Haruhi>17. Endless Eight Ⅵ

Kyon:
Something's wrong. That's what it felt like anyway.
I didn't care about the baseball game on TV, it was between schools from other town.
Because I tend to sympathize with underdogs, I ended up rooting for the losing team.
And it was right about then that I suddenly got a feeling Haruhi was gonna call.
What the heck does she want?

Kyon's sister:
Hey, your phone's ringing, Kyon.

Kyon:
Yeah, I know that. You don't have to tell me.

Haruhi:
Hey, you're free, right? Good!
Meet us at two o'clock in front of the station.
And don't be late!

Kyon:
I didn't even have a chance to say anything.

Yeah, what?

Haruhi:
I forgot to tell you: make sure to bring your swim trunks and some money too.
Oh, and your bike. Definitely bring your bike.
That's it, over and out!

Kyon:
Weird. It was like I knew what Haruhi was gonna say before she said it.
Yeah, no. Actually, it felt like we had the exact same conversation once before.
Kind of like deja vu or something.

Summer's almost over.



Haruhi:
You are late, Kyon!
Where is your motivation!

Kyon:
Yeah, yeah.
Sorry to keep you waiting.

Haruhi:
Now that we're all present and accounted for, we can go.

Kyon:
Where?

Haruhi:
To the public swimming pool! Where do you think?

Kyon:
That figures, considering the stuff I brought.

Haruhi:
We've got lots of summer vacation-y things to do during our break!
But we've only got so much time because once it's gone, it's gone for good!
We'll do everything we can while we can during our only summer as tenth graders.
And for starters, we're gonna ride the bikes to the pool!

Kyon:
Did everyone ride bikes today?

Koizumi:
No, the only bikes we have to take are the ones you and I brought with us.

Kyon:
Huh?

Haruhi:
Kyon. You better not let Koizumi beat you.
Come on! Full speed ahead!


Haruhi:
Well, here we are. Hurry up and park the bikes.
We're trying to have fun, Kyon, so stop acting tired.

Kyon:
And whose fault is that, huh?


Haruhi:
Ah! Can you smell the chlorine?
That really makes it feel like summer!

Kyon:
Crowded.

Haruhi:
Here's a plan. You go dump our stuff somewhere, then meet us in the pool.
We're gonna have a little race. Come on, Mikuru! You and me!

Mikuru:
O-Okay... Aagh!

Haruhi:
Hurry and get in, guys! The water's warm. It's perfect!

Kyon:
Can't she see the "No Diving" signs? They're everywhere.

Koizumi:
Doesn't that look like fun? It's such a peaceful looking scene, isn't it? And in a way, it makes me smile.
I mean, seeing Miss Suzumiya enjoy the day in such a normal fashion, it's rather charming sight, don't you think?

Kyon:
She called me, told me what to bring, and then ordered me to meet her without telling me anything about what was going on.
That isn't charming or normal.

Koizumi:
Oh well, if you ask me, none of that is anything that makes such a fuss over.
And as long as Miss Suzumiya's laughing and having a good time, we don't have to worry about any Earth shattering events happening any time soon.

Kyon:
I hope you're right.

Haruhi:
All right!

Kyon:
What?

Koizumi:
Nothing. It's just my imagination.
With everything that's happened since we met, you could say I've become a little bit paranoid.


Mikuru:
Here you go.

Kyon:
Oh, thanks for making a tea.
Oh, it's delicious.

Haruhi:
Come on! Let's go swim some more!

Kyon:
Geez. Now I know why they call it a public swimming pool--seems like everyone in town's here today.
I wonder why Haruhi chose this place.
Hm? Huh? There's that feeling again.
It's like I've seen this happen before... with Nagato sitting there like that, looking bored...

Haruhi:
Kyon!

Kyon:
Yeah, and then, Haruhi shows up and says:

Haruhi:
These two guys are my brigade members.
They do what I say, so if you want something, ask them!
Time for some fun! Let's play water soccer!

Kyon:
Yeah, sure.

Oh well, sometimes deja vus happen.

Haruhi:
Get ready, Mikuru! Serves up!

Mikuru:
Ugh!



Haruhi:
I've been thinking about some fun things we could do.

Kyon:
What's that thing?

Haruhi:
I came up with this schedule of how we're gonna spend the rest of our summer vacation.
I realized something, we've only got two more weeks of summer vacation left to go.
That fact totally blew me away.
I know we've done a lot of cool things so far, but we've only got so much time and there's a bazillion more things left for us to do.
So, we're gonna pick up the pace.

Kyon:
Two weeks to do all that?

Haruhi:
Mikuru, is there anything else you wanna do?

Mikuru:
Huh? Umm... I'd like try goldfish scooping.

Haruhi:
Okay! Goldfish scooping it is.

Koizumi:
Could I see that for a moment?
Thank you.

Haruhi:
Does anyone know if there's a Bon festival happening close-by?

Koizumi:
Oh, I can check around for one.

Haruhi:
That would be awesome.
Okay, tomorrow we start the list. And I guess that's it for today.


Kyon:
Nagato!
Hey, it's nothing important or anything, but... I was just wondering.
Is everything okay with you?

Yuki:
It is.

Kyon:
Oh, great. That's good to hear.

Yuki:
Yes.

Kyon:
What the heck? Why'd I wanna talk to her?

I guess that's it.



Kyon:
The next morning, I was waken from my peaceful slumber by a call from Haruhi.
She said they found a Bon festival.

Haruhi:
We're all gonna go buy yukatas.
I guess Yuki doesn't have one and neither does Mikuru. And I don't have one, either.
But I know a place that sells them in sets for really cheap.

Kyon:
So, we went to a clothing outlet.
And Haruhi picked up yukatas for Miss Asahina and Nagato, then she marched them straight into the changing rooms.
After about an hour, they emerged!

Haruhi:
Ta-dah!

Kyon:

Wow, blinding!

Koizumi:
The three of you look absolutely wonderful in them.

Haruhi:
Well, of course we do! I picked 'em out myself!
Especially, Mikuru's.
Look at you, you're so cute! I'm a genius!

Mikuru:
Uh?... Uh, yeah...

Kyon:
Miss Asahina, ahhh!



Mikuru:
Wow...!

Haruhi:
They've got goldfish scooping just like you wanted!
I bet you're gonna catch a ton!

Kyon:
A Bon festival, huh? It figures there'd be so crowded.
Huh? I haven't been to a Bon festival in a while, but it feels like I just went to one.
That tower, those vendors...

Koizumi:
Do you wanna go scoop some fish? We could have a little contest.

Haruhi:
Leave it to the expert!

Kyon:
Hm, I'll pass.
How about you, Nagato? Do you wanna go get some food? Hm?
Don't tell me you're actually into this stuff.
I got it.

Yuki:
No.
That one.

Stallkeeper:
It's yours for 800 yen.

Kyon:
I wish she would've let me buy that for her.
It's the least I could do after all she's done for us.


Haruhi:
What an unbelievable haul! I caught thirteen!
But I only kept one 'cause I don't have any place to put all those fish, I gave another one to Mikuru.
Go ahead and have one, but only one.

Kyon:
Okay. Thanks.

Haruhi:
Hey Yuki, what's up with the mask you got there?

Yuki:
I bought it.

Haruhi:
Oh, okay.
Anyway, let's go shoot off fireworks!
We'll end the day with a firework show!

Kyon:
Do you even understand the meaning of the word "moderation"?


Kyon:
It was summer, and summer vacation.
And I guess that's why I wanted to forget about it.
But the truth was, I couldn't ignore it any longer.

Haruhi:
Tomorrow, we're catching bugs.

Kyon:
Hey, Haruhi, I don't wanna spoil your fun, but have you finished your homework?

Haruhi:
Are you kidding? That stuff's easy. You can finish it in like three days.

Kyon:
Three days!?

Haruhi:
You have to get rid of that junk first, so you can spend the rest of your summer having fun and not worrying about it.
It's the only way to get the most out of your vacation.

Kyon:
Why does she have to be so smart?
The folks upstairs weren't terribly fair when they were divvying up the stats for us.

Haruhi:
'Kay, listen up! We're gonna go bug catching tomorrow.
And whoever catches the most bug is gonna get...
Let me see... I know they'll get to be Brigade Leader for a whole day!

Kyon:
No thanks.

Koizumi:
That sounds like a lot of fun.
But can we catch just any random bug?

Haruhi:
Umm, no way. Only cicadas!
That's it, I'm calling it the SOS Brigade's Cicada Catching Contest!



Kyon:
The next day was beautiful, sunny and bright.
In fact, it was the perfect day for us to have our SOS Brigade's Cicada Catching Contest.
And even though everyone caught bugs the best way they knew how, the winner of the contest ended up being, you guessed it, Haruhi.

Haruhi:
It's important to follow the spirit of catch-and-release with these guys.
I mean, if we let 'em go this time, they might come back and return the favor.

Mikuru and Koizumi:
Oh...

Kyon:
What could a cicada do for me even if it did come back?
I sort of feel like Pandora when she opened her box.



Mikuru:
W-Welcome to our store.

Kyon:
We met the next day even though we had absolutely no idea what was going on.
Our confusion continued as we stood outside the local supermarket wearing frog costumes and handing out balloons.
Hey, it's a living.

(Kid:
You xxx xxx!

Kid:
Come on, do ribbit! Ribbit! Come on!)


Mikuru:
Mm... Ah...

Kyon:
I feel like I just escaped the Adzam's Leader Beam.

Haruhi:
You guys did an awesome job!

Kyon:
What's with that special treatment?

Haruhi:
You guys are the best!
The manager's super grateful for all the hard work.

Kyon:
Who cares how grateful he is? What about our pay?

Haruhi:
That's it.

Kyon:
Huh?

Haruhi:
I've had my eye on this little guy for a long time now.
The manager gave it to us 'cause Mikuru looks so darn cute in it.

Kyon:
We worked in the sun, sweat pouring down our foreheads, for that?

Haruhi:
We'll keep him in the clubroom as a souvenir.
And, Mikuru, you can wear him whenever you want.
Help yourself! You have my permission, 'kay?



Kyon:
Later that night, my peaceful slumber was interrupted by a phone call.

Mikuru:
Ahh...

Kyon:
Aghh!

Mikuru:
Kyon...

Kyon:
Miss Asahina?

Mikuru:
Yes, it's me.
Something really bad...

Kyon:
What's wrong?

Koizumi:
Hello, it's Koizumi.

Kyon:
What are you doing with Miss Asahina at this hour?!

Koizumi:
We have a situation here.
Is it possible for you to come meet us right now?


Kyon:
Miss Asahina! What happened? Are you okay?

Mikuru:
It's terrible...
I can't... I can't go back to the future anymore!

Koizumi:
I'll try to explain it the best I can.
We're stuck in a time loop that, as far as I can tell, seems to have no end.

Kyon:
It's hard to believe you're serious with you standing there smiling like that.
Come on, Koizumi. Do you have any idea what you just said?

Koizumi:
Of course, I do, much more than I want to. Believe me.
In fact, I was having a word with Miss Asahina earlier.

Kyon:
Call me when you have a word with her!

Koizumi:
It's like this: we came to the conclusion that something seemed a little off about the current flow of time.
Well, actually it was Miss Asahina who discovered it.
And thanks to her, my suspicions were confirmed.

Kyon:
What suspicions?

Koizumi:
That we become stuck in a time loop.
We're reliving the same period of time over and over again.

Kyon:
I know, you already said that.

Koizumi:
We've been forced to repeat every day between August the seventeenth through the thirty-first
In other words, we're in the middle of what seems to be an endless summer vacation.

Kyon:
Well, at least it's summer vacation, right?

Koizumi:
It's a never-ending endless summer vacation.
In the world we're in now, the future doesn't exist anymore.
All time stops at September the first.
That's the reason Miss Asahina can't travel to the future. It's only natural.

Kyon:
Look, there's nothing natural about not having a future.
And who's gonna believe such a thing?

Koizumi:
Well, for starters, we were sort of hoping you would believe it.

Mikuru:
For what it's worth, I can try to explain it, too. Here goes.
Because I have to "classified information", and I have to use "classified information" to contact the future.
The thing is, for a week now, I haven't gotten any... "classified information", that's kind of weird.
I was so surprised that I... "classified information," I did.
But it was "classified information"... And now I don't know what to do...

Kyon:
I don't know how to help you, but I'm wondering.
Are all the "classified information" things you're talking about stuff you can't say on TV?

What about those closed spaces you were talking about before?
Do you think it could be one of those?

Koizumi:
No, it isn't one of those.
What happened is that a specific section of time has been torn away
At exactly midnight on August the thirty-first, everything as we know is reset.
Then, time loop's back on itself back to the morning of August the seventeenth.
That's the process.

Kyon:
Then, what about our... Wait. What about the whole world's memories?

Koizumi:
Those get reset as well.
Everyone's memory starts over from the beginning.

Kyon:
Perfect, another problem involving time.
But I guess that it's to be expected when there's a time traveler around, huh?

Koizumi:
Oh, no. Miss Asahina didn't have anything to do with this.

Kyon:
Okay, then what's causing it?

Koizumi:
It's Miss Suzumiya.
I'm sure she doesn't even realize it, though.
But I do think that deep down inside herself, she preferred summer vacation would last forever.

Kyon:
You're kidding me. You mean she still hasn't had enough fun?

Koizumi:
That's what I think.
Perhaps she feels there's something else that has to happen before our summer vacation can end.

Kyon:
Oh man, the trouble she gets us into is always galactic in scale.

Right, what do you want me to do about it?

Koizumi:
If I knew that, we would have this problem solved by now.

Kyon:
You sure seem like you're enjoying this an awful lot. What's up?

Koizumi:
Please don't take that the wrong way.
But this explains the feelings of deja vu I've been having and the ones you've been having as well.
And now that I think about it, those feelings were probably the residuum of our memories from all the instances where time was reset.

Kyon:
Are we the only ones, or can other people feel this happening, too?

Koizumi:
It doesn't seem that way. But then again, you and I are exceptions to the rule.
The only people who can sense this strange thing happening are the ones who are closest to Miss Suzumiya.

Kyon:
But what about Haruhi? Do you think she has any idea what's been going on?

Koizumi:
No, I don't think she knows about it. Besides, it would be very bad for us if she did.
Although, there is someone else who's unaffected by feelings of deja vu.
As a matter of fact, this person remembers everything that's happened since this whole thing started.

Kyon:
Stop holding out on me, Who is it?

Koizumi:
You already know who it is. It's Miss Nagato.
The Thought Entity transcends space and time, and so does she.

Kyon:
Is that really true?

Yuki:
It is.

Kyon:
Then, you can remember everything?

Yuki:
I can.

Kyon:
So then, do you know how many times has this happened to us up till now?

Yuki:
This would be 15,524 times so far.

Kyon:
15,524? What do you mean 15,524?
Nagato, what are you saying?

You're completely serious about that?

Yuki:
I am.

Kyon:
So, what you're telling me is that we've done the exact same things every time that many times?

Yuki:
Not necessarily.
Throughout 15,524 repetitions, we did not attend a Bon festival the 2,391st time and 11,054th time.
We went to a Bon festival but did not go to a goldfish scooping booth 437 times.
We obtained part-time jobs...

Kyon:
Okay, I got it.

15,524 times, that's what she said, times two weeks, that's, uh... 'bout 595 years!
And she's the only one who remembers everything we did all those times.
She's been repeating them over and over.
Nagato, what's it like to relive the same things that many times?

That has gotta be the craziest story ever.



Kyon:
The next night, we went stargazing.
We're on the balcony of Nagato's apartment, and Koizumi brought a telescope.

Haruhi:
Umm.. I'm bored. I'm gonna look for UFOs now.


Kyon:
I wish I knew what else she wants to do?

Koizumi:
Well, that's the question, isn't it?
I think I just might have an idea, though.
What if someone were to grab Miss Suzumiya from behind, and then whispered "I love you" right into her ear?

Kyon:
And who's gonna be doing this?

Koizumi:
Who else could play that role other than you?

Kyon:
Yeah, I knew you were gonna say that. Like hell.

Koizumi:
All right, how about if I give it a try?
Of course, I'm only kidding.



Kyon:
Anyway, the next day, we went to the batting cages.

Hey, Nagato.
You knew about this time loop thing before Miss Asahina, didn't you?

Yuki:
Yes.

Kyon:
So, how come you didn't say anything about it?

Yuki:
My function is to observe only.

Haruhi:
All right!


Haruhi:
I win again, losers!

Yay!

More time!



Haruhi:
I guess that's it. We've done everything on our list.
Hmm... but now I'm wondering if we did enough.
Oh well, that's good... unless there's something else you guys wanna do.
Hm? Oh, okay then. We did everything we set out to do this summer, so I guess that's good enough.

Kyon:
No, it's not. You're still not satisfied.

Haruhi:
Okay, guys. We're done for today.
I set tomorrow aside just in case, but I guess you can take the day off now.
I'll see you all at the clubroom on Monday.

Kyon:
W-Wait, Haruhi...!

There's that feeling again. It's strong, stronger than the others.
I can't let Haruhi leave.
If I let her walk out the door, we'll end up reliving the past two weeks again and again for a thousand more times.
But what should I do? What should I say?
What's she been saying all this time?
I don't know. I can't... remember...



Kyon:
It's August the thirty-first.
And I still haven't touched my homework yet.
Whatever, it doesn't matter anymore.
There's no point doing it.
I mean, we're just gonna keep reliving the last couple of weeks, right?
Whatever happens next, whether tomorrow comes or not, a different version of me will have to do with it.