The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya Read Free

Asahina. She’d endured even more moments of shock throughout her SOS Brigade experiences than I had. I was even starting to be suspicious of her real purpose in this time period. If they just needed to surveil Haruhi, wouldn’t a simple spy camera have sufficed?
    There had to be something else—something not even this Asahina knows, but that her older self
does
know…
    A freeze-dried voice addressed me as I was deep in thought.
    “I have a favor to ask of you.”
    I was happy to listen to anything Nagato would ask of me.
    “I want you not to say anything to my self in that time.”
    Not even “Hey” or “Hi?” I wanted to know.
    “If possible, no.”
    In Nagato’s stoic eyes was visible a rare expressiveness. Her black pupils entreated me, and I would have sooner agreed to scoop the moon’s reflection out of a pond than I would have refused her.
    “Okay. If you say so, I’ll try not to.”
    The artlessly short head of hair nodded slowly.
    It fell to Nagato to explain the fine details of the space-time manipulation, and Asahina would be the one to faithfully carry them out. I’m sorry, but I didn’t care how powerful Koizumi’s Agency was—they were no match for this alliance of alien and time traveler. Although I have no idea if they ever plan on fighting.
    The three of us—Nagato, Asahina, and I—went to the entryway to put on our shoes, our shoulders bumping into one another’s as we jostled in the tight space. Last month, when I’d traveled backin time with Asahina the Elder, we’d forgotten our shoes. The lesson had not been wasted on me. Thanks to Nagato’s personality, the older Asahina’s high heels were still here, four years later, but we couldn’t very well return them to the current Asahina, so I said nothing.
    “Um, what time on December eighteenth last year was it again?”
    In response to the question, Nagato gave the answer down to the second, at which Asahina nodded.
    “Okay, here we go. Kyon, close your eyes.”
    And then—
    Time shifted. No matter how many times I experienced it, it felt the same way—a dizziness that brings me to the edge of nausea. Though my eyes were closed, there was a light flashing, and an indescribably uncomfortable feeling of falling backward, of loss of spatial orientation. The equilibrium of both my body and mind was gone; it was like going around a roller coaster dozens of times in a row, and just when my sense of balance was on the verge of collapse—
    The soles of my feet registered contact with the ground. Gravity reasserted its hold on my thankful body.
    “We’re here,” Nagato said, almost whispering. I opened my eyes.
    And was immediately shocked.
    I saw myself standing directly in front of the school gates.
    Recall, if you will: the last time I time-jumped to this particular December eighteenth, I’d come from the Tanabata of four years previous, having made the jump with Asahina the Elder at past-Nagato’s behest. From the cover of darkness I’d watched the present Nagato change the world, and then I’d stepped into the light.
    And we’d just now landed smack in the middle of that scene.
    The other me was now saying something to Nagato, who’d finished changing both the world and herself. I could also see theback of Asahina the Elder, who was wearing the jacket I’d lent her. This was dangerous—this was too close.
    “Don’t worry,” my Nagato said in a monotone. “They cannot see us. I’ve erected a light-and-sound isolation field.”
    I supposed that meant that from the perspective of past-me, older-Asahina, and glasses-Nagato, the three of us were silent, transparent beings. Maybe the reason Nagato hadn’t bitten us this time was because she was personally present.
    Asahina blinked rapidly. “Um… who is that woman? She seems like an adult, but why is she here?”
    We could only see Asahina the Elder from behind, after all. It wasn’t surprising that Asahina couldn’t recognize the woman, and to simply infer that the