Chapter Fifty-Four: The Endless Cycle

  "Hey! You're not human at all!" Akira Chousa shouted in discontent, and Kurenai directly grabbed her head and stuffed it back into the backpack.

  "Come on, I'm not human anyway, let's get moving!"

  He finally knew why he locked the door so tightly when Yui went out, it turned out that this little beauty was not honest all along and had been thinking of running away.

  It's just that this fighting power is slightly tragic.

  "Right, look over there." Jiǔ Mìng pointed to the wall not far away, where that stray cat was standing, staring at this place with a leisurely attitude...

  Asakura Ryouko thoroughly abandoned the idea of sneaking away quietly.

  "Okay, okay, Xi went out and received a phone call once, I heard that she was going to the train station, right? And also brought her swimsuit."

  "Huh? This weather, is indeed very suitable for swimming?" Jiǔ Mìng raised his head to take a look at the scorching sun, and under its direct rays, he felt a bit drowsy.

  "You're not even afraid of sunlight...... Are you really a ghost?"

  "What? Are you blind?"

  Jiǔ Mìng doesn't dislike sunny days, but if possible, he really didn't want to go out on such good weather. On cloudy days, the brightness isn't as dazzling, and others can't easily see anything abnormal about him. But under such bright conditions, Jiǔ Mìng's transparency problem becomes very serious, almost one glance is enough to reveal a huge issue.

  "How come you didn't get sunburned to death?" Asakura Ryouko asked with a tone of discontent.

  "You're going to go feed the cat now, where's the car?"

  The road to the station was bumpy, and even in the scorching weather, encountering people from time to time was a troublesome thing. If it weren't for Jiǔ Mìng taking a detour, otherwise... Jiǔ Mìng swaggered past once, as a result, that person reported the police in a very unsettled manner.

  Why bother?

  Alas, why can't I turn invisible?

  "Ah...... I'm going to throw up." A pained cry echoed from Asakura Ryouko's backpack, the nine-tailed fox's speed was no joke. This road of ups and downs, various evasions of sight, non-human movements, plus the bumpy ride had sufficiently punished Asakura Ryouko, whose fighting strength was lower than a cat's.

  The only thing that woke her up was that they had finally arrived at their destination.

  A very conspicuous line of people, the nine lives were also familiar. The leader, Nagato Yuki, was now waiting for something with a look of impatience on her face. She looked around and found that Hikaru Nakahara was missing...

  Time: 1:30 pm

  After making sure there was no one else around, Kurenai nodded and walked out of her hiding spot, "Hm, you all look... quite free."

  "Whoa?!" The most surprised was Haruhi Suzumiya, Koizumi Itsuki still had that harmless smile on his face, while Asahina Mikuru was looking at the Nine Lives with a bit of tension... Was she still afraid of ghosts?

  Afraid of being cheated in broad daylight!

  The usual calm and collected Nagato Yuki.

  "Aren't you the one who said you couldn't make it?! How did you suddenly pop up again, wanting to give me, the team leader, this kind of low-class surprise?"

  It's clear that Haruhi Suzumiya, who had a slightly annoyed expression earlier, is in a good mood now.

  "Hmm, I think it's not good to stay at home all the time, so I came out to take a look." Have you ever said something like this to me? Perhaps this topic is in that unclear and vague memory of mine, so Jiǔ Mìng found a very evasive way to answer.

  "Ah, Ah! You're absolutely right. Even if it's a ghost, being stuck in one place isn't good..." Haruhi Suzumiya said, pinching her chin and sizing up Kyoumei. Previously, at the mysterious shop, the colors had been intentionally adjusted to be mostly dark, so at first glance, he didn't seem out of the ordinary. But under these bright lights, it was immediately apparent that something was off.

  "I am, you've decided to come out, so shouldn't you take some countermeasures? Otherwise, others will notice something's off right away!" Clenching her feet, Haruhi Suzumiya hugged her arms, delighted that Kyon had arrived, but on the other hand, his identity was a hassle, and she couldn't bring herself to casually take him to public places.

  In that case, let's just forget about it for today, or else we might even be invited to drink tea.

  No shadow, plus a semi-transparent body, the problem is too big.

  "...it turned out a bit rushed, so I didn't prepare." Jiǔ Mìng shrugged his shoulders, "Or should I find a place to wait for you guys to finish playing?"

  "Absolutely not!" The very dictatorial interruption cut off Kyouko's request, and Suzumiya Haruhi walked back and forth, without even noticing that Koizumi had already arrived.

  "Hey, what's Haruhi doing now?" Koizumi said to Mikuru Asahina after parking his bicycle.

  "It seems like you're thinking about how ghosts appear in public places."

  "...No matter how I think about it, I feel like we're all being targeted by some 'mysterious department'..." Ah Xū's words trailed off halfway through, and as for the "mysterious department", wasn't that exactly what this smiling youth next to him was?!

  "Okay, I think we'll be invited by the police uncle to have a cup of tea."

  "Hiss, hiss, isn't your country very reverent of ghosts and demons? You directly worship them as gods." Jiǔ Mìng chimed in, having somehow snuck up on them.

  "That's just superstition, okay?"

  "As a superstition of moving, I'm really sorry."

  At this time, even in summer vacation, Nagato Yuki, who was still wearing her school uniform, pulled on Suzumiya Haruhi's sleeve, as if she had thought of some 'idea'.

  "Huh? Makeup?" Listening to Hikaru's suggestion, Haruhi Suzumiya's eyes lit up and she slapped her own palm strongly, "Great idea!"

  "Makeup... " With a slightly open mouth, Ah Xū wore an expression of stunned confusion as he glanced at Jiǔ Mìng's body. That completely transparent physique made it extremely difficult to conceal with makeup, "Are you referring to painting with oil paint?"

  It seems there's no quicker way to 'make up' than painting a wall.

  "Come a bit closer, I promise I won't kill you, really!" Paintbrush?! You dare to think that!

  "In short, the plan to go to the municipal swimming pool has been postponed for the time being!" It seems that she had found something more interesting, and Haruhi Suzumiya's eyes were shining brightly as she stared at Kyon, as if she had seen something that was similar to something else.

  I'm starting to regret coming here, and I couldn't help but think that Haruhi Suzumiya's natural face is obviously not made up, and thinking back to when I met her before, it seemed like she wasn't wearing any makeup either... He was very suspicious of Haruhi Suzumiya's so-called makeup skills.

  Fortunately, the worry of losing nine lives was in vain.

  "Give it to me." Yukie stepped forward and pulled out a small makeup box from her own bag...

  "Huh!? Ah-Virtual stared at Nagato Yuki's hand in shock, unable to see what it was. He really couldn't believe she would prepare something like that?"

  No, no, it feels more like she suddenly 'changed' into this, very strange, and this time there wasn't that kind of eerie feeling.

  "Uh...alright." After thinking for a moment, Haruhi Suzumiya nodded curtly.

  "Alright." Nino nodded at Kaito and led the way to a hidden location.

  "It's strange to say, but there doesn't seem to be anyone else here except for us." Ah Xū glanced around and felt a sense of emptiness in the large space, it shouldn't be like this even on a hot day.

  "Perhaps it's because Nagato did it, after all his identity was seen by others and the influence wouldn't be good." Kosen Mitsuki explained in a low voice.

  "It's really convenient... Come to think of it, I seem to have seen something moving in the backpack he was carrying."

  "Hmm... must be an illusion, right?" Kōshin'ichi Arima was also somewhat uncertain, after all, the Nine Lives weren't beings from their world, and suddenly appearing here was quite inexplicable. Only Ryōko ōtori, with her big heart, seemed to feel nothing out of the ordinary...

  "I hope it won't be a scenario where aliens invade the Earth." Ah-Virtual sighed, now SOS Brigade is really in full formation - Koizumi Itsuki, superpower boy, Nagato Yuki, future person, Long Gate Yuuhi, alien, Kuyou... different world ghost, Suzumiya Haruhi, a god who can destroy this world with just one thought.

  As for myself... ordinary to the point of being unable to be an ordinary high school student, I suddenly felt a kind of invisible huge pressure on myself...

  "Well, of course not. But if I were to invade this world... If I could 'conquer' Suzumiya-san, then there wouldn't be any need for an invasion or anything, would there?" Koizumi Itsuki said with a grin.

  A cold sweat broke out on Ah Xū's forehead, "Hey, you're saying that if she knew the truth, this world would definitely be turned upside down! And with her personality... what you said is absolutely delusional."

  "Can you tell me what's going on here?" After following Nagato Yuki to a secluded spot, Kurenai put down the backpack in her hand, and Asakura Ryouko, who had been enduring inside, finally couldn't hold back.

  "Ah ha, finally able to take a breath...... Waaaah!!"

  Nagato's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and she quickly moved to the front of the backpack, pressing Akane Tsukasa back in as she was about to say something. The zipper closed with a loud noise, and the entire backpack began to shake violently, no matter how hard Akane struggled, she couldn't get out...

  "Samsara, from August 17th to August 31st at midnight, the world is constantly repeating in a cycle."

  "! ? Is it like that over there too?"

  "You were not affected much, and you are the only one who was affected. If possible, you can completely leave."

  "What about my memory?"

  "You endured two huge time differences, and your main timeline passed for you where you were, so you can't fully recall all the memories of the 'time acceleration' phase for you."

  It means that the memory reaction of nine lives is impossible to be completely remembered in just one minute, and what happened during that infinitely extended minute, even if he had experienced it perfectly.

  "But even so, shouldn't I have more than one extra memory?"

  "With your consent, I've set up a protective mechanism for you. Any repeated memories will be directly blocked." Nagato Yuki explained faintly, "You're very good at keeping promises and haven't let Suzumiya Haruhi or anyone else discover anything unusual. Thank you very much."

  "Alright, alright." Jiǔ Mìng rubbed his head, with too many vague memories, and many things he wasn't clear about. "Then how many times has this world reincarnated? Over three thousand?"