*MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*
Set in April.
β-
It is Monday, after school.
Haruhi charges ahead with Kyon, Koizumi and Asahina in tow. They have just got the news that Nagato has been at home, sick, so Haruhi decides that they should all go pay a visit.
Upon arrival they are greeted by Nagato who is in her pyjamas. Haruhi quickly escorts her back to bed.
Next, Haruhi orders the team to make her dinner. Koizumi volunteers to go shopping for groceries, leaving Kyon alone in the room with the bedridden Nagato.
Once Haruhi is clearly out of ear shot, Kyon asks Nagato when she first got sick. She says Saturday night. Kyon realises that was when he got the phone call from Sasaki. Thinking more into it he realises that it also explains why Emiri Kimidori stepped in when she did at the cafe. That was a task that Nagato would have been there for, not Kimidori.
Kyon realises that she is suffering an attack caused by the Heavenly Canopy Dominion.
Haruhi comes back into the bedroom and orders Kyon to the task of setting out the cutlery. Haruhi remarks that she prefers her own cooking to her mothers, and therefore makes her own food most of the time.
Haruhi gives Nagato the food on a tray. Kyon doesn't feel right standing there with the others just watching her eat in bed, so he excuses himself and heads for the bathroom. Once inside he wonders what the hell to do. His phone goes off. He opens it up but it goes black. A text cursor appears in the top left hand corner with the message:
yuki.n> There is no need for worry
Kyon converses with Nagato this way until her messages become scrambled illegible code. Kyon gets frantic and wonders what on earth is happening, until after a little while she replies back for one final time in eligible text:
yuki.n> going to sleep for a bit
Kyon runs back into the bedroom only for Haruhi to tell him off for disturbing Nagato just when she's fallen asleep.
Kyon knows what he must do. If she is being attacked by the Heavenly Canopy Dominion, he must find Kuyoh Suoh. His memory of the girl tells him that she dresses in the Kouyouen Academy uniform. He feels that there is no choice but to run there and demand to be given more information about her.
After leaving Nagato's apartment complex Kyon breaks into a run. He stops to catch his breath at the railway crossing and notices a figure on the other side, staring at him. The railway crossing blinkers. The shutters and alarm activate. Kyon notices that the girl on the other side staring right at him with her glass eyes is none other than Kuyoh Suoh herself.
The train passes. Kuyoh walks over the crossing to join Kyon. He demands to know what she did to Nagato, but she only says that she wanted to learn about Kyon. She asks him to follow her somewhere. Kyon wants to refuse but doesn't know how to handle her.
A girls voice from behind Kyon stops her and out of nowhere a knife is pointed at Kyons throat. He realises to his horror that Ryoko Asakura has revived, and is poised to kill him at any given moment. It turns out that she was never deleted, but can only activate on Earth whenever Nagato is resting. Asakuras intentions focus on Kuyoh Suoh, despite the knife at Kyons neck. She contemplates killing Kuyoh Suoh. Kyon realises that time has been frozen. This is Asakura's doing.
Asakura flicks her knife directly at Kuyoh. She manages to stop the blade which was thrown at the speed of light, but struggles to keep it from continuing its journey. Asakura disintegrates the world to one with weird geometry. Kuyoh moves out of the knifes path and lets it continue flying away, but it is caught yet again by a third girl, Emiri Kimidori. Kimidori tries to stop Asakura from fighting Kuyoh. Kuyoh dodges all of Asakura's attacks and somehow the knife finds its way back at Kyons throat. Kuyoh disappears and reappears a few times. She asks questions for definitions on things, unsure of whats really going on. The knife disintegrates and Asakura tries to trap Kuyoh in a mosaic of hexagons. Kuyoh disappears completely. Asakura is shocked that she managed to escape her spacial trap. The scenery returns to the real world next to the railway crossing.
Kyon refuses to look at Asakura in the face when she leaves. This means Nagato must be active again. Once Asakura's gone, Kyon talks to Kimidori. She says she is only there to watch the proceedings and not interfere, when she can. However she did stop Asakura from killing Kyon just by being there. Kimidori reveals that Nagato has been assigned the duty to establish communication between the Data Overmind and the Heavenly Canopy Dominion. Up until now it was deemed impossible, but with Kuyoh around somehow it is via organic life forms. Kimidori then heads off for the train station.
Kyon gets a call from Haruhi, asking where he is. He comes up with a story of rushing out to get Nagato a get-well present. Haruhi tells him exactly what to buy and he complies.
Back at Nagato's apartment Haruhi declares that they will help Nagato on a daily basis until she gets better. She says that they should meet here instead of the clubroom after school.
Back at home Kyon contacts Kyoko Tachibana and they arrange to meet after school the next day.
α-
The next day, Tuesday.
Koizumi and Kyon walk to school. He informs Kyon that the celestial incidents have suddenly stopped. He suggests that maybe Haruhi is too preoccupied with the freshmen now.
Kyon asks him whether its OK to just leave Sasaki's group alone, and he says it is.
After school, Haruhi doesn't dash to the clubroom. She says its best to be fashionably late. Instead she and Kyon go over some history notes for half an hour.
Out of the new freshmen to turn up today, there are 3 boys and 3 girls. Haruhi sets them a test with a question sheet on why they want to join, what they think they can contribute to the brigade, what they think of mysterious phenomena and what they would like to do if they could do anything they liked. Kyon later asks Haruhi why she set them such questions, and she says its because she wants to know how they tick, what their personalities are like and if they will prove to be suitable for the brigade.
Kyon tries to remember the faces of todays freshmen, having realised that some may not have turned up yesterday.
β-
The next day, Tuesday.
Haruhi nearly turns up late to class because she visited Nagato before school. When they get a chance to talk, Kyon informs her that he wont be able to make it to Nagato's apartment after school because of something or another. She accepts. She ends up asking Koizumi to stay in the clubroom just in case there are freshmen who appear who want to join the brigade.
When Koizumi speaks to Kyon during lunch, he says that the celestial incidents have suddenly stopped. He suggests that maybe Haruhi is too preoccupied with Nagato's illness.
After school Kyon meets up with Sasaki and her cronies as planned at the coffee house. Nothing is accomplished from the meeting other than Kyoko being even more fixated about Kyon choosing to help them move Haruhi's power onto Sasaki. Fujiwara even attempts to blackmail Kyon into making the decision by stating that all he has to do is give the word and he will ask Kuyoh to stop the pointless contact between the Heavenly Canopy Dominion and the Data Overmind, thus releasing Nagato from her burden.
Kyoko and Fujiwara leave, leaving Kyon, Sasaki and Kuyoh still in the cafe. Sasaki is equally as annoyed with her so called 'friends' because she doesn't want to have the power of a god, and even tried to explain in great deal why but alas to no avail. All three leave the cafe together. They bump into Taniguchi and Kunikida. Taniguchi recognises Kuyoh. They exchange a few words and then he runs off. It is explained that Kuyoh is the Kouyouen Academy girlfriend that Taniguchi had over the Christmas period.
When asked about this, Kuyoh says that during the events of the 'The Disappearance' her memories of the real past were also in tact, meaning it wasn't just Kyon who remembered everything from before.
Kuyoh also says that during her relationship with Taniguchi, he bought her a wrist watch, which she still uses.
α-
The next day, Wednesday.
Haruhi brings in her own lunch box and explains to Kyon that she woke up feeling the need to cook for some reason. She also tells him that her mother has always been a terrible cook. Kyon has a strange feeling almost like he's had the same conversation before...
She changes the conversation to the brigade membership exam. Kyon accurately guesses at what test she's thinking of giving the freshmen (the first to capture 101 hamsters). With it being a bad idea, she comes up with a few more suggestions.
After school Kyon gets another lecture from grandmaster Suzumiya, but only for 10 minutes. Out of the prospective new brigade members, only three boys and two girls are left.
Haruhi announces that the final test will be a sprint. She orders the freshmen to change into their gym uniforms. For once she understands that its only right for boys and girls to change separately. They head out to the school fields and acquire the use of the 400 meter track. Haruhi takes the lead, also in gym uniform, and starts running. Without so much as a word it becomes clear that the aim of the test is to simply keep up with her. The freshmen run round the track without a goal in sight. Kyon, Koizumi and Asahina wait patiently by the steps (Nagato didnt bother leaving the club room) as they watch the freshmen drop like flies. Other sports club members stop what they're doing and watch too. They even help drag the exhausted freshmen off the field.
During the race, Koizumi and Kyon talk about how weird things are. Koizumi explains that he feels like he is disappearing, like he is in a dream. They next talk about the mysterious freshmen girl. She is keeping up with Haruhi and is clearly going to end up being allowed into the brigade.
Koizumi says that there isn't any official reason for concern, but they both realise that this new girl is someone to keep a close eye on. Kyon now seriously considers her being a 'fifth power' but is unsure if she is a slider.
Even to Haruhi's surprise, this new girl ends up keeping up with her right to the very end as the only one standing. Back in the club room after the new member leaves, Kyon confronts Haruhi about the situation. She says that she really wasn't expecting anyone to join the brigade at the end of the day, but due to being fair to her democracy, feels it only right to accept her. Haruhi then shows Kyon her application form, and he reads her answers. Kyon turns over the sheet to finally read the name of this new girl: Yasumi Watahashi. Thinking about it some more, Kyon realises that this is the same girl that phoned him whilst he was in the bath.
β-
The next day, Wednesday.
Kyon over analyses his situation and realises that the Tsuruya household still holds that mysterious object.
After school Haruhi and Mikuru go straight to Nagato's apartment, leaving Kyon and Koizumi alone in the clubroom, board. Koizumi pulls out a box with baseball gloves and so the boys decide to go play catch in the courtyard.
Koizumi explains a hypothesis: What if an evil god created the earth? Then in that case the fact that humans even recognise 'good' means that the true good god would be in existence, however, he would be one who only observes earth without being able to or maybe not even wanting to interact with it. This in the context of Haruhi suggests that Kyoko Tachibana recognises Sasaki as that other type of true god. Koizumi also points out that Kyon is at the centre along with Haruhi.
Kyon rides home on his bike. Entering his bedroom he's shocked to find Sasaki playing with Shamisen and his sister.
After getting rid of the sister and the cat, Sasaki tells Kyon much the same as Koizumi did, that being that Kyon is at the centre of it all, as the true representative of normal Humans with the key to solve this current dilemma.
α-
The next day, Thursday.
The end of the day arrives, and Haruhi doesn't bother with tutoring Kyon. They head straight up to the clubroom for Yasumi Watahashi's first official day in the brigade.
Asahina teaches her the practice of tea brewing, then Haruhi gets her fixing the website. Kyon and Koizumi go outside for a round of playing catch with the baseball gear.
Yasumi Watahashi throws a paper aeroplane out the window at Kyon, with the message "I found the MIKURU folder!"
Yasumi Watahashi leaves once the boys return back to the clubroom.
The website ends up looking much better but cluttered, and for some reason theres a link for 'The Day of Sagittarius 5', an improved online version of the computer clubs game.
Mikuru shows herself to be a true upperclassman by reacting to how cute the new girl is.
When Kyon gets home at the end of the day, he finds Yasumi Watahashi waiting for him in his room. Kyon tells off his sister for inviting in strangers she's never met before. The new girl doesn't stay very long, and she doesn't even have any real reason to be there.
β-
The next day, Thursday.
Haruhi wonders if they should make Nagato go to a hospital. Kyon suggests that if she does, she should consult Koizumi beforehand.
On his way to the clubroom after school, Kyon bumps into Taniguchi. Kyon presses him for information regarding his relationship with Kuyoh. He says they did the usual things couples do. He also says that at times she could be quite talkative, about random things like cats being more of an advanced life form than humans.
Kyon goes to the club room. Yasumi Watahashi is in the room. This is Kyons first time meeting the girl. She apologises and says she's made a mistake and shouldn't be there. She runs past Kyon out into the hallway. Kyon goes to see her out but she's disappeared.
Kyon notices a flower in the club room that wasn't there before, sitting in a vase.
Kyon ends up the only brigade member to attend the club room that day.
Back home, Kyon gets a phone call from Sasaki. she says Fujiwara is insistent on everyone meeting tomorrow to settle everything. She tells Kyon that everything depends on him.
α-
The next day, Friday.
Kyon finds a letter from Yasumi in his shoe locker. She's asking him to meet in the clubroom at 6:00pm.
Kyon agonises what its about. In a roundabout way he asks for Haruhi's advice. She says that he should find the answer by confronting the one asking the question. Using this advice, he sets off to find Yasumi during his lunch break. He finds Nagato in the clubroom, and decides to ask her whats going on. She says that Yasumi is "nothing", which only makes him think that she isn't a North High student. Nagato also says that he need not worry about her. Kyon heads back to room 2-5 in time for afternoon classes, albeit deflated and hungry.
After school Yasumi doesn't appear during club time. Asahina says she told her earlier that she wouldn't be able to make it today, and even Haruhi chimes in to say that she appeared to tell her the same over the lunch period.
Kyon notices a single flower in a vase by the window. Mikuru says that Yasumi brought it round earlier.
Koizumi turns up late, sees the flower, walks over to it, takes his phone out and begins to photograph it. Kyon notices and wonders if he is sending them somewhere.
At the end of the day Kyon pretends that he has left Taniguchi's super rare porno mag and runs back. He heads straight to the clubroom where Yasumi is waiting. Then they hear a knock on the clubroom door.
β-
The next day, Friday.
Kyon's sister wakes him up early after he apparently told her too. She says he told her too due to "something important" he has to do today, though he has no recollection of telling her anything. Could this be AN UNEXPLAINED TIME TRAVEL EVENT??
After school Kyon meets up with Sasaki, Kyoko Tachibana and Fujiwara by the station. Kuyoh isn't there but Fujiwara says she's bound to turn up at the right time. Apparently its a fixed time travel event that they have to arrive at their destination by taxi, which happens to be North High.
The tension is rife between Kyon & Sasaki with Fujiwara in the back of the Taxi. Kyoko is in the front seat chatting with the driver during this time.
They arrive at North High. Fujiwara tells Kyon to follow him whilst Kyoko settles the bill. After walking just a few short paces inside the grounds, Kyon instantly notices that he's entered closed space. Specifically, Sasaki's closed space. He looks behind him and sees that the taxi isn't there. Trapped, Kyon has no choice but to follow Fujiwara and Kyoko who has just arrived. Sasaki cannot enter her own closed space so she's been left behind.
Fujiwara reveals their destination to be the SOS Brigade clubroom.
Once they have walked up he knocks on the door and heads inside.
α&β merger-
Two Kyons, Fujiwara, Kyoko and Yasumi; all in the SOS Brigade clubroom which is somehow located outside of closed space (the sun is setting outside the window).
Stunned, the two Kyons look at each other and analyse each other to realise that each one is a real version of himself.
Yasumi grabs each of the Kyons hands and force each one to touch the other. Both Kyons then combine into one whole body.
Kyon comes round after processing his merged memories to find that Yasumi Watahashi has left the room.
Fujiwara starts having a go at his superiors from the future who he's probably in contact with. He is surprised that 'prohibition was released' before he got the chance to act.
A weird swirl in the sky starts to form. Kyon realises that Haruhi's closed space is somehow overlapping Sasaki's.
Kuyoh appears from nowhere and says that "This is the beginning. The Division point of every possible outcome". Fujiwara asks her if she has betrayed their plans. She said she hasn't.
Koizumi turns up at the door. Kyoko Tachibana raises her voice in wonderment at how Koizumi can enter Sasaki's closed space. Koizumi confirms that Haruhi's closed space has overlapped Sasaki's, hence why he was able to enter in.
The adult version of Asahina enters the room. Koizumi explains that he had also received a letter in the α line from Yasumi. Asahina the elder could not enter the closed space from the future, so needed Koizumi to help enter in. The β version of Koizumi was closely following Sasaki's group and Kyon from the shadows. Once inside, Koizumi found his other self and they merged in the same way as Kyon did.
Fujiwara gets upset for some reason and starts shouting at adult Asahina for interfering with his plans. He knew that altering his broken future was possible by arriving at this exact point in history, the center of all possible outcomes. In order to restore his broken future he needed Haruhi's powers to be moved into a more stable host, then by manipulating certain events in the future he would easily be able to create a better future. One where he can reunite with his sister, Mikuru Asahina.
However the version of adult Asahina that is currently in the room, which is the same version we've known all along, lives in a future where she has no brother.
Fujiwara reveals his plan and orders Kuyoh to execute his plan; killing Haruhi. Kuyoh makes Haruhi appear just outside the window above the courtyard, unconscious and suspended on a cross. Asahina says to Fujiwara that what he's doing would be a serious time crime. Koizumi's pent up anger starts to show and he begins to show his esper powers. Kyon gets frustrated too but Koizumi tells him he's got this one. Koizumi directs Kyon to focus on the girl outside the window, about to drop to her death.
Kuyoh makes Haruhi drop to the ground. Kyon leaps out the window and embraces her. Behind him, Koizumi uses his powers against Kuyoh and Fujiwara.
Kyon and Haruhi fall to the ground, but are saved by a Celestial which appears suddenly and catches them and safely puts them on the ground.
Kyon opens his eyes and looks around. He is lying on grass with lots of older students walking around.
Haruhi walks over to him. She's wearing stylish springlike adult clothes. He looks at her and realises she's older. She looks at him and asks him how he moved to the grassy area so quickly, then looks again at him and asks why he's dressed in their old North High uniform. Finally she looks at him again and realises he looks younger.
Kyon is at their future university campus. College age Haruhi gives Kyon
a warm smile as he time travels back into the past, where he lands face
down on top of Haruhi's bed as she's sleeping.
She wakes up and looks directly up at his face which is only centimeters apart from hers.
Both are stunned. Instead of screaming like a girl like one would imagine would be a normal reaction in this type of situation for a girl, Haruhi causally pushes him off from on top of her and asks him to cover himself with the bed sheets as she gets up and changes. However Kyon doesn't comply and looks for a bedside clock as she changes.
Kyon confirms the date to be one month in the future from when he should be at. It is a day in May which just so happens to be the 1 year anniversary of the SOS Brigade.
A tap at the window from a stone indicates someone is outside. They go to the window and see Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina outside. Kyon thinks on his feet and says that the whole thing is some sort of crazy surprise that she wouldn't think of, for the 1 year anniversary. He says he climbed up the drain pipe and entered through her unlocked window to climb on her bed as a surprise. She buys it.
Koizumi throws a present up to Kyon. Its to Haruhi from the SOS brigade. Kyon gives it to her and she escorts him gingerly downstairs as to not wake her family. They head outside to meet the rest of the Brigade members and she thanks them all for the surprise present. She then heads back inside.
Kyon confirms what has happened. Koizumi tells him that he (the Kyon from that time) told them about events from today and gave specific instructions for them to follow and be at Haruhi's house at that time in the morning, with the present. He also said that he better not be there. Kyon also chose the present for Haruhi.
Armed with the knowledge of what he must do once back in the past, Mikuru makes him time travel back to that Friday in April he belongs in, at 8pm.
Kyon rests on Saturday and calls over Nagato and Koizumi on Sunday to talk through the events.
Nagato is well again. Koizumi reveals his theory about timelines and alternative futures. He says that time can split into multiple paths but soon find a way to reintegrate into one outcome again. For them they experienced two splits that merged back into one. For Fujiwara he was experiencing a different split from the adult Asahina they knew, however given time even those time paths would re-integrate. Koizumi also reveals that Yasumi was a person created by Haruhi's godlike subconscious in order to protect Kyon and Nagato from harm in the β line- the line that was originally meant to be canon. Yasumi's hair piece turns out to be the same one Haruhi had lost just before starting middle school. Her name is confirmed to be an anagram of 'I am Suzumiya' (not for this english translation however), and Kuyoh is confirmed to still be attending Kouyouen Academy.
On Monday Kyon heads to the classroom where Haruhi reveals that Yasumi visited her over the weekend to apologize for pretending to be a high schooler. Her claim was that she was still in middle school and thus wouldn't be able to join the Brigade. Haruhi becomes slightly depressed.
They have one more day off from Brigade activities so Kyon goes to shop for Haruhi's present. Upon reaching the station he finds Sasaki waiting for him. She thanks him for preventing her from becoming a god-like being. She talks about how much she misses talking with Kyon during their middle school days and reveals that she was asked out by a boy the week before, and she has plans to settle down and marry in the not too distant future.
They part, and somehow Kyon gets the feeling their lives will cross again soon enough (college anyone?).
The next day Kyon walks to school and meets Tsuruya. They talk about the flower viewing party next month at her house. Immediately afterwards, Kyon meets Kunikida and Taniguchi. Kunikida talks about how much he admires Tsuruya and reveals that she was the reason he came to North High. He thanks Kyon for giving him the chance to meet her.
The SOS Brigade meets again in the clubroom. Asahina is upset and stays by the flower Yasumi brought (which Koizumi earlier confirmed to be a new species). Haruhi barges in and so they begin planning for Tsuruya's garden party, including a stage show to be performed in front of all the high ranking guests. Oh brother...
---
8-10. This cannot possibly be the last volume. There is just too much potential story, especially with the thought of what their lives become like as young adults, with crazy stuff going on or not. The characters are just too good to leave. But in the mean time there is potential for a short story for White day, obviously the flower viewing party show and also the mysterious object that is located at the Tsuruya household. Not to mention the other unexplained time travel events.
This storyline was LOOONNNNNG, covering 2 novels, 3 in Japan. Overall it was told very well, but it doesn't touch the class of The Disappearance.
After my re-read of this novel, Koizumi explains that Haruhis' unconscious godlike power willed itself into existence after suspecting Sasaki's 'friends' when Haruhi met them at the start of the story at the train station. Thus Yasumi Watahashi was created from that point onwards, with a name that is an anagram of "I am Suzumiya". Wa-ta-shi-ha-Su-zu-mi-ya' when reading her official kanji as Yasumizu Watahashi. This girl inserted herself into 'always having existed' within a family unit with a sister that attended North High, so she could borrow her clothes and successfully sneak into the SOS Brigade even though she is only a middle school student (on purpose to use as an exit strategy at the end of the conflict). Her first act of god though was to create the β time split to allow the natural course of events to transpire, whilst in the α time split she willed the anti SOS brigade not to act. When it was time for the anti SOS brigade to act in β, Yasumi's plan was to make the α time split canon when things got sour. She allowed β to exist as a means of observation more than anything, and in the end decided to merge the two back together. Easy stuff for a god. It is unclear if Yasumi flitted between the two time splits, or if there were two versions of herself living in both splits. What is known is that she retained her personal memories of both time splits simultaneously.
Those characters of which met themselves before the α β merger were the only people to fully remember both splits, and have no knowledge of what things were like once the two splits were merged. These characters being Kyon and Koizumi. The aliens and Yasumi are the only characters to have memories of 3 timelines; α, β and the merger.
I now have a clearer understanding of time travel and the natural healing process of time itself once its been warped or tampered with. In short its like a living being that gets a cut. The cut analogy is time travel itself and what time travellers do. Given a lot of time, the past repairs itself so it ends up exactly how it originally was. In short, the timeline will have it that Asahina never even visited the past to begin with. This probably wont come into affect until those with living memories will pass away, and most evidence will disappear. In many ways a bit like Back To The Future. Koizumi even explains that bad time lines could possibly simply peter out and fade away. Its probably the whole reason why Fujiwara travels back into the past to a moment of time where all future possibilities could be chosen as canon. Fujiwara simply wants his future with his sister to exist, instead of petering out and becoming nothing. Its more probable though that his bad personal timeline will merge with adult Asahinas good timeline and nobody would end up knowing the difference. What we do learn from this novel is that the healing of timelines could take place very quickly, however in this case I suspect that was Yasumis doing. If left to its own devises naturally, the same result would have happened a lot later in the timeline.
I'm really annoyed that the upcoming short story 'Tsuruya's Challenge' is NOT about the flower viewing party that is set towards the end of April during the beginning of Japan's annual 'Golden week' holiday. I can only imagine the SOS Brigades show they put on involves using their costumes they have collected up until this point. Kyon in a reindeer suit anyone?
OK is it just Sasaki who has her own closed space? Are there any other candidates out there that we don't know of? Why would they exist anyway? If Haruhi/Yasumi surely was god, why would she decide to let others be candidates for her power? This may or not be explained in another novel.
The Yuki from α probably didn't act during the climax due to knowing what Yasumi was, and knowing that she would sort things out. β Yuki would have been the girl on the roof along with the other aliens from that same timeline.Talking of which after everything is said and done, the Data Overmind has decided that she isn't suitable as an interface with Kuyoh, so her new role is to act as an observer for Haruhi and the SOS brigade.
Kyon and Haruhi's relationship is moving forwards though they dont really realise it.
Up next: Seven Wonders Overtime.
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