The Three Kingdoms - Chapter 33 - Epilogue: Suzumiya Haruhi, Ilissia Reverie, Naluri Sihara, The SOS Brigade (Chapter)

Haruhi: God Knows
Marisa was wrong. The flag of The North High Colony that had once been flying proudly on the flagpole on top of North High School's main tower was not at half mast that day. It had in fact been removed completely. Doomsday had dropped North High School a stone's throw away from its real world counterpart, Nishinomiya-Kita High School, further up the steep hill they were placed on. For a school, North High was in a very awkward position, its grounds surrounded by trees and with no paths or roads leading up to the school. Of course, this was no hurdle for Haruhi and the rest of the SOS Brigade to bypass. The five of them were sat in the clubroom in their respective places, Haruhi at the head table by the windows. Kyon and Itsuki were playing chess on the centre table. Yuki was reading while Mikuru was practising calligraphy, given special permission to not wear her usual maid's outfit.

This was only the second time the SOS Brigade had been assembled at North High, the first being the first night of Doomsday. Every assembly between was formed on the Normandy SR-2, Haruhi not trusting the security of a headquarters on Earth.

The room was mostly silent, there was no talking. Haruhi was tapping the mouse of the computer by her table staring blankly at the monitor on her desk. On the monitor was the SOS Brigade's single-paged website. The hit counter number had skyrocketed over the past year into the millions.

Kyon was looking in Haruhi's direction, correctly guessing what Haruhi was looking at. He was also correct in guessing that Haruhi's mind was not even thinking about the website. Thirdly, he was also right in assuming Haruhi was fully aware of his concerns. Fourthly, he was correct in thinking that he had to start the conversation himself. "Haruhi... What happened?"

Haruhi's eyes looked at Kyon, full of defiance, "What?"

"... What happened after you disappeared? You haven't told anyone about what happened... have you?"

Haruhi carefully lifted the monitor off her desk onto the floor with one hand. She composed herself and took a gulp of tea that had been prepared earlier on her desk. After a sigh, she spoke up again, "Do you really want to know?"

Kyon paused before answering, "... Yeah."

She took another sip, having the attention of the entire room, "... The Hand Canon worked."

"You went back home?!" asked Kyon shocked.

Haruhi looked down at the cup in her hands, "... Yeah... I did... You should have seen the mess we left on our hometown."

"... What?"

"We've been gone for a whole year. Of course, there'd be implications."

"But it's not just us that Doomsday affected," commented Itsuki, fearing the worst.

"Indeed," continued Haruhi, "It takes more than a year to rebuild a school. It takes even longer to rebuild a school, a swimming pool, a library, a café, several mansions, several houses, two full sets of flats, several sections of road and the town square. Just like it did to us, Doomsday just snatched them from our world leaving holes in our town. They spent the last year rebuilding. North High looks nothing like it used to... even without the scaffolding..." A tear ran down Haruhi's cheek, dripping into her tea. "I met with my parents. We went to a restaurant with flowers, fancy decorations and elegant white outdoor tables. I ordered green tea. My mother had plain water while my father went for coffee. I explained the best I could about what happened to us. Despite how absurd Doomsday seemed, they believed me. There was no other explanation, sane or otherwise, to explain our disappearances. And then in the middle of our conversation, I was whisked away, finding a dead Naluri in front of me. Had nothing been wrong, I would have assumed this past year to be a dream. Thanks to Naluri, Haruki will be fine." There was silence round the main table. "I've asked that we all be taken off all missing persons lists, national and international. I'm hoping any more resources they plan on using to find us will be used on restoring the city."

"... Are you going to tell the public about the Hand Canon?"

"No," answered Haruhi immediately, "Neither of the Hand Canons are finished."

"Neither?" repeated Itsuki, "Do you mean there's two?"

Haruhi wiped an arm across her eyes, wiping away the tears. From under the table, she placed a Hand Canon on the desk's surface. Unlike her own Hand Canon design that had a dark blue stripe down the barrel, this one had a dark red one. "The future Sasaki attempted to build her own Hand Canon but was ultimately unsuccessful. This one is less developed than my own. If others find out about the Hand Canons, they will attempt to go back to their worlds without thinking about the consequences. Their alternate versions will take their place in this world and the true fear of the alternate version will bring them back involuntarily."

"But if time continues to pass in our original worlds-" began Itsuki.

"Many worlds are likely doomed," finished Yuki, turning a page of her book, "Atlas is no longer holding up the heavens of his homeworld. Ganon's time-alternate has no Wind Waker to stop him. Gondor and Rohan will descend into war without their leaders-"

"Nagato," protested Kyon, "I think you've given us enough examples." Yuki glanced at Kyon, blinking innocently.

"Do you plan on finishing your Hand Canon?" asked Itsuki, forcing the conversation back on track.

"... Yes," was Haruhi's reluctant answer, "One way or another."

"The Anti-Nine know all about the Hand Canon. What if they talk?"

Haruhi tapped the side of her cup in thought, "Of course, it depends on the situation. But if the need arises, I will step in."

"And Naluri?"

"... I owe her more than my life. I will defend her free speech. However... Any consequences she causes will be her own fault." Haruhi stood up. "Don't bother thinking about politics. Just think about settling down. And your future." She walked past the main table without a word and exited the room, unable to resist rubbing her eyes once more before closing the door.

-

Ilse: Elemental Spirit
"No natives?" asked Ilse.

"No natives," nodded Inubashiri Mojimi, "Gensokyo is not keen on allowing natives in its borders."

"That is... disappointing..." commented Lynette sadly, "But not surprising..." The three of them were sat in the Strike Witches' common room on the Joint Helgast and Strike Witch Base in The Canary Islands. Most people were asleep, dawn having just risen.

"Please give our invitation some consideration," bowed Momiji, "Gensokyo owes a lot to the two of you."

"How did you get into Gensokyo's good graces?" quietly asked Yomiko Reverie, Ilse's older sister, sat on the same couch Ilse was on.

"By trying to survive, I suppose," answered Ilse with a neutral tone, "Last night was more than eventful."

"From Yamaha?" Yamaha had successfully captured and imprisoned Yomi, releasing her only very recently. Hence, Yomi's view of Yamaha was very skewed. But very honest.

"For part of it but Yamaha won't be mistreating dolls anymore, yes?" Ilse looked over to Minna, standing behind Lynette's couch.

"New Yamaha has no reason to go against dolls now," commented Minna, "For the record, UTAU was the only group to observe the imprisonment of dolls."

"Why did you join Yamaha in the first place?"

"Gensokyo was invading countries left and right, getting dangerously close to Europe and the Far East. It made sense to ally with the opposing force." Noticeably, Momiji made no comment.

"Yamaha was invading countries left and right too," pointed out Yomi, unimpressed by Minna's answer.

"We assumed it was due to willing cooperation," argued Minna, "We had no idea it was forced. But the time we found out we were in absolutely no position to protest. Yamaha was too powerful and we relied on them for protection."

Yomi grunted in annoyance, folding her arms. "Why were we here again?"

"To decide on where to live," reminded Void, the third doll in the room, sat on a sofa for a single person. Both her eyes were covered by her hair but, unlike Santiago, her mouth was expressive, upturned in a concerned frown. Void had been in North High the entire year, away from her friends.

"I was thinking we could move in with our creator," suggested Yomi.

"But we don't know him or her, yes?" spoke Ilse, "We could end up imposing."

"If Sora is anything to go by," began Lynette, "I think your creator would appreciate your presence."

"What do you plan to do, Lynette?"

"Yahama are returning their military bases to their owners," explained Minna on Lynette's behalf, "This base will be returned to Spain, essentially making the Helgast and many Strike Witches homeless. Several Strike Witches have their homes to go to but for the rest of us, we need to search for new homes." Ilse and Lynette were the two odd ones out of the Anti-Nine, the only two with no immediately obvious place to reside.

"Miku's suggestion to move into an Ark in a District somewhere is a good idea in my opinion," input Lynette. Her voice was slightly shaky as though she was not confident about speaking without her superior's permission.

"I agree. It would be nice to stay together as normal people rather than soldiers," Minna was full of enthusiasm, "It's finally pleasant to see a world with no need for a military."

"True," nodded Ilse, "But then what would you have as a job?"

"We have talents beyond combat," smiled Minna, "The most obvious alternative is to join the paramilitary. Like the police, fire services, health services, coastguard, mountain rescue, that sort of thing."

"What could we work as?" questioned Void, directed at Ilse and Yomi, "We're still students after all."

"We'd be competing against heaps of other newcomers," sighed Yomi, "We'd need some way to stand out."

"Sorry to interrupt," interjected Momiji, still standing in her position, "But with the huge increase in the world's population, demand for almost everything has skyrocketed, assuming Haruhi does not intervene. The biggest problem is that newcomers lack the economic strength of the natives. Yamaha possess unparalleled technology to bolster their industry. Gensokyo has retained its relatively underdeveloped system, fitting for our small country and limited advancement. North High will not have problems. Others, particularly if they relied on those not brought in by Doomsday or they depended on some third party depository like a bank, will have lost a considerable portion of their income or savings. What we need is a few international banks for newcomers. I would recommend first earning money from natives and then try to focus on the newcomer economy after."

"Isn't taking native jobs unfair?" inquired Ilse, "We are superior to natives in many ways, yes? Dolls are good for places dangerous to humans and robots like areas with corrosive gas or intense heat. And then we're not required to eat or sleep."

"Whether you think it is unfair or not, it is the most logical solution. The alternative is to find a newcomer to work for. However, as I said, newcomers with enough money to become employers are few and far between." Void and Yomi looked at each other. The money they had between the three of them, including Ilse, was absolutely nothing. "I ought to point out that unjust treatment qualifies for compensation, money essentially, under Canadian and British law and United Nations policies. Whether native law applies during Yamaha's occupation is debatable but Yamaha is at fault for your mistreatment, Ilse and Yomi, and they ought to be indebted to you, Ilse. Gensokyo will do what they can to help but in terms of money, there's little we can do."

"What about Haruhi? She could fix all this," noted Void.

"Haruhi specifically stated that she did not want to get involved with international affairs any longer," expressed Lynette with concern, "'Live and learn,'" she quoted.

"Haruhi has done a lot for the world already," added Minna, "Seeing what she did in North High, with her policies on free economy, social liberty and whatnot, I'm surprised there's still people, both natives and newcomers, that hate her. No doubt she's currently keeping a lid on villains that would not hesitate to break the peace. No doubt she's still looking over us. Had it not been for Haruhi, the Doomsday fighting between Gensokyo and Yamaha would have lasted far longer. About money though, even though Yamaha's absolute rule was not the most humane, with a few... exceptions, they found jobs for everyone so most former residents of Yamaha will be key to creating a newcomer economy."

"I own..." started Void. She looked upwards in thought. "Well, I guess it more like I was given, property in North High, my District 2 apartment. I could sell it, if we don't move in."

"It's our only guaranteed home for now, yes? So let's keep it," advised Ilse.

"District industries are underdeveloped," continued Void, "Since they emphasised society so it might not be too hard to get jobs in a District."

"Umm," interrupted Momiji, feeling somewhat sorry for herself, "About the invitation?" The room went quiet.

"I'll accept the invitation," nodded Ilse.

"About the 'no natives' thing..." brought up Lynette, "What if the native was key to the end of the conflict?"

"Reimu was very clear about no natives," notified Momiji, "If the native was particularly influential, you may want to talk to Reimu directly about it."

Lynette lowered her head in disappointment, "I see... I'll attend the festival." As Momiji left the room, Lynette wondered what Melanie Williams was doing.

-

Naluri: Desert Division
Haruhi was outside a familiar apartment door on an Ark in District 9. She pushed the doorbell and could hear the ringing echo inside the apartment. There was no answer. Haruhi could sense a void inside the apartment, repelling her powers. She knocked loudly on the plastic coated door. Again, no answer. With a sigh, Haruhi opened the front door, the handle lock and the safety chain unsecuring for her. As she walked down the main corridor, a side door suddenly slid open. Haruhi found herself staring down the barrel of a battle rifle.

"You're supposed to wait for someone to answer the door, you dumbass," jeered Naluri, lowering her rifle. She was in white pyjamas, with a tired and annoyed look on her face, the open door leading to her bedroom.

"Sorry, I err... forgot," admitted Haruhi, scratching her cheek.

"You too used to having too much control?" growled Naluri, "Too used to having everything go your way?"

Haruhi changed the topic, "I need to talk to you."

"About what?" Naluri did not move. Despite Naluri's somewhat aggressive attitude, Haruhi suspected that Naluri was expecting her, seeing that she didn't seek out her friends.

"The Hand Canon-"

Naluri lifted her right hand, the blue-banded Hand Canon in her grip. She was holding the barrel of the gun, offering the handle to Haruhi. "Take it." The Hand Canon had been in Naluri's Hammerspace ever since she acquired it from Ritsu the day before. By the actions of the DeLorean, it had technically never been used. Haruhi took the Hand Canon, surprised by Naluri's cooperation. She looked up at Naluri. "... Was there something else?"

"Yeah, there's more we need to talk about. I suggest we sit down somewhere."

Naluri yawned loudly. She turned round and scrambled lazily back into bed, "Go ahead."

Haruhi pulled the bedroom desk chair up to the head of the bed and sat down. She deliberately chose the side of the bed that Naluri was facing. Naluri had her eyes closed, the quilt covering her nose and mouth. "About finishing the Hand Canon..." Haruhi did not finish the sentence, allowing Naluri to figure it out for herself. But Naluri did not react. After several seconds of silence, "Naluri, please-"

"Do not give me a choice, Haruhi," demanded Naluri, her eyes still closed, her voice muffled, "Do not ask me for permission to make my best friend suffer. If I said yes, Rokiahi would forever hate me. If I said no, the world would hate me instead. Do what you will. I trust you won't go too far."

More silence. "Also," continued Haruhi, "I want to talk about you."

"What is there to talk about? I'm fine."

Haruhi took a hard look at Naluri's exhausted face, "Are you sure?"

"... I'm sure." With a hunch, Haruhi stood up and took a step towards the room door when a hand grabbed her wrist. "I saw myself die..." murmured Naluri, her eyes open, looking to her right at the bed, "And yet, she was different. Despite there being less than two hours between us, we were no longer the same person. Why did she have so much trust in you and Sasaki?" Naluri's voice was getting louder, "Why did she willingly sacrifice herself for Haruki? Why did she choose to die when she could have lived?!" she shouted. Haruhi did not turn round. Naluri wiped her face with her free right hand. "On her request, I will not mourn her. I mourn her spirit, one I wish I could have. Haruhi, the future Sasaki passed her memories to you, didn't she? Please, could you help me?"

"People can change drastically after witnessing amazing or terrible events," said Haruhi, "Doomsday, last night. Some of us will never be the same again. Whether you consider your future counterpart to be you or not, history has proven that if you were put in the same situation, you would have done exactly the same thing." She turned round, holding a mini-disc in a clear plastic case. "This is what I can simulate from Sasaki's memories, she kept a very close eye on your counterpart. From the point you entered to car park to the very end, this disc will display exactly what your future counterpart saw. It will also simulate any force she felt. Any pain, any strain she felt you will feel it too. I would suggest turning the feature off before being hit by the car."

Naluri sat up and took the disc, letting go of Haruhi, "Th-thank you."

"Naluri," spoke Haruhi, "I have a lot to apologize for."

"Me too," responded Naluri, looking at the case she was holding in both hands.

"...What? Why?"

"I admit, you did more for me than I could appreciate. The others of the Anti-Nine opened my eyes. I lived relatively comfortably here in North High. Santiago, Sasaki, Alice, Ilse. They all had far worse experiences this past year. And yet were quick to drop their grudges with their bullies."

"None of The Three Kingdoms meant harm. We were scared of each other," Haruhi sighed, "They were scared of me."

Naluri paused before looking up, "So, what now? What does the future hold for us?"

"... Nothing but good," was Haruhi hesitant reply.

"That's... too good to be true," replied Naluri, unconvinced.

"I can only produce a simulation of things to come." Haruhi's solemn tone struck Naluri hard. She wasn't lying.

"...Are there more people like me and Rokiahi who are immune to your powers?"

"Not like you two, no," answered Haruhi turning away, "Your immunity to my powers stick out to me like a sore thumb. There's this noticeable... complete emptiness round the two of you. Speaking of which," Haruhi her head back to Naluri with a grin, "When someone rings the doorbell, they're expecting you to answer." She suddenly disappeared.

Naluri was a little stunned, "Huh? What?" Just then, the doorbell rang. Naluri blinked in confusion, before coming back to her senses. She jumped off the bed, dropping the mini-disc case on the bed, and stumbled out the bedroom door. Scrambling to regain her balance, she ran into the front door, fumbling for the safety chain. Upon taking hold of the chain, she realised Haruhi had left the chain unlatched. Correctly guessing the door was also left unlocked, Naluri pulled open the door, to see a certain someone outside.

Rokiahi saluted with a smile on her face, her black military uniform contrasting the bright orange dawn over District 9 below. In contrast to Rokiahi's neat presentation and straight form, Naluri was slightly hunched, breathing loudly. It took Naluri a moment to realise Rokiahi's salute. Straightening her own back, Naluri returned the salute. After a five second silence, Rokiahi spoke up, "Naluri, are you crying?"

Naluri wiped her face, "I missed everyone," she sobbed, "I've been alone the entire year..."

There was a pause. "...What?" questioned a surprised Rokiahi, "But... Our creator... XenoAisam lives in North High too. ...Doesn't he?"

"He does," nodded Naluri, "But I wasn't... allowed to leave District 9 this past year."

A look of horror appeared on Rokiahi's face, "Did... did Haruhi do something to you?" Rokiahi embraced Naluri, "How evil can she get...? Messing with free will..." It was clear that Rokiahi had no idea about her and Naluri's immunity to Haruhi's powers.

Naluri returned the embrace, "Don't misunderstand, I had my free will. She had good reason for what she did, Rokiahi. She's... a good person..." echoing her future self's words. Naluri let out another sob, fully aware that her best friend would be suffering in the future.

-

SOS Brigade: Spreading Excitement all Over the World with Suzumiya Haruhi Brigade
"Miss Suzumiya has changed a lot over this past year, hasn't she?" smiled Itsuki, with his arms folded.

"You think that's a good thing?" frowned Kyon, moving his rook across the chess board.

"She's more responsible now," Itsuki sidestepped answering Kyon's question directly, "Thinking about the consequences of her actions. It was something the Agency was very worried she couldn't do."

"What do you think happened to the Agency after Doomsday, with Haruhi gone?" asked Kyon, tapping his finger on the table, waiting for Itsuki's move, "Only five... official members of Agency were brought in by Doomsday, right?"

"Who knows?" Itsuki's smile unnerved Kyon. "Maybe they decided to live normal lives since there's no closed space anymore."

Kyon gazed over at Mikuru, "Asahina, what about your organization?"

Mikuru looked up from her sheet of paper, "They all have other things to do. The timequake that happened five years ago in our world will remain an issue but without Miss Suzumiya they cannot do anything about it."

"Hmm? What other things?" inquired an interested Kyon.

Mikuru glanced away from Kyon awkwardly, "Classified information." Kyon couldn't help letting out a grin. He looked at Yuki in turn out of instinct, even though he already knew her situation.

"None of us are left in our world," spoke Yuki in a monotonic voice, prematurely answering the question Kyon would have asked. She turned another page of her book.

"Is it really fine for no aliens to remain in our world?" noted Kyon, "Wouldn't that leave a huge power void or something?"

"Yes. No." Silence in the room, Yuki showing no signs of explaining further. Kyon sighed from this response.

"Why would there be a power void?" asked Itsuki rhetorically, finally moving a knight, "The aliens had no competition when it came to control."

Kyon let out another sigh, "I guess..." he countered Itsuki's move with one of his own, "So you're all still fine with how Haruhi is now? Aware of her powers, aware of who you guys are, in almost full control of the universe?"

"I would not trust godlike powers with anyone else," expressed Itsuki, "Miss Suzumiya is innocent at heart and would never wish ill will on anyone."

"What about Sasaki?" brought up Kyon.

"I'll be honest, I don't know enough about her to make a decision. But seeing how much trust you place in her I am willing to follow your judgement." Itsuki shrugged innocently.

"Umm..." began Mikuru, "I have my concerns about Miss Suzumiya. She's... never happy nowadays."

After a brief moment of thought, Kyon turned to Yuki, "When the last time we saw Haruhi smile? In actual happiness."

"Two seconds before Doomsday," Yuki answered simply, "From my viewpoint," she added. Kyon distinctly recalled Haruhi smiling when he and she first met after Doomsday in Singapore, Kyon's Doomsday Location. Yuki was not present at the location at the time.

"I doubt Haruhi will ever be the same again," mumbled Kyon, fiddling with a white bishop piece, one of Itsuki's captured pieces. "She'll never find peace. Especially if everyone in the world knows what she can potentially do."

"We should find some way to cheer her up," suggested Itsuki, "Like a surprise party."

"Miss Suzumiya would not react well to a surprise of any kind," disagreed Yuki, "This would just remind her that she does not have full knowledge or control over the universe."

It was Itsuki's turn to sigh, "That's a good point. Well, if we can't do that... It's disappointing that she has little interest in the supernatural anymore." He pushed a pawn forward. "I'm sure if she didn't have godlike powers, she'd be fascinated by Vocaloids and the residents of Gensokyo. Instead, she now knows everything about them so likely considers them boring. Hmm... I doubt we could do anything about the cause of her concern, she's likely worrying about the future, worrying about if there's anyone or anything out there that she can't see that wants to disturb the peace."

"Haruhi's a omnipotent goddess, right?" questioned Kyon, "The Convenience Theory says that such people shouldn't exist. ...Right?" He realised the irony in his statement as The Convenience Theory was formed as an explanation for Haruhi's lack of full control.

Itsuki's grin grew wider, "You might not be the best person to be saying that." Kyon couldn't help frowning, again, at Itsuki response. "You're one of these Invisibles that Miss Suzumiya's so concerned about." Itsuki leaned forward over the table, "Our creator gave you limited immunity to her powers, whether an absolute ability or a subconscious exception formed by Miss Suzumiya. Both you and the club room are ordinarily invisible to her omniscience." Itsuki leaned back. Kyon, with a rather disturbed look on his face, waited for him to settle back before changing the position of his queen. "Maybe Miss Suzumiya's monitoring this conversation from our point of view." Itsuki pointed at Yuki, then to Mikuru and finally at himself, "Or maybe she has an invisible observer in this room right now watching our every action." He folded his arms once more, "Maybe she implanted you with an control chip that monitors you twenty four seven. Maybe-"

"Thanks, I got the idea," groaned Kyon, his thoughts briefly worrying about his privacy. Then a thought struck him. "... Say if there was someone out there specially created to be uncontrollable by Haruhi. What if Haruhi implanted a control chip that was guaranteed to control its host into this person? Would this person be immune to the chip or would Haruhi can able to control them? What would happen?"

"Who knows?" repeated Itsuki with another shrug. "Maybe the universe would explode." Mikuru let out a high pitched meep. "Hahaha," laughed Itsuki, moving a bishop, "What you are asking is the paradox: If an unstoppable bowling ball hits an impassable wall, who wins? Again, who knows? The Convenience Theory is only a theory after all. As Miss Suzumiya discovered first hand, The Inconvenience Theory is false."

Kyon, leaning his head on his hand, took hold of one of his pawns. His thoughts turned to Haruki being a genderbent version of Haruhi and wondered what his own female counterpart was like. Glancing over at the computer by Haruhi's desk, he thought about checking the internet to find out. He had a sudden realisation, his eyes darting over to Mikuru. A male version of Mikuru would be blasphemy, he thought. Maybe it would be best to not find out after all. He sighed with a heavy heart. How many times was that now? He finally moved his pawn forward. "How many Invisibles are we aware of, excluding me and this room?"

"One," answered Yuki.

"Who?"

"Rulia. Best friend of the de facto Anti-Nine leader Sora Muziku. Released a few hours ago from the Arctic Prison."

"Is she a bad person?"

"... Miss Sasaki has deduced there was insufficient evidence to prove that she is a bad person." All three other people in the room had their eyes fixed on Yuki, all unaware of this. While Yuki could not compare to Haruhi or Sasaki, she was the next best thing, even surpassing the Integrated Data Sentient Entity.

"Well, that's one less Invisible to worry about then," sighed a relieved Itsuki.

"On the contrary," contradicted Yuki, "Miss Suzumiya is very worried about Miss Rulia. Miss Sasaki even more so."

"Why?" asked Kyon. He couldn't help feeling he was asking a lot of questions lately.

"I do not know."

"Maybe it's because she's the only other Invisible we know so they have their suspicions," suggested Itsuki.

"What about me?" brought up Kyon, "Why aren't they concerned about me?" Ha, two more questions.

"You were dropped off in Singapore on Doomsday, correct?" explained Itsuki, "With no superpowers of your own, there was no chance you could have done anything to do with the start of the conflict before Miss Suzumiya met up with you. Since then you've always been with the rest of us, in North High, with no chance of making the worldwide situation worse. Basically, you're not to blame for any of the problems this world had this past year."

Kyon straightened his back, folding his arms with pride, "It's nice to know I'm a normal human."

"You're invisible," grinned Itsuki. Kyon's eye twitched. "I don't know about Miss Sasaki but you have a flawless service record to Miss Suzumiya, I'm sure she would trust you with her life. Which brings us back to the topic in hand. There just might be a way to make Miss Suzumiya happy once more." He moved a knight, taking Kyon's lonesome rook.

"...I'm listening," emphasised Kyon. "Sadly..." he added with a mumble. He pushed another pawn forward.

"The festival Gensokyo is hosting will be a brilliant opportunity to lighten her spirits. Miss Suzumiya is lacking a distinct something in her life, wouldn't you agree?" Mikuru hiccuped awkwardly as Itsuki took the pawn with the knight.

Kyon immediately understood what Itsuki was hinting at, frowning even harder, "What makes Haruhi so important to make that kind of declaration?" He took one of Itsuki's own pawns with his queen, successfully baiting Itsuki's knight away, giving Kyon the dominant position, "Check."

"Hahaha," laughed Itsuki, realising he had fallen into a trap, "Miss Suzumiya is the universe's biggest asset. She is more important than everything else."

Kyon was eager to make use of his last year of mostly playing video games on the Normandy, "At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box," he recited, an Italian quote featured in the Halo franchise.

"But is Miss Suzumiya really the king?" smiled Itsuki, flicking over his king. It rolled into Itsuki's last pawn, standing firm against the push.

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