Chapter Seventy: Is That Really It?

  "Hey, you're leaving after today, right?"

  In the end, the rabbit was let go...

  "Ah, maybe." Jiǔ Mìng replied, holding a blade of grass he had randomly plucked, perhaps after today would be another new cycle.

  "Back to that boring place of yours again?"

  "Bored? What makes you think so?"

  "It's like a cage, but going there once in a while feels kind of fresh. Haruhi Suzumiya crouched on the ground, stacking up several small stones, "But if you go too many times, it starts to feel ordinary, and there's also this feeling of being locked in... I don't like it."

  "It's true, after all, no matter how it changes, that place is still considered 'indoors'. Jiu Ming nodded, and that was the end of it. The main point was that there was a lack of atmosphere... people who couldn't bear loneliness would really find it hard to stay there."

  "Come to think of it, you can't just treat that place as your own home and then suddenly appear here out of nowhere, right?" said Haruhi Suzumiya, looking at Kyon with a hint of expectation.

  Kunmei scratched his head and hesitated before saying, "This is a bit difficult under normal circumstances. After all, our worlds are different."

  "Is that so? Can't you come often?"

  "Should..."

  "I knew it, that's right, after all you're a person from another world, being able to come this summer vacation is already very good, yeah, I'm very satisfied with this summer vacation."

  Hey, the more you say that, the more uneasy people feel, okay? Satisfaction isn't something you can just verbalize. Scratching his head, Jiǔ Mìng thought for a moment before continuing to add, forget it, no matter what vague concerns arise in my heart!

  "Actually, it's not impossible to come here normally, but some special conditions are required."

  A look of astonishment flashed across Haruhi Suzumiya's face. "I say! Such an outrageous condition is something I won't agree to!"

  What's going on? How did your tone suddenly become so lively?

  "You know, where I am is a 'store', of course there's also an element of accepting commissions. If you want me to come here, can't you give me a commission?"

  "Is that it?" Haruhi Suzumiya asked with a hint of skepticism.

  "Well, it's that simple, of course... This isn't free, what can you offer in return?"

  "What's with that, as a man you're asking a girl for something? That's great!" Haruhi Suzumiya pinched her chin and thought for a moment, then slapped her palm as if she had come up with a good idea, beaming with a smile as she stood up and looked down at Kyon, who was half-crouching counting ants. "From today on, you're the SOS Brigade's special advisor!"

  "Huh? Aren't you a member of the group?"

  "This is a commission! As for the reward, it depends on this young lady's favor."

  This is okay!? Kyon stared at Haruhi Suzumiya for a while, and as a result, Haruhi didn't show any signs of embarrassment, instead she responded to Kyon with a "you're in big trouble" look.

  Maybe I'm still making a profit in some way, but...

  Kunome felt that the mysterious shop's rules had taken effect, proving that her 'goodwill' was indeed effective!

  Even a 'god' who can shake up an entire world with just one thought shouldn't be able to create a backdoor like this...?

  "Well, I've accepted it." It seems like a long-term commission, but having one more everyday world feeling isn't bad either?

  Bang!

  "Hey! What's with hitting me?!" Kyon glared fiercely at Haruhi Suzumiya, who had suddenly whacked him on the head.

  "Of course it's revenge! Why didn't you just say what you wanted to say earlier instead of beating around the bush!"

  "Hmph, you think that's simple... Fine, I'm being overly sensitive." Shaking his head, Jiǔ Mìng stood up, "I want to add a condition!"

  "The young lady is in a good mood, speak."

  "Why don't you be a bit more gentle? You could be more like a girl..." Before he had even finished speaking, his knee was kicked hard and he looked down to see Haruhi Suzumiya's face rapidly expanding in his field of vision.

  "You don't look like a girl at all now?... Hmph." Moving her eyes, Haruhi Suzumiya released the grip on Mikuru's collar. "Don't get too carried away, I'm hungry, let's go eat something, and come back this afternoon to watch the sunset."

  "Alright..."

  …………

  11:58 PM

  "What a worry!" Ah Xū, sitting on the bed with no sleepiness, stared blankly at the alarm clock getting closer and closer to zero. After that moment, this world would reset again, wouldn't it?

  "Really worrying for your parents..." Looking up at the sky, Jiǔ Mìng shook his head and glanced at Liáng Gōng Chūn Rì who was leaning against him and had fallen asleep. No need to say, she definitely didn't plan on going back tonight. In just one more minute it would be midnight.

  Never mind, it's almost midnight anyway, and at this time he suddenly didn't worry that much.

  "Hmm..." She swallowed a mouthful of saliva, staring intently at the alarm clock that was roughly the same size as Motoki, and the last 40 seconds. Turning her head to Nagato Yuki, "Yuki, it's come down to this, can you release my ability restrictions? Temporarily is fine."

  "No way, you'll run away." There are still twenty seconds left.

  "Ahh!!!" she shouted, throwing the alarm clock in front of her at Nagato Yuki with all her might. Nagato Yuki caught the flying alarm clock with ease, holding it in her hand and quietly watching as the second hand approached 12 on the clock face.

  Sigh——

  He stared intently at the second hand on the alarm clock, which had already passed zero. His eyes bulged and his mouth was wide open, like a dehydrated fish. "Ahhh! I'm done for! My summer homework isn't finished yet!!!"

  A salted fish flipped over, Ah Xū swiftly turned on the lamp and pounced in front of the desk, tightly grasping the poor alarm clock with both hands, his eyes constantly wandering between it and the window outside... 00:01...

  *Sigh* Ah Xū put the alarm clock back in its original place, revealing a face that was both smiling and crying... But what about the summer homework? What to do...?!

  Haha haha haha haha haha!!!!!

  In his heart, Jiǔ Mìng (Nine Lives) was laughing wildly. In his hand, a sealed card appeared out of thin air. The card shattered and transformed into a black leather notebook. Nine Lives directly flung the notebook flying outwards... Zero hour has passed!!

  Looking at the time 00:01 displayed on his phone, Jiu's mouth, which had been lifted up by his nine lives, couldn't be pressed down no matter what. To think that... it was just this simple?

  I never thought that the place she regretted would be this place. Upon careful recollection, even Kyon wouldn't have thought of it as a 'place to think about', after all Haruhi Suzumiya could go there anytime, and every day she'd lower her head without looking up...

  Never thought she actually wanted was herself going there without anything happening to her.

  As for Haruhi Suzumiya being able to enter his place at will with the invitation card, isn't that hard to understand? An existence that can influence a world in an instant, she herself is connected to the 'source' of this world, and the invitation card requires the 'source' to open it. Even if she doesn't realize her own abilities, with just one thought, she could instantly max out that invitation card.

  This is just one of the ways she can mobilize the "source" in this world, other ways... such as the closed space mentioned by Xi, or more directly, the kind of change that produces edible things with nine lives.

  "Huh!? It's already past midnight......" Akane Chidori lay on top of Nagato Yuki's arm, staring blankly at the alarm clock that had already passed midnight. "You wouldn't be in cahoots with him and made up a story to deceive me, would you?"

  "Huh!?" Rarely, Nagato Aoi slightly raised an eyebrow and looked at Asakura Ryouko with a 'difference' in her gaze, "To think I was found out."

  "…I'm going!!!" Feeling that her intelligence had been insulted, Akira Chōkō kicked the alarm clock out of Nagato Yuki's hand, "Do you think I'm an idiot!!?!"

  "Ah ha~" Stretching out a long yawn, Kyoumi and Haruhi waved their hands, "Alright, I didn't sleep at all last night, I'm dead tired. Now I want to go home and take a nap."

  "I get it, let's go back. I've got to welcome the first day of school!" This time Haruhi Suzumiya didn't give Mikuru Neku any more trouble. When she woke up, she was at her own front door and she was lying on Mikuru's back, clearly having been carried home by him.

  "Alright, I'll visit your clubroom another day." Under Haruhi's gaze, the body of Kuyou slowly faded away like a feather in the sunlight.

  "It feels just like a dream." Looking at where the nine lives disappeared, Suzumiya Haruhi smiled and nodded, "OK! A new semester has begun!"

  Some people are happy while others worry...

  "Although I'm grateful that the cycle has been solved, why didn't you notify me in advance!? Hopefully... I can borrow some summer homework to copy. Under his sister's puzzled gaze, Ah Xū walked out of his room with a gloomy face and dark eye circles, having struggled hard for half the night, but still not finishing his summer homework..."

  "Didn't you sleep well, Ah Xū?" Xū's sister ran into his room with a tilted head under Ah Xū's lifeless gaze, and took a slight glance at the trash can in the room.

  "Hey!! Look over there! What are you suspicious of!!!" Ah Xū's face was flushed as he jumped up.

  "Hah! I've finally been freed!!" Looking around at the cold, sealed room with no windows except for that one door, Jiu Ming couldn't help but burst out laughing, as if being trapped in a cage was better than that endless cycle.

  Well... what's this? After laughing enough, Jiǔ Mìng pointed at the extra sealed card in front of him with one finger on his arm, and had an extraordinary gift again?

  Endless August

  Type: Skill

  Attribute: Time

  **Caution: Strong Warning! Use with Caution (in red)!!!!!!**

  Usage count: 1

  Note: Forcibly causing the current world's time to produce a 'temporary reversal', with a minimum of 1.4 seconds and a maximum of 14 days, be careful! You are not Haruhi Suzumiya! The backlash from the 'reversal' is borne by yourself, the higher the current world's intensity or the longer the 'reversal' time, the stronger the backlash will be!

  Convertible Source Power: 280,000

  "Pffft...... What a riot!?" Jiǔ Mìng stared blankly at the sealed card in his hand, this exorbitant value... wasn't 28,000, but 2.8 million!!!