Chapter 197: Team Leader Stays Tonight (Not Really)

Looking at Asakura Ryouko's gloomy expression, Xia Zhi let out a light cough:

"If it comes to that, Ryouko, why don't you try linking up with Itsuki directly? It shouldn't make much difference."

"It makes a huge difference..."

The girl braced both hands on his desk, gritting her teeth: "And that's not even the main point! Come to think of it, doesn't Haruhi Suzumiya ever get bored? Making the summer vacation loop over fifteen thousand times — what on earth was she thinking?!"

"This... I can more or less understand, actually."

Xia Zhi extended a slender finger, lightly scratching his cheek, his gaze drifting elsewhere.

"Besides, she did get bored in the end, didn't she? That's why the loop ended."

After all, it was their student days; if there's one dream, or fantasy, or delusion that everyone has had, it's surely the longing for a summer vacation that never ends, the longing for those cicada-filled midsummer days to last forever, for time to stand still, carefree and worry-free.

Who hasn't had that kind of fantasy?

Even though he has now set foot on the long stairs of mortal ascension to godhood, he ultimately walked out of those green years, so he naturally understands that kind of nostalgia and regret.

Haruhi Suzumiya is the same, only unlike ordinary people's powerlessness, she possesses incredible power. So she naturally became willful, unconsciously turning time back again and again, happily enjoying summer vacation in the long, repeating August.

— In her words, "The first-year high school summer vacation that comes only once in a lifetime" must be spent to the fullest...

— And so, she repeated that "first-year high school summer vacation" fifteen thousand times...

One must say, that is truly full to bursting.

However, the Team Leader satisfied her own obsession and regret, but others were not so fortunate.

"I still can't accept it, and what's so special about the first-year summer vacation anyway? Normally speaking, aren't the second-year and third-year summer vacations also once-in-a-lifetime?" Asakura pursed her lips, expressing her incomprehension and criticism with full resentment.

She perhaps also has a maiden's heart, but it is undoubtedly an alien version.

So it's hard for her to understand this youthful regret.

"The reasoning is that reasoning, so she didn't say she'd only do it once during first year; maybe she'll get the same treatment in second and third year too? It might even become an annual tradition, who knows."

Xia Zhishen nodded in deep agreement, echoing along, though the words coming from his mouth were somewhat cold.

At least for classmate Ryouko... it was far too cold.

"I can't take it anymore..."

This blue-haired, waist-length beauty Class Representative looked as if struck by lightning; her expression could no longer hold, she slumped onto the desk with a devastated face, eyes vacant as if she had lost her dreams: "Maybe I should just choose to format myself."

"That's really not necessary. Itsuki just showed signs of developing self-emotion, so why are you instead preparing to format yourself... this back and forth, is it fun?" Xia Zhi raised an eyebrow, then clearly expressed opposition.

He didn't want to see Asakura Ryouko just format herself like that.

And saying it so lightly, as if a familiar girl suddenly stood before him and said she was going to commit suicide...

As expected, different lifeforms, to the extent that even concepts differ?

Or perhaps, things obtained too easily are not cherished? After all, unlike Nagato Yuki who is emotionless, precise as a machine, she seemed from the start to walk a path opposite to "rationality", a direction of "sensibility".

"Itsuki's was a bug, okay..."

Asakura Ryouko muttered: "Our positioning is as a contact device, but to approach Haruhi Suzumiya for observation without arousing suspicion, we still use an organic lifeform's life shape, using human standard templates as blueprints, not true machines."

When facing the most demanding operating environments, even the most precise machines can have bugs.

Let alone organic bodies.

"Alright, looks like Ryouko you've already decided, then I won't say anything more."

Xia Zhi thought for a moment, then nodded to show his support, and directly turned his gaze to the silent Nagato Yuki beside him:

"Anyway, Itsuki is also starting to show a tendency toward self-emotion now, so it shouldn't make much difference either."

"..."

"..."

Asakura Ryouko, who had been seriously pondering, stiffened instantly, then she immediately straightened up, resettled herself, and recovered that elegant and quiet ladylike demeanor: "Forget it, I was just saying it casually..."

Nagato Yuki didn't speak, just looked thoughtfully at Asakura Ryouko's sudden change of heart, beginning to ponder the logic behind it. In the past, she actually wouldn't pay attention to these trivial details unrelated to the mission, which is why she and Asakura Ryouko had a disagreement over the route dispute in the early period.

Asakura Ryouko grew tired of the unchanging observation mission, wanting to do something to change it, actively stimulating Haruhi Suzumiya's spirit.

Nagato Yuki, on the other hand, completely couldn't understand; she felt that as long as they carried out observation by the book, any other extra matters were unnecessary.

From this point, one can clearly see where the difference between the two lies.

Who is more like a human.

And who is more like a machine.

Only, probably starting from the memory synchronization just now, Nagato Yuki has also undergone a slight, subtle change. She noticed this point and began self-examination.

Is this the "error" accumulated amidst thousands upon thousands of repetitions?

However, whether on the physical level or the mental level, no conventional problems can be detected; it's not like a real machine where after a malfunction you can find a hardware issue or a code error — such things do not exist.

Is it a deviation caused by the so-called "sensibility" element amidst massive information accumulation?

Nagato Yuki thought seriously; this feeling is subtle, but it is indeed the first time she has thought about her own affairs outside of the mission.

"Right, is Haruhi Suzumiya aware of the loop's existence?"

Asakura Ryouko thought of something at this moment and hurriedly asked, this is crucial.

"You could just apply for future intelligence and know, couldn't you? Why ask me?"

Xia Zhi looked at her strangely.

"No way, that would be suffering twice!"

The beautiful Class Representative shook her head repeatedly, resisting this, though her words had a distinct ostrich-burying-head-in-sand escapism style.

"Haruhi Suzumiya knows... during that looped time, she not only knew clearly."

At this moment, Nagato Yuki at the side spoke calmly.

"She also cooperated with 'herself' in using the vacation allotment, possibly alternating days, possibly alternating morning and afternoon; the specifics depend on the discussion results between her and herself, and there are some variations in each loop."

"She cooperated with... 'herself' in using the vacation?"

Asakura Ryouko's eyebrows shot up high, and she glanced again at Xia Zhi beside her.

"That's right, we only just arrived at that time period, and the Haruhi of that time period came looking for us on her own."

Xia Zhi affirmed it calmly.

"The logic is probably because the current her has experienced that loop and already knows what's going on; when the normal timeline advances to August, she'll take the initiative to seek us out."

The situation at the time was indeed exactly that; he had just confirmed what time point he had transmigrated to when he discovered the other Team Leader had already come running up the mountain from the bottom in high spirits. Moreover, she headed straight for him and the Haruhi of that time with a clear target, looking exceptionally excited.

His reaction was also very fast; he basically understood what was going on immediately.

The Team Leader's own adaptability was also extremely strong; she quickly negotiated with her other-timeline self on how to maximize the use of the looping summer vacation.

That's why she was able to be so energetic, initiating vacation activities one after another, calling the SOS Brigade members to continuously try all sorts of routes in the looping time; that was because she and herself were alternating shifts, anyway she was resting now, and once summer vacation arrived she could make it back up.

Harboring this idea, she didn't feel she was losing out at all; on the contrary, she was in high spirits, full of energy, and brimming with motivation.

"In other words, she wasn't satisfied with just fifteen thousand loops, but because on top of this foundation she experienced two more summer vacations, equaling over a thousand years... right?" The blue-haired girl's expression was not calm; she felt that crazy woman was too terrifying.

"And that's even under the premise of knowing the loop exists; could her intellect possibly not wear down at all? Lying; humans fundamentally cannot possess such intellect."

"..."

"..."

"Maybe it's because she finds it interesting."

Xia Zhi gave a dry laugh; although it was quite regrettable, this world is just that unfair.

Kyon and the others cannot perceive the loop problem; at most they just have some deja vu, so there's actually not much impact; only those "people" who can retain their memories through each time loop inevitably feel fatigue amidst the thousands upon thousands of reincarnations.

The culprit has privileges, so naturally there's no need to discuss it.

Xia Zhi is experienced; he is too familiar with this, or rather too proficient, so he similarly feels nothing.

Only these two Material Information Mages, typical glass cannon builds, possessing the abilities of Information Manipulation and Information Linkage, are themselves organic bodies configured based on the Earth human template. It's like running sci-fi future software on an outdated old computer...

Strong, they truly are strong; fragile, they truly are fragile.

Running continuously for six hundred years without maintenance is indeed too high a load.

But no matter how you put it, these are all things destined to happen next; they probably cannot be changed; Xia Zhi notifying them in advance now is to let them prepare early.

However, there's still one last problem—

"How does the loop end?" Asakura Ryouko asked with a furrowed brow.

————————

————————

Afternoon.

After school.

Not long after the bell rang throughout the campus, the SOS Brigade members also arrived at the club room one after another.

However, strangely, Haruhi Suzumiya, who is usually bustling about and never late, this time did not arrive quickly; instead, after another while, she staggered in, listless and weak, pushing the door open and walking in, yawning incessantly.

"Um—"

With a face full of exhaustion, she scanned the surroundings, waved her hand: "I'm a bit tired, so I'm resting today, no activities, everyone go home."

"..."

"..."

Everyone wore a speechless expression.

But the Team Leader was also quite frank; she just said she was very tired today, had no energy or mood, so for this kind of situation they couldn't really say anything. They could only express a few words of concern, then picked up their things and left the club room one after another, although Koizumi Itsuki and Asahina Mikuru both looked unwilling.

They were probably thinking of taking advantage of today to confirm some things.

At least they had to see what happened last night.

"So tired, why am I so tired today..."

After everyone else left, Haruhi Suzumiya no longer kept up appearances, directly plopping down on the steel pipe chair beside her, her whole body limp there, looking like a salty fish.

"And how come our class curriculum is so weird, has it already reached that point? I have no impression at all? Did something get mixed up?"

"This is obviously just summer vacation syndrome, after all you played too long before, now suddenly coming back to continue school, it's definitely not that easy to adjust your state." Xia Zhi pushed the door in from outside, hearing this he said with a smile, "Feeling bored, unable to raise your spirits, low study and work efficiency in the first two or three days after the holiday are all very normal."

After all, strictly speaking, the Team Leader just gave herself an extremely long vacation.

She played her heart out for six hundred years, now suddenly coming back to attend classes, to catch up on six hundred years of study progress, of course it's a very difficult thing; she herself finds it very difficult too.

"It's over, it's over, my studies are definitely done for, what about exams later..."

Haruhi looked as if she saw the end of the world, her hollow eyes seemingly having lost their luster.

"How could that be, this semester just started not long ago, you'll definitely be able to catch up." Xia Zhi laughed it off; he didn't believe the girl would fail in this aspect; she's always been an honor student, not only is her own academic ability strong enough, she also masters a unique review method.

That is, before exams, she relies on her own intuition to take the questions that might appear on the exam as key review points.

The result is naturally a matter of course; the exam will definitely test the questions she reviewed heavily.

It's simply drawing the target after shooting the arrow; naturally she succeeds in everything.

"Hope so." Haruhi Suzumiya waved her hand listlessly, spoke dejectedly, then raised her head to look at the youth and Yuki beside him, "Is it time to go home? Perfect, I'm really tired today, let's go back quickly... Right, I want to eat curry rice tonight, can I?"

She stared straight in Xia Zhi's direction.

"It's possible... but whatever you want to eat, why tell me?" The Magician raised an eyebrow.

"Hasn't it always been you responsible for cooking?" The Team Leader said as a matter of course.

"..."

"..."

"You're planning to go back with us?"

Xia Zhi sized up the girl's expression, tentatively confirming.

"Why not? If I don't go back with you, where do I live?" Haruhi Suzumiya looked at him with a face full of surprise, "Are you planning to chase me away?"

"No, I mean we've already returned now..." The youth rubbed his brow, "Now is the normal timeline, there's no need to worry about two of you appearing, so you can go back to your own home... Otherwise, your dad and them would be worried, right?"

"..."

"......"

A brief silence.

The air in the Club Room seemed to have frozen solid.

The girl suddenly sat up straight, a surprised expression appearing on her face: "Right! I still have a dad!"

——————————

(PS: Power outage... tough to handle.)

(Chapter End)