Chapter 159: Both Sides Reach Consensus

The sun sank in the west.

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the evening glow on the horizon red.

As evening approached, the school bell rang across the entire campus; not long after, students streamed out of Kitabeikita High School's gate in twos and threes, walking together, chatting and laughing, their shadows stretching long on the slope behind them.

However, not all students chose to leave campus at the first opportunity after school.

After all, the mandatory departure time had not yet arrived, and many clubs could conduct activities during this period — whether baseball, basketball, table tennis, or tea ceremony, calligraphy, literature club — after all, adolescents in the throes of youth always need something to do to pass the time.

Students with no club plans who were in a hurry to go home were mostly the type with few friends who also didn't participate much in clubs.

Of course, there were also students from difficult family circumstances, strapped for cash, who chose to use after-school hours for part-time jobs to earn pocket money or help with household expenses.

And beyond these, there was an exception —

That was the Information Integration Thought Entity's designated observation target, who the moment school ended would grab her bookbag, rush out of the classroom, yet not to hurry home, but to run off and participate in every club activity on campus...

Even though she hadn't joined a single club, this behavior appeared very strange...

Even Earthlings found it somewhat incomprehensible, let alone aliens who did not exist in organic lifeform form...

Fortunately, the assigned mission only required "observing" the target's behavior, not understanding the logic behind it, so it wasn't a very difficult task.

The only downside was that, in order to maintain "observation," Nagato Yuki had to wait until the target finished club activities and truly left campus before she could follow her out the school gate; by then, the sky had almost completely darkened.

And when she arrived at the agreed meeting place, night had fully fallen.

Late spring, April; the temperature was neither cool nor hot, a gentle evening breeze brushed the face.

The earth seemed to have fallen asleep; the world was so quiet.

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Near the park in front of Guangyangyuan Station.

Inside a condominium apartment building.

The elevator rose slowly to the seventh floor, then stopped steadily, and slowly slid open to both sides.

A slender girl in a high school uniform, with fair skin and a regular face, walked out expressionlessly. Immediately after, the boy who also walked out of the elevator kept a certain distance, following behind her, walking together in the corridor.

The former's footsteps moved with mechanical precision, each step's distance as if measured with a ruler.

The latter's gait and posture appeared more natural...

But the eerie thing was, each of his steps landed exactly in sync with the girl's footsteps ahead, so that even though they seemed to walk separately, only a single set of footsteps echoed in the corridor.

If one only listened to the sound, anyone would probably think only Nagato Yuki had returned alone.

A moment later.

The footsteps in the corridor vanished.

Nagato Yuki stopped before Room 708's door, opened the tightly shut door, then turned back and said blandly: "Please, come in—"

Her tone was extremely flat, utterly devoid of emotion; one could hear neither the sincerity and warmth of inviting a guest into one's home, nor the trepidation and nervousness a girl living alone should have when bringing a boy home at night — only mechanical calm and indifference.

"Thank you."

Xia Zhi was equally calm, nodded, said a word, and walked in unceremoniously and casually.

Nagato Yuki watched this scene calmly; her glasses seemed to refract light under the corridor lights, but the eyes behind the lenses remained just as tranquil, undisturbed as an ancient well.

She followed close behind and entered, simultaneously closing the door behind her.

Hearing the sound from behind, Xia Zhi didn't turn back either, and very naturally took off his shoes before walking in.

The interior space was spacious and bright; one could see it was a three-bedroom, two-living-room, one-bathroom design, and it was near Guangyangyuan Station, adjacent to park scenery — the price was surely no small sum... but leaving aside the fact that Japan's real estate bubble had already burst and collapsed in 1991, for aliens, housing prices wouldn't be a problem.

How nice, even aliens can afford to buy houses...

Presumably for locals, there's even less pressure then...

Congratulations, congratulations.

Xia Zhi quickly scanned the surroundings; although the house was spacious, it had no human presence or warmth, or rather, no lived-in feel — aside from the kotatsu placed in the living room just now, there was nothing else.

No curtains, the wooden flooring of about ten tatami mats had no carpet laid, revealing brown wood grain.

Very tidy, also very simple.

Extremely clean.

But under the bright lights, the spacious house was fully lit, yet appeared even more empty, as if no one had ever lived there.

This was obviously incorrect, because Nagato Yuki was the resident of Room 708... Xia Zhi glanced back; that girl whose facial expression changed by only a few millimeters was just bringing out hot tea and snacks from the kitchen and setting them on the table.

Perhaps she couldn't really be said to "live" in this room...

Aside from necessary disguise, this house should just be the location this girl uses for "standby."

"Please sit."

Nagato Yuki spoke: "Would you like some snacks?"

"I can try..." Xia Zhi calmly took a piece of pastry, took a bite, and said with a smile: "So, any discoveries today?"

"The observation target had no significant contact with people today, but after school she went to the Craft Club, participated in club activities, followed the club members in sewing a pillowcase; it's clear her interest isn't high, she'll likely give up directly tomorrow..."

Nagato Yuki replied without blinking.

"Sewing a pillowcase..." Xia Zhi frowned, attempted to seriously ponder this deeply, then felt he perhaps didn't need to be that serious.

Although he had already accepted the fact, knew that that "Great Power" was currently just a first-year high school girl who didn't even know her own abilities, upon hearing this schedule he still couldn't help but feel a subtle sense of discord, always feeling something wasn't quite right.

He shook his head, sized up the girl sitting properly opposite him: "This is your usual 'observation'? Always like this?"

After a brief exchange in the morning, he and the faction behind Nagato Yuki both had a certain willingness to cooperate. Only, Nagato Yuki as the primary Project Leader still bore the observation mission, and given the gravity of the matter, she couldn't so easily make a rash decision...

Therefore, at the time both sides merely showed mutual sincerity, exchanging a small portion of precious intelligence.

They also agreed to meet again in the evening to make a decision.

It was precisely through the morning's intelligence exchange that he learned some general circumstances.

Just three years ago, the alien force behind Nagato Yuki discovered an abnormal information bright spot on Earth's planetary surface different from other humans. Information sparks ejected from a certain area of the Yumi Island chain instantly covered the entire planet and diffused into space beyond the planet.

And that center point was a young girl named Haruhi Suzumiya.

That extraordinary information explosion had caused a considerable degree of influence and shock to both the current situation and future history of this planet.

Most importantly, it caused the alien force behind Nagato Yuki to judge that Haruhi Suzumiya might conceal the possibility of autonomous evolution, and even possess the ability to manipulate the surrounding information environment. And this was the reason for Nagato Yuki's appearance; she was manufactured and deployed onto this planet to observe Haruhi Suzumiya at close range.

Besides that, there also seemed to be native forces that were affected, such as Time Travelers and Espers, who likewise realized the source of that influence and began to keep watch over it.

How should I put this...

This is really lively enough.

"The Information Integration Thought Entity places extremely high importance on you, and has already considered the suggestion you proposed. Although the information I can convey through words is extremely limited, and I cannot fully transmit the Information Integration Thought Entity's thoughts to you, one definite point is that we all wish to cooperate..."

Nagato Yuki spoke calmly: "The only problem at present lies in whether you can fully represent the 'Otherworlders'?"

"This... no problem..."

Xia Zhi pondered slightly, then nodded affirmatively: "At least in this world, I can fully represent the standpoint of the 'Otherworlders'."

He was not surprised by this; he could probably understand that the Information Integration Thought Entity must have perceived something.

After all, according to Nagato Yuki's words, this kind of disembodied super-high-intelligence information lifeform had already evolved to a very advanced degree. They were originally born in the form of information, then various information combined with each other to produce consciousness, and finally they evolved by capturing other information.

Born almost simultaneously with the universe, they expanded along with the universe's expansion, and the relative information network also gradually became vast and enormous.

In the Galaxy, and even in the vast information sea of the entire universe, such lifeforms exist. But because they have no physical body and can only exist in information form, they are almost impossible to observe directly, so humanity knows nothing about them.

And the Information Integration Thought Entity behind Nagato Yuki is one of them, an existence that governs this Galaxy.

As far as the present is concerned—

This is truly the most powerful existence Xia Zhi can cognize, and its main evolutionary direction is specialization in 'Information Manipulation' and 'Information Linkage'. Under such circumstances, being able to perceive some of his abnormalities seems quite normal as well.

He is merely an Avatar, not the Main Body.

The Information Integration Thought Entity perhaps perceived this, so it did not judge him as an individual who accidentally transmigrated to this world, but treated him as a representative sent out by another force alignment. Because he is not a lone individual, but can still maintain contact with the other-universe force behind him...

"That's good... In principle, we will not interfere with each other's actions, but there is one point of consensus that must be maintained—"

Nagato Yuki's expression was indifferent, her hands placed on her knees.

"Most of the Information Integration Thought Entity's consciousness believes that if Haruhi Suzumiya perceives her own value of existence and abilities, unpredictable danger will definitely occur, so they do not wish for you to rashly break this situation."

Most of the consciousness believes...

Most...?

Xia Zhi keenly captured a key point, but he did not say anything, merely nodding in affirmation:

"This I cannot guarantee, but for the time being, I also tend to act low-key for now, and not stimulate that Miss Suzumiya..."

"Understood..." Nagato Yuki did not mind his reservation, merely shifting her gaze slightly, looking him up and down, "I can help you enter the School in a reasonable manner, but your appearance still needs some adjustment, otherwise it might become trouble..."

"Adjustment, huh..."

The Magician pondered slightly.

That's true; although he currently also has the appearance of a youth, to reasonably enter High School, there is still some sense of discord; at the very least he needs to adjust to the stage of sixteen or seventeen years old.

However—

"By the way, can't I just go apply to be a teacher?"

He extended a slender Finger, scratched his cheek, and asked seriously.

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At the same time.

Also in this high-end Apartment, Room 505 on the fifth floor.

A girl with neat, waist-length blue Long Hair, wearing a long-sleeved North High Sailor Uniform with blue and white as the main tones, as if she had just returned home from school, raised her head from a posture as if sitting in Standby, a faint light flashing in her clear pupils.

Data Transmission was completed very quickly.

She received an Intelligence update from the Information Integration Thought Entity.

"... Suspected discovery of an 'Otherworlder' who appeared in the current Time Continuum due to Haruhi Suzumiya's call..."

"... Preliminary judgment: the other party's Positioning is also a Humanoid Interface; Essence suspected to be an unknown super-high-grade cosmic Lifeform; a humanoid contact Device manufactured for contact with Organic Lifeforms..."

"... Currently has accepted the Neutral Faction's proposal, preparing to observe Haruhi Suzumiya low-key..."

When the updated Intelligence was organized to the end, this beautiful girl with a Hime Cut immediately frowned lightly: "They actually still choose to continue observing? Clearly continuing like this won't bring any change at all."

As the Representative of the Radical Faction, she felt Faintly a great dissatisfaction arise.

After thinking seriously for a good while, she suddenly straightened her body again, returned to that quiet and Elegant posture, continued entering Standby state, merely murmuring as if in Soliloquy: "Yes, next I must Attempt to contact the Otherworlder..."

Within the Information Integration Thought Entity, there are also different consciousness Factions.

The current mainstream Neutral Faction tends toward the decision to maintain Observation of Haruhi Suzumiya without Intervention, and because there have been no results for a long time, it has provoked the Radical Faction's dissatisfaction.

And now, the Radical Faction has become aware of an extraordinary opportunity arriving, that is—

The Otherworlder.

Because they judged Xia Zhi's Avatar as having a Positioning similar to the Organic Terminals they manufacture, the Information Integration Thought Entity also judged Xia Zhi's 'superior' to be an extremely powerful existence... just like Xia Zhi's thinking, they also believe they have encountered an unknown super-high-grade cosmic Lifeform.

On this point, both sides have currently reached a Consensus.

(Chapter End)