AN: This story Diverges from canon after the 9th novel. This chapter was edited on 9/26 to fix issues raised by reviewers, although the only significant re-writes are on the last page.

The following is a partially de-classified exempt from the briefing of #CLASSIFIED# for his mission to the 21. century, recorded and archived by the Time Travelers Guild. Voice only.

"Good evening and thanks for answering to our summons and attending the pre-briefing earlier, #CLASSIFIED#-kun. Please be seated."

"With a summons from you I didn't really have a choice, Umetsu-sama, why did you want to see me? And why did I get that history lesson on the 21. Century earlier? Am I being sent back to that era?"

"Yes, we have an important mission for you there, #CLASSIFIED#-kun. You are to be sent back to the 21. Century, to the city where the famous Haruhi Suzumiya attended high school. You'll be sent to the month of April of her second year at that school."

"I see…I'm honored to finally get an assignment straight from you. What is the nature of the mission?"

"You are to make contact with one of our agents already in place, Mikuru Asahina, and you are to observe and make sure the aforementioned event we just briefed you on happens as it's supposed to."

"So the theories of the significance of that particular misfortune are true? That single event really did reshape the world? We were told some wild theories about this during training but I never thought it was really all that important."

"Aren't you just filled with questions?"

"S- Sorry, Umetsu-sama, I'll hold my tongue as I should."

"Please don't, that inquisitive spirit must be one of the reasons why you where the one that was sent back."

"…I don't understand. Did you not select me?"

"I must've, we have spoken with the Asahina-san that has returned from the 21st century and she has identified you from our list of agents and says that you were there at that time and place during the event. So you being sent back was already determined. We're sending you now because she said you were at the age of 27 when she met you there. Did you not have your 27th birthday one month ago?"

"Yes I did…Now I understand…will I be sent directly to the event?"

"No, because of fluctuations in the temporal flow at that point in time, and because of Asahina-san's testimony, you'll be sent approximately 48 hours before the event. That'll be April 16, and as you know the event took place on April 18."

"And what am I to do in the meantime? As I understand it that month was a turbulent time around Suzumiya."

"You are to stay out of the conflict as much as you can, we already have other agents that actively took part in operations during that era. You are also to inform Asahina of what is about to take place, she was…made to forget it before she was sent back."

"Doesn't that seem a bit cruel? If you found some way of making her forget what she should already know isn't it better to save her some anxiety by keeping her in the dark?"

"It is, but the Asahina that returned from that time says you told her what was going to happen when she met you. I'm afraid both our hands are tied, in any case her psychological barriers prevent her from warning anyone. As for your earlier question that tragedy really did reshape the world, or rather prompted Haruhi Suzumiya to reshape it rather than scrap it and create a new one. I'm afraid that such a key event I history really can't happen any other way or else the timeline gets changed so dramatically that in all probability none of us would even be born. It has already happened, it can't be changed."

"I Understand fully and humbly accept this assignment."

"Good, now let's go over the details. If you'll look at this screen-"

***End of Exempt***

April 16th. Wednesday Morning. North High School

I've had a bad feeling in my stomach for a while now. If you'd see me now today you'd never think anything was out of the ordinary about me, just some bored-looking High School kid staring out the window of his classroom. Hardly worth a second look, right? I'd prefer if that where the case. Not that I would take any of my misadventures back if could, I already passed up that chance back in December, but what's happening now isn't like one of those times.

I think I can pinpoint the moment in time that things began going sour. It was that meeting with Tachibana, Sasaki, Fujiwara and Kuyou. Tachibana wishes to transfer the powers of Haruhi to Sasaki, and the other two…that sneering bastard and that weird alien…I'm not sure how they fit into this or what their agenda is but I don't like them being involved one bit. They seemed to be helping Tachibanas group for now but I can tell they have their own agenda and that bothers me to no end. The meeting ended with no questions answered and a lot of loose ends. I don't know what's going to happen next, I guess there's no way of telling. Sasaki doesn't want the powers, and I don't want to be dabbling in reality bending powers…if it ain't broke don't fix it.

My fellow brigade members haven't been much of a help. Since the meeting Koizumi has been growing more and more distant. He has been missing brigade meetings and club activities more and more and his endless elaborations have grown shorter and further between. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. The same goes for Nagato. She has still been present during meetings but I can see a hint of weariness in her eyes and I really hate seeing her like that. At least Asahina hasn't changed yet, she's still our adorable mascot.

And then there's Haruhi. Ever since her recruitment effort went down the tubes she has been acting strange, or rather more normal. Which in her case is strange. She has hardly made us do anything other than spend time in the clubroom. The only other thing we've done was to go on one of her hunts for the supernatural but that was just a stroll around town. She wasn't actively searching for anything, so I wonder why she insist on dragging us around down and to restaurants. I Wouldn't really mind it so much if it wasn't always me picking up the tab. It's just that for some reason she isn't acting quite like herself, I've hardly heard her say anything outrageous for a while now. I don't think I should be complaining but out of all the things in my life I at least thought Haruhiss insanity would be one of my universal constants, along with Asahina's cuteness and Kozmuis smugness. But things are changing, I can feel it in the air and even Haruhi isn't her usual self…speak of the devil, the teenage deity enters the classroom.

"What's with that look?" She asks me as she takes her seat, the one behind mine as always.

"What look? It's nothing, I just had something on my mind," I said.

"Well, don't just sit there wallowing in bad thoughts. It's not good for you, you know!"

"Yeah…thanks for the advice but I'll wallow in whatever damn well please," I muttered. Maybe I was too harsh? It doesn't really sound like me to be so passive aggressive. I think my wallowing in my troubles has begun to get to me, but it doesn't help when the oblivious source of the troubles orders you to lighten up.

"What's with you?" She accused and scowled at me, "I'm only looking out for my members as a good leader should. I swear, you've all been acting strange."

She noticed? Perhaps she's not as oblivious as I thought.

"You noticed that to?" I asked.

"Of course I did. Didn't you think I'd notice when one of my members was missing? Koizumis attendance was gone downhill, and when he does show up he's absent minded. It's not like him, do you know what's been troubling him?"

As if it could be anything other than you…

"No, I haven't asked." I said.

"And Yuki-chan has been looking more and more tired. I think she's not getting enough sleep," Haruhi said with a hint of genuine concern.

"Yes, I noticed that to," I said, "do you know why?"

"No idea," Haruhi muttered with a scowl and crossed her arms, "But I'll have to ask her if this goes on for too long."

She then narrowed her eyes at me.

"And then there's you," she said sourly.

Me? I'm not the one acting strange here. I'm the resident ordinary guy of the brigade. What could I possibly be doing that Haruhi would find strange?

"You've been spacing out more and more during lessons, like you have something on your mind. How are your grades? I cannot allow you to be held back a year you know."

"My grades are just fine."

"There's more."

Haruhi changed her tone, she sounded more guarded. It was kind of cute but also kind of menacing to see her like that.

"You've been more irritable, even to me…like just now when I asked you what was with that look. And not just then, but other times to. You've been more annoyed at me, haven't you? You haven't hid it well. Why have you been acting like that?"

Huh. Guess I have been in a worse mood lately…still, I shouldn't be lashing out at her like a child. It's not like I can tell her he truth or she could ever be made to understand the situation, makes no sense to punish her for what's happening.

"It's….yes, you're right. I've been having some problems but I'm not blaming you for them," Not intentionally anyway. "I'll try to behave more properly, I didn't think I was being that bad."

"You were being that bad," she said, leaned back in her seat and crossed her hands. "I still think you've got some issue with me that you haven't told be about, you keep looking at me with a weird face."

What? I swear I did no such thing!

"It's not polite to stare at girls you know," Haruhi complained, "If there's something you want to do you should go for it, don't just stare. Your youth is too precious to waste it in some pointless stalling."

What is she talking about now…She gets the weirdest ideas.

Okabe-sensei ended our talk for us by beginning todays lesson. I only chough a small part of it as I was far too busy wallowing in bad thoughts despite the orders of my fearless leader. So even miss center-of-the-universe was able to tell that something's seriously wrong? Things must be worse than I thought.

Rest of school passed in a tedious blur, only interrupted by the lunch break where I spoke with Kunikida and Taniguchi while Haruhi left the classroom. Kunikida only spoke about the lesson that I hadn't been paying attention to and Taniguchi had some pointless comments about the girls in our class, and one especially pointless comment about Haruhi and I nagging each other like an old married couple. After that I went back into my own thoughts and didn't return from them until lessons ended.

"Common Kyon, let's go to the clubroom," Haruhi commanded and walked ahead without me. I followed her on autopilot as usual.

"You did it again today," She said in an accusing tone as we walked down the hallway.

"What? I swear I didn't look at you, I was staring ahead the whole time. I don't have eyes at the back of my head."

"It's not that, idiot." She shot at me, "You where spacing out again. You didn't pay attention to todays lesson at all, did you?"

My silence to that question was all the answer Haruhi needed. She stopped and turned around to face me.

"What's going on with you? I can't have you slacking of like this, you're going to get held back a year or get bad grades and then you won't get into the University that-" She cut herself off and turned a shade pinker. And she says I'm the one acting strange…

"…Tell me what's wrong," Haruhi demanded once she had gathered herself.

"…Nothing."

"You're an awful liar. Come on, spill the beans."

Haruhi stared at me with determination in her eyes, crossed her hands and tapped her foot impatiently. Couldn't this wait until we were in the clubroom and Koizumi could come up with a convincing lie for me? I really don't need to worry about my cover story on top of everything else.

"Look…it's just a bit of a rough patch. Nothing serious. Just a case of the old melancholy, I'll be fine."

Haruhi kept staring at me inquisitively, probably looking for telltale signs of lying.

"Didn't you just tell me earlier today that it was impolite to stare at people?" I asked.

"Unlike when you stare, I'm not checking you out. I'm examining you for signs of lying."

"…I'd rather be checked out than examined!"

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "Well anyway…" She drifted off, turned around and kept on walking. "If you don't want to tell me that's fine, but I've got plans for the brigade and I need every member preforming at an 110% percent, so get over your melancholy. If that's really all that this is."

We walked on. I had managed to get her off my back for now, but am I really acting so badly that Haruhi simply can't ignore it? I need to pull myself together, I'll be useless if I keep this up.

"Maybe it's a seasonal thing, I've also been feeling a bit of melancholy since that recruitment effort turned up nothing…" Haruhi said once we were about to reach the door of the clubroom.

"Don't worry about that, I think the brigade has all the members we need."

Haruhi didn't respond to that, just walked into the clubroom. Everybody was already there. Koizumi was sitting at the table ready with some new game, Nagato was reading her book and Asahina was in her sailor uniform brewing tea.

The rest of the day was like any other day at the clubhouse. Haruhi sat at her computer and clicked away excitedly. What is she planning? I'd prefer as little insanity from her as possible for the time being. I played that new board game with Koizumi. It was sort of boring but a nice distraction. Asahina's phone suddenly rang when she was in the middle of pouring me some tea. Damned distractions

"Uh…Hello? This is Asahina."

She was quiet for the longest time after her charming introduction. She just paid lip service to whoever had called her, vaguely acknowledging whatever she was being told. Her face turned more and more apprehensive as her talk went on. Once she finally hung up she turned to Haruhi.

"Uhm….S-Suzumiya-san? I have to go."

"What? Did something happen?"

"No, It's not that, that was my…job. I have to go to work now."

"Since when do you have a job?" Haruhi said surprised.

"Uh- for a while now."

"I see, fine, just go, we're about done here anyway."

Done with what?

Asahina left in a hurry.

"With everyone else acting strange I guess it was only a matter of time before Mikuru-chan began acting weird to" Haruhi thought out loud.

"Suzumiya-san, don't you think you may be-"

Haruhi cut Koizumi of before he could finish that sentence. "Don't. I already listened to a horrible excuse from one of you, I don't need to hear any more."

Koizumi gave me a questioning look. "Is that so," he said in a volume that was clearly more directed at me than Haruhi.

"Yes, I think I'll be leaving also. There was something I was going to do before I have to be home for dinner, you people try to work your problems out. I need you all in top shape as soon as possible."

And with that declaration she left.

As soon as Haruhi had left Nagato stood up and said "I am needed elsewhere." Then she disappeared into thin air, as if she had suddenly and completely dissolved. Did I know she could do that? What could she be doing?

"Well, out of the women in our lives I'm not sure who's the best at making an exit. I think today they all made quite a memorable one," Koizumi said in his default contemplative voice. "Suzumiya-san certainly surprised me, I didn't think she'd snap at me like that, though that snap was more directed at you I think."

I didn't respond to that. I'm not stupid, He doesn't need to point that out.

"Asahina-san is also hard to ignore as usual, and you don't often see Nagato leave in such a hurry that she skips walking and simply teleports herself. From what I can tell they've been pulled into the struggles that have been building up. That is regrettable, I had hoped we here in the SOS brigade would be able to ride out the worst of the storm without getting directly involved, but of course that was unrealistic."

What's he talking about now? A storm? So my gut feeling was correct, something is going on!

"What are you talking about, explain," I demanded.

"Kyon-kun. If you don't mind me asking , have you noticed anything strange or unusual these past few days?" He asked like a teacher that already knows the answer would ask a student.

"No, nothing unusual by our standards at least. I've had this feeling that things were about to take an ugly turn but I haven't seen anything happen yet. Why do you ask?"

"You haven't noticed anyone following you, or anything out of the ordinary around the sschool or at your home?"

"I don't know...I haven't really been paying a lot of attention to my surroundings lately I guess. I've been sort of absent minded. Are you telling me I should have?"

"It's never a bad idea to observe your surroundings. However, I was just wondering if you had noticed," Koizumi said.

Why must I always feel uneasy when that boy speaks? What could I be missing in my surroundings?

"Noticed what? Is there someone following me?"

"Yes. For a while now we've been monitoring you," Koizumi admitted, "I apologize for not telling you earlier but I just recently got a permission to fill you in."

What. What kind of a violation is this? I don't care how big or important this organization is, they have no right to be following me. Why would they even want to? I'm just an ordinary high school student. Plain old Kyon, associate of Time travelers and Aliens, target of mysterious Organizations and the subordinate of a Reality warper.

"I can tell by the look on your face that I need to explain myself," Koizumi said with his foxlike smile, "When my organization learned that our rival group wished to transfer the powers of Suzumiya-san to Sasaki-san they were quite unnerved. Our policy to let sleeping gods lie, like you put it yourself back when we first spoke, will not hold easily if other groups with other agendas have developed an interest in Suzumiya. We tightened the security around Suzumiya and picked up on that she was being watched."

"Watched?" I asked, "By Tachibana's group?"

"Yes. It also seems that you've become a person of interest to Tachibana's faction, as you are a key factor in their plans. We've caught them monitoring you on a few occasions."

For some reason, the mental image of Tachibana standing with binoculars in the middle of the street outside my bedroom in the dead of the night flashed in my mind. I need to watch less television.

"Monitoring me? But why!" I asked, unnerved by this blatant violation, "I don't have any special powers! I'm not a member of faction or anything!"

"They monitored you presumably to establish your habits, your routine and your general profile," Koizumi explained.

Chills when down my spine when I thought of the next obvious question.

"Why? What are they going to do with that information?"

"We don't know yet."

That got to me. That guy always knows how to push my buttons. Wait, Poor choice of words on my part. He just rubs me the wrong wa-…never mind.

"What! Aren't you supposed to be good at this intrigue stuff? Now you tell me I'm being watched by two different groups and you can't even tell me why?"

"I cannot tell you how they intend to use the intel they've gathered on you. As for why you're being watched, Is it not obvious? It's because of you being a key to the transfer of power and possibly due to your significance to Suzumiya-san."

"It's…what would they know about my significance to Haruhi."

"There are a few ways they could get data they could use to speculate on your relationship with Suzumyia-san. Maybe they placed an agent in the school or got to the intel that we have on you." Koizumi looked into the distance and sounded distracted as he went on, "Or maybe they just paid attention when they were monitoring you."

Wonder what he meant by that.

"I'm telling you this now because we've detected more activity from our rivals in this town. We suspect they're planning something," He said with uncharacteristic wariness in his voice.

"What do you mean by activity?" I asked, although some part of me really didn't want to know the answer to that question.

"Based on our intel, they have more resources allocated and more personnel active in this town than they did before, that means more money flowing this way and more communications intercepted in case you were wondering. We also suspect they've even placed agents into the school and near your home and Suzumyias home. They may have even activated some sleeper agents that may have been planted a long time ago."

"From what we know about their motives and their means they may attempt to influence you or provoke some response from Suzumiya-san. We're not sure just how far they'll go but the worst case scenario here is that they'll attempt to abduct or incapacitate Suzumiya-san and force you to transfer her powers. My organization has an entrenched position in this town and it will be difficult for them to attempt anything of that nature. However, our observations of them suggest that they have access to more resources, money and manpower than us and they operate with an opportunistic policy. We need to stay alert."

I stood up and began pacing slowly and aimlessly around the clubroom. So there has been some secret war going on right in front of me. I'm not sure how to react to that. Isn't it every schoolboys dream to become the center of a sinister plot and get a chance to become a hero? Not this schoolboys, I've had enough excitement for the rest of High school and beyond. Interesting situation or not, nobody likes feeling threatened.

"So what are you guys doing about this?" I asked after some pointless pacing.

"I'm not allowed to give you any details," Koizumi said like he sincerely regretted not being able to tell me everything. "I will say that our strong position in this town makes our lives easier. We've been working on pre-empting them and generally distracting and sidetracking them. No major violent confrontations so far, but a few short skirmishes and fistfights. No serious injuries have occurred. We've been relatively successful in our campaign but such work does wear down our resources and they have managed to chip away at our position somewhat while strengthening theirs. They simply have more resources to allocate and time is not on our side."

I stopped in front of the window and stared out. Damn it Haruhi, you have a magnetism that works only on trouble and teenage boys. Perhaps we wouldn't be having this discussion of you liked one more and the other less…but I digress.

"What about Asahina and Nagato? Do they know? Do you know what they're up to now?"

"That's another complication. We've been working with the IDSE on the intelligence front due to our common understanding that...volatile factors around Suzumiya are undesirable, but as our rivals have aligned themselves with the Domain, another Data entity, that puts the IDSE in an awkward position of assisting us and at the same time avoiding making any direct move against our Rivals. The Domain appears to be operating according to the same philosophy, though it's difficult to tell what they're up to as you might image. The data entities seem to prefer belligerent yet somewhat peaceful co-existence."

A strange feeling came over me. I'm used to having the full support of Nagato once trouble comes so I really don't like the idea of her being held back by some power politics. She shouldn't have to give up her free will over this. Although I'm glad the data entities aren't openly fighting and putting her in danger.

"And the time travelers?"

"It's safe to assume that they already know," Koizumi gave a mocking smile, "As this has already happened from their perspective."

"We used to work more closely with the Time travelers but in the buildup of this predicament they've become less helpful. They've refused to assist us in some operations and denied us information we needed on the grounds of it being classified. They appear to be working on their own agenda and it would seem it no longer fits our agenda as well as it used to."

"Some people in the organization have said that this is just their way of making sure these events happen as the time travelers believe they should. Others have said that operating that way makes them untrustworthy as what they believe is supposed to happen may not be in our favor. For the time being the Time travelers help is more of an asset than a burden but they still are something of a wildcard."

I backed away from the window. Felt naked standing there, for some reason. All exposed and vulnerable with Tachibana's binoculars locked on me.

"So what's the plan? What are we going to do?"

"There is nothing that's expected of you other than to continue to watch over Suzumiya and contribute to her stability. To that end I must suggest that you try not to bicker with her so much. Be warned that you may get dragged into the struggle and be forced to face some conflict before this is over, but you don't need to seek trouble."

"We're just going to stay here while they circle around us?" I asked in disbelieve.

"What would you have us do? Relocate you somewhere? Our options would be to transport you somewhere hidden where they can't find to you or somewhere more secure where they can't get to you. If we decide to transport you to a hidden location only a single slip in our intelligence network would have your enemies finding you in a location much less secure than you are in this town. If we decide to transport you to a more secure location the resources needed to secure that location would pull away from your current security and have us spreading ourselves thin and you might not even be as safe there as you are now."

Koizumi took a breath and rubbed his temples. Then he put his smile back on and rambled on.

"It might come to that but at this point we believe you are safest here."

"So…what do I do? I can't help but to feel a little helpless here."

"Just keep your eyes and ears open, and notify me if you see anything out of the ordinary. You've shown resourcefulness in the past and we have faith in you."

My fears have just been confirmed. That meeting at the coffee shop was only the beginning. Mindlessly following Haruhi around has brought me straight between a rock and a hard place. But honestly, what else did I expect sticking with her would bring me?

"I'm afraid I have to leave you now, but rest assured you are quite safe here and at your home," Koizumi said and proceeded to walk out the door, leaving me alone in the clubroom. What's wrong with him? Explaining all of this to me and then telling me not to do anything and promptly leaving me alone. I feel like I need to do something, talk to someone. Someone other than Koizumi. Nagato and Asahina are busy, apparently…Can't talk to Haruhi…

Wait, what about Sasaki? Koizumi hardly mentioned her. Is she aware of what's going on? Couldn't hurt to talk to her, might even be able to help her or she me. I picked up my phone, luckily Sasaki and I exchanged numbers shortly after reconnecting. It still feels kind of awkward to call her out of nowhere but I think I have a good reason to check up on her now.

As I was scrolling through my contracts to find Sasaki's number a thought occurred to me. Is there any chance the factions that are surrounding us have our phones wiretapped? I'll just arrange a meeting with her and try to sound vague in case we're being monitored. I called her number.

After a few rings Sasaki answered.

"Hello, This is Sasaki."

I introduced myself using my proper name, strange how she's the only one I talk to that still uses that forgotten name.

"Ah, this is a pleasant surprise. Has something happened?"

"No…not exactly."

"How rude of me," Sasaki said with a motherly tone that fitted so well with her soothing voice, "You call me out of the blue and I assume you have some specific reason. So this is a courtesy call?"

"I guess you could call it that."

"How touching, I hadn't realized we had progressed so far that you could finally call me without a specific reason. I'm glad."

"Uhm…I guess we have. Are you doing well? Is everything…okay?"

"Everything is fine, beside the lingering threat we left unresolved after our meeting with my friends the other day. All that talk of omnipotent power, aliens, espers, time travelers…It's a lot more excitement than I'm used to."

What excitement is she talking about? We just talked during that meeting…Sasaki and I have two different standards for excitement, Haruhi has skewered my scale of excitement.

"Yes, It's kind of uncomfortable to leave that hanging over our heads…but listen, I was wondering if we could meet anytime soon. I'd like to talk."

"But aren't we talking now? Or is this something we can't talk about over the phone?"

"I would prefer to talk to you in person, are you free anytime soon?"

"I'd like that, but I hope you're not trying to rush ahead into anything by insisting on meeting me in person, as I happen to like the pace we're on. I'm not available today but I might be tomorrow. Can I call you when I know more?"

"Sure, I'll be looking forward to it."

"So will I, but you called at a bad time so I'm afraid I must say goodbye now."

"Alright, Goodbye."

"I'll try to call you soon," Sasaki said and hung up.

That went well, I don't think we're in any imminent danger so it can't hurt to meet tomorrow instead of today. I think Sasaki might misinterpret if I'd called her and demanded to see her right now anyway.

After that phone call I began my walk home but before I even got through the schoolgate my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number. I answered and introduced myself using my proper name for the second time today. Better not make a habit out of it, people might get confused.

"Good day, I'm Kyouko Tachibana," my caller introduced herself.

"The Kidnapper?" I said. What the hell does she want?

There was a short pause at the other end of the line, then a heavy sigh.

"Well at least you remember me…I'd like to apologize for that incident again."

She sounded sincere enough but I really wasn't in the mood to accept her apology. Can it be a coincidence that she's calling me right after I called Sasaki? Did she listen in on our conversation?

"I'm not going to forget you any time soon after what you did, what do you want?"

"This might be a bit abrupt but I'd like to meet you," Tachibana said, trying to sound determined.

Suddenly I have a feeling of déjà vu…didn't I just have this same discussion, but with Sasaki? And meeting with Tachibana…though I guess avoiding her isn't going to solve anything. At least it hasn't yet...but…

"You do realize this sounds like a trap? Especially with your history," I accused.

"We'll be in a public place, I'm afraid not even us espers are above the law so in a crowd you're safe."

"Well if there are plenty of people around…when do you want to meet?"

"I was wondering if you were free now? There are plenty of people around here, you know that café where we had our meeting? Can you meet me in front of that now?"

April 16th. Wednesday, around five o'clock. The Café

I was standing in front of the cafe where Tachibana Kyouko had asked me to meet her. With all the paranoia Koizumi has been inspiring in me I couldn't help feel a little vulnerable meeting with the enemy like this. I suppose I'll be harder to kidnap than sweet little Asahina-san, so there's that consolation. Unless Tachibana brings reinforcements.

As I scanned the street for suspicious-looking burly men equipped for abductions I noticed Tachibana walking towards me a small distance from me. I couldn't help but notice her bobbing pigtails. Not as good as a solid ponytail but the two dangling pigtails where a definite example of synergy. Speaking of synergy, that skirt is rather short and those legs…wait, quick, she's right in front of you, stop staring at her legs and look up.

Tachibana gave a pleased smile and cocked her head.

"Hello, Kyon-kun, glad you would see me."

Bad choice of words after my blatant staring.

"You came alone?" I asked.

"Yes, just like we agreed. You're alone as well?"

"Me? Yes, not like I'm a member of any of these factions. I'm just some High school student caught between a rock and a hard place."

She gave a warm but forced smile back and nodded.

"So, Tachibana-san, where do you want to talk?"

"I don't know," Tachibana said cheerfully, "Where do you usually take girls on a date?"

"This is not a date. This is a shady meeting that should be taking place in a dark alleyway or a hidden passageway. Absolutely nothing like a date."

"So you want to take me to a dark alley? My, that's awfully forward of you!" she teased.

"What? I didn't…don't say that."

Tachibana chuckled. She was awfully pleased with herself.

"I was thinking we could take a walk, I'll lead?" Tachibana said and took two small steps backwards, hinting me to follow.

"Sure, but if anything looks like an ambush for an abduction-"

"I already said sorry about that," She interrupted, some of her cheerfulness fading. "But we got more important things to talk about."

I think I can see what's coming now. As I walked with Tachibana, a step behind her but not side by side, I could see she had a slightly troubled look on her face. One that people have when they're picking their words carefully.

"I think you should reconsider transferring Suzumiyas power to Sasaki."

She could've phrased it better than that…something else troubling her?

"Is that all you have to say? I thought we already had this discussion," I said without hiding my frustration.

"And you still don't seem to understand!" Tachibana pleaded, "someone like Suzumiya should never have powers like that. She'd be troublesome enough without the ability to alter reality."

Actually, it's kind of hard to argue with that.

"She hasn't harmed anyone yet, you I'm not so sure about," I retorted.

I've had this discussion before and it doesn't get any less annoying. Why do they come to me to ramble? Something about me being the King to her queen in some bizarre kind of a Chess game…I don't get it.

"Haruhi has also calmed down a lot since that infamous closed space incident, and has become more grounded in reality. She may still be a pain but she's not dangerous," I defended out of obligation to at least have a conversation.

"But she is dangerous! How can you not see it! That…that…control freak just has to decide one day to alter reality for whatever reason she thinks is good enough!" Tachibana's voice carried a tone of accusation along with her plea.

"I'm telling you, she's not as bad as you think, and you just don't know what's going to happen if Sasaki gets these powers. Maybe they change when the holder is aware of them. And I have no guarantee that a transfer wouldn't harm either of them. Has Sasaki even consented to the transfer?"

My voice didn't sound as calm as I would've liked it do to, and Tachibana didn't seem to have a response to that. I think we both knew we had this talk often enough. No one had a definitive answer so there's hardly any point in repeating this yet again.

Neither of us spoke for a few minutes. Both deep in our thoughts I guess. I was trying to think of a way to end this pretend-date as gracefully as possible when I noticed Tachibana was leading me to a public park. Plenty of people around so kidnapping risk was at a minimum, and the calm of the park was preferable to the noise of the street.

Once we had walked in the park for a few moments Tachibana finally broke the silence with her default cheerful tone.

"Isn't this nice? Two people from opposing sides of a conflict meet to talk and have a lovely walk in the park."

"Sure, a walk in the park is a bit better than what I thought this would be like," I admitted.

"If you're thinking about that dark alleyway then there's still time," she said with a wide smirk.

What's with this girl…

"Or would you rather not for risk of getting caught? You seem to think very highly of Suzumiya, to trust her with such powers and defend her so. That relationship must run deep."

"Don't say it like that…"

If the burly men are going to appear and take me away, please do it now.

"And all the things you've put yourself though for her sake and your brigade, I must say I wish I had a white knight like that by my side."

Tachibana giggled. That somehow sounded sinister to me. Or maybe more mischievous…-Let's stop that train of thought right there.

Seriously. I think I'll take that ambush now. Please? Any takers? I swear I won't make a fuzz.

She stopped, spun around and smiled while looking me directly in the eyes as I managed to stop just inches from her face, completely caught off-guard.

"Perhaps you have time enough for another fair maiden to champion?"

We stood like that for a few seconds as I gathered my bearings. I did not see that one coming.

"Tachibana…are you…are you flirting with me?"

"What?" Tachibana said with genuine surprise, "It took you this long to catch on?"

"I…I guess it did."

She took step back and gave me a concerned look.

"If you're this oblivious one might think you wouldn't even have noticed this from Suzumiya-san."

"Noticed what?"

Tachibana gave me strange look like my hair had suddenly turned pink, then turned around and kept walking. I followed her onwards. I was a bit further behind her this time and had a better view of her, I say with a distinct lack of a more elegant phrasing. I hadn't really noticed how slender those legs where before…no, wait, don't be that guy. Just look up…at those hypnotizing pigtails. I can't win.

"Kyon-kun, care to join me at the flea market we saw on the way here?" She asked casually.

"Uhm…I don't care where we go. But I feel we haven't really discussed all we should've discussed, or really resolved anything…I mean we were just talking in circles before but isn't there something we haven't explored yet? A peaceful solution?"

"Like what?" She said as she changed her path and walked in the direction of that flea market.

"I don't know…it's just that…You said before we are two people on different sides of a conflict. It used to look more like a stalemate to me until just recently. And now I'm told that me and Haruhi are under surveillance and these factions around us have been having small fights and might be gearing up for more."

Tachibana's mood turned strange. Part frustration, part remorseful, a hint of sadness.

"It used to me more of a stalemate. But as you've probably heard the wheels are turning. It's already a cold war and I don't think it's going to stop there."

"You're being awfully frank, Tachibana-san. Shouldn't you be more careful what you say to your enemies?"

"I guess I don't want to think of you as an enemy." The remorseful tone in Tachibanas voice was gaining ground.

"And I don't want to have enemies. I don't want this to escalate."

We were approaching the flea market. It was sort of crowded but still quiet enough for a conversation. It was filled with things that normally could've distracted me if didn't have that whole impending war hanging over my head.

"It's up to you if this escalates you know," Tachibana said. The frustrated part of her voice now pushing the remorseful part in a corner.

"What do you mean? Why me?"

"You're the key to the transfer of power, all you have to do is agree to transfer the power to Sasaki and this whole situation will defuse."

"I don't think it's that simple, and you don't even know if that would create a whole new bigger problem. Or even work."

Tachibana sighed heavily and looked down at her feet for a moment. I took the opportunity to look around. Some of crowd around us had snapped to attention at the unfolding drama, most pretending to be browsing around while still keeping their attention on us. Maybe we should've kept our voices down. My thoughts where interrupted when I noticed Tachibana had grabbed both my hands and held them at her sides, looking at me intently.

"What are you-"

"You know, even if your heart does belong to another I still can't help but to…" She teased. Her tone of her voice was actually a bit different from before, less playfulness to it.

"What? It Doesn't-…What?"

"Oh? It doesn't? Then I have a chance?"

"…what?"

"I guess I'll have to spell it out for you," she said and locked lips with me before I even realized she was getting her face closer to mine. This was not the kind of ambush I was expecting

I stood there frozen for an instant after our lips locked, staring at her closed eyes. On instinct my eyes closed as well. I was far to confused to make a conscious decision about whether to reciprocate or not. Some primal part of me made that decision for me and I reflexively mirrored her movements. I didn't really know what I was doing but based on Tachibanas hesitant and awkward technique neither did she.

After what felt like least a minute the embrace broke. When I opened my eyes I saw Tachibana staring at my chest, her arms still around me, and I couldn't make out her expression. There was a moment of silence, during which I remembered that we were at a fairly crowded flea market and apparently had attracted some attention with this surprise public display of…affection? Or something. I tried not to look at the people staring with stern disapproval in their eyes.

"I'm Sorry" Tachibana said. The sincere apology caught me by surprise.

"What for?"

"I had to do it, this has to end and we can't let you go on as if everything's fine when it's so obvious how unstable she is."

"What do mean? You're not making any-"

At that moment I realized Tachibana was now staring at something in the crowd. I looked up to see what it was.

There in the crowd I saw the all too familiar yellow ribbon of Haruhi Suzumiya, as she walked away. I only saw the back of her before she quickly disappeared into the crowd.

"You…Did you know she was there? She saw us?" I said as my mind began piecing this together.

"I did, I was instructed to make sure she saw, and she did," She said. She spoke in an attempt at a firm and controlled voice but it was obvious she was holding back some strong and conflicted emotions.

"And you...this whole scene was staged for her?" I said with slowly building anger. Being manipulated like this makes me feel violated in more ways than one.

"Yes. One kiss, the wrong boy kisses the wrong girl. That's all it took," Tachibana said, passing whatever she was feeling as anger.

"...All it took?" I repeated as the implication of that sank in. Damnit, Haruhi did look upset...was this really all the reason she needed to do something bad enough to justify taking her powers away?

"You have to make the right decision now," Tachibana said downcast. Her anger had passed quickly and whatever emotions where left in her weren't happy ones, she bit her lower lip down, closed her eyes and took labored breaths through her noise in an attempt to gather herself.

I didn't bother to find a response to that, I really can't hold an argument against a girl once they start tearing up, and in any case I had to find Haruhi. Tachibana let me go and I ran in the direction Haruhi had gone. The crowd made it difficult. After trying to spot a yellow ribbon in the sea of heads for a few moments my cell phone began to ring. It was Koizumi.

"Good day, Kyon-kun"

"Hello, I'm guessing you're calling about some sort of a major disturbance that you just picked up on."

"Why, Yes," Koizumi sounded a bit nervous though his forced demeanor, "Would you happen to know anything about that?"

"I may have French-kissed a girl in front of Haruhi."

Koizumi's smile faded so quickly it was almost audible through the phone.

"Did you say you-"

"I didn't mean to."

"…"

"Look I…I don't know what to say."

"I'm currently headed to a gigantic closed space that just appeared and is expanding at an alarming rate. The organization is throwing everything they've got at this but I suspect the final outcome of this might now be in our hands. "

"but I-"

"Talk to her, you need to calm her down and fix this. I don't have time to explain since this closed space requires my immediate attention, but I trust you will solve this," Koizumi said and hung up.

Damn it. Why did I kiss her back? Why didn't I see this coming? After all that talk my paranoia hadn't protected me from anything.

I rushed through the crowd while looking for her in all directions. She was nowhere to be found on the streets. So many people...I just can't find her. What the hell am I going to do?

"Kyon…" Said the last person I wanted to talk to right now. Tachibana had apparently composed herself quickly, even if her eyes where still red.

"I'm sorry to put you though so much just to prove a point," She sounded sincere enough but it didn't really make me any less angry.

Before I could calm down long enough to form a coherent thought, Tachibana spoke.

"We know where she is. We had her under surveillance to…you know…She went to that park we walked though before. She's at one of the benches by the pond."

That did make me a bit less angry.

"Why are you telling me that?" I asked.

"Because I don't want the world to end. You may be able to correct this…misunderstanding. The white knight always comes though even if he gets sullied." She offered one of the weakest smiles I've ever seen.

I didn't feel like making that exchange any longer and rushed into the park. I found Haruhi sitting on one of the benches. She was staring blankly into the pond. As I walked towards her I began trying to decide on what I could say. Once I reached her I still hadn't decided. I stood next to her for a minute before she noticed me. She looked up at me with an angry expression, but a different kind of angry I've seen from her before, she stared at me like I had stabbed her in the back.

"Why are you here!" She snapped at me, making no attempt to contain any of her anger.

That's a very good question.