View Full Version : The Genderbending of Haruhi Suzumiya [Spoilers Aplenty]
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-05, 03:34
Post 10000 is now.
Congrats on reaching post 10,000 guys.
Oh yeah, what excuse is Kyonko going to come with to kiss Haruki? Since we're not doing the ponytail thing and all...
I'll get to that later. Something about how she's more interested in tough, athletic guys.
my post number
IS OVER NINE TEN THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!!!!
EDIT
drat! kaisos got 10001!
at least i have 9999
Forceflow
2008-06-05, 03:35
Congrats on reaching post 10,000 guys.
Oh yeah, what excuse is Kyonko going to come with to kiss Haruki? Since we're not doing the ponytail thing and all...
A congratz get. lulz.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-05, 03:35
my post number
IS OVER NINE TEN THOUSAAAAAAAAAND!!!!
EDIT
drat! kaisos got 10001!
at least i have 9999
No you don't.
No you don't.
is this the ummm....
5 min or 1 hour argument?
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-05, 03:41
is this the ummm....
5 min or 1 hour argument?
...What...?
Cat Megex
2008-06-05, 09:34
teMlv3ripSM
Ah...good ol' Monty Python.
Discreet
2008-06-05, 10:18
And if I let you have your way, we'd just end up with the original with all the gender pronouns and names switched.
Maybe a few scenes here and there, a couple dialogue lines that don't work as the original gender and then... Ah, sweet, sweet bliss.
It's why I'm not in charge, but it doesn't make what I say any less valid.
I found a scary image. Do you want to see it?
http://www.atalude.net/wp-content/imagescaler/99b682696f355790237fd72db3abd360.jpg
OMG SCARY!
This is quite scary, considering the ones who are cosplaying the guys, are actually girls. OMG... T_T.
Discreet
2008-06-05, 10:40
Your idea of scary is very much like my idea of HAWT.
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-05, 10:43
Ah. You broke 10k without me. Carry on then.
@Dangoz: I believe Kinny was the one at that event. First documentation of Seitenkan cosplay as far as I can remember.
CrowKenobi
2008-06-05, 12:25
Hey Kaisos! Tell me if this looks familiar: :smile:
The Melancholy of Haruki Suzumiya (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4301814/1/The_Melancholy_of_Haruki_Suzumiya)
:cool:
At least the reviewers know the score! :heh:
10,000 posts! Who da thunk it! :D
EDIT: 3 months = 10,000 posts!
ClockWorkAngel
2008-06-05, 12:30
Ahahaha! That's a great find XD
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-05, 13:02
Hey Kaisos! Tell me if this looks familiar: :smile:
The Melancholy of Haruki Suzumiya (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4301814/1/The_Melancholy_of_Haruki_Suzumiya)
:cool:
At least the reviewers know the score! :heh:
10,000 posts! Who da thunk it! :D
EDIT: 3 months = 10,000 posts!
Ahahaha! That's a great find XD
New thing for Oni to post on Baka-Tsuki:
"This is the official version. If you've read something that looks oddly similar somewhere else, they probably got it from us." :rolleyes:
Fumeiryou
2008-06-05, 15:46
EDIT: 3 months = 10,000 posts!
Well... I'm going to count by the date of the first post, but...
The thread has existed for 107 days, as of now. As of this post, there are 10015 posts. This means 10015 / 107 = approximately 93.59 posts per day. This thread is BEAST on CRACK.
EDIT: Well, if I adjust for that post... It'll be 96 days, and 9965 posts. So 103.8 posts per day. Even moar CRACKish.
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-05, 15:52
Well... I'm going to count by the date of the first post, but...
In terms of first post I hope you're using this one (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=1435111&postcount=52). ;)
Also, nice sig. :cool:
Cat Megex
2008-06-05, 16:12
@Fumeiryou: You forgot "Resistance is futile."
EDIT: And now you added it. ^^
Fumeiryou
2008-06-05, 16:23
@Cat Megex: No I didn't. :D
To all: Feel free to use the image if you like; I made it for the sole purpose of promoting Seitenkan, anyway.
See, I'm doing something totally different than you, and I'm surprised you guys didn't already guess what I have planned for the ponytail line, given that Haruki keeps drawing attention to it...
It's fine if you have different plans. I look forward to reading them, really. But I felt like doing this, and will hope you find some bits you'd like to use in your final version.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-05, 18:24
Hey Kaisos! Tell me if this looks familiar: :smile:
The Melancholy of Haruki Suzumiya (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4301814/1/The_Melancholy_of_Haruki_Suzumiya)
:cool:
At least the reviewers know the score! :heh:
10,000 posts! Who da thunk it! :D
EDIT: 3 months = 10,000 posts!
What an asshat.
Kang Seung Jae
2008-06-05, 18:55
What an asshat.
Such is life.
Discreet
2008-06-05, 19:43
Volume 1 Chapter 7 part 2, made a lot of changes.
After a fight like that, I think that there are definitely still some things that need to be changed in order to get the perfect balance of the immediate mood, later implications and character-interaction consistency.
We reached the stairs leading to the school entrance. I was even sort of grateful to Taniguchi, as the weather had sort of cooled down after my conversation with her. Must be all the hot air she uses talking.
In hot weather like this, even Haruki could only lie exhausted on his desk, looking at the hills in the distance, full of melancholy.
"Kyon, I'm hot!" he whined.
Really? So am I.
"Fan me with your book."
"Instead of fanning someone else, I'd rather fan myself. I don't have enough energy early in the morning to fan you. Besides, since when am I your slave, anyway?"
Since I joined the SOS Brigade?
Haruki, unresponsive, remained laying lazily on the desk, lacking his usual pompous energy.
"What do you think Mitsuuru-kun should wear next?" he asked all of a sudden.
Well, after the Chippendale and the maid outfit would be... Hey, wait a minute, there's going to be another costume!?
"Should it be a catboy? Or maybe I should upgrade him to a butler? Maybe I should have him cosplay as Hard Gay…?"
Images of Ashaina-senpai blushing furiously as his small wriggling body is forced into all sorts of costumes flashed through my mind. He’s just too cute!
Haruki, guessing what I was thinking, scowled at me. "You look stupid," he decided, flipping his hair out of his face.
Hey, weren't you the one bringing up the subject? I guess he’s right, though, so I won’t argue with him -- out loud.
While fanning the neck of his uniform with a textbook, Haruki blurted out, "I'm so bored," his mouth perfectly like a heno-ji. He looked like a character from a manga.
------
After school, as always, I headed towards the clubroom. Haruki was on duty this week, so my walk there was free of his depressing atmosphere. As usual, I knocked first and waited for a reply before entering. Immediately a cute maid greeted me with the brightest of smiles, like a sunflower greeting the sun. Ah, I feel so warm!
Nagato sat by the table reading a book, as cold and pure as the first snowfall of the year.
Ugh, what kind of comparisons am I making?
"I'll go and make tea." Putting on his headband, Asahina-senpai went to the side of the rusty table and carefully placed the tea leaves into the teapot.
I sat in the commander's seat, watching Asahina-senpai busying himself, when I suddenly remembered the SD card in my skirt pocket.
Thinking that I’d add the picture to my collection of photos from the other day, I turned on the computer and waited for the hard disk to boot up. Once the screen appeared, I opened up the folder labeled “MITSUURU” and entered my password. As expected, the processing speed was unbelievable on the Computer Club's new model. In an instant, pictures of Asahina-senpai's maid costume images appeared on the screen.
After I made sure Asahina-senpai was busy brewing tea, I plugged the SD card into the slot on the front of the computer and transferred Taniguchi’s picture to the MITSUURU folder.
Looking at the picture of Nagato and me… if that was shown to anyone ignorant of the situation, they’d definitely misunderstand.
It was at that moment that I remembered what the older Asahina-senpai had said to me in the clubroom yesterday. I clicked on one of Asahina-senpai’s photos, and enlarged it again and again.
It was from the time Asahina-senpai was being forced into weird poses by Haruki. His bare chest could be just seen, and there it was, a little black mark. I highlighted that mark and enlarged it further; the image was a bit fuzzy, but sure enough, there was a star-shaped birthmark.
"So that's it." I said to myself
"Did you find something?" Before Asahina-senpai placed the teacup on the desk, I swiftly closed all the image files. By the time Asahina-senpai stood by my side, he’d find nothing on the screen.
"Huh, what's this? What's inside this "MITSUURU" folder?"
Dammit! Why did I have to go and give that folder such a stupid name?
"Why does that folder have my name? What's inside it? Let me see, c'mon! Let me see!"
I jumped out of the commander’s chair. "Aggh, um, what's inside... I wonder? Probably nothing… In fact there’s definitely nothing!"
"Reeaally?" Asahina-senpai cheerfully plopped himself down in the commander’s chair and moved the cursor towards the folder’s icon. Like I’d let that happen! I dived forward, trying to grab the mouse from him, [b]but he pulled away easily and I only ended up reaching over his shoulder.[b]
"Asahina-senpai, can you please just let go?"
"C'mon, just a peek!" Asahina-senpai, who seemed to be [b]enjoying himself[b], continued to fight with me for control of the mouse. I felt the situation was going from bad to worse.
At [b]that moment, a hand reached from behind me and snatched up the mouse.
"What are you two doing?"
We were frozen by a voice colder than absolute zero. Haruki, standing before us, looked down on us as though he had just witnessed his dad assaulting an innocent girl.
How long has he been here?
I slowly got off of Asahina-senpai who, at the moment, was still frozen in shock.
“So, Mitsuuru-kun,” Haruki said quietly. “I see you have managed to become more bold. Good. Congratulations. You’ve leveled up.”
What?
“Now get out of my chair.”
At this command, the stunned Asahina-senpai began to move. He got out of the chair, retreated slowly, and then slowly sat down at the table like an ASIMO robot whose batteries were nearly dead. His pale face looked close to tears.
Haruki made a "humph" noise, and plopped himself down in front of the computer. I managed to breathe a sigh of relief, until…
“Huh? What’s this folder?”
Not again…
“Haruki, wait, that’s…” I tried to stop him, but too late, he clicked on it.
“Password?” Haruki raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Obviously it’s Kyon’s brother’s name, right?”
I feel like such an idiot.
Upon viewing the lewd photos of Asahina-senpai inside, Haruki glanced at me. “I thought these photos were deleted…?”
He continued to scroll down through the photos, eventually getting to the photos of me in the bunny outfit. He gave me an icy smile.
“Heh. I guess this means you enjoyed wearing it? Maybe I should make it a rule that you should wear this in the clubroom from now on?”
“Yeah, sure, why not? Now how about you close that folder so I can—"
Too late, Haruki had seen the final image, the one that Taniguchi had snapped two days ago.
He froze. After a couple seconds, he got up out of the chair and turned towards me. "So, you're interested in serious bookish guys, huh?"
"What are you trying to say?" I responded, my eyes cast to the side.
Haruki plowed on unflinchingly, watching me react. “When was this taken?”
“T-two… two days ago…”
Haruki stared at me for a few seconds. “That was when you started wearing your hair differently. Did he tell you that it looks better on you that way?” He pointed angrily at Nagato, who was finally looking up from his book. “Because that’s—"
“Shut up, you moron!” I shouted suddenly. “Don’t misunderstand!”
This guy doesn’t know all crap that I’ve been through because of him! Of course not, since he’s too busy chasing time travelers and aliens! Well, Haruki, hurry up and realize that you’re pointing at one right now, you giant idiot!
Of course, Haruki couldn’t hear the thoughts going on through my head as much as he would’ve liked to and only looked at the ground. “So that’s how it is, huh….” His head snapped back up to face me, teeth bared. “Listen, you’re forbidden from doing anything like that ever again! This is your chief ordering you! I don’t want you to even so much as talk to him, understand?!”
“Shut up! You can’t tell me what to do!”
“Sure I can, I just—"
“Asshole! Stop acting like you’re special! You’re just an ordinary human being like everyone else, you can’t go making up rules however you feel like!”
<“You get NOTHING!” Lol, Bliss, ever watch Charlie and the Chocolate factory?
Haruki glared at me with wide eyes, biting his lip. Then, slowly, he stepped forward, his hands clenched into fists and without even realizing it, I took a step back. He took another step and this time I cringed, squeezing my eyes shut, waiting for him to strike. He never did. Haruki breezed by me, grabbed his schoolbag, and stormed out of the clubroom, slamming the door behind him.
I might have gone a bit too far myself there, but Haruki who didn’t understand anything, deserved it. Asahina-senpai, staring at the table, avoided looking at me. Nagato simply continued to read his book as if nothing happened.
At that moment, the door opened.
"Did I just see Suzumiya-san run down the hallway?”
Itsuko, who had just arrived, greeted everyone with her smile.
Since no one else was going to answer, I did. “He wasn’t feeling well. He decided to go home.” I said, still a little out of breath.
“Are you sure?” she said. “It looked more like he had just had a fight with somebody.”
“…”
I looked up at Itsuko, whose smile hadn’t wavered, and said finally, "Wanna play Othello?"
"Sure, I haven't played in quite a while." Itsuko, who took my non-sequitur in stride, sat down.
As black and white fought for control of the board, (I never thought that Itsuko, who could turn into a glowing sphere, would be so lousy at board games) Asahina-senpai got up and muttered something about making tea, while Nagato, of course, continued to indulge himself with his book.
I’m confused as to why we’re still here.
That's right, that day we conducted our SOS Brigade activities peacefully. Nothing associated with aliens from a different dimension, time travelers from the future, red giants, or blue glowing spheres happened at that time. No one wanted to do anything special, nor did anyone know what he or she should have been doing. We just allowed ourselves to ride on the flow of time, living our high school life idly. Everything seemed perfectly normal.
Even though I was dissatisfied with such a normal life, I'd always tell myself, "Why think so much? You've got so much time." And then I would once again look forward to the next day.
Even with the fight today, I cheered up a bit. I came aimlessly to this clubroom and watched Asahina-senpai work busily like a maid, Nagato sit like a Buddha statue, Itsuko with her bright smile, and Haruki with his energy and mood swings. All these things gave off an aura of complete normality, yet all these had become part of my surprisingly satisfying high school life. Though I've had the out-of-reality experiences of a classmate trying to murder me and seeing fierce monsters appearing in a grey world, at this moment they seem more like a dream than something that really happened.
I was still angry at Haruki for trying to boss me around, but I did have to thank him for letting me meet such interesting people. Although I can’t really appreciate the other more outrageous things… Putting aside the question of "Why me?” maybe someday there'd be normal humans like me who want to join this club.
But in the end, there’s no predicting him because only one person in the world can control Suzumiya Haruki.
And that someone is Suzumiya Haruki himself.
<Original edit in this part was a little too suggestive, took away a lot of the subtlety >
quick edit and here's chapter 5! WOOOOT!!!!
I still didn't know what to say. Nagato now turned towards Asahina-san (big),
"Let me give you the space-time coordinates of the target."
"Oh, sure."
Asahina-san (big) stuck out his hand like a loyal dog eager to shake hands with its master.
"Go ahead..."
Nagato stood up and then suddenly with a deep voice...
"Were no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do i
A full commitments what Im thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand
never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
We've know each other for so long
Your hearts been aching
But you're too shy to say it
Inside we both know whats been going on
We know the game and were gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see
Give you up. give you up
Give you up, give you up
Never gonna give
Never gonna give, give you up
Never gonna give
Never gonna give, five you up
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand."
Nagato then jumped up flew around the room and did a barrel roll.
What the hell just happened here?
hides
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-05, 19:53
Volume 1 Chapter 7 part 2, made a lot of changes.
After a fight like that, I think that there are definitely still some things that need to be changed in order to get the perfect balance of the immediate mood, later implications and character-interaction consistency.
We reached the stairs leading to the school entrance. I was even sort of grateful to Taniguchi, as the weather had sort of cooled down after my conversation with her. Must be all the hot air she uses talking.
In hot weather like this, even Haruki could only lie exhausted on his desk, looking at the hills in the distance, full of melancholy.
"Kyon, I'm hot!" he whined.
Really? So am I.
"Fan me with your book."
"Instead of fanning someone else, I'd rather fan myself. I don't have enough energy early in the morning to fan you. Besides, since when am I your slave, anyway?"
Since I joined the SOS Brigade?
Haruki, unresponsive, remained laying lazily on the desk, lacking his usual pompous energy.
"What do you think Mitsuuru-kun should wear next?" he asked all of a sudden.
Well, after the Chippendale and the maid outfit would be... Hey, wait a minute, there's going to be another costume!?
"Should it be a catboy? Or maybe I should upgrade him to a butler? Maybe I should have him cosplay as Hard Gay…?"
Images of Ashaina-senpai blushing furiously as his small wriggling body is forced into all sorts of costumes flashed through my mind. He’s just too cute!
Haruki, guessing what I was thinking, scowled at me. "You look stupid," he decided, flipping his hair out of his face.
Hey, weren't you the one bringing up the subject? I guess he’s right, though, so I won’t argue with him -- out loud.
While fanning the neck of his uniform with a textbook, Haruki blurted out, "I'm so bored," his mouth perfectly like a heno-ji. He looked like a character from a manga.
------
After school, as always, I headed towards the clubroom. Haruki was on duty this week, so my walk there was free of his depressing atmosphere. As usual, I knocked first and waited for a reply before entering. Immediately a cute maid greeted me with the brightest of smiles, like a sunflower greeting the sun. Ah, I feel so warm!
Nagato sat by the table reading a book, as cold and pure as the first snowfall of the year.
Ugh, what kind of comparisons am I making?
"I'll go and make tea." Putting on his headband, Asahina-senpai went to the side of the rusty table and carefully placed the tea leaves into the teapot.
I sat in the commander's seat, watching Asahina-senpai busying himself, when I suddenly remembered the SD card in my skirt pocket.
Thinking that I’d add the picture to my collection of photos from the other day, I turned on the computer and waited for the hard disk to boot up. Once the screen appeared, I opened up the folder labeled “MITSUURU” and entered my password. As expected, the processing speed was unbelievable on the Computer Club's new model. In an instant, pictures of Asahina-senpai's maid costume images appeared on the screen.
After I made sure Asahina-senpai was busy brewing tea, I plugged the SD card into the slot on the front of the computer and transferred Taniguchi’s picture to the MITSUURU folder.
Looking at the picture of Nagato and me… if that was shown to anyone ignorant of the situation, they’d definitely misunderstand.
It was at that moment that I remembered what the older Asahina-senpai had said to me in the clubroom yesterday. I clicked on one of Asahina-senpai’s photos, and enlarged it again and again.
It was from the time Asahina-senpai was being forced into weird poses by Haruki. His bare chest could be just seen, and there it was, a little black mark. I highlighted that mark and enlarged it further; the image was a bit fuzzy, but sure enough, there was a star-shaped birthmark.
"So that's it." I said to myself
"Did you find something?" Before Asahina-senpai placed the teacup on the desk, I swiftly closed all the image files. By the time Asahina-senpai stood by my side, he’d find nothing on the screen.
"Huh, what's this? What's inside this "MITSUURU" folder?"
Dammit! Why did I have to go and give that folder such a stupid name?
"Why does that folder have my name? What's inside it? Let me see, c'mon! Let me see!"
I jumped out of the commander’s chair. "Aggh, um, what's inside... I wonder? Probably nothing… In fact there’s definitely nothing!"
"Reeaally?" Asahina-senpai cheerfully plopped himself down in the commander’s chair and moved the cursor towards the folder’s icon. Like I’d let that happen! I dived forward, trying to grab the mouse from him, [b]but he pulled away easily and I only ended up reaching over his shoulder.[b]
"Asahina-senpai, can you please just let go?"
"C'mon, just a peek!" Asahina-senpai, who seemed to be [b]enjoying himself[b], continued to fight with me for control of the mouse. I felt the situation was going from bad to worse.
At [b]that moment, a hand reached from behind me and snatched up the mouse.
"What are you two doing?"
We were frozen by a voice colder than absolute zero. Haruki, standing before us, looked down on us as though he had just witnessed his dad assaulting an innocent girl.
How long has he been here?
I slowly got off of Asahina-senpai who, at the moment, was still frozen in shock.
“So, Mitsuuru-kun,” Haruki said quietly. “I see you have managed to become more bold. Good. Congratulations. You’ve leveled up.”
What?
“Now get out of my chair.”
At this command, the stunned Asahina-senpai began to move. He got out of the chair, retreated slowly, and then slowly sat down at the table like an ASIMO robot whose batteries were nearly dead. His pale face looked close to tears.
Haruki made a "humph" noise, and plopped himself down in front of the computer. I managed to breathe a sigh of relief, until…
“Huh? What’s this folder?”
Not again…
“Haruki, wait, that’s…” I tried to stop him, but too late, he clicked on it.
“Password?” Haruki raised a suspicious eyebrow. “Obviously it’s Kyon’s brother’s name, right?”
I feel like such an idiot.
Upon viewing the lewd photos of Asahina-senpai inside, Haruki glanced at me. “I thought these photos were deleted…?”
He continued to scroll down through the photos, eventually getting to the photos of me in the bunny outfit. He gave me an icy smile.
“Heh. I guess this means you enjoyed wearing it? Maybe I should make it a rule that you should wear this in the clubroom from now on?”
“Yeah, sure, why not? Now how about you close that folder so I can—"
Too late, Haruki had seen the final image, the one that Taniguchi had snapped two days ago.
He froze. After a couple seconds, he got up out of the chair and turned towards me. "So, you're interested in serious bookish guys, huh?"
"What are you trying to say?" I responded, my eyes cast to the side.
Haruki plowed on unflinchingly, watching me react. “When was this taken?”
“T-two… two days ago…”
Haruki stared at me for a few seconds. “That was when you started wearing your hair differently. Did he tell you that it looks better on you that way?” He pointed angrily at Nagato, who was finally looking up from his book. “Because that’s—"
“Shut up, you moron!” I shouted suddenly. “Don’t misunderstand!”
This guy doesn’t know all crap that I’ve been through because of him! Of course not, since he’s too busy chasing time travelers and aliens! Well, Haruki, hurry up and realize that you’re pointing at one right now, you giant idiot!
Of course, Haruki couldn’t hear the thoughts going on through my head as much as he would’ve liked to and only looked at the ground. “So that’s how it is, huh….” His head snapped back up to face me, teeth bared. “Listen, you’re forbidden from doing anything like that ever again! This is your chief ordering you! I don’t want you to even so much as talk to him, understand?!”
“Shut up! You can’t tell me what to do!”
“Sure I can, I just—"
“Asshole! Stop acting like you’re special! You’re just an ordinary human being like everyone else, you can’t go making up rules however you feel like!”
<“You get NOTHING!” Lol, Bliss, ever watch Charlie and the Chocolate factory?
Haruki glared at me with wide eyes, biting his lip. Then, slowly, he stepped forward, his hands clenched into fists and without even realizing it, I took a step back. He took another step and this time I cringed, squeezing my eyes shut, waiting for him to strike. He never did. Haruki breezed by me, grabbed his schoolbag, and stormed out of the clubroom, slamming the door behind him.
I might have gone a bit too far myself there, but Haruki who didn’t understand anything, deserved it. Asahina-senpai, staring at the table, avoided looking at me. Nagato simply continued to read his book as if nothing happened.
At that moment, the door opened.
"Did I just see Suzumiya-san run down the hallway?”
Itsuko, who had just arrived, greeted everyone with her smile.
Since no one else was going to answer, I did. “He wasn’t feeling well. He decided to go home.” I said, still a little out of breath.
“Are you sure?” she said. “It looked more like he had just had a fight with somebody.”
“…”
I looked up at Itsuko, whose smile hadn’t wavered, and said finally, "Wanna play Othello?"
"Sure, I haven't played in quite a while." Itsuko, who took my non-sequitur in stride, sat down.
As black and white fought for control of the board, (I never thought that Itsuko, who could turn into a glowing sphere, would be so lousy at board games) Asahina-senpai got up and muttered something about making tea, while Nagato, of course, continued to indulge himself with his book.
I’m confused as to why we’re still here.
That's right, that day we conducted our SOS Brigade activities peacefully. Nothing associated with aliens from a different dimension, time travelers from the future, red giants, or blue glowing spheres happened at that time. No one wanted to do anything special, nor did anyone know what he or she should have been doing. We just allowed ourselves to ride on the flow of time, living our high school life idly. Everything seemed perfectly normal.
Even though I was dissatisfied with such a normal life, I'd always tell myself, "Why think so much? You've got so much time." And then I would once again look forward to the next day.
Even with the fight today, I cheered up a bit. I came aimlessly to this clubroom and watched Asahina-senpai work busily like a maid, Nagato sit like a Buddha statue, Itsuko with her bright smile, and Haruki with his energy and mood swings. All these things gave off an aura of complete normality, yet all these had become part of my surprisingly satisfying high school life. Though I've had the out-of-reality experiences of a classmate trying to murder me and seeing fierce monsters appearing in a grey world, at this moment they seem more like a dream than something that really happened.
I was still angry at Haruki for trying to boss me around, but I did have to thank him for letting me meet such interesting people. Although I can’t really appreciate the other more outrageous things… Putting aside the question of "Why me?” maybe someday there'd be normal humans like me who want to join this club.
But in the end, there’s no predicting him because only one person in the world can control Suzumiya Haruki.
And that someone is Suzumiya Haruki himself.
<Original edit in this part was a little too suggestive, took away a lot of the subtlety >
Wouldn't you think that she'd be a little concerned about what he might do to the universe after that fight, given that she knows his power?
Also, having Haruki scare her that much is a bad idea, I think.
Discreet
2008-06-05, 20:11
My immediate solution to both those problems would be to change pretty much every major edit and keep it closer to the original.
However, I know that won't go.
Honestly, on your first point, I was thinking the exact same thing while I was reading your edit and Bliss's. From the way it was written, as if Kyonko was finally letting out all her anger and frustration at once, it didn't seem appropriate for it to be weak-hearted shouting match. And I even think that Kyonko summing up the situation like Kyon did doesn't go very well with the fact that they had such a huge fight. So to cut it short, what I'm trying to say is that if they're going to have a fight, I think it should be a full-blown fight or not have one at all.
If you're referring to my last edit concerning the subtlety of the situation, it's still kind of the same idea. If you want Kyonko to regret having fought with Haruki like that that I don't think it should be a side thought like it was in the original edit but full-out lamentation. Not-at-all or all-the-way.
As for Haruki's anger, it seemed like the only appropriate response from him after such humiliation. The original edit seemed like he kinda gave up too easy, bent backwards for Kyonko in contradiction to his personality. And I was very hesitant in making Haruki a physically intimidating person, but I thought that I didn't do it too much...
Guess not.
But I still think it's important to show an extremely angry response from Haruki after that moment.
Fumeiryou
2008-06-05, 20:55
@shaoron: Never thought I'd get rickroll'd in text format... LOL. And yes, surprisingly, I know half the lyrics to that song... really, what does that say about my browsing habits? DO A BARREL ROLL!!!
We seem to have returned to some form of a topic now.
Why don't we cram everything in there at once? Then everybody's happy!!
We've always tried it before, but... here I know that won't work. :heh:
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-05, 20:58
My immediate solution to both those problems would be to change pretty much every major edit and keep it closer to the original.
However, I know that won't go.
Honestly, on your first point, I was thinking the exact same thing while I was reading your edit and Bliss's. From the way it was written, as if Kyonko was finally letting out all her anger and frustration at once, it didn't seem appropriate for it to be weak-hearted shouting match. And I even think that Kyonko summing up the situation like Kyon did doesn't go very well with the fact that they had such a huge fight. So to cut it short, what I'm trying to say is that if they're going to have a fight, I think it should be a full-blown fight or not have one at all.
If you're referring to my last edit concerning the subtlety of the situation, it's still kind of the same idea. If you want Kyonko to regret having fought with Haruki like that that I don't think it should be a side thought like it was in the original edit but full-out lamentation. Not-at-all or all-the-way.
As for Haruki's anger, it seemed like the only appropriate response from him after such humiliation. The original edit seemed like he kinda gave up too easy, bent backwards for Kyonko in contradiction to his personality. And I was very hesitant in making Haruki a physically intimidating person, but I thought that I didn't do it too much...
Guess not.
But I still think it's important to show an extremely angry response from Haruki after that moment.
Right then, I'll use your edit.
"......"
I still didn't know what to say. Nagato now turned towards Asahina-san (big),
"Let me give you the space-time coordinates of the target."
"Oh, sure."
Asahina-san (big) stuck out her hand like a loyal dog eager to shake hands with its master.
"Go ahead..."
Nagato softly tapped his finger on the back of Asahina-san's (big) palm, and then retracted it... That's it? It’s like you just did a double click with a mouse. Though Asahina-san (big) looked content with it.
"I understand now, Nagato-san. All we need to do is to go and mend 'him' up, right? That won't be hard, since 'he' wouldn't have any powers by then..."
The time traveler seemed determined as he clutched his fists, the alien then said,
"Please wait."
Not wearing any glasses, Nagato said,
"In this state, you too would be swept into the changes of the space-time continuum. Counteractive measures need to be applied."
He then stuck his hand out.
"Your hand."
What for? Does he want to shake hands? I obediently stuck out my right hand. Nagato's icy cold fingers grabbed my wrist, causing my heartbeat to go faster for a while.
"..."
Nagato suddenly moved his sullen-looking face towards my arm.
"Aaaah!"
I yelled involuntarily. It was an unavoidable reaction, I guess. Kneeling down, Nagato not only touched my wrist softly with his lips, he even revealed his teeth. It was like during the making of the movie, when he constantly assaulted Asahina-san and bit his. Those scenes were just wrong.
It didn't hurt, actually. It felt like one of those soft unhostile bites Shamisen would make whenever I caressed her. Though the canine teeth sinking into my skin felt a bit prickly, like being jabbed by something but not hurting at all. Maybe it was because Nagato's saliva contained some sort of anesthetic to numb the pain. It was more like being bitten by a mosquito. It felt kinda weird thou.
After biting my hand for about five to ten seconds, Nagato slowly lifted his head.
"Your body surface has been applied with a data-manipulating stealth barrier and protective shield,"
Nagato said without even blushing. On the other hand, cupping his mouth with his hands, Asahina-san (big) looked rather amazed. I felt a bit numb and looked at my wrist. On it were two small holes which looked like vampire bite marks. As I stared at them, the two small holes began to heal and disappeared without a trace. Like with Asahina-san during the making of the movie, my body was also injected with Nagato's nanomachines.
"You too."
Under Nagato's request, terrified Asahina-san stuck out her hand.
"...It's been a while since you've injected me. It must've been tough on you, back then..."
"This is my first time giving you an injection."
"Oh, yes, right. I forgot..."
Shutting his eyes tightly, the time traveler stuck out his wrist and accepted the alien's kissing baptism. The time it took for him to be injected with nanomachines was shorter than mine. Once it was over, he began to cough dryly.
"Well, let's go. Kyon-chan, the real thing starts now."
Really? The warm-up this time sure felt quite long! Then again, I was only doing my best to narrate this for everyone, even though I really didn't want to do this.
"Thanks."
I tried to remain calm as I gave thanks to the master of the apartment. The silent Nagato remained unresponsive. I could not find any form of self-awareness through his expression. Yet for some reason, I just felt Nagato, who was standing upright, felt very lonely. Was it really because he was lonely as I had speculated?
"Nagato, I'll see you then. Before Haruki and I arrive, make sure you wait for us in the Literature Club room until then."
Like a doll being injected with life, the alien-created organic being mechanically nodded her head.
"I will wait."
Such a sentence was enough to ignite a mysterious flame within my heart. Though it was only as bright as a cigarette butt that someone had forgotten to put out. As I was about to figure out where that little spark came from, Asahina-san (big) now said,
"Just to prevent you from getting uncomfortable,"
He tightly grabbed my shoulders and hugged me tightly in his chest. I could feel my face becoming flushed again.
"Can you please close your eyes?"
I followed as he instructed me to. Asahina-san (big) seemed to be standing right in front of me, holding my hands.
"Kyon-chan."
This soft chanting sounded just too pleasant. Was he going kiss me?
"Here we go."
Wait.. in front of Nagato? Umm… I’m not prepared yet. Please be gentle… As I was thinking about this...
The dramatic dizziness had begun. It was good that I had closed my eyes. Even if I had them opened, it would probably be pitch-black as though there was a power shortage. I now felt like sitting in a roller coaster with my seat-belt taken off; I was no longer sure whether the blood in me had left my body or was rushing towards my brain. The sense of floating weightlessness continued. Though I had closed my eyes, I still felt dizzy. The fact that I didn't lose consciousness was all thanks to the warmth felt through Asahina-san's (big) hands.
How many minutes has it been already? Or even how many hours? I lost all awareness of time and space. I can't hold on much longer. Asahina-san, I feel like throwing up...
As I was ungraciously trying to look for something that I could puke in...
"Um... We've arrived."
The long lost sensation of my feet standing on firm ground was back again. The coldness of the ground passed through my socks and into my body. My sense of gravity was back as well. Like an illusion, the urge to throw up also suddenly disappeared.
"You can open your eyes now. Thank goodness, this is the place that Nagato-san had directed us... And the time as well."
I lifted my head and saw glittering in the night sky a bunch of winter constellations. As the air was cleaner, the stars were much clearer than in the summer. I turned around and instantly recognized the roof of the North High complex looming above the residential housings.
I looked around me, trying to confirm where I was now. Though it was dark, I couldn't be mistaken. I was standing here just a few hours ago. I could still remember Haruki’s tied up hair and Koizumi in my PE uniform as well.
This was where Haruki and Koizumi had gotten changed. It should be a coincidence, I guess!
Now then, what time was it?
Looking at his watch, Asahina-san (big) told me,
"It's four forty-eight in the morning on the 18th of December. In about five minutes, the world will be changed."
From the moment I hit the "Enter" key on the 20th and traveled back three years in time, the 18th would be two days ago. On that day, I went to school as usual, unaware of what was about to happen, and I fell into a state of pandemonium as a result of seeing a North High that has completely changed. Haruki has suddenly disappeared, while Asakura had reappeared; and Asahina-san couldn't recognize me, while Nagato has become a completely different person altogether.
It all started here, I was now at the time period where the conversion took effect. In other words, I could also prevent it from happening, and that was why I was standing here now.
As I was getting fired up by the intense anticipation......
"Oh no! I forgot to bring my shoes!"
Asahina-san (big) exclaimed softly.
As we traveled directly from indoors, naturally we weren't wearing any shoes. As expected from Asahina-san, not even the passage of time could wear away his clumsiness.
"Would Nagato-san take good care of them for me?"
His anxiety briefly relieved me of my own nervousness. I'm sure he'd take good care of them. After all, he managed to preserve a tanzaku for three years. So he won't lose a pair of shoes so easily. You can always go to his apartment and check his cupboard......
As I calmly thought about these, an electric-like sensation went through my body all of a sudden.
That was because I wasn't wearing any shoes, not to mention having to leap from summer back to the freezing winter, so the cold felt even more intense. I put on my cardigan but for some reason it still felt very cold and I started to shiver.
“Put this on.”
Asahina-san (big) placed a jacket over my shoulder. I turned around to see him smiling at me, apparently proud of his own act of chivalry.
“Thanks. Sorry about that.”
Asahina-san (big) gave me a smile, which perfectly combined manliness and cuteness, and would soften the legs of more than half of the audience, then said seriously,
"It's almost time."
Maybe it was good that we forgot to wear our shoes, as we didn't make any sound while walking. Despite that, Asahina-san (big) and I still didn't dare to breathe loudly as we walked in small steps towards the entrance of North High. We stopped by the corner and like hunters following their prey, we only stuck our heads out and stared at the path ahead of us in the dark.
There weren't a lot of street lamps in this area, though there was one just outside the gate. Only the area under the light was illuminated. Though the light was dim, one could still make out whoever was standing under that lamp.
"Here he comes......"
A warm hand landed on my shoulder. I could feel Asahina-san's (big) intense yet sweet breathing blow into my ears. Normally, I would be spellbound by it, but I wasn't in the mood right now.
The space-time converter emerged from the shadows and into the light under the lamp.
A North High uniform. That was the person Nagato had mentioned. "That person" was the culprit who had altered our world, separated the members of the SOS Brigade and turned everyone into normal human beings. Only my memories remained, while the memories and history of everyone and everything else were totally changed.
Right now, "that person" had begun making his move.
I still couldn't rush out yet, I had to wait till everything has changed. That was the advice Nagato gave me. I must wait till that person had changed the world completely before I could inject the Restoration Program. Otherwise, the history where I activated the Escape Program would never have existed. I didn't quite understand what Nagato meant, though Nagato and Asahina-san (big) both seemed pretty clear about it. They must be pretty familiar with the flow of time, a person like me would never understand. Since I'll never get it, I might as well follow the advice of the professionals. That Nagato would never lie, she has always been standing by our side with a serious look on her face......
I tightly grabbed the short needle pistol Nagato gave me and waited silently.
Walking in regular strides, "that person" arrived before the gates of North High. He lifted his head to look at the school complex that was shrouded in darkness and stopped.
His uniform jacket flickered as the wind blew.
He didn't seem to notice us. This was all thanks to the nanomachines Nagato injected into us, creating a stealth barrier and protective shield on the surface of our bodies.
"That person" suddenly lifted one arm and made a gesture as though grabbing onto something in the air. It didn't look natural, it's as though he was being controlled, but I knew that wasn't the case.
"Amazing..." Asahina-san (big) exclaimed, "That was a powerful time quake. He actually had such power... I still find it hard to believe even after I've seen it with my own eyes,"
Even with my own eyes, I still don't see any changes. The night sky was still dark. Yet Asahina-san (big) seemed to have witnessed that person use some method to cause a massive change to the history of this world. He was from the future after all, so it's not surprising if he could see it.
Asahina-san (big) leaned himself tightly onto me. Originally, we too would have been swamped by "that person's" alteration of the world, but we were protected by having Nagato bite us. Nagato and Asahina-san (big) were indeed helpful, it seems the course of action I've taken was correct. What follows next would be the action needed to resolve this matter, I can't afford to screw up at the last hurdle.
I held my breath when I saw that person putting down his arm and suddenly turn his head in our direction. At first I thought he had discovered we were peeking on him, but it turns out he was only looking around.
"Don't worry, he hasn't discovered us. Right now he has been 'reborn.' The time quake... The alteration of the world has ended. Kyon-kun, it's our turn to move now,"
Asahina-san (big) said in a stiff and serious tone and gave me the signal.
I emerged from the darkness and headed towards the school gate. There was no need to hurry, as he was not going to run away. As expected, when "that person" noticed me standing under the street lamp, he was still standing in front of the school gate. The only change was the expression on his face. When I saw the astonished look on his face, I suddenly felt melancholic all of a sudden.
"Hi there,"
I called out to him. As though seeing a friend I haven't met for a long time, I approached him.
"It's me, we meet again,"
I was able to guess a bit from the tone of Asahina-san's (big) voice. Of the people that I knew, besides Haruki, only one person could make him feel so uneasy. Think about it. After the 18th, the secret personal profiles of the SOS Brigade members had suddenly vanished. Yet all their personalities remained intact, all save one, whose actions, expressions and mannerism had changed completely.
Under the dim night sky, wearing a North High uniform, the large but thin figure stood there not knowing what was going on. He didn't seem to understand why he was here, like someone suffering from sleepwalking who had suddenly woken up and begun to look around...
"Nagato,"
I said,
"This was all your doing, right?"
Wearing glasses, it was that Nagato. After the 18th, this Nagato Yuuki was just the mere remaining member of the Literature Club, he was neither an alien or any mysterious entity whatsoever, just a very shy bookworm.
The bespectacled Nagato now looked even more astonished, not understanding what was going on,
"...Why... why... are you here?"
"I was about to ask you that, do you even know why you're here?"
"...I'm taking a walk,"
Nagato said uneasily while widening his eyes. The glasses on the boy's face that I was looking at reflected the light of the street lamp. I looked at him like that and thought,
No, it's not like that, Nagato.
This boy was only feeling tired. Having to spend all day being turned around in circles by Haruki, while busy saving my life, as well as being secretly active in some unknown location behind our backs - it was only natural that he would become fatigued by it all.
A while ago in Nagato's apartment, this was what the Nagato three years ago told us:
"The erroneous files accumulated in my memory database will trigger an anomalous reaction. It can be foreseen that this is unavoidable. On December 18th three years from now, I will reconstruct the world."
He continued calmly,
"There are no counter-measures available, because I do not know how such errors could occur."
But I do.
I know the reason behind Nagato's unexplicable, abnormal action, and just what those erroneous files she had been accumulating were.
It was the most basic desire. Even for an artificial intelligence run by a complex program, even for an android interface who never had such stuff installed, after living for some time, it was natural for him to develop such a desire. You'll never understand, but I do. And probably Haruki does as well.
I continued to observe Nagato's troubled expression unreservedly. Yet the dream boy from the Literature Club now looked even more uncomfortable. Seeing how helpless he looked, I can't help but yell inside, Nagato! This is what we call emotions!
It is because you were designed not to have any emotions to begin with, the reaction felt from you was far greater. You probably felt like screaming, or going ballistic, or just yelling out loud, you stupid idiot! I've had enough of you! Right? No, even if he didn't think that way, what he did was totally understandable. His actions can be forgiven, because I was partly responsible, after all. I've become too reliant on him, having gotten used to letting Nagato take care of everything. I always thought that as long as Nagato was helping, I could switch off my brain. What an idiot I was, an even greater idiot than Haruki. So I had no right to condemn him for this.
That was why Nagato - this guy here, came up with the silly idea of changing the world.
So was it an anomalous reaction, or a programming error?
Boy, you sure are annoying, it's neither of the above.
This was what Nagato wished for - a normal world like this.
He only preserved my memories, while altering the memories of everyone else, including herself.
It was now that I finally understood the question that was puzzling me for the last few days.
Why was I the only one to remain unaffected?
The answer was simple, it was because the boy had wanted to let me make the choice.
Is the altered world better? Or is the original one better? Under his well crafted script, the final decision rests on me.
"Damn it,"
To hell with choosing! I never had a choice!
If I had only wanted the SOS Brigade, then I didn't have to return at all. I could just start over in the new world. Haruki and Koizumi may be studying in another high school, but that wouldn't be too much of an obstacle. We'll just treat it as an out-of-school hobby. This mysterious club can meet as usual at that coffee shop. Over there, Haruki would come up with some ridiculous stuff, while Koizumi would grin all the time; Asahina-san would look extremely distressed, and I would just look away with a scowl on my face... An image of that scene floated in my mind at once. The Nagato there would probably look troubled as well, of course he would still quietly read his book. Yet still...
That wouldn't be the SOS Brigade that I knew. Nagato isn't an alien, Asahina-san isn't a time traveler from the future, and Koizumi's just a normal person, while Haruki wouldn't possess any extraordinary powers. It would just be a simple, normal and happy club.
Am I fine with that? Isn't that even better?
How did I think about it at first? Just what did I make of Haruki's constant trouble-makings beyond the boundaries of common sense?
What a pain.
Enough already!
Are you an idiot!?
I've had enough with you!
"......"
My heart began to hurt.
A normal high school student who was forced to take part in many troublesome situations, constantly complaining to Haruki yet still managing to live to tell the tale. That was the role I've been playing all along.
Now then! Yes, Kyon! I'm talking to you! I've got to ask myself a very important question, so listen carefully and answer me. You can't refrain from answering. Just a single "yes" or "no" would do. Now listen up, here comes the question:
Don't you find such a weird and extraordinary school life fun?
Hurry up and answer, Kyon! Think carefully. Well? Can't I ask what you think of this? Hurry up and tell me. In a world where I was being turned around in circles by Haruki; attacked by aliens; hearing a time traveler explain wild theories; putting up with the philosophical babble with an esper; trapped in a Sealed Dimension where giants go on a rampage; living with a cat that speaks; making an incomprehensible leap through time; not to mention having to follow the strict rule of not letting Haruki know all of these, allowing the commander of the SOS Brigade to happily continue his pursuit of mysterious events, while completely oblivious that she has made a huge mess.
Don't you find such a world interesting?
Or did you think that was just too annoying, and had wanted to tell him enough is enough? Since you've always thought he was an idiot and had decided to ignore him. Well? Is it true? In other words? Is that what you really think?
That world was hardly interesting at all.
Are you sure? According to what you said, you find Haruki in the original world to be very annoying. No matter what wild ideas he would come up with, you would always feel melancholic. Of course it's natural that you wouldn't find such a world to be interesting. And don't tell me it's not true! You know it is.
Yet, in reality you're secretly enjoying all of this. Because that world is interesting.
You ask me why I say that?
Then let me tell you why,
Didn't you hit the "Enter" key?
You know, the one for the Emergency Escape Program that Nagato left for you.
Are you ready?
The answer you gave for that question then was a resolute "yes."
Am I right?
Our Great God Nagato went far out of his way to create a stable world for you, and you had to turn down his offer. Ever since you met Suzumiya Haruki back in April, you've taken that idiotic world for granted. You actually want to return to a crazy world where aliens, time travelers and espers wander freely in school. Why is that? Aren't you the one who was complaining all the time about how woeful you are?
If that were the case, then why didn't you ignore the Escape Program? By choosing to stay in this very normal world here, you'll know Haruki, Asahina-san, Koizumi and Nagato as ordinary high school students, and lead a happy life as usual under Haruki's leadership. Since Haruki doesn't have any powers, you could say goodbye to all those surreal experiences.
In that world, Haruki would just be a normal boy who likes to boss people around; Asahina-san would no longer have the attribute of being a time traveler from the future, he would just be a very cute character; Koizumi would be a normal high school student without any backing from some mysterious 'Organization'; and Nagato would just be a timid and humble bookish boy, not having to carry any burden or use any amazing powers to observe or protect someone. Oh yeah, though most of the time he would remain expressionless, he would still laugh heartily at some lame joke, and then blush furiously. Who knows, he could be a person who could slowly open himself up if I spend some time with him.
Such an idyllic life that would be, and yet you have forsaken it.
Just why is that?
I'll ask you one last time. Answer me truthfully.
Do you find Haruki the troublemaker and the nightmarish events that he causes to be interesting? Hurry up and answer!
"Of course I do,"
I answered as such,
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize it was fun. So don't ask me something so trivial anymore."
If someone had actually said they don't find that interesting, then that person would be a blithering idiot. His wits would be thirty times dimmer than Haruki's.
I mean, there are aliens, time travelers and espers out there!
Just one alone would be intriguing enough, but to have three sorts of interesting characters all at once! With Haruki included, some powerful force is bound to be triggered. At this rate, I'll never be bored. If someone had made any objections to that, I think I'd beat him to a pulp at once.
"So that's how it is,"
I said to myself. You could say I've finally been enlightened.
"I still prefer the original world. This world just doesn't suit me. I'm sorry, Nagato. I don't like the present you, I prefer the Nagato from before. Besides, I like you better without glasses,"
This Nagato looked at me with a very puzzled face,
"What are you talking about..."
The Nagato Yuuki I know would never say something like that.
This boy would have no knowledge of these three days, when I discovered something was wrong up to now. That was to be expected, because this Nagato had just been reborn, and so has never met me. He would have no memory of looking shocked as I barged into the Literature Club.
The only memory this Nagato had was the fabricated memory in the library. Besides that, the memory we share now all happened since he changed the world a while ago.
A few months ago, I was trapped in the grey Sealed Dimension with just Haruki. According to Koizumi, that was a new world created by Haruki.
Nagato was probably using that power. Somehow he managed to nick or steal that mysterious power from Haruki and used it to create this world.
That sure was a convenient power. No matter who it is, they will always have the thought of wanting to start all over, or wishing that things would go back to where it would be favorable for them.
Yet, a normal person would never be able to achieve such a wish. And it was better that they gave up that thought. I myself didn't want to start all over, which was why I returned from the Sealed Dimension with Haruki.
This incident was caused by the transferral of a god-like omnipotent power from Haruki to Nagato. Haruki was unaware of it all, while Nagato lost control and went forward to change the world.
"Nagato,"
I walked towards the stiff tiny figure standing there. Nagato remained motionless and stared back at me.
"No matter how many times I have to say this, my answer is the same. Please return everything to normal, including you as well. Let's live to fight another day in the club room. As long as you give the signal, I'll be there for you. Lately Haruki hasn't been going astray for no reason now, so there's no need for you to use such an unhealthy power to forcefully change the world. Just keep everything as it is."
The eyes under the glasses betray a sense of fear.
"Kyon-chan..."
Asahina-san grabbed my shoulder and said,
"It's useless trying to explain to this Nagato-san. Because even he has changed. This Nagato-san is just a normal boy without any powers..."
I suddenly thought of something.
The long haired Haruki in that world called me John. Without any god-like or demon-like powers, he was just an ordinary schoolboy who barged into North High without hesitation. His eyes glittered brightly as he showed great interest in my story about the SOS Brigade, while exclaiming, "Sounds like fun!"
Carrying a wide grin at all times, the Koizumi there said she fancies Haruki. Wearing my PE uniform, the straight A transfer student would show a complicated expression.
Giving me an invitation to join the Literature Club, this bespectacled Nagato would reminisce his fabricated memory together with me. The smile on his face was like the sun rising out of the horizon, I can't help but want to see that smile once again.
I realized I would never see these people again. To be honest, I kind of missed them. It's just that their existences were all fabricated. They were not the Haruki, Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina-san I knew. It was a pity I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to them, but I've already made up my mind. I want to go back to the Haruki, Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina-san I knew.
"I'm sorry."
I took the gun out and pointed it. Nagato instantly froze on the spot, seeing his reaction, I felt extremely criminal. But I've come this far, so there's no point in hesitating.
“Hey! That’s dangerous. It’s not a toy. Put that away before you hurt someone.”
I ignored this Nagato’s pleas.
"Everything would return to normal very soon. We'll be able to go to many different places again, have our Christmas hot pot, and then go to the mansion in the snow mountain. You can be the Great Detective this time. A Great Detective that could solve the case just when it has occurred, right? That'll be......"
"Kyon-chan! Look out... KYAA!!"
As Asahina-san screamed out, someone rammed into my back. Thud! A loud shudder caused me to shake, even the shadow under the street lamp was shaking. In that shadow was the silhouette of another person. What the? Who was it?
"I can't let you hurt Nagato-san!"
I turned my head over my shoulder and saw the pale face of a man.
Asakura Ryou.
"What the..."
Before I could say anything more, I suddenly felt something icy cold jabbed into my abdomen. It was a flat object that was thrusted deep into my body. So cold. The sense of disorientation far surpassed the sense of pain. Just what was going on? How can this be? Why was Asakura here?
"Hee hee,"
To me, his grin looked like that of an expressionless mask that has suddenly begun smiling. Asakura then backed off from me, pulling out the blood-soaked katana which he used to stab me.
Losing my balance, I fell to the ground like a spinning top. Standing before me all this time, Nagato's legs gave in as he slumped to the ground and said fearfully,
"Asakura...-san?"
As though greeting someone, Asakura-san waved the murder weapon that was drenched in my blood and said,
"Hi, Nagato-san. Don't you worry, as long as I'm here, I'll eliminate anyone that attempts to threaten you. That was the reason why I was created."
Asakura smiled and continued,
"It is what you have wished for, isn't it?"
That's a lie. Nagato would never have made such a wish. He's not the sort to kill a bird simply because it's not singing as he wants it to. Absolutely not. As Nagato began to act abnormally, this Asakura that was re-created was also acting in an abnormal way, basically becoming a shadow to Nagato......
Asakura's shadow slowly landed on my body. Very soon her silhouette blocked out the moon from my vision.
"Allow me to send you on your last journey. As long as you're dead, everything will be fine. It's your fault for making Nagato-san suffer in the first place. Does it hurt? I'm sure it does. Better enjoy it while it lasts, because that'll probably be the last sensation you'll ever feel. But now, I’ll end it in one quick swipe."
The tip of the katana was placed beside my neck. Asakura then lifted the sword above his head at an angle. Is he going to cut my head off? I was bleeding non-stop. Is this the end? ...I struggled to think as my mind became blurry. I was losing all sense of reality. So, Psycho Asakura, is this your mission? To act as back-up to Nagato Yuuki...
The katana began to move downwards...
In the blink of an eye, a hand stretched out from one side.
"...!!!"
Someone had stopped the blade of the katana, and with only two fingers as well.
"Who the...?"
Bare hands...!? Where have I seen this before?
My vision was becoming more and more blurry, so I couldn't tell who it was. There's not enough light, anyone mind turning up the light? He was standing in front of the bright street lamp, so I couldn't see his face properly. All I knew was that it was a tall short-haired guy...wearing a North High uniform...not wearing glasses...that's all I could see... Koizumi! ...Where's the guy in charge of lighting when you need her!?
"Huh...!?"
Exclaiming softly was Nagato, who was sitting on the ground. His glasses reflected the brightness of the street lamp, so I couldn't see his expression clearly. Was it fear? Or was it astonishment?
"Why? But you're...!? Why..."
Asakura yelled. He seemed to be talking to the guy who caught the blade with his fingers, but the guy remained silent and said nothing.
Asahina-san sounded as though he was right next to me,
"I'm so sorry... Kyon-chan, I should have known, but still..."
"Kyon-chan! Kyon-chan...... No! You can't!"
There seems to be two Asahina-sans. One was the adult Asahina-san, while the other was the shouta Asahina-san that I knew. Both had tears all over their faces, and were shaking my body. Hey, both of you, that hurts...
...Huh? What was Asahina-san (small) doing here? While I could still understand the adult Asahina-san holding me in her arms and crying, since he came here with me to this time period; but just where on earth did the little Asahina-san come from? Ah, I get it now. It's one of those illusions, a recollection of one's whole life as one reaches the end of his life...
Now this was scarier than the feeling of pain and seeing blood flow non-stop out of your body.
Damn it, I'm about to die.
As I wallow in regret for not having written a will, I felt someone appear above me. That person lifted me and picked up the needle-gun that Nagato made that had dropped to the ground.
A familiar voice, yet I could not remember whose, spoke,
"Sorry about that. I have my reasons for not rescuing you right away, but don't hate me for it. After all, it was painful for me as well. Anyway, we'll take care of the rest. No, I already know what to do now, and you will as well. So go get some sleep for now."
What's she talking about? And who was she talking to? Do what? And who's taking care of what? The images of Asakura's fatal strike, the bespectacled Nagato supporting himself with her arms while kneeling on the ground, the two Asahina-sans, and Haruki in a different school uniform had all now been fused together...
I gradually fell unconscious.
Cat Megex
2008-06-05, 21:59
While I could still understand the adult Asahina-san holding me in his arms and crying,
You forgot to genderswap a pronoun. (Note: I skipped ahead to that part of the chapter, and that was the only error that caught my eye, so this is only a proof for that one bit of sentence.)
quick edit and here's chapter 5! WOOOOT!!!!
I still didn't know what to say. Nagato now turned towards Asahina-san (big),*snip*hides
-_- ... Right now, I have no respect for you whatsoever.
"......"
I still didn't know what to say. Nagato now turned towards Asahina-san (big),
"Let me give you the space-time coordinates of the target."
"Oh, sure."
Asahina-san (big) stuck out her hand like a loyal dog eager to shake hands with its master.
"Go ahead..."
Nagato softly tapped his finger on the back of Asahina-san's (big) palm, and then retracted it... That's it? It’s like you just did a double click with a mouse. Though Asahina-san (big) looked content with it.
"I understand now, Nagato-san. All we need to do is to go and mend 'him' up, right? That won't be hard, since 'he' wouldn't have any powers by then..."
The time traveler seemed determined as he clutched his fists, the alien then said,
"Please wait."
Not wearing any glasses, Nagato said,
"In this state, you too would be swept into the changes of the space-time continuum. Counteractive measures need to be applied."
He then stuck his hand out.
"Your hand."
What for? Does he want to shake hands? I obediently stuck out my right hand. Nagato's icy cold fingers grabbed my wrist, causing my heartbeat to go faster for a while.
"..."
Nagato suddenly moved his sullen-looking face towards my arm.
"Aaaah!"
I yelled involuntarily. It was an unavoidable reaction, I guess. Kneeling down, Nagato not only touched my wrist softly with his lips, he even revealed his teeth. It was like during the making of the movie, when he constantly assaulted Asahina-san and bit his. Those scenes were just wrong.
It didn't hurt, actually. It felt like one of those soft unhostile bites Shamisen would make whenever I caressed her. Though the canine teeth sinking into my skin felt a bit prickly, like being jabbed by something but not hurting at all. Maybe it was because Nagato's saliva contained some sort of anesthetic to numb the pain. It was more like being bitten by a mosquito. It felt kinda weird thou.
After biting my hand for about five to ten seconds, Nagato slowly lifted his head.
"Your body surface has been applied with a data-manipulating stealth barrier and protective shield,"
Nagato said without even blushing. On the other hand, cupping his mouth with his hands, Asahina-san (big) looked rather amazed. I felt a bit numb and looked at my wrist. On it were two small holes which looked like vampire bite marks. As I stared at them, the two small holes began to heal and disappeared without a trace. Like with Asahina-san during the making of the movie, my body was also injected with Nagato's nanomachines.
"You too."
Under Nagato's request, terrified Asahina-san stuck out her hand.
"...It's been a while since you've injected me. It must've been tough on you, back then..."
"This is my first time giving you an injection."
"Oh, yes, right. I forgot..."
Shutting his eyes tightly, the time traveler stuck out his wrist and accepted the alien's kissing baptism. The time it took for him to be injected with nanomachines was shorter than mine. Once it was over, he began to cough dryly.
"Well, let's go. Kyon-chan, the real thing starts now."
Really? The warm-up this time sure felt quite long! Then again, I was only doing my best to narrate this for everyone, even though I really didn't want to do this.
"Thanks."
I tried to remain calm as I gave thanks to the master of the apartment. The silent Nagato remained unresponsive. I could not find any form of self-awareness through his expression. Yet for some reason, I just felt Nagato, who was standing upright, felt very lonely. Was it really because he was lonely as I had speculated?
"Nagato, I'll see you then. Before Haruki and I arrive, make sure you wait for us in the Literature Club room until then."
Like a doll being injected with life, the alien-created organic being mechanically nodded her head.
"I will wait."
Such a sentence was enough to ignite a mysterious flame within my heart. Though it was only as bright as a cigarette butt that someone had forgotten to put out. As I was about to figure out where that little spark came from, Asahina-san (big) now said,
"Just to prevent you from getting uncomfortable,"
He tightly grabbed my shoulders and hugged me tightly in his chest. I could feel my face becoming flushed again.
"Can you please close your eyes?"
I followed as he instructed me to. Asahina-san (big) seemed to be standing right in front of me, holding my hands.
"Kyon-chan."
This soft chanting sounded just too pleasant. Was he going kiss me?
"Here we go."
Wait.. in front of Nagato? Umm… I’m not prepared yet. Please be gentle… As I was thinking about this...
The dramatic dizziness had begun. It was good that I had closed my eyes. Even if I had them opened, it would probably be pitch-black as though there was a power shortage. I now felt like sitting in a roller coaster with my seat-belt taken off; I was no longer sure whether the blood in me had left my body or was rushing towards my brain. The sense of floating weightlessness continued. Though I had closed my eyes, I still felt dizzy. The fact that I didn't lose consciousness was all thanks to the warmth felt through Asahina-san's (big) hands.
How many minutes has it been already? Or even how many hours? I lost all awareness of time and space. I can't hold on much longer. Asahina-san, I feel like throwing up...
As I was ungraciously trying to look for something that I could puke in...
"Um... We've arrived."
The long lost sensation of my feet standing on firm ground was back again. The coldness of the ground passed through my socks and into my body. My sense of gravity was back as well. Like an illusion, the urge to throw up also suddenly disappeared.
"You can open your eyes now. Thank goodness, this is the place that Nagato-san had directed us... And the time as well."
I lifted my head and saw glittering in the night sky a bunch of winter constellations. As the air was cleaner, the stars were much clearer than in the summer. I turned around and instantly recognized the roof of the North High complex looming above the residential housings.
I looked around me, trying to confirm where I was now. Though it was dark, I couldn't be mistaken. I was standing here just a few hours ago. I could still remember Haruki’s tied up hair and Koizumi in my PE uniform as well.
This was where Haruki and Koizumi had gotten changed. It should be a coincidence, I guess!
Now then, what time was it?
Looking at his watch, Asahina-san (big) told me,
"It's four forty-eight in the morning on the 18th of December. In about five minutes, the world will be changed."
From the moment I hit the "Enter" key on the 20th and traveled back three years in time, the 18th would be two days ago. On that day, I went to school as usual, unaware of what was about to happen, and I fell into a state of pandemonium as a result of seeing a North High that has completely changed. Haruki has suddenly disappeared, while Asakura had reappeared; and Asahina-san couldn't recognize me, while Nagato has become a completely different person altogether.
It all started here, I was now at the time period where the conversion took effect. In other words, I could also prevent it from happening, and that was why I was standing here now.
As I was getting fired up by the intense anticipation......
"Oh no! I forgot to bring my shoes!"
Asahina-san (big) exclaimed softly.
As we traveled directly from indoors, naturally we weren't wearing any shoes. As expected from Asahina-san, not even the passage of time could wear away his clumsiness.
"Would Nagato-san take good care of them for me?"
His anxiety briefly relieved me of my own nervousness. I'm sure he'd take good care of them. After all, he managed to preserve a tanzaku for three years. So he won't lose a pair of shoes so easily. You can always go to his apartment and check his cupboard......
As I calmly thought about these, an electric-like sensation went through my body all of a sudden.
That was because I wasn't wearing any shoes, not to mention having to leap from summer back to the freezing winter, so the cold felt even more intense. I put on my cardigan but for some reason it still felt very cold and I started to shiver.
“Put this on.”
Asahina-san (big) placed a jacket over my shoulder. I turned around to see him smiling at me, apparently proud of his own act of chivalry.
“Thanks. Sorry about that.”
Asahina-san (big) gave me a smile, which perfectly combined manliness and cuteness, and would soften the legs of more than half of the audience, then said seriously,
"It's almost time."
Maybe it was good that we forgot to wear our shoes, as we didn't make any sound while walking. Despite that, Asahina-san (big) and I still didn't dare to breathe loudly as we walked in small steps towards the entrance of North High. We stopped by the corner and like hunters following their prey, we only stuck our heads out and stared at the path ahead of us in the dark.
There weren't a lot of street lamps in this area, though there was one just outside the gate. Only the area under the light was illuminated. Though the light was dim, one could still make out whoever was standing under that lamp.
"Here he comes......"
A warm hand landed on my shoulder. I could feel Asahina-san's (big) intense yet sweet breathing blow into my ears. Normally, I would be spellbound by it, but I wasn't in the mood right now.
The space-time converter emerged from the shadows and into the light under the lamp.
A North High uniform. That was the person Nagato had mentioned. "That person" was the culprit who had altered our world, separated the members of the SOS Brigade and turned everyone into normal human beings. Only my memories remained, while the memories and history of everyone and everything else were totally changed.
Right now, "that person" had begun making his move.
I still couldn't rush out yet, I had to wait till everything has changed. That was the advice Nagato gave me. I must wait till that person had changed the world completely before I could inject the Restoration Program. Otherwise, the history where I activated the Escape Program would never have existed. I didn't quite understand what Nagato meant, though Nagato and Asahina-san (big) both seemed pretty clear about it. They must be pretty familiar with the flow of time, a person like me would never understand. Since I'll never get it, I might as well follow the advice of the professionals. That Nagato would never lie, she has always been standing by our side with a serious look on her face......
I tightly grabbed the short needle pistol Nagato gave me and waited silently.
Walking in regular strides, "that person" arrived before the gates of North High. He lifted his head to look at the school complex that was shrouded in darkness and stopped.
His uniform jacket flickered as the wind blew.
He didn't seem to notice us. This was all thanks to the nanomachines Nagato injected into us, creating a stealth barrier and protective shield on the surface of our bodies.
"That person" suddenly lifted one arm and made a gesture as though grabbing onto something in the air. It didn't look natural, it's as though he was being controlled, but I knew that wasn't the case.
"Amazing..." Asahina-san (big) exclaimed, "That was a powerful time quake. He actually had such power... I still find it hard to believe even after I've seen it with my own eyes,"
Even with my own eyes, I still don't see any changes. The night sky was still dark. Yet Asahina-san (big) seemed to have witnessed that person use some method to cause a massive change to the history of this world. He was from the future after all, so it's not surprising if he could see it.
Asahina-san (big) leaned himself tightly onto me. Originally, we too would have been swamped by "that person's" alteration of the world, but we were protected by having Nagato bite us. Nagato and Asahina-san (big) were indeed helpful, it seems the course of action I've taken was correct. What follows next would be the action needed to resolve this matter, I can't afford to screw up at the last hurdle.
I held my breath when I saw that person putting down his arm and suddenly turn his head in our direction. At first I thought he had discovered we were peeking on him, but it turns out he was only looking around.
"Don't worry, he hasn't discovered us. Right now he has been 'reborn.' The time quake... The alteration of the world has ended. Kyon-kun, it's our turn to move now,"
Asahina-san (big) said in a stiff and serious tone and gave me the signal.
I emerged from the darkness and headed towards the school gate. There was no need to hurry, as he was not going to run away. As expected, when "that person" noticed me standing under the street lamp, he was still standing in front of the school gate. The only change was the expression on his face. When I saw the astonished look on his face, I suddenly felt melancholic all of a sudden.
"Hi there,"
I called out to him. As though seeing a friend I haven't met for a long time, I approached him.
"It's me, we meet again,"
I was able to guess a bit from the tone of Asahina-san's (big) voice. Of the people that I knew, besides Haruki, only one person could make him feel so uneasy. Think about it. After the 18th, the secret personal profiles of the SOS Brigade members had suddenly vanished. Yet all their personalities remained intact, all save one, whose actions, expressions and mannerism had changed completely.
Under the dim night sky, wearing a North High uniform, the large but thin figure stood there not knowing what was going on. He didn't seem to understand why he was here, like someone suffering from sleepwalking who had suddenly woken up and begun to look around...
"Nagato,"
I said,
"This was all your doing, right?"
Wearing glasses, it was that Nagato. After the 18th, this Nagato Yuuki was just the mere remaining member of the Literature Club, he was neither an alien or any mysterious entity whatsoever, just a very shy bookworm.
The bespectacled Nagato now looked even more astonished, not understanding what was going on,
"...Why... why... are you here?"
"I was about to ask you that, do you even know why you're here?"
"...I'm taking a walk,"
Nagato said uneasily while widening his eyes. The glasses on the boy's face that I was looking at reflected the light of the street lamp. I looked at him like that and thought,
No, it's not like that, Nagato.
This boy was only feeling tired. Having to spend all day being turned around in circles by Haruki, while busy saving my life, as well as being secretly active in some unknown location behind our backs - it was only natural that he would become fatigued by it all.
A while ago in Nagato's apartment, this was what the Nagato three years ago told us:
"The erroneous files accumulated in my memory database will trigger an anomalous reaction. It can be foreseen that this is unavoidable. On December 18th three years from now, I will reconstruct the world."
He continued calmly,
"There are no counter-measures available, because I do not know how such errors could occur."
But I do.
I know the reason behind Nagato's unexplicable, abnormal action, and just what those erroneous files she had been accumulating were.
It was the most basic desire. Even for an artificial intelligence run by a complex program, even for an android interface who never had such stuff installed, after living for some time, it was natural for him to develop such a desire. You'll never understand, but I do. And probably Haruki does as well.
I continued to observe Nagato's troubled expression unreservedly. Yet the dream boy from the Literature Club now looked even more uncomfortable. Seeing how helpless he looked, I can't help but yell inside, Nagato! This is what we call emotions!
It is because you were designed not to have any emotions to begin with, the reaction felt from you was far greater. You probably felt like screaming, or going ballistic, or just yelling out loud, you stupid idiot! I've had enough of you! Right? No, even if he didn't think that way, what he did was totally understandable. His actions can be forgiven, because I was partly responsible, after all. I've become too reliant on him, having gotten used to letting Nagato take care of everything. I always thought that as long as Nagato was helping, I could switch off my brain. What an idiot I was, an even greater idiot than Haruki. So I had no right to condemn him for this.
That was why Nagato - this guy here, came up with the silly idea of changing the world.
So was it an anomalous reaction, or a programming error?
Boy, you sure are annoying, it's neither of the above.
This was what Nagato wished for - a normal world like this.
He only preserved my memories, while altering the memories of everyone else, including herself.
It was now that I finally understood the question that was puzzling me for the last few days.
Why was I the only one to remain unaffected?
The answer was simple, it was because the boy had wanted to let me make the choice.
Is the altered world better? Or is the original one better? Under his well crafted script, the final decision rests on me.
"Damn it,"
To hell with choosing! I never had a choice!
If I had only wanted the SOS Brigade, then I didn't have to return at all. I could just start over in the new world. Haruki and Koizumi may be studying in another high school, but that wouldn't be too much of an obstacle. We'll just treat it as an out-of-school hobby. This mysterious club can meet as usual at that coffee shop. Over there, Haruki would come up with some ridiculous stuff, while Koizumi would grin all the time; Asahina-san would look extremely distressed, and I would just look away with a scowl on my face... An image of that scene floated in my mind at once. The Nagato there would probably look troubled as well, of course he would still quietly read his book. Yet still...
That wouldn't be the SOS Brigade that I knew. Nagato isn't an alien, Asahina-san isn't a time traveler from the future, and Koizumi's just a normal person, while Haruki wouldn't possess any extraordinary powers. It would just be a simple, normal and happy club.
Am I fine with that? Isn't that even better?
How did I think about it at first? Just what did I make of Haruki's constant trouble-makings beyond the boundaries of common sense?
What a pain.
Enough already!
Are you an idiot!?
I've had enough with you!
"......"
My heart began to hurt.
A normal high school student who was forced to take part in many troublesome situations, constantly complaining to Haruki yet still managing to live to tell the tale. That was the role I've been playing all along.
Now then! Yes, Kyon! I'm talking to you! I've got to ask myself a very important question, so listen carefully and answer me. You can't refrain from answering. Just a single "yes" or "no" would do. Now listen up, here comes the question:
Don't you find such a weird and extraordinary school life fun?
Hurry up and answer, Kyon! Think carefully. Well? Can't I ask what you think of this? Hurry up and tell me. In a world where I was being turned around in circles by Haruki; attacked by aliens; hearing a time traveler explain wild theories; putting up with the philosophical babble with an esper; trapped in a Sealed Dimension where giants go on a rampage; living with a cat that speaks; making an incomprehensible leap through time; not to mention having to follow the strict rule of not letting Haruki know all of these, allowing the commander of the SOS Brigade to happily continue his pursuit of mysterious events, while completely oblivious that she has made a huge mess.
Don't you find such a world interesting?
Or did you think that was just too annoying, and had wanted to tell him enough is enough? Since you've always thought he was an idiot and had decided to ignore him. Well? Is it true? In other words? Is that what you really think?
That world was hardly interesting at all.
Are you sure? According to what you said, you find Haruki in the original world to be very annoying. No matter what wild ideas he would come up with, you would always feel melancholic. Of course it's natural that you wouldn't find such a world to be interesting. And don't tell me it's not true! You know it is.
Yet, in reality you're secretly enjoying all of this. Because that world is interesting.
You ask me why I say that?
Then let me tell you why,
Didn't you hit the "Enter" key?
You know, the one for the Emergency Escape Program that Nagato left for you.
Are you ready?
The answer you gave for that question then was a resolute "yes."
Am I right?
Our Great God Nagato went far out of his way to create a stable world for you, and you had to turn down his offer. Ever since you met Suzumiya Haruki back in April, you've taken that idiotic world for granted. You actually want to return to a crazy world where aliens, time travelers and espers wander freely in school. Why is that? Aren't you the one who was complaining all the time about how woeful you are?
If that were the case, then why didn't you ignore the Escape Program? By choosing to stay in this very normal world here, you'll know Haruki, Asahina-san, Koizumi and Nagato as ordinary high school students, and lead a happy life as usual under Haruki's leadership. Since Haruki doesn't have any powers, you could say goodbye to all those surreal experiences.
In that world, Haruki would just be a normal boy who likes to boss people around; Asahina-san would no longer have the attribute of being a time traveler from the future, he would just be a very cute character; Koizumi would be a normal high school student without any backing from some mysterious 'Organization'; and Nagato would just be a timid and humble bookish boy, not having to carry any burden or use any amazing powers to observe or protect someone. Oh yeah, though most of the time he would remain expressionless, he would still laugh heartily at some lame joke, and then blush furiously. Who knows, he could be a person who could slowly open himself up if I spend some time with him.
Such an idyllic life that would be, and yet you have forsaken it.
Just why is that?
I'll ask you one last time. Answer me truthfully.
Do you find Haruki the troublemaker and the nightmarish events that he causes to be interesting? Hurry up and answer!
"Of course I do,"
I answered as such,
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize it was fun. So don't ask me something so trivial anymore."
If someone had actually said they don't find that interesting, then that person would be a blithering idiot. His wits would be thirty times dimmer than Haruki's.
I mean, there are aliens, time travelers and espers out there!
Just one alone would be intriguing enough, but to have three sorts of interesting characters all at once! With Haruki included, some powerful force is bound to be triggered. At this rate, I'll never be bored. If someone had made any objections to that, I think I'd beat him to a pulp at once.
"So that's how it is,"
I said to myself. You could say I've finally been enlightened.
"I still prefer the original world. This world just doesn't suit me. I'm sorry, Nagato. I don't like the present you, I prefer the Nagato from before. Besides, I like you better without glasses,"
This Nagato looked at me with a very puzzled face,
"What are you talking about..."
The Nagato Yuuki I know would never say something like that.
This boy would have no knowledge of these three days, when I discovered something was wrong up to now. That was to be expected, because this Nagato had just been reborn, and so has never met me. He would have no memory of looking shocked as I barged into the Literature Club.
The only memory this Nagato had was the fabricated memory in the library. Besides that, the memory we share now all happened since he changed the world a while ago.
A few months ago, I was trapped in the grey Sealed Dimension with just Haruki. According to Koizumi, that was a new world created by Haruki.
Nagato was probably using that power. Somehow he managed to nick or steal that mysterious power from Haruki and used it to create this world.
That sure was a convenient power. No matter who it is, they will always have the thought of wanting to start all over, or wishing that things would go back to where it would be favorable for them.
Yet, a normal person would never be able to achieve such a wish. And it was better that they gave up that thought. I myself didn't want to start all over, which was why I returned from the Sealed Dimension with Haruki.
This incident was caused by the transferral of a god-like omnipotent power from Haruki to Nagato. Haruki was unaware of it all, while Nagato lost control and went forward to change the world.
"Nagato,"
I walked towards the stiff tiny figure standing there. Nagato remained motionless and stared back at me.
"No matter how many times I have to say this, my answer is the same. Please return everything to normal, including you as well. Let's live to fight another day in the club room. As long as you give the signal, I'll be there for you. Lately Haruki hasn't been going astray for no reason now, so there's no need for you to use such an unhealthy power to forcefully change the world. Just keep everything as it is."
The eyes under the glasses betray a sense of fear.
"Kyon-chan..."
Asahina-san grabbed my shoulder and said,
"It's useless trying to explain to this Nagato-san. Because even he has changed. This Nagato-san is just a normal boy without any powers..."
I suddenly thought of something.
The long haired Haruki in that world called me John. Without any god-like or demon-like powers, he was just an ordinary schoolboy who barged into North High without hesitation. His eyes glittered brightly as he showed great interest in my story about the SOS Brigade, while exclaiming, "Sounds like fun!"
Carrying a wide grin at all times, the Koizumi there said she fancies Haruki. Wearing my PE uniform, the straight A transfer student would show a complicated expression.
Giving me an invitation to join the Literature Club, this bespectacled Nagato would reminisce his fabricated memory together with me. The smile on his face was like the sun rising out of the horizon, I can't help but want to see that smile once again.
I realized I would never see these people again. To be honest, I kind of missed them. It's just that their existences were all fabricated. They were not the Haruki, Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina-san I knew. It was a pity I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to them, but I've already made up my mind. I want to go back to the Haruki, Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina-san I knew.
"I'm sorry."
I took the gun out and pointed it. Nagato instantly froze on the spot, seeing his reaction, I felt extremely criminal. But I've come this far, so there's no point in hesitating.
“Hey! That’s dangerous. It’s not a toy. Put that away before you hurt someone.”
I ignored this Nagato’s pleas.
"Everything would return to normal very soon. We'll be able to go to many different places again, have our Christmas hot pot, and then go to the mansion in the snow mountain. You can be the Great Detective this time. A Great Detective that could solve the case just when it has occurred, right? That'll be......"
"Kyon-chan! Look out... KYAA!!"
As Asahina-san screamed out, someone rammed into my back. Thud! A loud shudder caused me to shake, even the shadow under the street lamp was shaking. In that shadow was the silhouette of another person. What the? Who was it?
"I can't let you hurt Nagato-san!"
I turned my head over my shoulder and saw the pale face of a man.
Asakura Ryou.
"What the..."
Before I could say anything more, I suddenly felt something icy cold jabbed into my abdomen. It was a flat object that was thrusted deep into my body. So cold. The sense of disorientation far surpassed the sense of pain. Just what was going on? How can this be? Why was Asakura here?
"Hee hee,"
To me, his grin looked like that of an expressionless mask that has suddenly begun smiling. Asakura then backed off from me, pulling out the blood-soaked katana which he used to stab me.
Losing my balance, I fell to the ground like a spinning top. Standing before me all this time, Nagato's legs gave in as he slumped to the ground and said fearfully,
"Asakura...-san?"
As though greeting someone, Asakura-san waved the murder weapon that was drenched in my blood and said,
"Hi, Nagato-san. Don't you worry, as long as I'm here, I'll eliminate anyone that attempts to threaten you. That was the reason why I was created."
Asakura smiled and continued,
"It is what you have wished for, isn't it?"
That's a lie. Nagato would never have made such a wish. He's not the sort to kill a bird simply because it's not singing as he wants it to. Absolutely not. As Nagato began to act abnormally, this Asakura that was re-created was also acting in an abnormal way, basically becoming a shadow to Nagato......
Asakura's shadow slowly landed on my body. Very soon her silhouette blocked out the moon from my vision.
"Allow me to send you on your last journey. As long as you're dead, everything will be fine. It's your fault for making Nagato-san suffer in the first place. Does it hurt? I'm sure it does. Better enjoy it while it lasts, because that'll probably be the last sensation you'll ever feel. But now, I’ll end it in one quick swipe."
The tip of the katana was placed beside my neck. Asakura then lifted the sword above his head at an angle. Is he going to cut my head off? I was bleeding non-stop. Is this the end? ...I struggled to think as my mind became blurry. I was losing all sense of reality. So, Psycho Asakura, is this your mission? To act as back-up to Nagato Yuuki...
The katana began to move downwards...
In the blink of an eye, a hand stretched out from one side.
"...!!!"
Someone had stopped the blade of the katana, and with only two fingers as well.
"Who the...?"
Bare hands...!? Where have I seen this before?
My vision was becoming more and more blurry, so I couldn't tell who it was. There's not enough light, anyone mind turning up the light? He was standing in front of the bright street lamp, so I couldn't see his face properly. All I knew was that it was a tall short-haired guy...wearing a North High uniform...not wearing glasses...that's all I could see... Koizumi! ...Where's the guy in charge of lighting when you need her!?
"Huh...!?"
Exclaiming softly was Nagato, who was sitting on the ground. His glasses reflected the brightness of the street lamp, so I couldn't see his expression clearly. Was it fear? Or was it astonishment?
"Why? But you're...!? Why..."
Asakura yelled. He seemed to be talking to the guy who caught the blade with his fingers, but the guy remained silent and said nothing.
Asahina-san sounded as though he was right next to me,
"I'm so sorry... Kyon-chan, I should have known, but still..."
"Kyon-chan! Kyon-chan...... No! You can't!"
There seems to be two Asahina-sans. One was the adult Asahina-san, while the other was the shouta Asahina-san that I knew. Both had tears all over their faces, and were shaking my body. Hey, both of you, that hurts...
...Huh? What was Asahina-san (small) doing here? While I could still understand the adult Asahina-san holding me in her arms and crying, since he came here with me to this time period; but just where on earth did the little Asahina-san come from? Ah, I get it now. It's one of those illusions, a recollection of one's whole life as one reaches the end of his life...
Now this was scarier than the feeling of pain and seeing blood flow non-stop out of your body.
Damn it, I'm about to die.
As I wallow in regret for not having written a will, I felt someone appear above me. That person lifted me and picked up the needle-gun that Nagato made that had dropped to the ground.
A familiar voice, yet I could not remember whose, spoke,
"Sorry about that. I have my reasons for not rescuing you right away, but don't hate me for it. After all, it was painful for me as well. Anyway, we'll take care of the rest. No, I already know what to do now, and you will as well. So go get some sleep for now."
What's she talking about? And who was she talking to? Do what? And who's taking care of what? The images of Asakura's fatal strike, the bespectacled Nagato supporting himself with her arms while kneeling on the ground, the two Asahina-sans, and Haruki in a different school uniform had all now been fused together...
I gradually fell unconscious.
Given that Asakura actally gets to stab Kyon this time, we might want to change to a knife for this chapter. Stab someone with a katana, and I imagine you practically disembowel them in one go; they're rather large.
besieger
2008-06-06, 00:44
A shoto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wakizashi) will do, I guess. And Asakura doesn't have to stab it in completely, like a glance will do too.
Honestly, on your first point, I was thinking the exact same thing while I was reading your edit and Bliss's.
*snicker* I almost missed this ... So I'm "Bliss" now? ^^ Oh, well; I have definitely been called worse things in my life. Carry on.
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 01:29
Another good reason why we should've went with ninja-tou. :D
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 01:49
Actually, I had planned to him to actually stab her with the katana, and disembowelment would indeed ensue.
It's not like Yuuki can't heal her, in any case... >_>
Kang Seung Jae
2008-06-06, 01:52
Actually, I had planned to him to actually stab her with the katana, and disembowelment would indeed ensue.
It's not like Yuuki can't heal her, in any case... >_>
O_O
HOW COULD YOU!
Actually, I had planned to him to actually stab her with the katana, and disembowelment would indeed ensue.
It's not like Yuuki can't heal her, in any case... >_>
That sort of thing would send her into instant shock though, wouldn't it? Better to have a smaller wound.
Don't press enter
2008-06-06, 02:33
Right. Here we go:
May 30th:
- Further discussion on Alt. Yuuki
- T-Shirts and Hoods requested
- This quote [insert] sparks theological debate
- Vol. 4 Ch. 1 Pt. 3 edited (by Aebliss)
- Vol. 1 Ch. 2 Pt. 2 edited (by Molenir)
- -ism logos edited (by Kagedanji)
- A brief explanation of this project to Ultima Rasengan05
May 31st:
- Discussion on animation and copyrights
- Boredom Pt 7 written (by Kogetsu)
- Kang scans for Kyonko Doujinshis
- Sneak peek into Vol. 4 Ch. 2 Pt 1. (by Shaoron)
- Forceflow steals Cat Megex’s greeting
- Discussion on Alt. Yuuki asking Kyonko (or is it Kyonko asking Alt. Yuuki?)
- Everyone trying to tap into their inner fangirl to find the most erm… Fangirly reaction for Alt. Yuuki to have… um.
- Discussion on headbands/hair bands/headphones
June 1st:
- Discussion on headbands/hair bands/headphones
- Another Dango joins us… help
June 2nd:
- Discussion on Shamisen… wait a sec…
- I make the most STUPID suggestion ever… summarize the whole thread… really…
- Disappearance Ch. 2 Pt. 1 written (by Shaoron)
- Discussion on Kyonko’s breast size
- I, unfortunately, start contemplating my stupid suggestion…
- …and is given a mammoth new project. Summarize the entire thread. Thanks guys!
- Disappearance Ch. 2 Pt. 2 written (by Shaoron)
- Discussion on changing clothes
June 3rd:
- Discussion on changing clothes
- Discussion on Kyonko’s breast size
- Discussion on whether Haruki would do a choke hold
- Discussion on how to insult Taniguchi
- Discussion on what classifies as melonpan
- Discussion on Shamisen
- Disappearance Ch. 3 Pt. 1 written (by Shaoron)
- Disappearance Ch. 3 Pt. 2 written (by Shaoron)
June 4th:
- Vol. 1 Ch. 7 Pt. 2 written (by Kaisos)
- Vol. 1 Ch. 7 Pt. 2 edited (by Aebliss)
- Disappearance Ch. 2 Pt. 1 edited (by Aebliss)
- Disappearance Ch. 2 Pt. 2 edited (by Aebliss)
- Disappearance Ch. 3 Pt. 1 edited (by Aebliss)
- Disappearance Ch. 3 Pt. 2 edited (by Aebliss)
- Vol. 2 Ch. 1 Pt. 1 written (by Redlar)
- A nostalgic summary of the first 150 posts
June 5th:
- Discussion on replacement for ponytail moe
- Vol. 1 Ch. 7 Pt 3 written (by Aebliss)
- And the plot of the thread lost me about here
- 2nd 150 posts summarized
- Disappearance Ch. 3 written (by Shaoron)
- Replacement of John Smith discussed
- 10,000th post
Did I mention how refreshing a weekly is after summarizing the first 300 posts of the thread?
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 02:50
Oooh! I have an idea for a replacement name for "John Smith"... how about "Mary Sue"? :D
O_O
HOW COULD YOU!
Mostly to keep Asakura's weapon the same and to get a reaction out of BM, who's hiding in the bushes.
It's not like he's going to be effective against, you know, an alien, but...
That sort of thing would send her into instant shock though, wouldn't it? Better to have a smaller wound.
I really think just being stabbed would send you into instant shock...
Kyon quickly went unconscious at that point in the original anyway.
Oooh! I have an idea for a replacement name for "John Smith"... how about "Mary Sue"? :D
given that this is Mary Sue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue)...
NO!
-_- ... Right now, I have no respect for you whatsoever.
hey! i actually posted the real thing a few post later!!!!
Given that Asakura actally gets to stab Kyon this time, we might want to change to a knife for this chapter. Stab someone with a katana, and I imagine you practically disembowel them in one go; they're rather large.
yay.. we're back to the same topic again....
NO!
Asakura wanted to make Kyonko feel pain before actually killing her. A light stab is all that's needed. no need to change the weapon. remember, he slowly pulled the blade out.. so no major disembowelment...
besides.. Asakura is obviously compensating for something...
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 03:46
given that this is Mary Sue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue)...
NO!
That was the joke and you totally missed it.
That was the joke and you totally missed it.
i know... but i'm still going against it.. :p
Fumeiryou
2008-06-06, 11:03
I looked up the original Baka-Tsuki translation (I had the pdfs downloaded from the site a while back, are those different from now?) and found that the only thing mentioned in the first novel's Kyon-Asakura confrontation is "sharp as an army knife."
Later, in the Disappearance novel, it is mentioned that the weapon of choice for Asakura is a Swiss army knife.
I know we changed it to a katana (I think) but aren't they under a streetlamp, at the gates of the school? (Yeah, yeah, its 4:48 AM, but it seems like you'd want to have a smaller, more concealable weapon.)
Also, another thing:
Originally posted by shaoron
Asakura wanted to make Kyonko feel pain before actually killing her. A light stab is all that's needed. no need to change the weapon. remember, he slowly pulled the blade out.. so no major disembowelment...
As far as I'm reading, it never said that Asakura pulled it out slowly in the original:
To me, her grin looked like that of an expressionless mask that has suddenly begun smiling.
Asakura then backed off from me, pulling out the blood-soaked dagger which she used to stab
me.
Anyway... another opinion I have. I may be biased, but... would Kyonko feel more at ease with a gun in hand? I'd definitely prefer a gun over a giant syringe, and so would Kyon, but Kyonko...?
I think I'm sounding rather sexist now, sorry about that. And I'm also sorry for being so nitpicky.
Cat Megex
2008-06-06, 11:12
Anyway... another opinion I have. I may be biased, but... would Kyonko feel more at ease with a gun in hand? I'd definitely prefer a gun over a giant syringe, and so would Kyon, but Kyonko...?
I think I'm sounding rather sexist now, sorry about that. And I'm also sorry for being so nitpicky.
...What, are you thinking nurse cosplay or something?
But...hm. Perhaps a Star Trek: TNG-type hypospray? That in itself could provoke some snark, too (something about Nagato watching too much sci-fi, perhaps?), so it would be an interesting choice.
i'll leave those to the editors... hehe
You know I was just wondering. John Smith was chosen for it be just so generic.
Well for kyonko what about Mary Jane instead? Jane Smith sounds..weird... :heh:
I still like the idea of using Sarah Jane Smith as her fake name...
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 13:37
Kyon: I need to think of a name... Mary Sue. There's nothing negative about that, right?
Kyon: I'm Mary Sue.
Haruki: ...
Fumeiryou
2008-06-06, 14:20
Hm, I was thinking Jane Doe (feminine form of John Doe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Doe), obviously), since we don't know Kyonko's real name, and it's a generic type name.
Just my two cents.
In other news, I added two more links to my signature! Now I have links to this thread, the image thread, and the Seitenkan group page! :D
...now all that's left is to actually post outside of this thread...
Ultima_Rasengan05
2008-06-06, 16:07
Jane Smith could be her fake name to Haruki. Its suits more as a genderbent name to John Smith.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 16:08
Jane Smith could be her fake name to Haruki. Its suits more as a genderbent name to John Smith.
It doesn't have the connotation of being a really common name, though.
What we need is a really common female name.
vivify93
2008-06-06, 16:13
It doesn't have the connotation of being a really common name, though.
What we need is a really common female name.
Patricia's one of the most common names in the US.
Patricia Martin maybe? :heh:
It doesn't have the connotation of being a really common name, though.
What we need is a really common female name.
How about Nancy Drew?
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 16:20
How about Nancy Drew?
Bahahahahaha!
That could work, and doesn't sound too stupid. The original was supposed to be a Dr. Who reference anyway, I believe.
Cat Megex
2008-06-06, 16:20
Patricia's one of the most common names in the US.
For what age group?
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 16:22
Patricia's one of the most common names in the US.
Patricia Martin maybe? :heh:
O_O Patti?
Oh wait, you're talking about the LS character. Damn.
Ultima_Rasengan05
2008-06-06, 16:26
A common female name???
Damn, thats pretty hard.
Nancy Drew sounds good.
Mary is a pretty common female name.
How about Stephanie? Thats a pretty common name also.
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 16:29
We're going with Nancy apparently since it's both common and an allusion.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 16:34
I dunno, I still like "Mary Sue".
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 16:45
Kyon would not dare belittle herself like that.
"I'm Mary Sue," said the beautiful and mysterious Kyon of hair brushed and tied into a long ponytail of an aura of innocence, charm, and popularity. The dear and handsome Haruki blushed at this and scratched his bold, shining, flowing brown hair that had a gleaming golden band in it in a way Kyon found cuter than a button. A round button with many curves that hypnotized you into a dream as sweet as rainbows, unicorns, puppies, and Hillary Clinton for president.
KILL ME NOW.
Kyon would not dare belittle herself like that.
"I'm Mary Sue," said the beautiful and mysterious Kyon of hair brushed and tied into a long ponytail of an aura of innocence, charm, and popularity. The dear and handsome Haruki blushed at this and scratched his bold, shining, flowing brown hair that had a gleaming golden band in it in a way Kyon found cuter than a button.
KILL ME NOW.
Hand me a barf bag first, please ...
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 16:47
Kyon would not dare belittle herself like that.
"I'm Mary Sue," said the beautiful and mysterious Kyon of hair brushed and tied into a long ponytail of an aura of innocence, charm, and popularity. The dear and handsome Haruki blushed at this and scratched his bold, shining, flowing brown hair that had a gleaming golden band in it in a way Kyon found cuter than a button.
KILL ME NOW.
'Kay. *kills dango*
Seriously though, would she know what a "Mary Sue" is? Sure, she reads a lot, but I've never seen the term in a book, and isn't the usage like exclusively western?
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 16:48
Read it again, I added more. : D
hey! i actually posted the real thing a few post later!!!!
This does not change the fact that you rickrolled us the first time around though, does it? o_o ... Oh, well. Posting the real thing restored part of the respect I held for you.
Asakura wanted to make Kyonko feel pain before actually killing her. A light stab is all that's needed. no need to change the weapon. remember, he slowly pulled the blade out.. so no major disembowelment...
I wonder, though. How do we know Asakura 'wanted to cause pain'?
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 16:56
I wonder, though. How do we know Asakura 'wanted to cause pain'?
As I recall, all he really wanted to do, all he was programmed to do, was protect "his shadow".
As I recall, all he really wanted to do, all he was programmed to do, was protect "his shadow".
'Sides, a desire to cause pain is inefficient unless you're intent on torturing someone into submission. Asakura had no intention of letting Kyon live, so submission is irrelevant. I see this more as the supposed 'cruelty' of cats, which I read explained as follows: cats are largely solo predators without a support network. If they engage a prey head-on and are injured, no one will take care of them (in nature). Therefore, it is better to hit a prey repeatedly and slowly wear it out, minimizing the risk to the cat. Of course when this behaviour is carried over to smaller prey like mice, it's rather disturbing to watch (and believe me, I know ... I've fought miss kitty over some of the things she dragged into my living room). Asakura may have simply wanted to disable Kyon so she couldn't use the gun, then finish her off when she was clearly incapacitated.
But of course, only the author knows ...
Fumeiryou
2008-06-06, 17:12
*poke* According to the US Census, Mary is the most common female name, and Smith is the most common surname. Mary Smith? 0.o Sounds like a compromise between Mary Sue and Jane Smith.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 17:22
*poke* According to the US Census, Mary is the most common female name, and Smith is the most common surname. Mary Smith? 0.o Sounds like a compromise between Mary Sue and Jane Smith.
Well, we could do that, too. It sounds less stupid than "Jane Smith" at least.
so someone go edit BLR too then...
Patricia's one of the most common names in the US.
Patricia Martin maybe? :heh:
*facepalm*
Fumeiryou
2008-06-06, 20:37
I went back and read over chapter 4 of Disappearance, and when I read the part about the giant syringe again, this immediately came to mind:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4754/luckystarmoedrillmi3.th.png (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=luckystarmoedrillmi3.png)
Lucky Star on my mind... I think it was because of vivify93's post on Patti... :heh:
Cat Megex
2008-06-06, 20:50
I went back and read over chapter 4 of Disappearance, and when I read the part about the giant syringe again, this immediately came to mind:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/4754/luckystarmoedrillmi3.th.png (http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?image=luckystarmoedrillmi3.png)
Lucky Star on my mind... I think it was because of vivify93's post on Patti... :heh:
Which episode did that first appear in, anyway? If it was a later episode, and if it isn't in the manga prior to the second half of 2007 or at all, there's a possibility that the drill dentist guy is actually inspired by TTGL (after all, the two series aired at about the same time).
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 20:57
Which episode did that first appear in, anyway? If it was a later episode, and if it isn't in the manga prior to the second half of 2007 or at all, there's a possibility that the drill dentist guy is actually inspired by TTGL (after all, the two series aired at about the same time).
Nope. Was in like the second episode.
Fumeiryou
2008-06-06, 21:03
It was in the second episode, as Kaisos said. Actually, it was inspired by Getter Robo. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getter_Robo) At least that's what the fansubs lead me to think ("Change! Getter!").
Emq0Xf6zVDw
In other news... here's an image found by Dangoz (my brother) on some sort of mathematics competition ranking site. I have the line of interest highlighted.
http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/5959/26631969so1.png (http://imageshack.us)
Call it 'shopped if you like, but it's real.
Nope. Was in like the second episode.
Damnit, I swear it was a TTGL reference. : (
remember guys, it's a needle gun, not a needle that looks like a 9mm pistol
something like this...
http://i21.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/c4/d4/73fa_1.JPG
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 21:24
So he's (other dango) in elementary school? ...And you :/ ?
The real Yuki would at least be in the top 10.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 21:28
remember guys, it's a needle gun, not a needle that looks like a 9mm pistol
something like this...
http://i21.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/c4/d4/73fa_1.JPG
I'm not entirely sure if that's correct... the novel is kind of vague about it.
Of course, if we had a SECOND SEASON we could see exactly what it is, but...
again.. i said KINDA...
thou it was vague, in the uber long prologue of intrigues (vol 7) kyon used it similar to how one would use one of these medical device.
it may not look exactly like that but it's something similar (i was actually trying to find one that looked more similar to a pistol.. the one where you attach a bottle on top)
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 21:33
Since, we're busy manning up the weapons in the series, why not a 9mm pistol?
fishy_hylian
2008-06-06, 21:34
I assumed since (from the Baka Tsuki translation) his reaction to the gun was something like 'Ah, another thing that would stir up trouble,' I assumed it meant that what he was looking at was at least something that looked like a hand gun rather than a needle gun?
And that would be a rather swanky needle gun to be made of stainless steel :O
why not a 50 cal...? <_< *sarcasm* :p
http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/graphics/instruments/205-75-01.jpg
Cat Megex
2008-06-06, 21:37
why not a 50 cal...? <_< *sarcasm* :p
http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/graphics/instruments/205-75-01.jpg
...Kyonko would be like, "Um, Yuuki...all you did was add a grip onto the syringe. That just makes it even worse."
fishy_hylian
2008-06-06, 21:38
why not a 50 cal...? <_< *sarcasm* :p
http://www.pbsanimalhealth.com/graphics/instruments/205-75-01.jpg
For great justice, this must be used!
i see we're getting mixed results here
Fumeiryou
2008-06-06, 21:38
@Kagedanji: Junior in high school. Other dango is going into middle.
@shaoron: Well, I'll quote again from Baka-Tsuki's translation:
She widened her hands again, the syringe once again formed into a whirlpool before morphing
into another shape. Seeing the shape of this new object, I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Another object that would create a huge ruckus."
This time it's a gun, though it had a small nozzle while its material was made of stainless steel.
Nagato placed the shiny metallic pistol, which looked like a brand new toy-gun onto her palm
and handed it to me.Like this, perhaps?
http://www.tokyohobby.net/shop/images/marui_de_sv.jpg
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 21:39
Why not a Deagle? Then you can dress Kyon in a green tank top, military cargo pants, add a chest, and cut and style her hair, then we'll have Meryl. Haruki will have a yellow bandana and be Snake.
fishy_hylian
2008-06-06, 21:40
i see we're getting mixed results here
I'm very easily swayed by shiny, metal things.
Fumeiryou
2008-06-06, 21:42
Why not a Deagle? Then you can dress Kyon in a green tank top, military cargo pants, add a chest, and cut and style her hair, then we'll have Meryl. Haruki will have a yellow bandana and be Snake.
I don't think beanbag would be too happy about that...
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 21:43
Then Kyon will say
What's with this clothing?
Nagato (holding up a copy of Metal Gear): Unique.
Also, for the thread's obligatory off-topic discussion, what if we replaced Yuki's "unique"s with "HAWT."?
Why not a Deagle? Then you can dress Kyon in a green tank top, military cargo pants, add a chest, and cut and style her hair, then we'll have Meryl. Haruki will have a yellow bandana and be Snake.
kyonko does NOT have a rack! end of story...
@fumeriyo
hmm... i was thinking on the lines of either a USP or a glock
fishy_hylian
2008-06-06, 21:45
Then Kyon will say
What's with this clothing?
Nagato (holding up a copy of Metal Gear): Unique.
Also, for the thread's obligatory off-topic discussion, what if we replaced Yuki's "unique"s with "HAWT."?
It would make for some hilarious misunderstandings and awkward moments.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-06, 21:46
again.. i said KINDA...
thou it was vague, in the uber long prologue of intrigues (vol 7) kyon used it similar to how one would use one of these medical device.
it may not look exactly like that but it's something similar (i was actually trying to find one that looked more similar to a pistol.. the one where you attach a bottle on top)
Didn't Yuki shoot her past self in the head with it? I don't remember Kyon ever actually using it.
It would make for some hilarious misunderstandings and awkward moments.
that's hawt! :p
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 21:46
Kyon: Is that book interesting?
Nagato (holds up book revealing a partially nude woman on the cover): Hawt.
Didn't Yuki shoot her past self in the head with it? I don't remember Kyon ever actually using it.
sorry... my mistake...
Kyon: Is that book interesting?
Nagato (holds up book revealing a partially nude woman on the cover): Hawt.
that should so go into a 4 koma...
thou.. you're missing kyon's reaction
EDIT
more Kyonko x Itsuko on chapter 6.. :D
Fumeiryou
2008-06-06, 22:27
Crappy 5 minute GIMPing session + Yuuki fanart + random google image search with safesearch on h-doujin cover = this.
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/3446/motivator6513510vd6.th.jpg (http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motivator6513510vd6.jpg)
I apologize to anyone I might have offended with this image.
Swish, swish
A swishing sound whisked past my ear.
As I slowly regained my consciousness from the darkness, my mind began to think groggily.
Maybe it was a dream. From what I can recall, it seemed like a very interesting dream. Usually when you wake up, you would find a dream interesting for about five minutes. But when you begin to brush your teeth, the details start to become blurry, and by the time breakfast is ready, you'll have forgotten about it completely. By the time you realize it, all that's left in your mind is the impression "that sure was an interesting dream." I've already gone through this experience many times.
There were also times when I've had dreams that were hardly interesting, but the details were crystal clear, and remained etched in my mind for quite some time. Maybe those were dream-like experiences, just like that night when I was trapped in the Sealed Dimension with Haruki, an experience that had really occurred, but had subconsciously been treated as non-existent.
That was the first thing I thought of when I opened my eyes.
The ceiling was white; I wasn't in my own room. The translucent orange sunlight dyed the walls, which were as white as the ceiling, all sorts of colors. I wondered if it were morning or evening.
"Oh my."
For a mind that had just started to become clear, this voice sounded as pleasant as church bells would sound to a faithfully religious person.
"You're finally awake. Seems like you were sleeping quite comfortably."
I turned my head to find the owner of the voice. There sat the pretty girl on a chair next to my bed, using a kitchen knife to slice the apple in her hand. Swish swish- The apple skin smoothly peeled off and hung downwards.
"Normally I would say good morning, but the sun's setting right now."
Koizumi Itsuko revealed her flirty smile.
Koizumi placed the sliced apples into the tray and placed it on the table by the bedside. She then took another apple from a paper bag and smiled as she said to me,
"Thank goodness you've finally woken up. I was really at a loss for what to do. Ah... Your eyes look quite confused. Do you recognize me?"
"I was about to ask you that. Do you know who I am?"
"What a strange question. Of course I do."
It was easy to tell which Koizumi this one was just by looking at her uniform.
She was wearing a navy blue sailor uniform and not the black blazer.
It was the North High uniform.
One of my arms was placed outside the blanket. On top hung a bag with some fluid injected into it. I looked at that thing and asked,
"What day is it today?"
Koizumi revealed an expression that, for her at least, was one of astonishment.
"Is that the first question you've asked after waking up? It seems like you have an idea of your own situation. As for your answer, it is now past five in the afternoon on the 21st of December."
"Twenty-first huh..."
"Yes, today is the third day since you went into a coma. Say ah."
Koizumi sat on the bed and and forcible and flirtatiously shoved a small slice of apple in my mouth. Thou annoyed, that wasn't my concern right now. The third day? Coma?
"Where is this place?"
"A private hospital."
I took a look around. It was an impressive single-bed ward, and I was sleeping in the bed. For me to actually check in to a single-bed ward, my family must be quite rich, and I never realized.
"A friend of my uncle happens to be the warden of this hospital, so you get special treatment when you check in here."
Turns out my family isn't rich after all.
"Well, thanks to the intervention of the 'Organization,' you can stay here cheaply for a year with no questions asked. I was also given the privilege to to change your clothes. And that's not the only thing I did.”
She said that with a wink at the end. Maybe it was the scowl, or maybe it was when I was trying to grab the knife from her, because she stood up and sat on the chair where she was first seated and continued peeling apples.
“Tee hee. I'm only kidding. I was worried sick and couldn't think properly at that time. I'm relieved that it only took you three days to wake up again. No, no, it has nothing to do with money. My superiors basically tore me apart for allowing something like this to happen to you while under my watch, and I even have to prepare a letter expressing my remorse."
Three days before the 21st would be the 18th. What was I doing on that day? ...Ah, I remember. I was near the verge of death due to massive blood loss, and so they sent me to hospital... No wait, something wasn't right.
I anxiously looked at the hospital gown I was wearing, then placed my hand on my right abdomen.
I could feel nothing. Normally a wound would feel numb, but it hardly even itched. It would be impossible to recover from such a wound in three days, unless someone patched me up all the way from scratch.
"What was the reason for my hospitalization? Because of my coma?"
"So you've forgotten. Well, guess I can't really blame you for it, since you took quite a heavy knock to your head."
I touched my head. All I could feel was my hair, there was no bandage or any protective netting on it.
"What's amazing is that you didn't suffer any external injuries nor any internal bleeding. Your brain functions were working normally as well. Even the attending physician was baffled. They didn't know what was wrong with you."
"But...," Koizumi continued,
"We witnessed how you fell down the flight of stairs. It sure looked horrible back then. To be honest, I think our faces all went blue. The sound of you crashing to the ground was so loud that I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd fallen unconscious for good. Would you like to know what happened?"
"Go ahead."
Accordingly, as I was walking down the stairs of the club room complex, maybe I tripped or something, I just tumbled downwards and landed with my head on the ground. Wham! I then stopped moving.
The way Koizumi described it sounded as though it really did happen.
"Things were pretty chaotic after that. We had to call the ambulance and get an unconscious you to the hospital. Suzumiya-san's face was all panic and it was the first time I ever saw him look like that. Oh, the one calling the ambulance was Nagato-san. It was his calmness that saved your life."
"How did Asahina-san react?"
Koizumi shrugged her shoulders and said,
"He reacted the way you would expect. He grabbed hold of you and cried as he kept calling your name."
"So what time on the 18th did all that happen? Which stairway was it?"
I fired my questions in quick succession, since the 18th was the day the world changed drastically and I went into a state of panic.
"You even forgot about that as well? It was right after noon, just after the SOS Brigade had finished its meeting. It happened just as the five of us were about to go out to buy something."
Buy something?
"You don't even have memory of that? Are you sure you're not faking your amnesia?"
"It doesn't matter, please continue."
The smile on Koizumi's lips became gentle.
"The agenda for the meeting, hmm, was for what to do on Christmas Day. Suzumiya-san said there was a party for little kids near his place, and the SOS Brigade would make a guest performance there. This was so that Asahina-san's Santa costume could be put to good use. He would dress up as a gorgeous and “manly” Santa and hand out presents to the kids. This merry event was all organized by Suzumiya-san."
Here we go again; that guy is just plain reckless!
"Yet, it wouldn't be realistic just to have a Santa. So Suzumiya-san decided to let one of the members dress up as an elf and help Asahina-san. In the end we had to draw lots... Who do you think was the lucky winner? Do you remember now?"
I have absolutely no recollection of it at all. If one could remember something that doesn't even exist in his memories, then she is an impressive liar. She would need to be checked in to another hospital. Though it was useless telling Koizumi about this.
"Never mind, just know that you were the lucky one. As we had to make an elf costume for you, we had to go out to buy some materials, and it was when we were walking down the stairs that you fell."
"Now that sounds really stupid for me."
Hearing me say that, Koizumi raised his eyebrows.
"As you were walking at the back, no one really saw how you fell. We only saw you falling from the side like this," Koizumi demonstrated by deliberately letting the apple tumble off her right hand before catching it with his left, "You basically tumbled over and over."
Koizumi continued to peel the apple skin.
"We quickly rushed towards you, who had become motionless. Suzumiya-san said he felt there was someone at the top of the stairs. He saw someone's jacket just at the corner there, but it disappeared thereafter. I found it strange as well, so I did some research. At that time, there was no one else in the building besides us. Even Nagato-san shook his head. That guy just disappeared like a phantom. We've been waiting for you to wake up all this time so we could ask you who it was that pushed you..."
I didn't remember that. At that moment, I was sure that would be the most appropriate answer. It was just a normal accident. I was careless, all I could say is tough luck for me. I guess I'll leave it at that.
"Only you came to visit me?"
Where was Haruki? I had wanted to ask, but in the end didn't. Yet Koizumi still chuckled and said, "You've been looking around all this time. Are you looking for someone? Don't you worry, we've been taking turns looking after you. Before you opened your eyes, there was always someone by your side. I think it's about time for Asahina-san to arrive."
I was unsettled by Koizumi's gaze; she looked as though she was meeting a friend that actually believed her April Fool's joke, and was lost for words. What was she trying to insinuate?
"Oh, nothing really. I was just feeling envious of you. You could say those were envious looking eyes."
Why are you saying this to a patient that has knocked his head?
"While we regular members have to rotate to watch over you, the Commander sees it as part of his responsibilities to worry about the safety of his members..."
Koizumi elegantly peeled off all the skin from the apple, then sculpted it into a rabbit shape. She then stood up and wanted to feed it to me again. Will you stop that and just say what you have to say?
"Suzumiya-san has been here all along, since three days ago he has never left this place."
I turned towards the other side of the bed where Koizumi was pointing.
"..."
And there he was.
Wrapped tightly inside a sleeping bag was Haruki, his mouth opened wide, drool coming out from the side of his mouth. It's really a surprise how I didn't notice him with that loud snore of his.
"We were all worried about you, both him and I."
She sounded so sad; it felt like some soap opera.
"You should've seen how distressed Suzumiya-san looked... No, we'll leave that for next time. Anyway, isn't there something you need to do right now?"
Why does everyone like to order me around!? Asahina-san (big) was like that, now even this Koizumi... But, I didn't begrudge them. And I couldn't care less if all those apples sliced by Koizumi were an offering to some deity.
"Yeah," I said.
I really felt like drawing on his face. Maybe next time, I'll have all the time to do that.
I sat up straight and stretched my arm to touch that seemingly angry looking face of his.
I stroked his hair and quickly felt nostalgic about his neck-long hair. As if to spite me, that short dark hair of his began to move.
Haruki had woken up.
"...Umm...hmm?"
Haruki moaned as he struggled to open his eyes, and by the time he realized who was pinching and pulling his face...
"AH!?"
He tried to leap up at once, but failed miserably as he had forgotten he had zipped himself inside the sleeping bag, and so smacked his face into the floor, then he rolled and crawled about like an inchworm. Eventually he managed to get himself free, almost ripping the sleeping back to shreds might I add, and proceeded to point a finger at me and started cursing,
"Damn you Kyon! Why couldn't you notify me first before waking me up!? I wasn't even mentally prepared!"
Now that's asking for the impossible. Yet seeing you yelling and cursing was more effective than any medicine for me.
"Haruki."
"What?"
"Wipe your drool."
Haruki's face twitched for a while, he quickly rubbed her mouth, and then stared at me with that scowl of his,
"You... Are you sure you didn't draw anything on my face?"
I was tempted to.
"Hmph. Well, don't you have anything to say?"
I gave him a reply that he would expect,
"Sorry to make you worry."
"Well, I'm glad you are. After all, worrying about the well-being of the brigade members is one of the responsibilities of a commander!"
Haruki's cussing sounded like heavenly singing. I don't exactly know why, but I grabbed Haruki's collar and hugged him tightly. At that moment, a soft knock emitted from the door and then it opened.
As the third visitor standing outside the door saw me,
"Ah, ahh, aaahhhh..."
He proceeded to make a series of frantic sounding noises. Standing there with a vase in his hands, was none other than the second year North High schoolboy with a cute child-like face, and our resident butler. Haruki pushed himself out of my grip as I greeted Asahina-san.
"Hey... Asahina-san, hi there,"
I wasn't sure whether I should say long time no see, for me at least I couldn't tell.
"Sniff......"
Tears started to trickle from Asahina-san's eyes,
"Thank goodness... Oh... Thank goodness..."
I really wanted to embrace him like last time, who knows, Asahina-san was probably thinking the same thing. Though he seemed to have forgotten to put down the vase, and only stood there crying.
"Aren't you overreacting a bit? She just knocked her head and fainted. I knew all along that Kyon wouldn't sleep like this forever."
A sense of gratefulness could be heard within Haruki's voice, and he continued without even looking at me,
"As I've already mentioned before, the SOS Brigade works 365 days a year without rest. Nobody is allowed to take a day off. I'll never accept a lame excuse like bumping one's head and going into a coma for sick leave, absolutely never. Do you understand, Kyon? The price for going AWOL for three days is very high. You'll be fined! Not just a regular fine, but an overdue fine on top of that as well!"
Koizumi began chuckling, Asahina-san's giant tear drops trickled endlessly to the ground, while Haruki turned her face away. At first glance it would seem that she looked mad.
I looked at them and then nodded my head and shrugged my shoulders,
"All right then, including the overdue fine, how much do I need to pay in total?"
Haruki stared at me, the smile on his face was beaming so brightly that it was hard to believe he was mad a while ago. He really is a very simple guy.
In the end it was decided that I would have to pay the bill for everyone in the coffee shop for three consecutive days. As I pondered whether to terminate my existing time deposit...
"One more thing..."
There's more?
"Yup, I still haven't gotten around to compensation for all the trauma you've caused. Ah yes, Kyon, for the Christmas party, instead of Asahina-san, you'll be dressed up as a Santa girl and perform some spectacular stunts for us. You have to play until you get all of us laughing! If it's too boring, I'm gonna have to kick you to an alternate dimension! You'll need to do that as well for the kids' party. You hear!?"
With a gaze as bright as the light from a prism, Haruki once again began ordering me about. I have a very bad feeling about this.
While I was now fully awake, it didn't mean I could get discharged right away. After the doctor came to have a look at me, I was sent to be examined on all sorts of machines, it was so complicated and annoying that it felt as though they were trying to remake me into a cyborg. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad with all the abuse I get from Haruki. My body would be able to cope with such stress if I was a cyborg.
After spending a whole day on all sorts of body checks, I was going to have to spend the night in the ward again. For me, tonight would truly be my first night in the hospital, and since I'd never been in a hospital, I might as well experience what it felt like.
Haruki, Koizumi, and Asahina-san were just about to leave when my dad and brother came to visit me. Haruki sounded very courteous as he spoke to them, I never knew he could be this polite, so it was kind of surprising.
As I spent time chatting with my dad and brother, my mind was occupied with various thoughts.
If things continued the way they were, what would've happened next? Nagato, Koizumi, and Asahina-san would just be regular human beings without any supernatural background whatsoever. Nagato would be a silent bookworm from the Literature Club, Asahina-san would be an unreachable beautiful upper classman, while Koizumi would be a normal transfer student studying in another school.
And Haruki would probably just be an eccentric high school student.
Perhaps under such settings, an interesting story can be written as well. There would no longer be any need to learn about the truth of this world, nor would there be any need to worry about any changes caused. It would just be a normal story without any connection to this dysfunctional world.
I probably wouldn't play any role in that story. All I could do there was just peacefully live my normal high school life and graduate without incident.
Which world would I be happier with?
I think I know the answer to that now.
It was only in this "present world" could I be happy. Otherwise why would I risk losing my life just to come back to this world?
What about you? Which world would you choose? I'm sure the answer would be pretty obvious. Or am I the only one who would think like that?
After my family went home and the lights in the ward went out, I could only stare at the ceiling. As I had nothing better to do, I decided to close my eyes.
For the past three days, in this world that is, I was told I had spent all that time sleeping.
In that case...
If the world had become like that, that meant that it'd been changed.
This world had already been changed twice. The world that was distorted by Nagato had changed once again to the original world as it is now. So who was it that made the second change?
It couldn't be Haruki. For those three days, Haruki didn't have such powers, and the Haruki of this world didn't even know the world had changed.
Then, who could it be?
Saving my life by catching Asakura's blade with her bare hands, there could only be one person with the ability to do such a thing...
That would be Nagato.
Besides, before I lost consciousness, I saw two Asahina-sans. The second one wasn't the adult Asahina-san, but my senpai Asahina-san. He was none other than the cute upper classman from the future that I was very familiar with.
There was another person, the mysterious voice that spoke to me near the end. I knew I'd heard that voice before.
I tried to recall who it was, but very quickly I realized I didn't even need to try.
That was my own voice.
"I see, so that's how it was,"
In that case...
I would have to travel back to that time period again. The time would have to be early morning on December the 18th, and I had to go with the Asahina-san and Nagato of this time period.
Only then could the world be restored to its present state.
Asahina-san would be responsible for bringing me and Nagato back to that time period, while Nagato's mission was to amend his past self, who had gone astray for the past three days. Though I wouldn't know whether he would use Haruki's powers or the powers of the Integrated Data Sentient Entity.
I too had a role to play in this as well.
That's what I thought anyway. If I hadn't heard my own voice speaking back then, I wouldn't be here today. In order to preserve my present existence, I would need to go back and say the same thing to my past self,
"Sorry about that. I have my reasons for not rescuing you right away, but don't hate me for it. After all, it was painful for me as well. Anyway, we'll take care of the rest. No, I already know what to do now, and you will as well. So go get some sleep for now."
I repeatedly memorized these lines in my head. That's what I said if I recalled correctly. While I couldn't guarantee that it'd be correct word for word, the meaning should be the same.
In place of the me who got stabbed by a katana, the one using the needle-gun would be my destined role.
As for the reason why I couldn't save my past self from being stabbed by Asakura, I understood that as well. From the tone of my future self's voice, I didn't sound like I ran over in a hurry. I must have hidden somewhere nearby before hand. Asahina-san and Nagato also came out cue on time. It couldn't be too early, nor could it be too late. I had to wait until I got stabbed by Asakura. Why was that? Because of my past self, that was something that had already happened. To quote Asahina-san,
"This is a predetermined event,"
What a pain that was.
It was now late at night, but I wasn't in the mood to sleep.
I was waiting. Waiting for what, you ask? Of course I was waiting for the only person among the people I knew who had yet to visit me. It'd be a joke if he didn't come.
I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling all this time. It was only late in the night, when visiting hours were long over, that my patience was rewarded.
The door to the ward slowly opened, the light from the corridor revealed the shadow of a figure on the floor.
Standing there was the figure of the last person to come visit me, Nagato Yuuki.
As usual, Nagato said without any emotion,
"I am responsible for everything that has happened."
For some reason, I felt nostalgic at hearing this calm voice.
"My punishment is currently being assessed."
I lifted my head and asked,
"Assessed by whom?"
"The Integrated Data Sentient Entity."
Nagato said calmly, as though it had all happened to someone else instead.
Of course, Nagato had long known he would create a ruckus on the morning of December 18th. Because I had gone to visit Nagato three years ago with the adult Asahina-san. He knew all along, and he tried her best to prevent it from happening. Yet there was no way to stop the tide. Sometimes even if you knew what was about to happen, you just couldn't avoid it. No, it was possible to avert it...
I suddenly thought of the behavior and mannerisms of Nagato after summer, which were slightly different from before,
"But," I interrupted him, "If you knew you were going to go astray three years ago, you could've told me any time, couldn't you? Whether it was after the school festival, or before the baseball tournament. In that case, I would've been able to take action earlier in that specific time on December 18th. Then all that would've needed to be done would be to call everyone out and travel back to three years ago again,"
Nagato's expression was as cold as ice, there was hardly a smile,
"If I had told you beforehand, my astray self would still have been able to erase all your memories concerning the incident and change the world. Besides, no one can guarantee that something that hasn't happened will ever occur. The best I could do was to keep you in your original state when December 18th arrived."
"Didn't you leave an Escape Program for me? That was more than enough already!"
As I was thanking him, I began to grow angry. But I wasn't angry at Nagato, neither was I angry at myself.
The blank voice echoed through the walls of the ward,
"I cannot guarantee that I won't go astray again in the future. As long as I continue to exist, my internal errors will continue to accumulate. This is a very dangerous possibility."
"BULLSHIT! Relay this message for me."
Hearing me swear, Nagato's head tilted back about two centimeters. He even blinked. I have to agree, that was something very unladylike. But that's not the point right now.
I reached out and grabbed one of his arms. Nagato did not resist.
"Tell this to your boss, so listen carefully. If he ever thinks of letting you disappear, then I'm going to let all hell break loose. I'm going to get you back, no matter what it takes. I may not have any powers, but I'm pretty good at provoking Haruki,"
I did indeed have a trump card in provoking Haruki. All I needed to do was tell him, "My name is Jahn Smith."
That's right. While my powers were as good as a useless bum, that idiot Haruki happened to possess enormous powers. Once Nagato disappeared, I would tell everything to that guy until he believed me. And then we would embark on our journey to rescue Nagato. Even if Nagato's boss hid him away or eliminated him, Haruki would always think of some way to turn the tables, at least I'd make him think of a way. Who knows, Koizumi and Asahina-san may even lend a hand. By then, who would give a damn about some Data Entity from some unknown corner of the universe!? What difference did it make whether that thing existed or not!?
Nagato was our friend. And if someone from the SOS Brigade was to go missing, Haruki would never let the matter rest. And it wasn't just Nagato, if Koizumi, or Asahina-san, or I had suddenly left, even by our own will, that guy wouldn't give us up so easily. He would resort to anything to bring us back. That's Suzumiya Haruki, the pushy, self-centered, inconsiderate and troublesome king bastard of the SOS Brigade for you.
I stared furiously at Nagato,
"If your boss even tries to do anything funny, then I'll join up with Haruki and transform the world completely. We'll create a world similar to the one in those three days, where you exist but the Integrated Data Sentient Entity doesn't. I'm sure they'll be even more disappointed if that happens. Observation target? Observation my ass!"
My anger intensified as I spoke.
I had no idea how sentient the Integrated Data Entity was, but he should've been pretty smart. He was probably one of those that could calculate pi to the hundred millionth decimal point in just two seconds and do all sorts of advanced tricks.
If that was true, then I have to tell him something.
I'm sure it would be a piece of cake for you guys to give Nagato a more human-like personality. Before he became a psychotic killer, Asakura was quite popular in class, not to mention being open and friendly. He'd even call out some classmates to hang out during holidays. If you could create someone like him, why must you set Nagato as a lonely little schoolboy sitting and reading a book all by himself in the Literature Club room? Are you thinking that if his personality wasn't set that way, then it wouldn't look like a Literature Club, that he wouldn't attract Haruki's attention? Who made such a decision anyway?
At this point I noticed I was clutching Nagato's hand strongly. Yet the book-loving Interactive Humanoid Interface did not begrudge me at all.
Nagato simply looked straight at me, and then slowly nodded his head,
"I will relay the message."
The calm voice then softly added,
"Thank you."
the chapters are getting shorter and shorter...
Crappy 5 minute GIMPing session + Yuuki fanart + random google image search with safesearch on h-doujin cover = this.
http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/3446/motivator6513510vd6.th.jpg (http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motivator6513510vd6.jpg)
I apologize to anyone I might have offended with this image.
why not put a mudkip/slowpoke instead and have it say "Yuuki think it's hawt"
edit
I began to contemplate what I should do next.
The end-of-term assembly was over, and I obtained my term report card from Okabe-sensei, thus my high school life for this year had come to an end.
Today was December 24th.
The vanished Class 1-9 and its students had all been resurrected, including Koizumi, who didn't appear much in this story. Asakura had disappeared from Class 1-5 over half a year ago; Taniguchi continued her giddy mood of being in love; the seat behind me had once again been occupied by Haruki; and there was no longer any flu epidemic in class. When I saw Nagato in the assembly hall, he wasn't wearing glasses. After the end-of-term assembly, I bumped into the brotherly duo of Asahina-san and Tsuruya-san, who waved and greeted me simultaneously. I also confirmed this while on my way to school this morning - Kouyouen School had now been restored as a prestigious private boy's school for the rich and famous.
The world had been restored to its original state.
Yet, the choice to keep this world remained with me. I still had to go back with Nagato and Asahina-san - back to the morning of December 18th. If I didn't, the world would never be restored. Only by going back could restoration be possible. The thing is I still hadn't decided when I should go back. I had yet to explain all this to Asahina-san. He'd probably hear it from his future adult self. I did see him in the past few days, but I did not mention a single word to him.
"Damn!"
After moaning meaninglessly, I embarked upon the corridor leading to the club room complex.
Like a racing car, I would have to follow the golden rule of coming back to the starting point. It didn't matter whether I was lagging by two or three laps, that wasn't for me to decide anyway. The road and the scenery of the first lap and the final lap were the same, yet they carried different meanings. All I needed to do was to be careful not to get myself eliminated, and safely reach the finishing point so the checkered flag could be waved.
......Forget it, it's pointless trying to say anymore.
It was no use trying to justify my actions as it was I who made the decision to return to this side. It was different to Haruki's thoughtless rampages, this decision was my own free will, I have thus chosen to be spun around meaninglessly.
In that case, someone needed to carry that responsibility and see things through to the end.
That person wasn't Nagato, it wasn't Haruki either, but myself.
"Serves me right......"
I began to lapse into self-pity and made a cool pose. It didn't matter if someone saw me, since no one would bother looking anyway. As I was thinking that way, I exchanged glances with an anonymous high school boy who was walking by. Very quickly he turned his eyes away and scuttled off. I said softly to his back a greeting which he probably couldn't even hear,
"Merry Christmas."
If this were the last episode of a soap opera, shiny white snow crystals would begin falling, and the protagonist would catch one in his palm and exclaim, "Ah!" Or something like that. Looks like there's no hope of a White Christmas this year. Today's weather sure was surprising, it was actually a fine day.
As a result, I became one of the main characters. A bystander would have already disappeared into the far corners of the galaxy by now, and become a relic of the past.
"So, now what?"
It was only now that I realized this. I really didn't know what to do. There's no doubt about it, I belong here. I realized that long ago. From the day Haruki dragged me to the Literature Club room and I heard him declare indefinite occupation of the place, I had become part of this bunch already.
Like the other members of the SOS Brigade, I would stand on the side actively protecting this world. No one made me do this, I raised my hand out of my own will.
In that case, there's only one thing I need to do.
It was easier to get up after falling on something instead of falling flat on the ground, though both involve falling. Let me rephrase this, I'll have to go back and pick up my other self who had fallen down. From the outcome, I can say it's for my own good.
I walked up the stairs while focusing on today's upcoming activities. Haruki and Asahina-san were in charge of buying the ingredients. I was spared the pain of being a dragged all around town, thanks to my being hospitalized. I didn't think this had anything to do with Haruki being merciful, on the contrary, he's probably keeping the menu secret until the final moment, where he'd surprise everyone - that's what I thought anyway. Maybe he'd even use his experience from the lone island to hold a cheap and big "Hotpot in the Dark Christmas Party."
I wondered what ingredients were being used. As Haruki was the chef, he'd probably prefer something stimulating and exciting. Who knows, he may have come up with an experimental hotpot, never before seen in the history of human cuisine. Still, no matter what was being boiled in the pot, it should be edible once cooked. Even Haruki wouldn't be dumb enough to put something he couldn't digest into the pot. Though it'd be another matter if he had the stomach of a monster. Haruki might be eccentric, but I'm sure his stomach's made of the same stuff as a normal human's, right? The only thing beyond human standards would probably be that brain of his.
However, before having the hotpot party, I still had to dress up in a Santa costume and provide some sort of entertaining performance. You can't even imagine how it feels to have to think of what the show would include.
"Yare yare,"
The sigh of depression that I sealed away just last month, had once again come out of my mouth. Now don't be so picky! They may sound the same, but what I say may have different meanings if you interpret it differently.
I gave myself an excuse for reusing this phrase, while jotting a must-do predetermined event down in the diary in my head.
This predetermined event was something I had to do if I wanted to continue staying in this world.
I have to find a time in the near future to go back and restore the world.
As I approached the club room, I could smell the food coming to my nose. That was enough to make me full. Where did this sense of satisfaction come from? I was supposed to go back to pick up the mess some time later, yet I was already feeling so satisfied before I even made my move. Now wasn't I a bit too easy to satisfy!?
Ah well, it's not too bad. Before then,
There was still time. The one in charge of the operation would be the me in the future, though it was neither the me from the distant future, nor the me from the next moment.
I grabbed the doorknob of the Literature Club room and asked the world a question,
Hey, mind if you wait for a while? Before I go back to have you restored, can you just wait a little longer?
At least......
Until after I've tried out Haruki's hotpot. It shouldn't be too late to go after that, right?
Kagedanji
2008-06-06, 22:50
Don't have a tablet yet, no yonkomas now.
A .50 cal Desert Eagle? Hell I can barely hold one of those things. Kyonko won't be able to get her little fingers around the grip to the trigger much less the action release (It takes an effort for me to reach the release). Yuuki, maybe, but not Kyonko (plus the legal problems of gun ownership in Japan may be in question here).
Cat Megex
2008-06-06, 23:31
A .50 cal Desert Eagle? Hell I can barely hold one of those things. Kyonko won't be able to get her little fingers around the grip to the trigger much less the action release (It takes an effort for me to reach the release). Yuuki, maybe, but not Kyonko (plus the legal problems of gun ownership in Japan may be in question here).
...Not to mention the legal problems of sword ownership! (Or at least of wielding a sword in the street.) *referring to Asakura*
@cat
sword!?
@ithekro
no.. not 50 cal deagle...
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/198/499692838_85fa5ea875.jpg
50 cal anti-tank rifle...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Rifle_cartridge_comparison.jpg
As Adam puts it... "this (referring to the thirty-aught-six or 30 cal) kills you, this (50 cal ammo) kills you and everyone else in the room"
besieger
2008-06-06, 23:58
The 50 cal will kill you twice over with plenty of force to spare to kill some more...
beanbrew
2008-06-07, 00:08
I don't think beanbag would be too happy about that...
I have heard your call. Kyonko must remain DFC!
kyonko does NOT have a rack! end of story...
Thank you.
Surely a needlegun looks like this:
http://www.massivecrits.com/images/goldrush_wp.jpg
(Ignore the goofy guy, it's his first day)
besieger
2008-06-07, 00:41
Too big of a needle. If you fire it, you'll puncture too many veins!
Note that there are like 60 needles to a clip. :3
besieger
2008-06-07, 00:47
Yeah. Needle hell death.
Kagedanji
2008-06-07, 01:30
Lol at "50 cal deagle".
DaCyclops
2008-06-07, 07:31
Well... I'm going to count by the date of the first post, but...
The thread has existed for 107 days, as of now. As of this post, there are 10015 posts. This means 10015 / 107 = approximately 93.59 posts per day. This thread is BEAST on CRACK.
EDIT: Well, if I adjust for that post... It'll be 96 days, and 9965 posts. So 103.8 posts per day. Even moar CRACKish.
Ahh, dont you love analysis of the figures of the thread? Just like one of my first posts.... http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=1540972&postcount=8286
EDIT:
Also need to add (so very late), for a name why dont we try Joan Smith?
I always was amazed at how John sounds like Kyon.... so, Joan might be the closet female match to Kyon...
(someone come up with a better one... I know there is a better match but my brain doesnt want to think right now)
Fumeiryou
2008-06-07, 07:42
I dunno if I'm stepping out of line with this, but...
Swish, swish
A swishing sound whisked past my ear.
As I slowly regained my consciousness from the darkness, my mind began to think groggily.
Maybe it was a dream. From what I can recall, it seemed like a very interesting dream. Usually when you wake up, you would find a dream interesting for about five minutes. But when you begin to brush your teeth, the details start to become blurry, and by the time breakfast is ready, you'll have forgotten about it completely. By the time you realize it, all that's left in your mind is the impression "that sure was an interesting dream." I've already gone through this experience many times.
There were also times when I've had dreams that were hardly interesting, but the details were crystal clear, and remained etched in my mind for quite some time. Maybe those were dream-like experiences, just like that night when I was trapped in the Sealed Dimension with Haruki, an experience that had really occurred, but had subconsciously been treated as non-existent.
That was the first thing I thought of when I opened my eyes.
The ceiling was white; I wasn't in my own room. The translucent orange sunlight dyed the walls, which were as white as the ceiling, all sorts of colors. I wondered if it were morning or evening.
"Oh my."
For a mind that had just started to become clear, this voice sounded as pleasant as church bells would sound to a faithfully religious person.
"You're finally awake. Seems like you were sleeping quite comfortably."
I turned my head to find the owner of the voice. There sat the pretty girl on a chair next to my bed, using a kitchen knife to slice the apple in her hand. Swish swish- The apple skin smoothly peeled off and hung downwards.
"Normally I would say good morning, but the sun's setting right now."
Koizumi Itsuko revealed her flirty smile.
Koizumi placed the sliced apples into the tray and placed it on the table by the bedside. She then took another apple from a paper bag and smiled as she said to me,
"Thank goodness you've finally woken up. I was really at a loss for what to do. Ah... Your eyes look quite confused. Do you recognize me?"
"I was about to ask you that. Do you know who I am?"
"What a strange question. Of course I do."
It was easy to tell which Koizumi this one was just by looking at her uniform.
She was wearing a navy blue sailor uniform and not the black blazer.
It was the North High uniform.
One of my arms was placed outside the blanket. On top hung a bag with some fluid injected into it. I looked at that thing and asked,
"What day is it today?"
Koizumi revealed an expression that, for her at least, was one of astonishment.
"Is that the first question you've asked after waking up? It seems like you have an idea of your own situation. As for your answer, it is now past five in the afternoon on the 21st of December."
"Twenty-first huh..."
"Yes, today is the third day since you went into a coma. Say ah."
Koizumi sat on the bed and and forcibly and flirtatiously shoved a small slice of apple in my mouth. Though annoyed, that wasn't my main concern right now. The third day? Coma?
"Where is this place?"
"A private hospital."
I took a look around. It was an impressive single-bed ward, and I was sleeping in the bed. For me to actually check in to a single-bed ward, my family must be quite rich, and I never realized.
"A friend of my uncle happens to be the warden of this hospital, so you get special treatment when you check in here."
Turns out my family isn't rich after all.
"Well, thanks to the intervention of the 'Organization,' you can stay here cheaply for a year with no questions asked. I was also given the privilege to to change your clothes. And that's not the only thing I did.”
She said that with a wink at the end. Maybe it was the scowl, or maybe it was when I was trying to grab the knife from her, because she stood up and sat on the chair where she was first seated and continued peeling apples.
“Tee hee. I'm only kidding. I was worried sick and couldn't think properly at that time. I'm relieved that it only took you three days to wake up again. No, no, it has nothing to do with money. My superiors basically tore me apart for allowing something like this to happen to you while under my watch, and I even have to prepare a letter expressing my remorse."
Three days before the 21st would be the 18th. What was I doing on that day? ...Ah, I remember. I was near the verge of death due to massive blood loss, and so they sent me to hospital... No wait, something wasn't right.
I anxiously looked at the hospital gown I was wearing, then placed my hand on my right abdomen.
I could feel nothing. Normally a wound would feel numb, but it hardly even itched. It would be impossible to recover from such a wound in three days, unless someone patched me up all the way from scratch.
"What was the reason for my hospitalization? Because of my coma?"
"So you've forgotten. Well, guess I can't really blame you for it, since you took quite a heavy knock to your head."
I touched my head. All I could feel was my hair, there was no bandage or any protective netting on it.
"What's amazing is that you didn't suffer any external injuries nor any internal bleeding. Your brain functions were working normally as well. Even the attending physician was baffled. They didn't know what was wrong with you."
"But...," Koizumi continued,
"We witnessed how you fell down the flight of stairs. It sure looked horrible back then. To be honest, I think our faces all went blue. The sound of you crashing to the ground was so loud that I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd fallen unconscious for good. Would you like to know what happened?"
"Go ahead."
Accordingly, as I was walking down the stairs of the club room complex, maybe I tripped or something, I just tumbled downwards and landed with my head on the ground. Wham! I then stopped moving.
The way Koizumi described it sounded as though it really did happen.
"Things were pretty chaotic after that. We had to call the ambulance and get an unconscious you to the hospital. Suzumiya-san's face was all panic and it was the first time I ever saw him look like that. Oh, the one calling the ambulance was Nagato-san. It was his calmness that saved your life."
"How did Asahina-san react?"
Koizumi shrugged her shoulders and said,
"He reacted the way you would expect. He grabbed hold of you and cried as he kept calling your name."
"So what time on the 18th did all that happen? Which stairway was it?"
I fired my questions in quick succession, since the 18th was the day the world changed drastically and I went into a state of panic.
"You even forgot about that as well? It was right after noon, just after the SOS Brigade had finished its meeting. It happened just as the five of us were about to go out to buy something."
Buy something?
"You don't even have memory of that? Are you sure you're not faking your amnesia?"
"It doesn't matter, please continue."
The smile on Koizumi's lips became gentle.
"The agenda for the meeting, hmm, was for what to do on Christmas Day. Suzumiya-san said there was a party for little kids near his place, and the SOS Brigade would make a guest performance there. This was so that Asahina-san's Santa costume could be put to good use. He would dress up as a gorgeous and “manly” Santa and hand out presents to the kids. This merry event was all organized by Suzumiya-san."
Here we go again; that guy is just plain reckless!
"Yet, it wouldn't be realistic just to have a Santa. So Suzumiya-san decided to let one of the members dress up as an elf and help Asahina-san. In the end we had to draw lots... Who do you think was the lucky winner? Do you remember now?"
I have absolutely no recollection of it at all. If one could remember something that doesn't even exist in her memories, then she is an impressive liar. She would need to be checked in to another hospital. Though it was useless telling Koizumi about this.
"Never mind, just know that you were the lucky one. As we had to make an elf costume for you, we had to go out to buy some materials, and it was when we were walking down the stairs that you fell."
"Now that sounds really stupid for me."
Hearing me say that, Koizumi raised his eyebrows.
"As you were walking at the back, no one really saw how you fell. We only saw you falling from the side like this," Koizumi demonstrated by deliberately letting the apple tumble off her right hand before catching it with her left, "You basically tumbled over and over."
Koizumi continued to peel the apple skin.
"We quickly rushed towards you, who had become motionless. Suzumiya-san said he felt there was someone at the top of the stairs. He saw someone's jacket just at the corner there, but it disappeared thereafter. I found it strange as well, so I did some research. At that time, there was no one else in the building besides us. Even Nagato-san shook his head. That guy just disappeared like a phantom. We've been waiting for you to wake up all this time so we could ask you who it was that pushed you..."
I didn't remember that. At that moment, I was sure that would be the most appropriate answer. It was just a normal accident. I was careless, all I could say is tough luck for me. I guess I'll leave it at that.
"Only you came to visit me?"
Where was Haruki? I had wanted to ask, but in the end didn't. Yet Koizumi still chuckled and said, "You've been looking around all this time. Are you looking for someone? Don't you worry, we've been taking turns looking after you. Before you opened your eyes, there was always someone by your side. I think it's about time for Asahina-san to arrive."
I was unsettled by Koizumi's gaze; she looked as though she was meeting a friend that actually believed her April Fool's joke, and was lost for words. What was she trying to insinuate?
"Oh, nothing really. I was just feeling envious of you. You could say those were envious looking eyes."
Why are you saying this to a patient that has knocked her head?
"While we regular members have to rotate to watch over you, the Commander sees it as part of his responsibilities to worry about the safety of his members..."
Koizumi elegantly peeled off all the skin from the apple, then sculpted it into a rabbit shape. She then stood up and tried to feed the apple slices to me again. Will you stop that and just say what you have to say?
"Suzumiya-san has been here all along, since three days ago he has never left this place."
I turned towards the other side of the bed where Koizumi was pointing.
"..."
And there he was.
Wrapped tightly inside a sleeping bag was Haruki, his mouth opened wide, drool coming out from the side of his mouth. It's really a surprise how I didn't notice him with that loud snore of his.
"We were all worried about you, both him and I."
She sounded so sad; it felt like some soap opera.
"You should've seen how distressed Suzumiya-san looked... No, we'll leave that for next time. Anyway, isn't there something you need to do right now?"
Why does everyone like to order me around!? Asahina-san (big) was like that, now even this Koizumi... But, I didn't begrudge them. And I couldn't care less if all those apples sliced by Koizumi were an offering to some deity.
"Yeah," I said.
I really felt like drawing on his face. Maybe next time, I'll have all the time to do that.
I sat up straight and stretched my arm to touch that seemingly angry looking face of his.
I stroked his hair and quickly felt nostalgic about his neck-long hair. As if to spite me, that short dark hair of his began to move.
Haruki had woken up.
"...Umm...hmm?"
Haruki moaned as he struggled to open his eyes, and by the time he realized who was pinching and pulling his face...
"AH!?"
He tried to leap up at once, but failed miserably as he had forgotten he had zipped himself inside the sleeping bag, and so smacked his face into the floor, then rolled and crawled about like an inchworm. Eventually he managed to get himself free, almost ripping the sleeping back to shreds might I add, and proceeded to point a finger at me and started cursing,
"Damn you Kyon! Why couldn't you notify me first before waking me up!? I wasn't even mentally prepared!"
Now that's asking for the impossible. Yet seeing you yelling and cursing was more effective than any medicine for me.
"Haruki."
"What?"
"Wipe your drool."
Haruki's face twitched for a while, he quickly rubbed his mouth, and then stared at me with that scowl of his,
"You... Are you sure you didn't draw anything on my face?"
I was tempted to.
"Hmph. Well, don't you have anything to say?"
I gave him a reply that he would expect,
"Sorry to make you worry."
"Well, I'm glad you are. After all, worrying about the well-being of the brigade members is one of the responsibilities of a commander!"
Haruki's cussing sounded like heavenly singing. I don't exactly know why, but I grabbed Haruki's collar and hugged him tightly. At that moment, a soft knock emitted from the door and then it opened.
As the third visitor standing outside the door saw me,
"Ah, ahh, aaahhhh..."
He proceeded to make a series of frantic sounding noises. Standing there with a vase in his hands, was none other than the second year North High schoolboy with a cute child-like face, and our resident butler. Haruki pushed himself out of my grip as I greeted Asahina-san.
"Hey... Asahina-san, hi there,"
I wasn't sure whether I should say long time no see, for me at least I couldn't tell.
"Sniff......"
Tears started to trickle from Asahina-san's eyes,
"Thank goodness... Oh... Thank goodness..."
I really wanted to embrace him like last time, who knows, Asahina-san was probably thinking the same thing. Though he seemed to have forgotten to put down the vase, and only stood there crying.
"Aren't you overreacting a bit? She just knocked her head and fainted. I knew all along that Kyon wouldn't sleep like this forever."
A sense of gratefulness could be heard within Haruki's voice, and he continued without even looking at me,
"As I've already mentioned before, the SOS Brigade works 365 days a year without rest. Nobody is allowed to take a day off. I'll never accept a lame excuse like bumping one's head and going into a coma for sick leave, absolutely never. Do you understand, Kyon? The price for going AWOL for three days is very high. You'll be fined! Not just a regular fine, but an overdue fine on top of that as well!"
Koizumi began chuckling, Asahina-san's giant tear drops trickled endlessly to the ground, while Haruki turned his face away. At first glance it would seem that he looked mad.
I looked at them and then nodded my head and shrugged my shoulders,
"All right then, including the overdue fine, how much do I need to pay in total?"
Haruki stared at me, the smile on his face was beaming so brightly that it was hard to believe he was mad a while ago. He really is a very simple guy.
In the end it was decided that I would have to pay the bill for everyone in the coffee shop for three consecutive days. As I pondered whether to terminate my existing time deposit...
"One more thing..."
There's more?
"Yup, I still haven't gotten around to compensation for all the trauma you've caused. Ah yes, Kyon, for the Christmas party, instead of Asahina-san, you'll be dressed up as a Santa girl and perform some spectacular stunts for us. You have to play until you get all of us laughing! If it's too boring, I'm gonna have to kick you to an alternate dimension! You'll need to do that as well for the kids' party. You hear!?"
With a gaze as bright as the light from a prism, Haruki once again began ordering me about. I have a very bad feeling about this.
While I was now fully awake, it didn't mean I could get discharged right away. After the doctor came to have a look at me, I was sent to be examined on all sorts of machines, it was so complicated and annoying that it felt as though they were trying to remake me into a cyborg. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad with all the abuse I get from Haruki. My body would be able to cope with such stress if I was a cyborg.
After spending a whole day on all sorts of body checks, I was going to have to spend the night in the ward again. For me, tonight would truly be my first night in the hospital, and since I'd never been in a hospital, I might as well experience what it felt like.
Haruki, Koizumi, and Asahina-san were just about to leave when my dad and brother came to visit me. Haruki sounded very courteous as he spoke to them, I never knew he could be this polite, so it was kind of surprising.
As I spent time chatting with my dad and brother, my mind was occupied with various thoughts.
If things continued the way they were, what would've happened next? Nagato, Koizumi, and Asahina-san would just be regular human beings without any supernatural background whatsoever. Nagato would be a silent bookworm from the Literature Club, Asahina-san would be an ordinary (but extraordinarily cute) upper classman, while Koizumi would be a normal transfer student studying in another school.
And Haruki would probably just be an eccentric high school student.
Perhaps under such settings, an interesting story can be written as well. There would no longer be any need to learn about the truth of this world, nor would there be any need to worry about any changes caused. It would just be a normal story without any connection to this dysfunctional world.
I probably wouldn't play any role in that story. All I could do there was just peacefully live my normal high school life and graduate without incident.
Which world would I be happier with?
I think I know the answer to that now.
It was only in this "present world" could I be happy. Otherwise why would I risk losing my life just to come back to this world?
What about you? Which world would you choose? I'm sure the answer would be pretty obvious. Or am I the only one who would think like that?
After my family went home and the lights in the ward went out, I could only stare at the ceiling. As I had nothing better to do, I decided to close my eyes.
For the past three days, in this world that is, I was told I had spent all that time sleeping.
In that case...
If the world had become like that, that meant that it'd been changed.
This world had already been changed twice. The world that was distorted by Nagato had changed once again to the original world as it is now. So who was it that made the second change?
It couldn't be Haruki. For those three days, Haruki didn't have such powers, and the Haruki of this world didn't even know the world had changed.
Then, who could it be?
Saving my life by catching Asakura's blade with his bare hands, there could only be one person with the ability to do such a thing...
That would be Nagato.
Besides, before I lost consciousness, I saw two Asahina-sans. The second one wasn't the adult Asahina-san, but my senpai Asahina-san. He was none other than the cute upper classman from the future that I was very familiar with.
There was another person, the mysterious voice that spoke to me near the end. I knew I'd heard that voice before.
I tried to recall who it was, but very quickly I realized I didn't even need to try.
That was my own voice.
"I see, so that's how it was,"
In that case...
I would have to travel back to that time period again. The time would have to be early morning on December the 18th, and I had to go with the Asahina-san and Nagato of this time period.
Only then could the world be restored to its present state.
Asahina-san would be responsible for bringing me and Nagato back to that time period, while Nagato's mission was to amend his past self, who had gone astray for the past three days. Though I wouldn't know whether he would use Haruki's powers or the powers of the Integrated Data Sentient Entity.
I too had a role to play in this as well.
That's what I thought anyway. If I hadn't heard my own voice speaking back then, I wouldn't be here today. In order to preserve my present existence, I would need to go back and say the same thing to my past self,
"Sorry about that. I have my reasons for not rescuing you right away, but don't hate me for it. After all, it was painful for me as well. Anyway, we'll take care of the rest. No, I already know what to do now, and you will as well. So go get some sleep for now."
I repeatedly memorized these lines in my head. That's what I said if I recalled correctly. While I couldn't guarantee that it'd be correct word for word, the meaning should be the same.
In place of the me who got stabbed by a katana, the one using the needle-gun would be my destined role.
As for the reason why I couldn't save my past self from being stabbed by Asakura, I understood that as well. From the tone of my future self's voice, I didn't sound like I ran over in a hurry. I must have hidden somewhere nearby before hand. Asahina-san and Nagato also came out cue on time. It couldn't be too early, nor could it be too late. I had to wait until I got stabbed by Asakura. Why was that? Because of my past self, that was something that had already happened. To quote Asahina-san,
"This is a predetermined event,"
What a pain that was.
It was now late at night, but I wasn't in the mood to sleep.
I was waiting. Waiting for what, you ask? Of course I was waiting for the only person among the people I knew who had yet to visit me. It'd be a joke if he didn't come.
I lay in bed and stared at the ceiling all this time. It was only late in the night, when visiting hours were long over, that my patience was rewarded.
The door to the ward slowly opened, the light from the corridor revealed the shadow of a figure on the floor.
Standing there was the figure of the last person to come visit me, Nagato Yuuki.
As usual, Nagato said without any emotion,
"I am responsible for everything that has happened."
For some reason, I felt nostalgic at hearing this calm voice.
"My punishment is currently being assessed."
I lifted my head and asked,
"Assessed by whom?"
"The Integrated Data Sentient Entity."
Nagato said calmly, as though it had all happened to someone else instead.
Of course, Nagato had long known he would create a ruckus on the morning of December 18th. Because I had gone to visit Nagato three years ago with the adult Asahina-san. He knew all along, and he tried his best to prevent it from happening. Yet there was no way to stop the tide. Sometimes even if you knew what was about to happen, you just couldn't avoid it. No, it was possible to avert it...
I suddenly thought of the behavior and mannerisms of Nagato after summer, which were slightly different from before,
"But," I interrupted him, "If you knew you were going to go astray three years ago, you could've told me any time, couldn't you? Whether it was after the school festival, or before the baseball tournament. In that case, I would've been able to take action earlier in that specific time on December 18th. Then all that would've needed to be done would be to call everyone out and travel back to three years ago again,"
Nagato's expression was as cold as ice, there was hardly a smile,
"If I had told you beforehand, my astray self would still have been able to erase all your memories concerning the incident and change the world. Besides, no one can guarantee that something that hasn't happened will ever occur. The best I could do was to keep you in your original state when December 18th arrived."
"Didn't you leave an Escape Program for me? That was more than enough already!"
As I was thanking him, I began to grow angry. But I wasn't angry at Nagato, neither was I angry at myself.
The blank voice echoed through the walls of the ward,
"I cannot guarantee that I won't go astray again in the future. As long as I continue to exist, my internal errors will continue to accumulate. This is a very dangerous possibility."
"BULLSHIT! Relay this message for me."
Hearing me swear, Nagato's head tilted back about two centimeters. He even blinked. I have to agree, that was something very unladylike. But that's not the point right now.
I reached out and grabbed one of his arms. Nagato did not resist.
"Tell this to your boss, so listen carefully. If he ever thinks of letting you disappear, then I'm going to let all hell break loose. I'm going to get you back, no matter what it takes. I may not have any powers, but I'm pretty good at provoking Haruki,"
I did indeed have a trump card in provoking Haruki. All I needed to do was tell him, "My name is Mary Smith."
That's right. While my powers were as good as a useless bum, that idiot Haruki happened to possess enormous powers. Once Nagato disappeared, I would tell everything to that guy until he believed me. And then we would embark on our journey to rescue Nagato. Even if Nagato's boss hid him away or eliminated him, Haruki would always think of some way to turn the tables, at least I'd make him think of a way. Who knows, Koizumi and Asahina-san may even lend a hand. By then, who would give a damn about some Data Entity from some unknown corner of the universe!? What difference did it make whether that thing existed or not!?
Nagato was our friend. And if someone from the SOS Brigade was to go missing, Haruki would never let the matter rest. And it wasn't just Nagato, if Koizumi, or Asahina-san, or I had suddenly left, even by our own will, that guy wouldn't give us up so easily. He would resort to anything to bring us back. That's Suzumiya Haruki, the pushy, self-centered, inconsiderate and troublesome king bastard of the SOS Brigade for you.
I stared furiously at Nagato,
"If your boss even tries to do anything funny, then I'll join up with Haruki and transform the world completely. We'll create a world similar to the one in those three days, where you exist but the Integrated Data Sentient Entity doesn't. I'm sure they'll be even more disappointed if that happens. Observation target? Observation my ass!"
My anger intensified as I spoke.
I had no idea how sentient the Integrated Data Entity was, but he should've been pretty smart. He was probably one of those that could calculate pi to the hundred millionth decimal point in just two seconds and do all sorts of advanced tricks.
If that was true, then I have to tell him something.
I'm sure it would be a piece of cake for you guys to give Nagato a more human-like personality. Before he became a psychotic killer, Asakura was quite popular in class, not to mention being open and friendly. He'd even call out some classmates to hang out during holidays. If you could create someone like him, why must you set Nagato as a lonely little schoolboy sitting and reading a book all by himself in the Literature Club room? Are you thinking that if his personality wasn't set that way, then it wouldn't look like a Literature Club, that he wouldn't attract Haruki's attention? Who made such a decision anyway?
At this point I noticed I was clutching Nagato's hand strongly. Yet the book-loving Interactive Humanoid Interface did not begrudge me at all.
Nagato simply looked straight at me, and then slowly nodded his head,
"I will relay the message."
The calm voice then softly added,
"Thank you."
There were a bunch of pronouns that needed genderswapping, and also some grammatical and spelling errors. I also changed a line to fit with Kyonko's current mentality.
fishy_hylian
2008-06-07, 07:45
that should so go into a 4 koma...
thou.. you're missing kyon's reaction
I hope you don't mind me having a go at this! :O
I did two versions... I'm not sure if Kyon's reaction minus the dialogue is funnier than with a running commentary of what she is thinking:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/fishy_hylian/nagatololv1.gif
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/fishy_hylian/nagatololv2.gif
Fumeiryou
2008-06-07, 07:50
I hope you don't mind me having a go at this! :O
I did two versions... I'm not sure if Kyon's reaction minus the dialogue is funnier than with a running commentary of what she is thinking:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/fishy_hylian/nagatololv1.gif
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/fishy_hylian/nagatololv2.gif
I LOL'd HARD.
fishy_hylian
2008-06-07, 08:21
I LOL'd HARD.
Then my work here is done!
*flies off*
Cat Megex
2008-06-07, 08:59
*flies off*
DO A BARREL ROLL!
(I prefer the first one, by the way.)
Sometimes I think that the whole genderbending thing has broken my mind so badly that even though I would swear upon Haruhi/ki that I updated the archive post, I had in fact only been imagining it.
HELP ME.
I dunno if I'm stepping out of line with this, but...
*snip*
There were a bunch of pronouns that needed genderswapping, and also some grammatical and spelling errors. I also changed a line to fit with Kyonko's current mentality.
mary smith!?
Fumeiryou
2008-06-07, 11:46
@shaoron: You had Jahn Smith. Jahn? I just changed it to to a random placeholder name for now.
@DaCyclops: Joan isn't a very common name, in my opinion. Aren't we going for common names?
Cat Megex
2008-06-07, 12:41
Joan isn't a very common name, in my opinion. Aren't we going for common names?
How about Mary Poppins, then? XD
I suppose part of the problem we're facing is that we don't know why Tanigawa chose "John Smith" for Kyon's nickname.
If it's just because it's a common Western name, then we can go with "Jane Doe/Smith" and call it good.
But if it's something deeper, then we need to find an analogue for that. And if there are multiple references in that name, our job becomes that much harder.
fishy_hylian
2008-06-07, 13:03
I suppose part of the problem we're facing is that we don't know why Tanigawa chose "John Smith" for Kyon's nickname.
If it's just because it's a common Western name, then we can go with "Jane Doe/Smith" and call it good.
But if it's something deeper, then we need to find an analogue for that. And if there are multiple references in that name, our job becomes that much harder.
This is taken from the Wikipedia article:
John Smith is a name often regarded as the archetype of a common personal name in most English-speaking countries, a generic name sometimes representing "everyman" or "the average person."
Considering Kyon is (portrayed, at least) as the only 'normal' human in the SOS brigade, it might just be a reflection on that and how he feels about himself?
Eitherway, there is a list of John Smiths on the Wikipedia Page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_smith
I only quickly glanced over them, but I couldn't find anything that would particularly relate to the story. Might be worth giving it a look over anyway? In case I missed something.
I think he chose John Smith because of this one:
John Smith/Sir John Smith/Dr John Smith is the alias of The Doctor of the British TV show Doctor Who, which he uses when pretending to be human.
The Doctor is a time traveler, and Kyon got there by going back in time. So it's either that he just chose a "common" Western name, or he was referencing the Doctor. There isn't really anybody else on that list who would fit.
People are probably a bit tired of me making that claim, aren't they?
fishy_hylian
2008-06-07, 13:25
I think he chose John Smith because of this one:
The Doctor is a time traveler, and Kyon got there by going back in time. So it's either that he just chose a "common" Western name, or he was referencing the Doctor. There isn't really anybody else on that list who would fit.
People are probably a bit tired of me making that claim, aren't they?
Ah! That would make sense :O
How did I miss that one? XD
The little voices in my head want to go off on one talking about the connotations of Kyon being likened to Doctor Who (who was an alien) - but I'll leave it because I'm sure it's not true :C
Discreet
2008-06-07, 13:37
I've been staying out of this discussion, but honestly, I say we just make it Jane Smith for now and if we really need to... change it.
This is a fluid project, guys, nothing is written in stone here.
The little voices in my head want to go off on one talking about the connotations of Kyon being likened to Doctor Who (who was an alien) - but I'll leave it because I'm sure it's not true :C
The Doctor also has some slight psychic power. The TARDIS translation effect doesn't work without a link to him, and there's his slightly psychic paper, although I don't think that one is directly linked to him. Considering that the Doctor has also been known to wind up in different universes on occasion as well...
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-07, 13:52
The Doctor also has some slight psychic power. The TARDIS translation effect doesn't work without a link to him, and there's his slightly psychic paper, although I don't think that one is directly linked to him. Considering that the Doctor has also been known to wind up in different universes on occasion as well...
If that means Kyon is all 4 at once, then...
@shaoron: You had Jahn Smith. Jahn? I just changed it to to a random placeholder name for now.
if so, it was a typo. it's suppose to be "Jane Smith"
However, I hate that interpretation; I don't think Doctor Who is a common enough pop-culture reference in Japan.
I may of course be horribly horribly wrong, but I think it was just the generic name thing that Kyon was goin' for.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-07, 18:56
However, I hate that interpretation; I don't think Doctor Who is a common enough pop-culture reference in Japan.
I may of course be horribly horribly wrong, but I think it was just the generic name thing that Kyon was goin' for.
I dunno, this is Kyon we're talking about. He knows waaaaaay more than the average Japanese high schooler should.
But I hold that he doesn't watch Doctor Who religiously.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-07, 19:55
But I hold that he doesn't watch Doctor Who religiously.
He wouldn't have to watch it religiously to know that The Doctor uses that name; I've never seen Doctor Who and I know that.
Yes, but we browse Trope websites.
Genre-savvy as Kyon is, I don't think he browses Trope websites.
I'm not sure whether Doctor Who is a major thing in Japan, but I don't even know if he would ever have heard of it.
Cat Megex
2008-06-07, 20:29
Yes, but we browse Trope websites.
Genre-savvy as Kyon is, I don't think he browses Trope websites.
I bet Haruhi does. (Haruki as well, perhaps?) After all, there's that computer with Internet access sitting right there on that desk, and, as has been shown in the novels (and the anime, I think?), Haruhi does get bored sometimes.
Ultima_Rasengan05
2008-06-07, 20:42
Are we still talking about what Kyonko's fake name should be??
...I got lost in the whole topic....-_-
CrowKenobi
2008-06-07, 20:44
My vote would be for Sarah Jane Smith. :smile: :p
Anyway, a new genderbender story popped up on fanfiction.net... that's not stealing from anyone, but turns the genderbending meme on its ear! :heh:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4307507/1/Switcharoo
still needs work imho...
:cool:
Barandax
2008-06-07, 20:53
Can anybody please tell me what doujin this are from? Also can anybody tell me what exactly is happening? Poor Kyon whatever the case is :P
http://iiichan.net/boards/haruhi/src/1212473456337.jpg
http://iiichan.net/boards/haruhi/src/1212473479051.jpg
http://iiichan.net/boards/haruhi/src/1212473494687.jpg
Ultima_Rasengan05
2008-06-07, 21:24
How about we go out of the ordinary of the whole "____ Smith" name and go with Sarah Marshall as her fake name??
Cat Megex
2008-06-07, 21:34
My vote would be for Sarah Jane Smith. :smile: :p
Anyway, a new genderbender story popped up on fanfiction.net... that's not stealing from anyone, but turns the genderbending meme on its ear! :heh:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4307507/1/Switcharoo
still needs work imho...
:cool:
...Funny, though.
Ultima_Rasengan05
2008-06-07, 21:39
My vote would be for Sarah Jane Smith. :smile: :p
Anyway, a new genderbender story popped up on fanfiction.net... that's not stealing from anyone, but turns the genderbending meme on its ear! :heh:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4307507/1/Switcharoo
still needs work imho...
:cool:
ahhaha that was a pretty funny story. I don't think it needs anymore work, its fine as it is already.
That was genderbending doing its mind tricks again.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-07, 22:10
Yes, but we browse Trope websites.
Genre-savvy as Kyon is, I don't think he browses Trope websites.
I'm not sure whether Doctor Who is a major thing in Japan, but I don't even know if he would ever have heard of it.
I love it when I can respond with things like this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/06/30/33368.shtml) or this. (http://www3.nhk.or.jp/kaigai/doctorwho/)
Also, I tend to treat Kyon's knowledge as though he has a couple levels in Bard, if anyone gets what I mean by that.
I bet Haruhi does. (Haruki as well, perhaps?) After all, there's that computer with Internet access sitting right there on that desk, and, as has been shown in the novels (and the anime, I think?), Haruhi does get bored sometimes.
Actually, she can't be, because Haruhi IS the TV Tropes Wiki. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/TVTropesWiki)
How about we go out of the ordinary of the whole "____ Smith" name and go with Sarah Marshall as her fake name??
I agree with Kenobi, Sarah Jane Smith gets my vote simply because of the Dr. Who reference.
Anyway, a new genderbender story popped up on fanfiction.net... that's not stealing from anyone, but turns the genderbending meme on its ear! :heh:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4307507/1/Switcharoo
still needs work imho...
:cool:
Kay, that was epic. We need to see more out of this guy.
Cat Megex
2008-06-07, 22:36
Actually, she can't be, because Haruhi IS the TV Tropes Wiki. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WMG/TVTropesWiki)
It's the other way around, and it hasn't happened yet. The Wiki still has a ways to go. However, turns out that Kyon is indeed the Doctor. XD
Discreet
2008-06-07, 22:38
ahhaha that was a pretty funny story. I don't think it needs anymore work, its fine as it is already.
That was genderbending doing its mind tricks again.
*puts on fascist hat*
Nothing is perfect. It must be edited.
That said, I only read the first, third and last paragraphs/lines.
The idea is fairly funny.
I love it when I can respond with things like this (http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2006/06/30/33368.shtml) or this. (http://www3.nhk.or.jp/kaigai/doctorwho/)
Is it as big as it is here? And by 'big here' I mean that people will have heard of Doctor Who but the average person on the street will not know what you mean by John Smith - their first thought will be "FAKE NAME" or "GENERIC" and not "TIME-TRAVELLER". Because that's what Kyon is - he's the man on the street, he's the normal. I doubt he reads much beyond his light novels and his manga, I doubt he watches strange British TV. I doubt he knows about Doctor Who beyond "Oh that's that British TV show isn't it?"
TBH I would never have known that Doctor Who used the name John Smith if you people hadn't been hypothesising about it in the first place, despite having watched quite a lot of Doctor Who - haphazardly, but quite a lot nonetheless.
/EDIT Every time you post a TVTropes Link, a half-hour of my life dissappears. :(
Cat Megex
2008-06-07, 23:55
Every time you post a TVTropes Link, a half-hour of my life dissappears. :(
'Twas an hour for me.
I'm supposed to be studying atm, so I had +5 to my resist roll, but it still took half an hour. :(
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 00:08
Is it as big as it is here? And by 'big here' I mean that people will have heard of Doctor Who but the average person on the street will not know what you mean by John Smith - their first thought will be "FAKE NAME" or "GENERIC" and not "TIME-TRAVELLER". Because that's what Kyon is - he's the man on the street, he's the normal. I doubt he reads much beyond his light novels and his manga, I doubt he watches strange British TV. I doubt he knows about Doctor Who beyond "Oh that's that British TV show isn't it?"
Probably not as big as it is here. And since when is Kyon normal? He's as normal as Haruhi is. He's just a lot quieter about it.
His old friends seemed to have regarded him as the "weird one", for that matter.
And my point still stands that Kyon knows a little bit about everything.
'Twas an hour for me.
More like hour and a half for me... orz.
Cat Megex
2008-06-08, 00:11
And my point still stands that Kyon knows a little bit about everything.
Kyon is a Bard. He takes ranks in Perform (snark) and Perform (facepalm).
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 00:15
Kyon is a Bard. He takes ranks in Perform (snark).
I just said that a few posts ago...
So he uses his bardic song abilities through sarcasm? AWESOME.
Hey, I just got an idea for a new character!
(Also, wouldn't that mean he can use Suggestion? Explains a lot, really.)
/EDIT Every time you post a TVTropes Link, a half-hour of my life dissappears. :(
I've been avoiding TVTropes for the past month or so.
Not because of anything "traditionally" bad or unwelcome, but entirely because I Want My Life Back.
Probably not as big as it is here. And since when is Kyon normal? He's as normal as Haruhi is. He's just a lot quieter about it.
His old friends seemed to have regarded him as the "weird one", for that matter.
And my point still stands that Kyon knows a little bit about everything.
But on the basis that (as far as I can tell through the translations) he has never ever mentioned any kind of link with Doctor Who, I don't think this is one of them.
Occam's Razor says "GENERIC" and I don't think you should go any further than that.
DannyCat
2008-06-08, 00:31
My vote would be for Sarah Jane Smith. :smile: :p
Anyway, a new genderbender story popped up on fanfiction.net... that's not stealing from anyone, but turns the genderbending meme on its ear! :heh:
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4307507/1/Switcharoo
still needs work imho...
:cool:
ahhaha that was a pretty funny story. I don't think it needs anymore work, its fine as it is already.
That was genderbending doing its mind tricks again.
Yeah, it's fine for a start, but it's interesting enough that I'd like to see a more full-length story on this topic. Kyon's reaction to Kyonko's world seems to usually be thought of first before vice-versa, from the (very) few doujin scan pages I've seen.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 00:32
But on the basis that (as far as I can tell through the translations) he has never ever mentioned any kind of link with Doctor Who, I don't think this is one of them.
Occam's Razor says "GENERIC" and I don't think you should go any further than that.
I'm still voting for "Sarah Jane Smith". Relatively common combination of names and is a safeguard in case the original actually was a Doctor reference.
Kyon is a Bard. He takes ranks in Perform (snark).
actually he's more of a multi-class bard/fighter... more on bard thou.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 00:42
actually he's more of a multi-class bard/fighter... more on bard thou.
I guess he took two levels for the bonus feats?
I think we need to run a DnD version of that game theatre thingy.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 01:44
I think we need to run a DnD version of that game theatre thingy.
Koizumi was the bard there though. (He's more sorceror-quality, really.)
I guess it's because of the whole "bards r teh ghei lol" thing... which is sad, because bards are absurdly powerful if built well.
Cat Megex
2008-06-08, 02:09
Going by DnD:
Yuki = Fighter/Mystic Theurge
Mikuru = Cleric
Koizumi = Psion
Kyon = Bard
Haruhi = Ao
...And I just lost about two more hours on TVTropes....
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 02:18
Going by DnD:
Yuki = Fighter/Mystic Theurge
Mikuru = Cleric
Koizumi = Psion
Kyon = Bard
Haruhi = Ao
...And I just lost about two more hours on TVTropes....
Ao? Huh?
I'd say Haruhi'd be a Duskblade or something. Fighting ability and Magical power GO!
Actually, she'd probably be a munchkin and multiclass like mad.
And exactly how is Yuki a Mystic Theurge without levels in Wizard and Cleric?
Mikuru is a Healer, a class found in the Miniatures Handbook. Typical White Mage class.
And Kyon is Fighter/Bard.
Cat Megex
2008-06-08, 02:33
Ao? Huh?
I'd say Haruhi'd be a Duskblade or something. Fighting ability and Magical power GO!
Actually, she'd probably be a munchkin and multiclass like mad.
And exactly how is Yuki a Mystic Theurge without levels in Wizard and Cleric?
Mikuru is a Healer, a class found in the Miniatures Handbook. Typical White Mage class.
And Kyon is Fighter/Bard.
Ao. Technically from the Forgotten Realms universe, but...basically, Ao is the god who created all the other gods, the creator of the Forgotten Realms universe (and is stated at least once to be the creator of the DnD multiverse, though not in those exact words). In other words, Haruhi. XD
Yuki took a leaf out of the Players Handbook II and did a Gestalt class.
Didn't know about the Healer class, but that was the basic idea I was going for for Mikuru (anachronistic nurse outfits ftw! XD)
Kagedanji
2008-06-08, 02:37
Yuki's primary class is Mage. Secondary Rogue.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 03:01
Ao. Technically from the Forgotten Realms universe, but...basically, Ao is the god who created all the other gods, the creator of the Forgotten Realms universe (and is stated at least once to be the creator of the DnD multiverse, though not in those exact words). In other words, Haruhi. XD
Yuki took a leaf out of the Players Handbook II and did a Gestalt class.
Didn't know about the Healer class, but that was the basic idea I was going for for Mikuru (anachronistic nurse outfits ftw! XD)
Yeah, but you can't play as Ao mechanically.
Monk/Paladin, maybe?
(Actually, that works...)
Gestalts aren't in the PHBII, they're in Unearthed Arcana and no sane DM would ever allow them because they unbalance the game. Also, you can't gestalt a prestige class and a base class.
Yuki's primary class is Mage. Secondary Rogue.
Sorc/Rogue multiclass? Not a bad idea, really.
Technically gestalts can be allowed, but if you're letting one character be a gestalt, they're all going to have to be gestalts. Otherwise you'll have Superman in the same party as the Blue Beetle.
I'm looking through the 4E ruleset right now. It's simplified tremendously, but also more open. Unfortunately, very few classes have been released, so it's probably not ready to apply to the SOS Brigade yet.
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-08, 03:07
*cough*off-topic*cough*
*cough*off-topic*cough*
Alright, alright, there's a simple way to fix this. Who wants to launch a thread entitled 'the D&D of Suzumiya Haruhi/Haruki'?
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 03:09
Technically gestalts can be allowed, but if you're letting one character be a gestalt, they're all going to have to be gestalts. Otherwise you'll have Superman in the same party as the Blue Beetle.
That's my point, really.
I'm looking through the 4E ruleset right now. It's simplified tremendously, but also more open. Unfortunately, very few classes have been released, so it's probably not ready to apply to the SOS Brigade yet.
4E does not exist. Whenever someone is talking about 4th Edition, they're secretly talking about World of Warcraft.
Alright, alright, there's a simple way to fix this. Who wants to launch a thread entitled 'the D&D of Suzumiya Haruhi/Haruki'?
No no no no no god please no.
No no no no no god please no.
Calm down. If you don't like the idea, just don't go there once it pops up. Making such a thread would reduce the amount of clutter in this one, which is for the good.
I want my Sorcerer back...(though I prefer Cleric)
On topic, I'd think that whatever Nagato would give to Kyonko would have to be small and light enough for her to carry, as well as being familiar and keep her at a safe distance, for maximum efficiency. So rather than some wierd medical needle gun, or a .50 cal, maybe something more like a derringer would fit better. It also looks cooler appearance-wise.
As to Kyonko's psuedonym, it's far more likely that Tanigawa simply meant to say "John Doe" but wrote "John Smith" instead as an example of how certain cultural thingamajiggers aren't translated well across oceans. So simply replacing "John" with "Jane" would be more accurate. Just going with "common" names wouldn't keep with the same spirit of "John Doe/Smith" since different regions have different common names. For example, where I live, Sara is the most common name.
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-08, 03:58
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=28129
Go forth and defend thy country.
vivify93
2008-06-08, 04:07
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=28129
Go forth and defend thy country.
I refuse on the simple grounds of that I know someone who could hack a website and I have a very short fuse.
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-08, 04:09
I refuse on the simple grounds of that I know someone who could hack a website and I have a very short fuse.
Willpower eh? :p
And I just wanna get us back on topic, even if it means riling people up like I am right now. :D
...great, all this DnD class talk combined with the talk about Needleguns has me trying to map TF2 classes to the characters.
Good job.
*has a brain headache*
Don't press enter
2008-06-08, 04:54
Never, ever leave this thread alone for two days.
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=28129
Go forth and defend thy country.
Meh. If people don't like Kyonko, that's their decision. I honestly couldn't care less.
vivify93
2008-06-08, 05:21
That's another reason on why I refuse. Let bygones be bygones, right?
*cough*off-topic*cough*
*sad*
The SOS Brigade clubroom looked a little different today. Everyone was seated around the large table in the middle of the room, and the clatter of plastic on wood was the accompaniment to the conversation, more excited than usual.
"Mitsuru-kun, just put all the points in here! It doesn't matter if the others aren't good, you're only going to need this one stat anyway!"
"Um, but what if-"
"Just do it!"
"Oi, Haruki," I called out from the other side of the table, "why don't you just let Asahina-sempai make his own character his way? None of us were bugging you when you created yours, were we?"
"But everyone's so slow!" Haruki whined. "I want to start now!"
"To be fair," Itsuko said smoothly, "the Wizard class is one of the most time-consuming to prepare." She smiled prettily from behind her cardboard screen. "If Asahina-san so wishes, I would be happy to assist him."
"Oh, um, that's all right," Asahina-sempai said hurriedly. He quickly bowed his head in concentration, and started writing carefully on his character sheet.
"Aaah," Haruki said, leaning back in his chair. "If I'd known how long it would take to play this game, I wouldn't have agreed to try it out."
"It can't be helped," I snapped at him. "We're all beginners here, so something like this is bound to happen. Just be patient, and we'll get to play in a while."
Haruki pouted, but remained silent. He had chosen what the rulebook had called a "paladin", and was the first to finish writing down all the stats and numbers. I didn't doubt that when we actually got to play, he'd be winning every imaginary battle we'd be going up against.
"That is a very real possibility," Itsuko said. "Suzumiya-san certainly has the ability to alter something as simple as probability in terms of a dice roll, and any particularly fortuitous results can easily be attributed to random chance. Even so, this game does not have winners or losers in the traditional sense, so there should not be any great disruption to our collective enjoyment."
"If nobody wins or loses, then what's the point?"
"Why, to be a part of a fantastic story, of course."
I've had enough of fantastic stories to last me the rest of my life. In fact, I'd rather not be part of any more fantastic stories, so that I can have the rest of my life.
"Leave it to me," Itsuko said cheerfully. "If there are any complications arising from Suzumiya's participation in this activity, Nagato-san and I will surely be able to deal with it with a minimum of fuss."
If only I had even ten milligrams of your confidence.
I slid my eyes over to the silent member of our SOS Brigade, who was staring at the strange shapes on the table with a blank expression. I kind of know how Nagato feels, since up until today, the word "dice" only meant the six-sided cubes with numbers on their faces, but Itsuko had brought a set of strange polyhedrals which she said were also "dice". As I watched, Nagato mechanically picked up one of the twenty-sided ones, and dropped it from a short distance off the table. Were you expecting that result, Nagato? Please move your face once in a while so others know what you're thinking.
"There is a negligible discrepancy in the probability function for this die," he said in his monotone. "The chances of the die landing on any one side does not exactly meet five percent."
Itsuko shrugged. "Humans cannot manufacture perfect dice, but the bias is easily dismissable for a leisure activity." Nagato nodded; unfortunately, I have no idea what you just said, so I can't join in the agreement. "Have you finished your character?"
Nagato wordlessly passed his character sheet towards Itsuko. He had chosen to be a "rogue", which was something like a thief type, if I remembered the rulebook correctly. I didn't think it suited his personality, but he had homed in on it to the exclusion of all else, earlier. Maybe he chose it because it was a silent class, which didn't need him to talk much.
Meanwhile, Haruki had gone back to pestering Asahina-sempai, who was manfully bearing up under the pressure. I don't care if you're a chosen champion of the gods, if you complain that the game's taking too long to start even after all your interference, this "fighter" here is going to beat some sense into your helmeted skull.
"What about yourself?" Itsuko asked me.
"This class doesn't seem too complicated," I said. "I just run in and hit things, right?"
"In a manner of speaking. Do note, however, that as in video games, it is essential to have well-defined roles for certain important aspects. You, as a Fighter, will bear the main brunt of the enemy attacks, while Asahina-san will be casting his damaging spells. The third important role, that of healing, is assigned to Suzumiya-san. It will be his job to make sure that the rest of the party are in fighting condition at all times."
"Haruki? He's going to want to be the leader, and charge in recklessly as usual anyway."
"Then it would be the Fighter's responsibility to make sure that the Rogue and Wizard are safe, wouldn't it?"
I sighed.
"Would you like to reconsider your choice of class?"
"Never mind. Just hand me that rulebook again."
*sad*
The SOS Brigade clubroom looked a little different today. Everyone was seated around the large table in the middle of the room, and the clatter of plastic on wood was the accompaniment to the conversation, more excited than usual.
"Mitsuru-kun, just put all the points in here! It doesn't matter if the others aren't good, you're only going to need this one stat anyway!"
"Um, but what if-"
"Just do it!"
"Oi, Haruki," I called out from the other side of the table, "why don't you just let Asahina-sempai make his own character his way? None of us were bugging you when you created yours, were we?"
"But everyone's so slow!" Haruki whined. "I want to start now!"
"To be fair," Itsuko said smoothly, "the Wizard class is one of the most time-consuming to prepare." She smiled prettily from behind her cardboard screen. "If Asahina-san so wishes, I would be happy to assist him."
"Oh, um, that's all right," Asahina-sempai said hurriedly. He quickly bowed his head in concentration, and started writing carefully on his character sheet.
"Aaah," Haruki said, leaning back in his chair. "If I'd known how long it would take to play this game, I wouldn't have agreed to try it out."
"It can't be helped," I snapped at him. "We're all beginners here, so something like this is bound to happen. Just be patient, and we'll get to play in a while."
Haruki pouted, but remained silent. He had chosen what the rulebook had called a "paladin", and was the first to finish writing down all the stats and numbers. I didn't doubt that when we actually got to play, he'd be winning every imaginary battle we'd be going up against.
"That is a very real possibility," Itsuko said. "Suzumiya-san certainly has the ability to alter something as simple as probability in terms of a dice roll, and any particularly fortuitous results can easily be attributed to random chance. Even so, this game does not have winners or losers in the traditional sense, so there should not be any great disruption to our collective enjoyment."
"If nobody wins or loses, then what's the point?"
"Why, to be a part of a fantastic story, of course."
I've had enough of fantastic stories to last me the rest of my life. In fact, I'd rather not be part of any more fantastic stories, so that I can have the rest of my life.
"Leave it to me," Itsuko said cheerfully. "If there are any complications arising from Suzumiya's participation in this activity, Nagato-san and I will surely be able to deal with it with a minimum of fuss."
If only I had even ten milligrams of your confidence.
I slid my eyes over to the silent member of our SOS Brigade, who was staring at the strange shapes on the table with a blank expression. I kind of know how Nagato feels, since up until today, the word "dice" only meant the six-sided cubes with numbers on their faces, but Itsuko had brought a set of strange polyhedrals which she said were also "dice". As I watched, Nagato mechanically picked up one of the twenty-sided ones, and dropped it from a short distance off the table. Were you expecting that result, Nagato? Please move your face once in a while so others know what you're thinking.
"There is a negligible discrepancy in the probability function for this die," he said in his monotone. "The chances of the die landing on any one side does not exactly meet five percent."
Itsuko shrugged. "Humans cannot manufacture perfect dice, but the bias is easily dismissable for a leisure activity." Nagato nodded; unfortunately, I have no idea what you just said, so I can't join in the agreement. "Have you finished your character?"
Nagato wordlessly passed his character sheet towards Itsuko. He had chosen to be a "rogue", which was something like a thief type, if I remembered the rulebook correctly. I didn't think it suited his personality, but he had homed in on it to the exclusion of all else, earlier. Maybe he chose it because it was a silent class, which didn't need him to talk much.
Meanwhile, Haruki had gone back to pestering Asahina-sempai, who was manfully bearing up under the pressure. I don't care if you're a chosen champion of the gods, if you complain that the game's taking too long to start even after all your interference, this "fighter" here is going to beat some sense into your helmeted skull.
"What about yourself?" Itsuko asked me.
"This class doesn't seem too complicated," I said. "I just run in and hit things, right?"
"In a manner of speaking. Do note, however, that as in video games, it is essential to have well-defined roles for certain important aspects. You, as a Fighter, will bear the main brunt of the enemy attacks, while Asahina-san will be casting his damaging spells. The third important role, that of healing, is assigned to Suzumiya-san. It will be his job to make sure that the rest of the party are in fighting condition at all times."
"Haruki? He's going to want to be the leader, and charge in recklessly as usual anyway."
"Then it would be the Fighter's responsibility to make sure that the Rogue and Wizard are safe, wouldn't it?"
I sighed.
"Would you like to reconsider your choice of class?"
"Never mind. Just hand me that rulebook again."
I approve and want to read more! :D
Meh. If people don't like Kyonko, that's their decision. I honestly couldn't care less.
Hear, hear.
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=28129
Go forth and defend thy country.
They see kyonko rollin'
They hatin'
Patrollin'
they tryin' to catch kyonko ridin. dirty.
Ultima_Rasengan05
2008-06-08, 07:38
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=28129
Go forth and defend thy country.
I know its just opinion and stuff, but to make it sound like its such a big deal (and not to mention, its not even canon to Haruhi) is really kid-like. Though it could get ugly if they are provoked enough...
So...now we're talking about classes?...as in classifications of combat skills like in Fire Emblem?? Where did this come from?
Oh and whats D&D??...If its something really obvious, forgive me for not understanding internet terms.:heh:
anyway, on a more serious note about that guy's "hatin"
just leave him be. it seems if we provoke him, it'll only get worse
Dudes, dudes. Don't feed the trolls.
besides.. it's not like he came here and started trashing the place and flaming the project
So, don't go off-world to feed the trolls.
ClockWorkAngel
2008-06-08, 09:49
Willpower eh? :p
And I just wanna get us back on topic, even if it means riling people up like I am right now. :D
Kyonko demands retribution! They WILL be transferred out!
Yea, we'll keep our love her, no need to feed the trolls, unless we feed them with poison.
Do we have a final decision on the John Smith issue?
Cat Megex
2008-06-08, 10:06
They WILL be transferred out!
Oy, calm down, Rena!
Do we have a final decision on the John Smith issue?
We have at least three votes for Sarah Jane Smith. What are the others at?
Oy, calm down, Rena!
Seriously, how has no one written a crossover between Suzumiya Haruh/ki and Higurashi no naku koro ni yet?
Seriously, how has no one written a crossover between Suzumiya Haruh/ki and Higurashi no naku koro ni yet?
Because it would require going back further than the three/four years the time-travelers are capable of going. Unless, of course, you want the SOS Dan to meet with the adult versions of the Hinamizawa Crew. Or change the time when HNNKN takes place.
Because it would require going back further than the three/four years the time-travelers are capable of going. Unless, of course, you want the SOS Dan to meet with the adult versions of the Hinamizawa Crew. Or change the time when HNNKN takes place.
As if Haruh/ki isn't capable of creating a small time warp to move the SOS Brigade into Hinamizawa during the correct time -- after having met the adult members of the Hinamizawa after school club, of course. ^^ Just imagine: SOS Brigade vs. Hinamizawa after school club ... It'd be the match of the century! Not to mention what'd happen if they started working toward a common goal ...
We have at least three votes for Sarah Jane Smith. What are the others at?
why can't we just have "Jane Smith"? fine.. jane may not be the most common female name but it's close to John...
Doubtlessly, Haruki could make a time warp that would get them back there, but on a personal level, I just prefer not giving the time travelers any form of help.
why can't we just have "Jane Smith"? fine.. jane may not be the most common female name but it's close to John...
Because "Jane Smith" is nowhere near as fun. You aren't going to make me link to The Rule of Fun (or The Rule of Cool), are you?
Discreet
2008-06-08, 12:30
Sarah Jane Smith is cool?
I think not. (Apologies to all those who actually have that name)
Puffendahl
2008-06-08, 13:27
Goodness, the John-Smith-replacement-issue sure has been discussed while I was gone… I figured it might, though, considering that I was pretty much asking for it myself :heh:
I kind of agree with nearly all of the suggested names, since they all make sense in their own ways. The only problem with nay of them is indeed, like mentioned before, the fact that we have no idea what Tanigawa Nagaru was aiming at when deciding to use that name. I'm pretty sure the everyman/common name aspect was a part of it, but of course, there might be more to it too, like speculated... Difficult. Too difficult for me, I'll give my vote later (I’m currently leaning towards Sarah Jane Smith, though, for a few reasons already mentioned by others).
Too bad we can't just e-mail Nagaru and ask, or something like that. Then again, it'd be pretty interesting of him to reveal such a (possibly) important part of the plot to some random people doing a genderbent version of his series in the Internet :p
If you can't e-mail the man directly, try getting his publisher to relay a message to him, I say ...
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 16:44
*sad*
The SOS Brigade clubroom looked a little different today. Everyone was seated around the large table in the middle of the room, and the clatter of plastic on wood was the accompaniment to the conversation, more excited than usual.
"Mitsuru-kun, just put all the points in here! It doesn't matter if the others aren't good, you're only going to need this one stat anyway!"
"Um, but what if-"
"Just do it!"
"Oi, Haruki," I called out from the other side of the table, "why don't you just let Asahina-sempai make his own character his way? None of us were bugging you when you created yours, were we?"
"But everyone's so slow!" Haruki whined. "I want to start now!"
"To be fair," Itsuko said smoothly, "the Wizard class is one of the most time-consuming to prepare." She smiled prettily from behind her cardboard screen. "If Asahina-san so wishes, I would be happy to assist him."
"Oh, um, that's all right," Asahina-sempai said hurriedly. He quickly bowed his head in concentration, and started writing carefully on his character sheet.
"Aaah," Haruki said, leaning back in his chair. "If I'd known how long it would take to play this game, I wouldn't have agreed to try it out."
"It can't be helped," I snapped at him. "We're all beginners here, so something like this is bound to happen. Just be patient, and we'll get to play in a while."
Haruki pouted, but remained silent. He had chosen what the rulebook had called a "paladin", and was the first to finish writing down all the stats and numbers. I didn't doubt that when we actually got to play, he'd be winning every imaginary battle we'd be going up against.
"That is a very real possibility," Itsuko said. "Suzumiya-san certainly has the ability to alter something as simple as probability in terms of a dice roll, and any particularly fortuitous results can easily be attributed to random chance. Even so, this game does not have winners or losers in the traditional sense, so there should not be any great disruption to our collective enjoyment."
"If nobody wins or loses, then what's the point?"
"Why, to be a part of a fantastic story, of course."
I've had enough of fantastic stories to last me the rest of my life. In fact, I'd rather not be part of any more fantastic stories, so that I can have the rest of my life.
"Leave it to me," Itsuko said cheerfully. "If there are any complications arising from Suzumiya's participation in this activity, Nagato-san and I will surely be able to deal with it with a minimum of fuss."
If only I had even ten milligrams of your confidence.
I slid my eyes over to the silent member of our SOS Brigade, who was staring at the strange shapes on the table with a blank expression. I kind of know how Nagato feels, since up until today, the word "dice" only meant the six-sided cubes with numbers on their faces, but Itsuko had brought a set of strange polyhedrals which she said were also "dice". As I watched, Nagato mechanically picked up one of the twenty-sided ones, and dropped it from a short distance off the table. Were you expecting that result, Nagato? Please move your face once in a while so others know what you're thinking.
"There is a negligible discrepancy in the probability function for this die," he said in his monotone. "The chances of the die landing on any one side does not exactly meet five percent."
Itsuko shrugged. "Humans cannot manufacture perfect dice, but the bias is easily dismissable for a leisure activity." Nagato nodded; unfortunately, I have no idea what you just said, so I can't join in the agreement. "Have you finished your character?"
Nagato wordlessly passed his character sheet towards Itsuko. He had chosen to be a "rogue", which was something like a thief type, if I remembered the rulebook correctly. I didn't think it suited his personality, but he had homed in on it to the exclusion of all else, earlier. Maybe he chose it because it was a silent class, which didn't need him to talk much.
Meanwhile, Haruki had gone back to pestering Asahina-sempai, who was manfully bearing up under the pressure. I don't care if you're a chosen champion of the gods, if you complain that the game's taking too long to start even after all your interference, this "fighter" here is going to beat some sense into your helmeted skull.
"What about yourself?" Itsuko asked me.
"This class doesn't seem too complicated," I said. "I just run in and hit things, right?"
"In a manner of speaking. Do note, however, that as in video games, it is essential to have well-defined roles for certain important aspects. You, as a Fighter, will bear the main brunt of the enemy attacks, while Asahina-san will be casting his damaging spells. The third important role, that of healing, is assigned to Suzumiya-san. It will be his job to make sure that the rest of the party are in fighting condition at all times."
"Haruki? He's going to want to be the leader, and charge in recklessly as usual anyway."
"Then it would be the Fighter's responsibility to make sure that the Rogue and Wizard are safe, wouldn't it?"
I sighed.
"Would you like to reconsider your choice of class?"
"Never mind. Just hand me that rulebook again."
That was badass.
Epic win, dkellis.
I so totally agree.
SOS Brigade vs. Hinamizawa after school club
The Punishment Games would be Epic. K1 and Mikuru would be the main targets to lose every game. Though Mion and Rena might want to see Kyon lose from time to time, and Haruhi might agree to it if she gets to help.
Haruki's SOS-dan and Normal Mion's Game Club would be just as Epic. The main losing targets would remain the same, just Kyonko would be losing more often with little objection from Haruki.
The Punishment Games would be Epic. K1 and Mikuru would be the main targets to lose every game. Though Mion and Rena might want to see Kyon lose from time to time, and Haruhi might agree to it if she gets to help.
Haruki's SOS-dan and Normal Mion's Game Club would be just as Epic. The main losing targets would remain the same, just Kyonko would be losing more often with little objection from Haruki.
Hmmm, but in a setting that pairs Haruki's SOS-dan against the Hinamizawa after school club ... Shouldn't the Hinamizawa after school club also be genderbent? o_o The mind kinda reels ...
The three girls verses seven to nine guys somehow doesn't work as nice (depending on if you add Shion and/or Hanyuu to the group). Just having the SOS-dan genderbent evens the teams a little with four guys and six to eight girls.
Of course entirely normal group is three guys verse seven to nine girls...The SOS-dan can even out the adds by using their reserve members (adds between one and four to the dan). It alsio depends on if they play teams, individual games, or split on gender teams (K1 wants backup against Mion perhaps)
Club-wise it is five on five - seven depending on Shion and Hanyuu.
If Mion adds Shion and Hanyuu, Haruki gets Tsuruya-san and Kyon's little bother.
CrowKenobi
2008-06-08, 19:05
Oh and whats D&D??...If its something really obvious, forgive me for not understanding internet terms.:heh:PSST! Dungeons and Dragons (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=Dnd/welcome). :p
:cool:
Dkellis: Great job! Need more! :D
Because "Jane Smith" is nowhere near as fun. You aren't going to make me link to The Rule of Fun (or The Rule of Cool), are you?
...
1) that wasn't cool at all
2) that was lame
3) so lame you should be falcon punched/kicked
4) by Leonidas
5) into the pit of death
@danchou
seems like it's your call again...
decide what Kyonko's alt name is
ClockWorkAngel
2008-06-08, 21:46
A large vote might work, but what Danchou says goes though. I like the name of Alice.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 22:01
I added dkellis's story to the SOS-dan Wiki.
Also, I vote for Jane Smith, simply because it's the simplest to use and is still technically a Dr. Who reference.
Kagedanji
2008-06-08, 22:57
Data Manipulation = Mage
Physical Combat Skill and Acrobatics = Rogue
Yuki is Mage/Rouge. Her weapon is +9 Dual Dirks of Higher Sorcery (Lv. 10). Her skill build is Summon Spears, Weapon Break, and Teleport Enemy.
Name everything her skills reference.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-08, 23:00
Data Manipulation = Mage
Physical Combat Skill and Acrobatics = Rogue
Yuki is Mage/Rouge. Her weapon is +9 Dual Dirks of Higher Sorcery (Lv. 10). Her skill build is Summon Spears, Weapon Break, and Teleport Enemy.
Name everything her skills reference.
Summon Spears would be what Ryoko did, as I recall... Yuki never did that. Weapon Break would be what she did to the knife...
Teleport Enemy being that she had Ryoko transfer to Canada...? But not really...?
Kagedanji
2008-06-08, 23:01
Yuki did do that, she summoned them from the ceiling to hit Ryoko. You got everything right, so dango for you.
EDIT: Actually, you might not get one, yet. Apparently, the last time I gave a dango, which was a long time ago, it was to you, so the board won't let me give another to you until someone else gets one.
Ultima_Rasengan05
2008-06-08, 23:14
PSST! Dungeons and Dragons (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=Dnd/welcome). :p
Ok, thanks for the answer...
beanbrew
2008-06-08, 23:22
What happened to the VN project? Stalled?
Tunafishisgood
2008-06-08, 23:39
What happened to the VN project? Stalled?
I am not sure... maybe due to lack of arts... or I just have been busy with life.
There is another Haruhi related VN project tho... but that would be offtopic. Although there is Kyonko in the VN
Don't press enter
2008-06-08, 23:39
These two quotes are the last ones that make a mention of it...
Ok,part 5 uploaded.
-zCoRPUm3As
Come think of it,most of the good stuff came from niconico=_=
By the Emperor, is that visual novel complete?
The problem with continuing the D&D story is that I'll have to nail down which edition I'm using, or leave it as utterly vague and open (which will hurt the story, at least with what writing skills I have).
Judging from the canon timeline of MoHS, the D&D edition still being sold at the time would be 4E (if not newer). And it is a lot easier for newbies to pick up and learn, especially if they have video gaming experience prior (which, since Canon Kyon references the very popular Dragon Quest games, is applicable here).
However, I'm still much more familiar with 3.5E.
To be honest, I picked D&D mostly because it was the topic of discussion in this thread at the time, and also partly because the only other game system I'm familiar with which has an easier learning curve is BESM, which would be far too twee to use.
And once again the WoD gets shunted sharply to one side...
...although I understand why. At least there's still rays of hope and shiznit in DnD.
You would probably use the edition in use during the original story's writing time (2003) or the original anime's release date (2006). Thus 3.5 works.
Kagedanji
2008-06-09, 00:23
I'm thinking more MMORPG than D&D. You can be a bit more creative with MMOs, secondary classes and all that.
Where are we stuck on the main project?
If it's Kyonko's alias (from Book 3), are we done with Book 1 and 2?
Also the name shouldn't be that hard:
Mary Smith fits the John Smith type...most common English names. (Mary and John due to common bibilcal naming conventions, and Smith because lots of early English last names were based on professions and there were alot of different 'smiths at the time)
Yuki is Mage/Rouge.
What's that, you say? Yuki is a combination of wizard and makeup?
Kagedanji
2008-06-09, 00:31
Hugh Mann. :D
Sorry, Mary Smith is good, but I wonder if we should try to make the last name different.
By the way, I found this buried in some random pages on TVTropes (sacrificing another half-hour of my life...)
Haruhi Suzumiya, Greater Goddess
* Goddess of Tropes, The Unstoppable Force
* Symbol: SOS Dan Logo
* Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
* Portfolio: Tropes, Genki Girls, Aliens, Psionics, Time Travelers, Tsunderes, Hairstyles
* Domains: Creation, Chaos, Charm, Destruction, Envy, Mentalism, Tyranny
Kyon, Demigod (actually Overdeity with sealed powers)
* The Ordinary High School Student, Patron of Normality, John Smith
* Symbol: SOS Dan Logo
* Alignment: Lawful Neutral
* Portfolio: Deadpan Snarkers, Nicknames, Lampshade Hanging, Laws of Physics, Weirdness Magnets
* Domains: Balance, Courage, Fate, Law, Protection
And on a related note...
Konata Izumi, Lesser Goddess
* Lucky Star, #1 Haruhi Suzumiya Fangirl
* Symbol: A star...duh!
* Alignment: True Neutral
* Portfolio: Genre Savviness, Shout Outs, Otaku, Moe Moe, Viral Marketing
* Domain: Craft, Dream, Trade
Kagedanji
2008-06-09, 00:40
I thought Jerkass was also related to Konata.
I'm not making this up.
Where are we stuck on the main project?
If it's Kyonko's alias (from Book 3), are we done with Book 1 and 2?
Also the name shouldn't be that hard:
Mary Smith fits the John Smith type...most common English names. (Mary and John due to common bibilcal naming conventions, and Smith because lots of early English last names were based on professions and there were alot of different 'smiths at the time)
no we're not finished with vol 1 and 2...
but i did finish vol 4 and it's awaiting edit
Forceflow
2008-06-09, 00:46
What happened to the VN project? Stalled?
I am not sure... maybe due to lack of arts... or I just have been busy with life.
There is another Haruhi related VN project tho... but that would be offtopic. Although there is Kyonko in the VN
My territory and responsibility.
Stalled for lack of art. And a lack of time on my part. Bolt should be studying for his exams too so hence his absence.
Might still get done but its gonna lack alot of punch without the character sprites. :(
Well Smith is the most common surname in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom (including Scotland). It is the second most common in Canada (Li being the most common there) and fifth most common in Ireland. There is no common surname that is second place in all of these counties.
And once again the WoD gets shunted sharply to one side...
...although I understand why. At least there's still rays of hope and shiznit in DnD.
One reason why I also didn't mention Shadowrun.
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-09, 01:36
The problem with continuing the D&D story is that I'll have to nail down which edition I'm using, or leave it as utterly vague and open (which will hurt the story, at least with what writing skills I have).
Judging from the canon timeline of MoHS, the D&D edition still being sold at the time would be 4E (if not newer). And it is a lot easier for newbies to pick up and learn, especially if they have video gaming experience prior (which, since Canon Kyon references the very popular Dragon Quest games, is applicable here).
However, I'm still much more familiar with 3.5E.
To be honest, I picked D&D mostly because it was the topic of discussion in this thread at the time, and also partly because the only other game system I'm familiar with which has an easier learning curve is BESM, which would be far too twee to use.
Haruhi takes place in '200X', and I'd suggest 3.5E because it simply has a lot more content than 4E does right now. Easier to write with.
Plus, Itsuko mentions something about an epic plot, and, from what I've seen of 4.0, it appears to be much less story-oriented than 3.5 is.
On a slightly-related tangent to the off-topicness, wouldn't Koizumi be more of the Binder-class? Since his powers are gifted to him by Suzumiya and he can only use them when she gives him "permission" to use them (subconsciously that is.) The process is somewhat similar to how Binders draw power from Vestiges. (Another side-sidenote: My Avatar is an edit of the Vestige Amon's seal. Binders FTW!)
Sarah Jane Smith sounds too unwieldy; it doesn't quite read smoothly. I think the simpler the name we pick, the better.
Incidentally, I realize that I'm probably at fault for most of the D&D off-topicness, so I should probably advertise the Social Group (http://forums.animesuki.com/group.php?groupid=42) I started a while back. PnP gaming discussions can be diverted there.
Sarah Jane Smith also makes me think of the Terminator, so... yeahhhhh...
Although I guess that's ANOTHER time-travel reference... or not. I don't know at this point.
DaCyclops
2008-06-09, 09:57
'Twas an hour for me.
12 midnight - Should be going to bed, quickly check AnimeSuki before bed. Load up this thread and get to the TV Tropes links
12:56 - Read the DnD reference.
Time flies when you even go near TV Tropes....
Fumeiryou
2008-06-09, 11:53
I missed a lot, as I'm at camp right now... thread's been moving quickly as usual, I see.
Though I don't understand how we got onto the topic of DnD?
The name Sarah Jane Smith is unwieldy in my opinion, at least for our purposes. Keep it simple, first and last name, short and sweet. The final name we decide on will just be another alias for someone who happens to be using an alias, albeit unwillingly.
Again, we don't know the original intention of "John Smith", so, as this is a fan project anyway, why not put our own references into the name?
beanbrew
2008-06-09, 13:57
Again, we don't know the original intention of "John Smith", so, as this is a fan project anyway, why not put our own references into the name?
I agree. We could errata it later if something comes up.
Discreet
2008-06-09, 14:38
I've already thrown my support to Jane Smith simply because Sarah Jane Smith is unnecessarily long and I want this to reach a conclusion as soon as possible.
Plus Dr. Who is dumb.
:P
Kagedanji
2008-06-09, 15:07
Sarah Conner.
By the way, does this new group affiliate with MMOs?
Cat Megex
2008-06-09, 15:16
Sarah Conner.
By the way, does this new group affiliate with MMOs?
Only if they're tabletop ones, I would assume.
Fumeiryou
2008-06-09, 18:16
Tabletop MMOs? Didn't know that could happen.
And I fully understand, DaCyclops. I visited TV Tropes the other day, and, before I know it, I'm on a completely different topic (think Austin Powers) from a typical top-down shooter (okay, not typical *cough*Touhou*cough*, but whatever). I check the clock and it's been 4 hours. 0.o How does this happen?
Oh, and I got to Touhou from Haruhi Suzumiya, which in turn I got to from X-men, which in turn I got to from Lucky Star... you get the picture.
Because TVTropes will RUIN your LIFE!
seriously.. why can't a simple "Jane Smith" suffice!? sheesh!
never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Forceflow
2008-06-09, 19:55
Because TVTropes will RUIN your LIFE!
Well it certainly ruined the movie watching experience for me. :heh:
Kogetsu Shirogane
2008-06-09, 20:23
... how about Kyonko use the name "Yamada Hanatarō"?
.................................................. .................................................. .... *goes back to hiding in a minefield*
@shaoron: Darn you! You ripped off my text-rickrolling! TWICE! :heh:
@shaoron: Darn you! You ripped off my text-rickrolling! TWICE! :heh:
when in doubt...
do a BARREL ROLL!
Kogetsu Shirogane
2008-06-09, 20:27
... FALCON.. PUUUUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!! :heh:
...And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that with it Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy." And the Lord did grin and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats and large chu...
*skips*
And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it." Amen.
bored.. don't want to rewrite anything right now
Kogetsu Shirogane
2008-06-09, 20:39
... but I'm not a bunny...
@everyone else: umm... sorry :heh:
CrowKenobi
2008-06-09, 21:07
I do believe that this is very much warranted:
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/1156/kyon0202bis4rwlc1.gif
:p
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-09, 21:09
I do believe that this is very much warranted:
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/1156/kyon0202bis4rwlc1.gif
:p
Much warranted indeed. Thanks CK.
since danchou is here.. please settle the alt name of kyonko issue please
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-09, 21:15
This is akin to arriving to paperwork at home...
Just use Jane Smith as a placeholder for now, but continue to debate the hell out of it until I see an idea that somehow just seems to fit. :p
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-09, 21:24
How about this, danchou?
It's Jane Smith. Discussion closed.
There, that makes everything much simpler. :D
Cat Megex
2008-06-09, 21:40
I do believe that this is very much warranted:
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/1156/kyon0202bis4rwlc1.gif
:p
We still need a Kyonko version of that.
This is akin to arriving to paperwork at home...
Just use Jane Smith as a placeholder for now, but continue to debate the hell out of it until I see an idea that somehow just seems to fit. :p
just settle it! it's going no where!
We still need a Kyonko version of that.
yes we do.. and we demand it!
Kaisos Erranon
2008-06-09, 21:43
just settle it! it's going no where!
I just settled it. Jane Smith.
Now stop talking about it. :D
"We still need a Kyonko version of that."
So. Many. Uses....
DJ_RockmanX
2008-06-09, 21:49
So. Many. Uses....
Indeed. Many.
Indeed. Many.
one too many uses... but where is it?
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