25th: The Defense of Haruhi Suzumiya

[godbent]

[Voice]

Okay, so listen up, everyone. There's a new girl in town who I want you all to recognize and keep something in mind when dealing with her!

[And then to the book, she holds up a picture of Mikuru (tpdd). Taken with the journal and ripped out - namely, it's just her making tea in a cute pink yukata. Something simple and non-invasive for the time being]

This is her - Mikuru Asahina. She's cute, right? Of course she is!


[And then this face]

If any of you guys are harassing her or hitting on her or whatever and I hear about it I'm reserving the right to pepper stray or taser you. You got that? I'm serious too, don't you doubt that for a second.

[...Okay no with that done with back to smiling! She laughs where briefly before-]

Now! If you want to see her or you just want to helped out - particularly all you New Feathers, bonus points if you have something interesting to show us - recall that the SOS-Brigade is open to taking requests even now. Now that the holidays are over and the winters settling in on us, now's the prime time to do it! Got some stuff which needs investigating? Some emotions you can't deal with, some other inane task we can mend when it comes to interpersonal issues?! Sign right up! the HQ's right in the center of town, you can't miss it.

[... Hm. Yeah that should do it Request post for the Brigade is here, just recall!]

-And for today anyone coming to see Mikuru I'm screening first.

[EDIT: For the record if anyone wants action threads with Mikuru (or Haruhi! or both!) for whatever reason both are at the HQ right now.]

Comments

[menial]

['Why is she saying "you" like that...?

...Again. Save your questions until the end.']

So then I... disappeared after a year?

[godbent]

...Yeah, you did.

[She actually sounds a little mad, all things considered]

[menial]

['What can I say to that? "I'm sorry?"

At the same time, what could it have been like? If it was just us... And then just her? If we... No, I don't want to think about it.

But I have to, don't I? Let's say Koizumi is here and suggesting that I should be madly in love with her. Not too hard to imagine. And, he'd say, because she took me to her new world, she considered that to be important enough to bring over. So say that worked... And then say we were here for a year. A year is just about as long as I've known Haruhi, the real Haruhi. So much more could happen in that time...

So, what? "I won't do it again, Haruhi." But this isn't even that Haruhi anymore, right? She wouldn't care... And I'd be better off gone.

If I could find the right thing to say...']

...I wish it hadn't happened to you, Haruhi.

[godbent]

[She's taken aback, briefly. She looks up at him, her eyes wide, maybe a bit hurt looking, like she might have cried if she was by herself. But. He just apologizes? What is he stupid? Is she- She shakes her head, trying to force a more neutral expression onto her face. and eventually, it comes]

I moved in with Shiki then. Sometime after that, Neku came in, then Rena, and Rena left, then Hanyuu, Rena again... some other too, but they all vanished as well. I met other people, the Brigade grew and... well, I guess the result is obvious.

[...]

I'm glad you're here.

[menial]

['...Haruhi, when you look like that, I don't even know what to do. I......

Damn it, I need to shut up in my head!']

...I see.

[Pause.]

I'm glad you are, too.

[He sighs.

'I remember Shiki saying something, though...

"Her friends left about the same time my friends left... She needed a friend, I needed a distraction."

Shiki's friend who left... That would be Neku? She said "again", after all. So... Haruhi's friend who left, that would be... me.

And now it's all in the past, is that it? She has a new life here? To tell the truth, seeing that new life, I'm sometimes surprised she even said she would want to go back, even if it was only after she finished here. She did say that, right? But between the powers, the "interesting things", and the people she replaced us with--Well, is that fair to say...?

At any rate... If we are back to showing up again, if Nagato and Koizumi show up next, then... Then that would mostly be a cruel trick to play on her, with her so different. Sending us back without memories of this place is probably the kindest thing they could do.'

He swallows. Another question is brewing in his mind.]

So... You kept going with the Brigade in the time after I was taken back?

[godbent]

We had at least ten members by then. Even without you or anyone else, it's not fair to those members who had been there a year or so to stop.

[menial]

...Makes sense.

['Once it starts being not just for us, that is.']

So... how about the others? The people who aren't in the Brigade, like Arisato and Winry, how did that happen?

['Again, one might think that once Haruhi established a Brigade, she would ignore those outside of it.']

[godbent]

Minato is a blight on my person I'll never get out.

[She decides to focus on that part]

[menial]

['I believe the term some people use is "friend", though I can't say I'm an expert on the topic. Also, are "blights" things that one gets out?']

And how is that?

[godbent]

Because he's a nosy dumbass who's been involved in way too much of my life despite being an insufferable know it all.

[menial]

Uh... Right, so, from the beginning, maybe?

[godbent]

...Pass!

[YEP]

[menial]

['...It's as much as I could've expected. More, probably.']

Okay, fine. What about the others?

[godbent]

Which others?

[menial]

Winry and Shiki and so on.

[godbent]

You already heard about Shiki, Winry just sort of happened.

[A beat]

Wow, you're calling both of them by first name, come to think of it.

[menial]

['Well, that's an evasion if I ever heard one.']

I tried Miss Rockbell on for size when I was talking to her... but she objected. As for Shiki, uh... [No one actually told him her last name.] That's how she introduced herself.

[godbent]

[...] Her last name's Misaki.

[menial]

......Thanks.

[godbent]

No problem.

[menial]

[He shrugs and looks back down. His eyes fall on the shoebox again, and he gestures to it.]

So, anything in the box?

[godbent]

[...Inhale, exhale. and then she opens the shoebox. Any overly incriminating picture of winry has been removed (like ones with her in lewd outfits) or pictures of any version of the Brigade members, mostly because she didn't get those back in January. But inside are pictures of most people on that list. Most, not quite all. But a lot of them doing this and that. Some, like Leon or Keiichi or anyone who was around a long time (like Al who has a body in these shots), have multiples]

[menial]

[He hesitates, then flips through them for a while, noting down a few people he recognizes. After a while, he notices that there's no pictures of him around, and pauses.]

These are all from... after the first "me" left?

[godbent]

[ ... ]

Not really - but see, I went home back in November. Last year. That is.

[menial]

Uh-huh?