouldn't really be fun, now, would it?" she mused.
After changing back into his school uniform, as he didn't think to bring a spare change of clothes, Kyon left Tsuruya and Yuki at the palatial estate, confident that the time traveler he was seeking would know where to find him. Sure enough, a block and a half away, wandering in the general direction of his own home, he heard the cautious footsteps of Mikuru's older self approaching from a side-street. He stopped beneath a streetlight and nodded at her wordlessly.
In response, she gave him an incredibly bright smile, waving for him to follow her. Still thinking of the day he'd had so far, he rummaged through his pockets until he found the incredibly worn note he'd sent himself originally. "I don't think I've ever put anything off as long as this," he mused.
"Perhaps summer vacation homework?" Mikuru asked, still smiling.
"I suppose," he sighed, shaking his head. "I need to write myself the original note I'll be leaving with Haruhi." He had blank paper in his schoolbag, but the envelope and sticker would be different matters.
Mikuru nodded, gesturing down the street, where a corner market glowed in the late evening darkness.
"Of course," he allowed, smirking. She followed him quietly as he stepped into the store, finding an envelope of the proper size, and a package of stickers with one of the dour looking cats that he vaguely remembered from opening the original note. He could give the extra stickers to his sister.
The clerk mumbled through the exchange, his eyes constantly going to the woman at Kyon's side. Kyon was mildly tempted to grumble about it, but let it slide; if she hadn't worked so hard on acclimating him to her presence, he'd be pretty stunned, too.
After getting everything, he hastily scrawled the same notes to his past self that he had received, and sealed it up in the envelope, putting everything extra into his schoolbag. "Right," he said, nodding. "Now ... back to that Sunday?"
Mikuru checked her watch and nodded. "If you don't mind?" she asked, reaching a hand out to him.
He glanced around -- they were alone on the street again -- then took her hand, closing his eyes. He felt that same disconcerting sensation, and when he opened his eyes, it was bright daylight, the pair of them standing in a park. A heartbeat later, a pair of children burst through a pair of hedges in their game of tag, oblivious to the older pair.
Fighting back his instinct to check the sun's position in the sky, Kyon turned his attention to his wristwatch. "Okay," he said, frowning. "By my notes ... we're about two and a half hours early."
"Our past selves are speaking with Ha-- Suzumiya-san right now," Mikuru agreed. "I thought it might be nice to chat for a bit. Or, if you haven't eaten yet, perhaps we have time for that? I'd love to treat you, somewhere...." She giggled, shrugging apologetically. "But I haven't any money, right now."
Thinking back to that long ago present day, Kyon narrowed his eyes. "You wanted your younger self to avoid the cafe we usually go to, so that you'd know where you could go without running into her. That's why she was spaced out ... you were giving her instructions to avoid it -- right?" he asked.
Mikuru blushed and looked away. "I couldn't have known that when I was her," she said, sounding apologetic. "But, as my younger self, I did get the instructions to avoid our usual cafe. I still don't really know the why, but I gave the same instructions I received; if we don't go, then it becomes an entirely frivolous order. I'll never know if it was important or not."
He frowned, mulling over the situation. While Mikuru's younger self insisted (and Haruhi agreed) that he was 'good at time travel', he would be astounded if Mikuru's older self didn't have a significantly improved understanding of it. "That may be true," he allowed. "Now I'm trying to figure out where the instruction originated from. What caused you to send that message back?"
"Actually," she allowed, giggling, "I haven't yet. Even though it's been received, I decided I wanted to see what happened to make me send the instruction before I sent it. I worry about the effect preceding the cause."
"I guess," he sighed. "Well, let's go, then...."
"Okay!" she said brightly, falling into step beside him. "Is something bothering you?"
"Just.... It seems to me that, despite it all, you have a very linear view of time," he admitted. "Or maybe I just have a poor understanding, so it seems that way."
"Well, even with the ability to move back and forth through concurrent time planes--" She cut herself off and looked amused. "Actually, Kyon-kun, tell me ... how do you view time, if not in a linear fashion?"
"I try not to think about it too hard, really," he said absently, scanning through his notes to himself before pocketing the worn paper. "I mean, for the most part, it's just kind of a ... I don't know ... a great ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey ... stuff." He shrugged. "It works, right? For all the credit your younger self gives me on 'understanding' this...." He trailed off again, realizing that for whatever reason, Mikuru looked pale and was wobbling slightly. "Ah, Asahina-san? Sorry -- was that too much? I don't mean to disrespect what you've learned, or anything--"
"N...no, no," she said, forcing a smile, though she still seemed partially dazed. "That, um, was a very profound thing you just said."
He wasn't sure that was true, but decided to leave well enough alone. "Well, the cafe, then?" he asked.
"Y...yes," she agreed. "Um. You know.... Ah, I shouldn't say anything else.... You're so clever, I might give away something I shouldn't!"
He scratched the back of his neck and chuckled. "You're trying to flatter me," he accused, grinning.
"Not hard enough, it seems," she returned.
He was about to say something in reply as they crossed the street, approaching the cafe near the train station, when a familiar voice called out, "Is that Kyon?"
Looking up from Mikuru, he blinked, shaken to see someone he had been trying very hard not to think about at all.
While she wasn't one who would consider herself given to melancholy, even Sasaki could admit that life frequently became dull. She didn't let the lack of interesting things slow her down; where the events of the world tended toward the static and immutable, there were still interesting people. Take, for instance her new friends.
She'd only met them recently, and they all seemed to have ulterior motives, but she doubted they meant ill, in any case, regardless of behavior.
First was the bubbly and cheerful Kyouko, though the girl was prone to occasional, surprisingly bitter mood swings. There was a riddle there, and Sasaki was good at learning people. She couldn't read them instantly, but she was analytical, so once she gathered enough information on someone, she could deduce almost everything about them. In the meantime, while waiting to learn enough to understand Kyouko, the other girl was generally friendly, managing to steer clear of most of her angry episodes, or quell them quickly when they arose.
Then there was Suou Kuyou, who spoke very rarely. Her expression rarely changed at all, except -- eerily -- to mimic Kyouko or Sasaki herself. Obviously she must be intelligent, and probably fairly well off, as she went to Kouyouen academy. Very interesting, and a bigger mystery, but also a more difficult one to learn, as rarely as she communicated.
Finally there was -- well, he was insisting he use the alias 'Fujiwara' for the time being. That was odd, too ... she wondered what it said about her that her friends were such strange people, but they were interesting, and considering the known bounds of the world, it was worth investigating. They all had their own stories -- bits of nonsense that they said, she assumed to amuse her. Implausible bits of nothing, like Fujiwara's traveling through time, or Kyouko's insistence that Sasaki was a positive influence on reality as a whole.
She knew better than that; she was a positive influence only on people she met and spent time with. Given enough time, she was certain she could help all of her friends -- but, really, that was the limit of her positive influence.
Take one of her earliest friends -- Kyon, since his own name just seemed too noble for him. He was a clever but lazy daydreamer when they first met. They ended up attending the same cram school and walking together enough that they naturally began to chat. She wished they'd stayed in closer contact once he went on to high school, but that was fine. In the time she knew him he'd slowly changed from an overly energetic fan of espers, aliens -- shounen manga stuff, really. But he'd finally learned to give up on that and become more introspective and thoughtful about the surrounding world.
She did worry a bit that things between them had not ended as neatly as, perhaps, they should have.... It did not escape her notice what specifically prompted him to quiet down and think about things more, when she looked back....
For a few weeks running, as they talked, he would start the discussion by bringing up yet another impossible thing. Almost always they were plot devices or major powers from characters of the manga he was reading. She had happily deconstructed everything -- super human strength, improbably sharp swords, time travel ... the whole list. It was quite fun, and he didn't seem to mind that she had the last word in every discussion.
Which was for the best, really, since she realized most people would become annoyed with constant defeat. He had been quiet for a while, a few days, actually, since his last ditch suggestion about the existence of alternate realities. She conceded she couldn't prove that they didn't exist, but challenged him to provide proof that they did. After a while, he'd dropped it, mulling something else over.
That was when she was absolutely certain he was getting his ideas from manga. He sat quietly in class, his chin propped up with one hand as he rested his elbow on the desk and stared slightly away from her, blankly toward the window. "Setting aside the particulars of gimmicks or the like," he said, almost a sigh, "what about the core premise of a story? There's always the concept that 'with enough will, I can overcome anything', but even that derives from a desire to do something in particular. Maybe it's friendship, or maybe.... Well, say what you will about anything else, but what the enduring ideal of love conquering all?"
She'd laughed softly, and cheerfully deconstructed that, too.
And then he hadn't brought anything else up for her to talk about to him anymore, and not long after that, cram school was over, so they didn't spend quite as much time together. Sure, he still listened when she spoke, and he didn't take any measures to avoid her in the slightest. But she wasn't ignorant ... she could read between the lines. Or, more honestly, she couldn't read him, but she'd learned him well enough to deduce what had happened. It would have been impossible to miss the fact that he listened to her, and looked at her, even when she wasn't talking ... but he said nothing, unless she spoke first.
Yet ... by the time she'd found a way to put things into words and try to talk to him again, it was too late. Middle school had ended, and he'd vanished. They weren't going to the same school, either. He'd chosen Kitago, even after he'd asked which school she was going to. So one day in March she called his home, and his younger sister cheerfully told her that he was out seeing a movie with another girl, someone called 'Miyokichi'.
And that was that.
She wouldn't repeat that same mistake and carelessly drive away her new, also interesting friends. Didn't want to deal with more weeks of troubled nights and lost sleep. It bothered her especially that she couldn't find a logical reason for it ... not one that wasn't so condescending to Kyon that she could admit she wasn't being honest to herself, anyway. Something about that still bothered her, and as little as she wanted to admit it, made her feel guilty. Why could she learn other people so well, and still not understand herself, sometimes?
Today, however, fortune smiled upon her. Fujiwara, stepping outside of his usual attitude of 'arrogantly aloof' gruffly insisted that they had to go to the cafe. Kyouko gave him a flat-eyed stare and said he was going to pay for their meals. After grumbling and checking his pockets, the supposed time traveler agreed.
As they were walking down the street, her eyes caught a familiar figure in an unfamiliar coat. The weather seemed too warm for the garment, in her mind, and he was wearing his school uniform beneath it on a weekend, which was somewhat interesting, but the important thing was the fact that the figure was none other than the interesting person she had just been thinking of. "Is that Kyon?" she called out to him, smiling brightly and waving one hand. "It's me, Sasaki!"
"Huh," Fujiwara snorted. "No dolls this time, but--" He cut off abruptly, giving a strange look at the other boy.
Kyon froze on hearing her voice, and Sasaki wondered what it was that made him look on-guard. He wasn't extremely expressive, but he was undoubtedly wary, and she hadn't seen that look on him in a long while.... At his side, an extremely attractive young woman in a dark miniskirt and white blouse raised one hand to her mouth, her eyes wide and round with shock. Sasaki closed the distance until she was only a few meters away, Kyouko at her side, and Kuyou behind her. Fujiwara was further to one side, one hand in his pocket.
"Oh, this is convenient," Kyouko remarked, crossing her arms over her chest. "None of those other people around."
Sasaki didn't really know what Kyouko had against Kyon's other friends ... except to think that, maybe, Kyouko had something of a crush on that Itsuki boy. He was pretty enough, but.... Well, her opinion on love had already been written out in large letters.
"Sasaki," Kyon allowed, inclining his head a short distance. "I did not expect to run into you, here."
She beamed a smile at him, slightly amused to see the young woman -- older than Kyon, though -- slide back a step and look on the verge of hiding behind him for cover. "Well, we do come here from time to time," Sasaki said, gesturing to the nearby cafe. "It's conveniently located to the train station! So, who's your friend?" The more she thought about it, the more familiar the older woman seemed. Like she had seen her -- or someone very like her -- before.
"So, Asahina Mikuru," Fujiwara said, grinning. "Still a slave to your own machinations?"
That was just nonsense, Sasaki decided. Asahina Mikuru was younger, but also one of Kyon's friends. This woman must be a sister -- or maybe her mother, with an incredible familial resemblance. Such things happened, after all.... Still, she had a hard time seeing what the boy's issue was with this woman. How did they really know one-another, anyway?
"Yes, well," Kyon said dryly, his eyes flicking across Sasaki's friends in turn. She saw anger for Fujiwara, disgust for Kyouko, and wariness for Kuyou. For herself, strangely, she wasn't sure what he felt.... What had her friends done to engender such a response from Kyon? Even when he had been excitable, he wasn't given to bearing grudges or getting angry.
"That's ... not any of your business," the woman finally said. "You know well enough what I have to do."
"So you believe," Fujiwara retorted. "I know better."
"Um ... not to be rude, but I don't particularly like being completely excluded from the conversation," Sasaki noted. "If you two have something to discuss, Asahina-san, Fujiwara-kun, then maybe you wouldn't mind if the rest of us went somewhere to talk...?"
"No, no thank you," Asahina (it couldn't really be Mikuru) said quickly, shaking her head and looking at Fujiwara nervously.
Fujiwara spat a curse and glanced around. "Well, you're the wrong one, anyway. In that case," he said, "since the brat and your dolls are missing, I'll go take care of something else ... 'Kyon'. We will meet again."
Turning on his heel and marching away, Fujiwara departed. Sasaki frowned ... that was a bit extreme for him. They were absolutely going to have words about that later. Kyouko sighed, shaking her head. "I suppose I shouldn't think that he's infallible.... He said he was certain that Kyon would be with that other friend of yours -- what's his name, again?"
"Well, you sure seem to be trying to keep close tabs on me," Kyon remarked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sasaki, forgive me for saying this, but I sometimes wonder at your taste in friends. I still haven't forgotten your last prank, Tachibana."
"I-- T...that was an accident," Kyouko grumped, her face reddening. "I was mislead!"
"By the same person you just admitted you shouldn't think was infallible?" Kyon asked.
Despite the situation, Sasaki couldn't help but smile. He'd learned his debating tactics from her, after all. "That all aside," she said, before tensions could escalate, "I'm not clear on what this prank was."
"Just a kidnapping, with unknown intent. Say, what was that chemical that you used, anyway? Was it chloroform? I always wondered where people would get such things."
That wasn't something to joke around with!
"It was ether," Kyouko mumbled, looking away. "From a hospital."
Despite herself, Sasaki raised one hand to her mouth and stared at Kyouko in consternation. "Y...you're serious about that?" she asked. "You ... really tried to kidnap Asahina-san's sister?"
"That is ... classified," the woman decided after a moment, fidgeting nervously with her bracelet.
Shifting her shoulders uncomfortably, Kyouko nodded. "I was talked into it by...." She looked up abruptly and gave Kyon a very hard stare. "I was talked into it, okay? It wasn't.... I regret what was done, and I wish I hadn't; really, if that hadn't happened, we might be able to be friends, and there's ... there's quite a lot I'd like to talk to you about!"
Kyon looked distant for a moment, considering something, then finally said, "It's not my place to forgive you for what happened. I still have issues with 'Fujiwara', whatever his name really is. You can use the excuse that he goaded you into it, but that doesn't change the fact that you did it. Even so, let us table that discussion for now. We can talk about this the next time we meet, but now is not the best time for me. Can we leave it at that?"
Sasaki felt that was reasonable enough ... especially if this nonsense about Kyouko trying to kidnap one of Kyon's friends was true! No wonder he seemed to dislike Fujiwara and Kyouko so much. "Yes," Kyouko quickly agreed. Too quickly, in Sasaki's mind ... it seemed almost desperate. Too much, too fast ... she needed time to study Kyouko further and find out what exactly was going on.
"I had no idea," Sasaki said, apologetically. "Ah, I'm sorry, Kyon. I didn't expect that things could turn out quite like this?"
He waved a hand, shaking his head. "Well, things between us used to be much more casual," he sighed, "and ... I don't have any issues with you, Sasaki."
"Ah ... if it's not too much, could we maybe still spend some time together?" she asked cautiously. "We used to be such good friends -- it would be good to talk!"
"I don't think I'm up for that today," he sighed. Asahina nodded quickly from his side, giving a weak, apologetic smile.
"Kyon, busy?" Sasaki teased, smiling.
"Yeah," he agreed, nodding. "Let's see ... I have to have a conversation with past instances of several people, rescue an heiress from twelve boryokudan thugs, arrange for an alien artifact to be delivered, and ... hum, tomorrow is Tuesday, so I really should study for that math test, too." The woman at his side stiffened, for some reason, giving him a very sharp look and gasping slightly.
Sasaki giggled at his obvious evasion. Him wanting to avoid her friends for the moment really was understandable. "That's fine, but at some point in the future, then?"
"Well, sure," he allowed.
She was about to wave farewell when Kuyou stepped around her, gliding in smooth motions, somehow seeming as though she was passing through a great deal of resistance at the same time. Her long hair hung behind her in a cloak, and she tilted her head slightly to one side, pronouncing, "You _________ me here."
Kyon looked at her curiously, and Asahina gasped quietly. Kyouko looked mildly interested, but not very impressed. "I don't follow?" he asked cautiously.
"Um, sometimes it seems she's not much for words," Sasaki admitted.
Stopping close enough to reach out and touch Kyon, Kuyou straightened up and peered into his face. Her height was short enough that Sasaki could still see the top half of his face over her head. "Beautiful eyes," Kuyou remarked.
"Um, thanks," Kyon managed uncomfortably, face reddening slightly. "I think. Say, are you affiliated with the.... That is, how do you relate to the...."
He hesitated, and the woman behind him seized one of his arms, shaking her head quickly. "K...Kyon-kun," she said warily, "you must be careful."
"Even so," he said, frowning. "Alright, then. Um, Suou-san, what is your relation to Nagato?"
Kuyou leaned her head to one side again, and despite herself, Sasaki took a few steps to the side to see the short girl's face. Even though her face was completely impassive, her eyes wide, Sasaki had the impression that she was deep in contemplation. "____ thought to matter."
Kyon's brow furrowed in concentration. Kuyou stared intently. "I am _________ to you," she said. Seemingly satisfied with what she had conveyed, though her expression had not changed a single iota, she straightened up again, then blinked languidly, so slowly that Sasaki blinked twice in the same amount of time. "We are not _______."
"I can't honestly say I understand all of that," Kyon said hesitantly, giving the girl an uncertain, cautious smile, "but ... for whatever reason, I don't feel malicious intent from you, Suou-san."
Instantly, Kuyou adopted a smile so identical that Sasaki had to dubiously admit that she was impressed. Still, she was nothing if not logical. "You know, Kyon," she said, ignoring a brief chain of illogical thoughts through the back of her head, "I think that Kuyou-chan has a crush on you!"
Asahina giggled, hiding her face in her hands. Kyouko snorted. Kuyou merely kept smiling the same way, even when Kyon shifted expression to give Sasaki a dubious look. "Anyway," he said, shaking his head, "I'm afraid I've got some errands to run ... so, take care, Suou-san, Sasaki, Tachibana."
"Thanks for the benefit of the doubt," Tachibana mumbled.
Though she still looked nervous, when Asahina stopped giggling, she gave a nod of her own. Sasaki couldn't help but think that the encounter could have gone better ... even with Kyon joking as much as he had, he seemed to be taking it seriously. Were his comments deliberate to try and appear less agitated than he had been?
Well ... she'd give him space for a while. Perhaps in a few days she would call, and make a small joke of her own. He pretended he was a time traveler, so she could ask if he remembered her.
He nodded again, sticking his hands into his pockets and walking away with Asahina, who glanced back over her shoulder nervously periodically.
Kuyou and Kyouko fell into step beside her, with Kyon and Asahina walking the other way. "Should we try and find Fujiwara?" Sasaki asked.
"I want to beat the free meal that guy owes us out of him, now," Kyouko grumbled. "Bah, making me look so bad in front of Kyon.... Say, you like him, right?"
"I think he's very interesting," Sasaki replied. "We're good friends."
"Right," Kyouko said, nodding. "So, since we're friends, too, it's bad for he and I to be on bad terms."
"Aha, so, you like him too, then?" Sasaki asked, trying not to laugh at her friend. "My, my.... He certainly seems to have a way with girls!" Though, she would have thought he was dating that Haruhi character that her friends got worked up about, the last time she'd seen him previously. Something about that bothered her....
She decided she'd put it off figuring that out until she could solve more of the mysteries behind her friends.
Kyouko made a strange noise in response, looking as staggered as if she'd been punched. "W...wha...? No, no, nothing like that!" she protested, shaking her head. "Well.... I suppose I would have more influence with him if that were the case, but that doesn't seem respectable."
"How exactly did Fujiwara convince you to get caught up in something as devious as ... well ... kidnapping?" Sasaki asked. As well as to wonder how someone with Kyouko's frame could pull it off. Asahina Mikuru was a bit larger, and she'd expect that girl to be able to fight free of her friend, if it came down to it. "Really, this is quite interesting, so I'd like to know more!" To say nothing of the fact that, if it was Fujiwara's idea, she'd really expect an explanation for that, too!
She glanced back to Kuyou, but the dark-haired girl had already sunk back into her state of seeming indifference to the outside world. One mystery at a time ... and Kyouko let her ignore that nagging thought in the back of her head.
"Oh, boy," Kyon sighed, rubbing his forehead with one hand and looking around. "Um, I don't mean to sound cheap, but how about going to get some fast food? I'd like to avoid being overheard by waitresses or something."
"Yes," Mikuru agreed, nodding, not meeting his eyes. "Um, I'm terribly sorry ... I didn't know that it would work out that way -- that we'd meet Sasaki."
"I think I get it," he said glibly, angling toward the WcDonalds down the street, Mikuru trailing behind him, sticking very close. "It's more fun to live in the present than go to the past ... but when we must, we must. Though, I suppose it might be fun to time travel if you could do it without obligations or requirements, just to see things no one else from your time has seen."
"Yes," she said, offering a pained smile. "That would be nicer."
They didn't speak further as he opened the door for her, gesturing her into the restaurant, except to order. After taking their trays to a corner table with no one nearby to overhear, they ate quietly. Kyon only finished about half of his meal, remembering that he had a fight coming up.... Expanded appetite or not, he didn't want a full stomach heading into that.
Mikuru likewise didn't seem able to finish what she had ordered, just doodling on her sandwich wrapper with ketchup, using a french fry stylus.
"I'm confused about one thing, here," he said, frowning.
She looked up, blinking at him and dropping the sliver of potato. "What's that?" she asked. "If I can help you, I'd like to...."
He nodded, understanding that if the undesirable 'classified information' came up, she couldn't answer his questions at all. "Thanks for that, then," he allowed. "But, later today, you're going to talk to my past self and tell him that the event is not predetermined. Looking back at it now, it seems to me that it actually is."
"So you say," she countered with a smile, much of her apprehensive demeanor vanishing. "However, from my perspective, that's not so. It's possible that it's predetermined, but it's not absolute. I do recall that my past self became unconscious briefly ... but that's not the first time it happened, so it doesn't seem suspicious to my past self. That's, ah, though this is a bit embarassing.... That unassuming naivete is part of what made me a good candidate. I could interfere with my own past and not think too much of it, so I wouldn't have to worry very much about paradoxes, as long as we never meet."
"A paradox could still exist, but you'd just not be aware of it," he objected, frowning.
She shrugged, smile widening. "And that's really the most important part. If I'm not aware of a paradox, and neither is the T-- Ah.... That is, neither are the other people from my time, then I can affect a minor change to the past that doesn't alter the known present."
He pondered that. It made a certain degree of sense ... but he frequently was entirely aware of what his future self would be doing. Hell, once he'd even talked to his past self as his future self. In a roundabout way, Mikuru was saying he wasn't naive, but then, wouldn't that logically suggest he'd be a bad time traveler? Maybe it had to do with how far from the future she had come, and it was inherently more dangerous for them....
It suddenly struck him, something Yuki had commented on not that long ago. "Nagato mentioned that my temporal entanglement kept the IDSE from interfering with me," he said. "So that means ... at least right now ... somehow, I'm actually still important to them. That means that this paradox issue is a problem for them, if they do anything to me?"
"Exactly right!" she said, nodding. "Now, since it's a question of perspective, to clarify further, predetermined events aren't simply things that you know in advance will happen. If those things change, your awareness of them would change, too. So, inconsequential things could change easily -- Yuki-chan could tell you any number of things that happened during that endless August that were different, but had no influence on things. So, predetermined events are things that are required to happen to make the future that you are in come about, in addition to events that seem trivial but you know should pass."
He thought about it for a minute, tapping one finger on the table and taking a sip of his soda.
But then ... that meant that even though she didn't realize it, Mikuru might be wrong. Then it occurred to him that perhaps it was predetermined that whatever car crash his past self had heard before that first kiss from Mikuru was something he didn't get involved in. In fact, her kiss might have been intended to make sure that his past self didn't do something.
It was really just too much to think about, he decided. "In that case, since it's not predetermined, precisely, what are you planning on doing?" he asked.
"Well," she said, touching a fingertip to her lips thoughtfully. "I'd like to speak with your past self. Probably from your perspective, this seems a bit paradoxical and predetermined ... but my younger self remembers speaking with you. So, it would be necessary for you to assume the place of your past self in my past self's memory. It should be good practice for you!"
He nodded doubtfully, still thinking he was best off not worrying about it further. With a time traveler, why had such awkward oddity happened? Shouldn't things have gone more smoothly? He glanced down at himself, frowning at a sudden realization. He was wearing his school uniform and the greatcoat that Mikuru's younger self hadn't made for him, yet ... those things would have stuck out. He was sure she would have noticed that.
He had wordlessly followed her out of the restaurant, and toward where he thought their past selves would be conversing on a park bench. "This isn't what I was wearing when I met your past self," he commented, frowning.
"What?" Mikuru asked, blinking in surprise before entering the park. After a moment she smiled, shaking her head. "Oh, that's right. Why don't you," she made a vague gesture with one hand, "just use the stealth function that Nagato added?"
"Oh, yeah, that old thing," he replied, rolling his eyes mentally. "Now, how did that work again?"
"The controls for it are on your phone?" she asked, giggling. "Really ... did you forget, already?"
"You know me," he said apologetically, shrugging, and flipping through functions on his PDA. Why on earth would his phone have the ability to control his coat? Well ... it was data from a being like Yuki or Asakura, so it must be possible.... He blinked when he found a program in the utilities folder labeled, obviously enough, 'stealth function'. Opening it revealed a short list of options. "Not delinquent-mode," he said, trying not to laugh at the entry, "or invisible, or 'current' ... umm...." The final option was 'scan' so he chose that, stopping in the bushes with Mikuru in the park.
After a moment of fumbling, he pointed the phone cautiously at his past self and Mikuru as they approached the bench. His PDA chirped and displayed a high quality rendering of Mikuru's outfit. He blanched and canceled back to the scan menu, while Mikuru's older self stifled her laughter at his side. A second attempt scanned his past self successfully, and then he thumbed through the menu and chose 'activate'.
Disappointingly, there was no physical sensation to go along with the change. He could see that he appeared to be wearing the same clothes as his past self, which was for the best, but he didn't feel cloth readjust itself. Even though it was invisible, he was still wearing the warm greatcoat. He shrugged, giving Mikuru a lopsided grin.
She winked at him, then looked intently at her younger self, making a curious gesture with her left hand -- like she was tapping an invisible control panel. Her right hand pointed a finger squarely at her younger self, and then she closed one eye. As though some invisible instant-acting stun-dart had been fired, Mikuru's younger self abruptly leaned against his past self ... the lucky bastard.
"We'll meet up after this," she promised him, nodding.
"Just keep my past self from any loud car crashes," he told her.
She gave him a quizzical look, just as his past self irritatedly called out, "Asahina-san?"
He winced, ducking behind a tree making a mental note to try and be more polite than his past self was. Well, even if his past self was a bit incompetent, he meant well ... and he'd had one hell of a day so far. At least the lucky bastard would be getting a kiss from the older Mikuru for his trouble.
Banishing that thought, he waited until Mikuru led his past self away, then climbed out of the bushes and sat on the bench next to Mikuru, brushing leaves and dirt from his pants legs. "Asahina-san?" he asked her cautiously, tapping her shoulder.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she shook her head, rubbing at her cheek. "W...what?" she managed, blinking and looking around. "Um.... D...did I doze off?"
He shrugged, giving Mikuru a weak smile. Looking back ... the older Mikuru had insisted that the conversation she had with him wasn't predetermined. That didn't seem to be precisely the case, but he supposed from her perspective, one of the conversations was predetermined, and one wasn't ... and they disagreed on which was which due to the shuffling order of events.
"What's wrong, Kyon-kun?" Mikuru asked, drawing into herself. "You look troubled!"
In any case ... he couldn't blame the younger Mikuru for things she hadn't done yet, and almost absolutely didn't intend to happen. "Just thinking about the nature of predetermination," he answered, trying to give her a reassuring smile. "I have to admit, I am getting a bit tired of all this time travel."
She gave him a quizzical look, then shook her head. "Oh, well.... Yes. Predetermination is a difficult thing, though," she said. "It's not quite the same, but effectively, I'm predetermined to do absolutely nothing...." She smiled sadly. "I can observe, though."
"You do more than nothing," he countered absently. "And I don't mean that in the manner of the observer effect, where observation causes changes. Or was that Heisenberg's uncertainty principle? Anyway, I mean that you absolutely leave an impression on your surroundings -- on the people around you." He wondered.... Why had both Mikuru's current and older self told him he was gifted at understanding the complexities of time travel, if he was so lost trying to sort the situation out?
"The.... Uh, I'm familiar with those, Kyon-kun, but.... I don't remember them being covered in first year?" Mikuru remarked cautiously from his side, her eyes large.
"Sorry," he sighed. "I'm not good at physics. Anyway, leaving all of that aside, I do mean what I said."
"T...that I ... make an impression?" Mikuru asked him.
"You should ask me about it some other time," he said, remembering that she would bring it up later. "But believe me, you absolutely do. Anyway ... when we were with Koizumi, it looked like there was something else you wanted to say?"
"T...there is," she allowed, frowning. "I don't.... Um, I'm not certain what this means, but a message came through? It was ... 'the seed of discord is the root of agitation'. But, I don't really understand that.... Is it a current proverb, or something that I just haven't heard of?"
"Seed of discord," he realized aloud. That was the smirking bastard, without a doubt, if the message was for him. He doubted very much it was advice for sorting things out with the time lines at the moment. But the root of agitation, that would mean....
He suppressed a nervous shudder, shaking his head. "I think I understand," he said, giving a weak smile. "Knowing just enough is for the best. Ah, it's nothing to trouble yourself with, Asahina-san. Anyway, we should probably head our separate ways before it gets dark. Haruhi should be finishing her discussion with Nagato soon...."
"R...right," she agreed, glancing toward Nagato's apartment building. She gave a weak smile to Kyon. "Um ... I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Absolutely," he affirmed. "Take care, Asahina-san ... and thanks for taking the time to talk to me."
Her smile intensified, and she gave him a cheerful nod. "I'd do that any time! You take care too, Kyon-kun."
He waved at her, until she turned and walked away. Scrambling for his PDA, he switched his disguise to 'invisible', noticing that he could still see himself. Hopefully other people couldn't, or he was going to cause a lot of problems.... He broke into an all-out run, growling at the realization that he didn't have any clue where Haruhi lived.
All of this annoying setup ... so much dancing around the issues ... how had events come to this? It did no good to just think about it, though. As he charged down the street, he caught a glimpse of what he was looking for. The same green minivan.... Either the smirking bastard had a soft spot for the vehicle, or he was just working on an amazingly limited budget.
It was speeding down the street opposite him, some meters distant. Desperately, he flung himself into motion, activating the armored skinsuit in his watch and the reinforcement that Yuki had added to meet Haruhi's demands. Even though the gap was fifteen meters wide, he closed it almost instantly, barely managing to catch the roof of the van, and causing the vehicle to rock alarmingly. The tires skidded beneath him, while he tried to focus on absolutely anything except how crazy the action was.
The vehicle recovered from his momentum and sped up, running a red light and screaming through the intersection a meter or two ahead of the cross-traffic. He stared ahead, gritting his teeth when he saw the red light at the next intersection -- and the figure of Haruhi, in the middle of the crosswalk.
Without time to consider things like causality or predetermination, he slammed both hands onto the roof of the van, rolling over and sliding down the front.
Yuki hadn't given him a device that could boost his jumping, as he had expected -- at least, not directly. Instead, she had given him something that could actually manipulate gravity. By increasing or decreasing the effects of gravity on himself, he could jump much farther, or from immense heights. It was complex to use, but in conjunction with the shields (much harder to use, in fact) in the greatcoat, he could actually modify the effects of gravity on other objects.
Giving the van the strongest possible gravitational pull to its left side as 'down' as he could, Kyon simultaneously activated the shield on the greatcoat, praying that he didn't severely injure himself with such a stupid stunt as his feet touched the ground.
Her head still overflowing with everything she had heard that day, Haruhi walked home. The light had turned green, and she was halfway across the intersection before she realized that a van was bearing down on her. It was less than five meters away -- just entering her peripheral vision. She had just enough time to know, to really know that she had no chance of jumping to safety, and wish that she would somehow make it--
But then, quite abruptly, in a strange surge of light and color, so quickly she almost didn't have time to absorb the details....
Kyon appeared before her, his feet stationary on the street just outside the crosswalk, his hands on the front of the van. There was a crackling field of some electricity-like force around him for the barest moment, and then the van suddenly slid laterally, skidding around the pair of them in a strange arc before it spun sharply, nearly overturning before it careened off a car waiting at the light. The force of the skid made the tires smoke and squeal as though someone had slammed on their brakes. Even though it was just a glancing blow, the abrupt silencing of the tire's screech caused the crunch of shattering glass to echo loudly.
She gaped as the driver of the vehicle improbably regained control and sped down the street, swerving and clipping a streetlight as it over corrected, but swiftly escaping from view. Well, that driver, whoever it was, might have gotten away so quickly she hadn't even made out the color of the vehicle ... but Kyon was still there! His attention was on the vanishing minivan, so she seized a double-handful of his very awesome looking greatcoat's lapels and yanked him closer to her, slightly off balance. "How did you do that?!" she demanded, eyes wide with excitement. "What the hell happened!?"
"Classified," he snapped, actually starting to chase after the van before she wrenched him back to face her. There was no way she was going to let him run away now! The angry glare so rarely saw him display shifted to belated confusion and surprise. "Wait. You can see me?"
She stared at him even more intently for a moment, then pointedly looked at both of the hands currently clutching his coat. "I certainly don't have echolocation!" she retorted. "Now come on! Tell me what the hell is going on here! When did you get these powers!?"
He worked his jaw for a minute, irritably, then jerked his head toward the side of the street. "The light's changed," he grumbled.
Not releasing him, she hauled him to the side of the intersection. "Well?" she asked expectantly.
"If you don't mind," he said, in the typically mild Kyon-voice she had grown used to, "I need to ask you an important favor."
"What's that?" she asked excitedly. "Some adventure?"
"I need you to deliver a message to my shoe locker tomorrow morning," he said. "But it's important that you don't contact me until then. You have to be subtle. Understood?"
"Okay," she acquiesced, narrowing her eyes. "That's strange, but what's this message?"
"I could probably reach into my coat and get it if you'd let go," he replied.
Pursing her lips, she nodded, releasing him. "I've got my eyes on you," she warned him. "So don't try anything sneaky!"
"I'm in the club, Haruhi, I'm not going anywhere," he said flatly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an envelope. "Now, don't open this, okay?"
She tried to snatch it, but it slipped from his fingers and spun away. "Ah!" she cried, leaping for it and snatching it from the air-- Too late, she realized his ruse. Even though she caught the letter, he stepped away and vanished into the air, his clothing and skin seeming to melt colorlessly into absolutely nothing.
"I am so opening your letter," she grumbled, tearing the envelope's seal and eagerly pulling out the sheet of paper within. "'No, she can't'," she read. She frowned, then read on to the next line. "'Believe in yourself.' What the.... 'Training is the key'? What the hell is this supposed to mean!?"
She stuffed the letter back into the envelope, shaking her head. No question about it -- she'd tackle Kyon in the morning on his way to school and get answers from him. Beat them out of him, if required! For a moment, she was tempted to call him and demand an explanation on the spot.... Fighting off the desire, she shook her head.
He could have enough leeway until tomorrow morning. For the moment, all of the bystanders were ignoring her, concerned more with the damaged vehicle and the runaway van. Well, maybe that was for the best....
After re-engaging the 'stealth' function, Kyon shivered, unnerved by the sudden, wracking cold that ran through him. Evidently he'd overdrawn the strange weapon's energy reserve.... He really needed to name the darn thing.... It also seemed to power his shielding and gravity manipulation toys, and probably the invisibility function, as well.
There would be time to think about it later.
In the meantime, he remembered which street he was on when he heard the crash as his past self, so ran toward it as quickly as he could, pulling the greatcoat tight around him as he went. Thankfully, either due to the heat of the afternoon in general, or because of the insulating properties of the coat, he found himself quickly warming.
He skidded to a halt as he rounded a corner in time to see Mikuru's older self jogging down the street in the opposite direction, and his past self staring at nothing like a slack-jawed idiot in the aftermath of her kiss. Lucky bastard indeed.... Stumbling through things, enjoying a light make-out session with the older Mikuru while he had to run around and pick up the slack....
Shaking his head, he put on more speed, swiftly catching up with the woman, just as she ducked into an alley and hid behind a trash bin. He trotted to a stop, breathing quietly and shivering slightly. Even though he was warming up, he'd still left the stealth mode on, and that seemed to take power. "Oh ... oh, dear," the woman fretted, looking around. "Where...?"
Checking the PDA, he disabled his stealth field, meaning to flip through the other applications -- how many were there, really? -- when he was caught off guard by Mikuru's quiet cheer, suddenly grabbing him in a hug. "What...?" he managed.
"You're cold, right?" she asked, holding him tightly. "That thing you have ... it gets energy from heat, doesn't it?"
He nodded. Not that he really thought she would do much to warm him up, but then ... it was Mikuru's adult form, pressed tightly against him. He could hardly complain about it. Though....
"I do have to ask something," he managed, suddenly cutting off when the woman released him with one arm, to press her fingertip to his lips.
"After everything I've said, and how much you've learned about time travel," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder and turning her face away from him, "I've learned a lot from you, too. So ... in some ways, because of everything that you taught me, or will teach me, I've got the courage to break the rules. It makes things a bit confusing, doesn't it? I really wasn't supposed to go back and talk to you, that day almost a year ago when you first met me in this form.... I told you, I had to make unreasonable requests, right?"
He nodded slightly, Mikuru's fingertip still touching his lips.
"So ... in a roundabout way, you and I, together, even though I still stumble a little bit, are forging toward a brighter future. One that isn't predetermined to you, that doesn't damage the future I come from. If you understand what I said earlier ... you have the power to change me. Not my past self, so directly ... but your influence ends up helping me become the person I am.
"I could tell you everything, try to make it predetermined.... I could say things were better or worse then they truly will be, and try to trick you into changing things for me. Once, I did -- sort of -- tell you about the goals of the people I work for. Instead, though, this time I'll do what Yuki-chan did. I'll tell you nothing, even if you would believe me.
"But I'm not trying to keep you in the dark because I want to manipulate you ... I'm telling you as little as possible because I believe in you. I have absolute confidence that if I don't limit you, you will achieve something wonderful. And maybe, just in small, selfish bits ... I might lead you toward something that I think we both would like.... So, does that satisfy you?"
She broke from the partial embrace and smiled at him hopefully.
"W...well," he managed, scratching the back of his head. So much to think about.... "I appreciate that you trust me," he said cautiously. "But this is all contradicting what you told me earlier. I ... would like to be able to trust you back, but it's getting difficult when you distract me from important questions with, um.... Well, it's an effective attack, I'll admit -- but even that's just more confusing."
She looked up at him apprehensively. "What's wrong?" she asked. "What do you mean?"
"You told me before that you gave me authority over your younger self because it would lead to some important discovery," he pointed out. "But now you're saying it's because you trust me?"
"That was one of those little selfish bits," she said, surprisingly meekly, considering that she was older than him. "Um.... For the first part, it's true that you will demonstrate something very important to us. However, even though I can't prove it yet, my suspicion is that this only becomes possible because I trust you. The other, more selfish part is ... even if the discovery could come from elsewhere, as long as I give you that authority, the Entity won't act directly against you."
That ... did make a certain degree of sense.
"Then, I just have one last thing that still confuses me," he allowed. "Um.... I really don't want to complain, because it's quite nice, er.... I mean, I really enjoy...." He felt his face warming up. Well, he'd overcome the heat loss from earlier, that much was certain. He also knew his next words were going to cement his route to that special hell. "It's overwhelmingly nice when you kiss me," he managed, "but that's not something I've ever done with your younger self."
"That's the other selfish thing," she managed, smiling and ducking her head as a very cute blush suffused her face. "I could tell you why, but.... Well, I have faith in you, and I don't think you need spoilers, really." Then her smile deepened, and she gave him a coy look. "But, as far as those little selfish tokens of my affection go ... would you like another?"
Yep, they were probably constructing a special express elevator to that special hell right then. "Well," he managed nervously. "Um...."
"You're just too cute!" she exclaimed pressing her fists together beneath her chin.
"Uh," he said, shaking his head quickly, "a...anyway, I've got to rescue Tsuruya, and evidently something I do really impresses Mori. W...we should probably take care of that."
"Ah ... well, I'm not involved in those things," she said apologetically. "And there are some things I should take care of here, too. Let's see ... meet me back at our bench once you're done with your other errands?"
"Sure," he agreed, nodding. "The one by Nagato's apartment?"
"Right!" she said enthusiastically. "I'll give you a prize when you get there."
"Oh, boy," he said, managing a smile. Well, even if he feigned otherwise, he actually wasn't going to mind another kiss.... The bewildering rush and tingle was a welcome escape from everything else he'd had to think about so far. And he didn't really know where Tsuruya was, when he rescued her ... he made a mental note to gather better information the next time he was told what his future self would be doing.
Or, would that go against what Mikuru had suggested? On second thought, that was too much trouble to try and figure out. As she waved and trotted down the alley's other exit, he decided that he was better off just trying to understand time travel on his own terms. Forget about whatever vague things she or some other manipulative person or agency from the future felt were important, and just do his best.
Jogging down the street in the other direction, he pulled his PDA out again, flipping through the stealth menu (which had moved itself to be more easily accessible, instead of deeply nested in a maze of directories), and was pleased to note that there was even a little panel of 'recently scanned' disguises. "Okay, Skynet," he said grudgingly, "as long as we avoid stab-happiness, I could probably get very used to this." He saved it and punched 'casual' in for a name when prompted, then pocketed the thing again.
Now, if he was Tsuruya, before she trusted him enough to let him in on her investigation, where would he be...? Somehow, the idea of getting into a fight with twelve thugs was starting to appeal to him. A little mindless violence would be a nice break from the headaches he had suffered so far.
"Oh, no," he realized aloud with a groan, turning a corner and heading toward a more industrial section of the city. "I'm actually starting to get into this...." He wasn't sure how, but he was vaguely certain that it was Haruhi's fault.
A glance at the sky showed the sun very low on the horizon, frequently vanishing behind buildings as he jogged aimlessly. A group of pedestrians quickly shuffling away, a few of them glancing over their shoulders as they emerged from a side-street suggested that he had found what he was looking for. Easier to ignore the problem than to do something about it, huh?
He picked up his pace, rounding the corner and ducking, tapping into his gravity control to leap around an elderly woman that he almost bowled over. A half a block ahead of him, he could see Kasai going down beneath a barrage of punches, bravely trying to keep eight assailants away from Tsuruya by himself. For her part, Tsuruya was struggling to fend off three more with her trusty stun gun, while a final burly member of the Sumiyoshi-rengo barked commands at the others and cradled his broken arm with his good one.
Biting back his anger at seeing a friend assaulted, he forced himself to keep his cool, remembering only at the last second to pull his pin off and pocket it. Tsuruya seeing that he already wore a symbol of allegiance to her family would raise some very awkward questions.