Unlimited Ambition

If that's the case, then among her "not-so-ordinary" friends, there's probably an android from outer space.

"I understand," I continued. "She asked me to meet her tomorrow. Yuki, what do you think about this?"

"It's best not to go."

"What if I absolutely have to go?"

"...Can we not go?"

Yuki unexpectedly said this.

“She possesses half the power of another plane,” I explained. “Just like Haruhi. I can’t leave her alone.”

"Are all girls with dimensional power your targets?"

"That's one way to put it."

"be careful."

"I will."

After that, Yuki and I ended the call. After hanging up, she muttered under her breath, "Big liar."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: There is a creature called trouble.

I get up promptly at six o'clock in the morning, brush my teeth, wash my face, change my clothes, and then go to the next room to kiss my younger sister awake. We eat breakfast together. After saying goodbye, I go to school with Haruhi, who is waiting at the door. If I'm too slow and make her wait too long, she'll complain.

That's pretty much my life—except for the fact that I would secretly skip morning self-study, everything was normal.

At eight o'clock sharp, I arrived at the usual cold drink shop. Sasaki stood outside with a bright smile, seemingly having been waiting for some time.

When I asked that question, Sasaki just smiled and shook his head, seemingly unconcerned: "It wasn't long, really. I didn't see the specifics. I just saw you guys when you were at school, Kyon and Kasuga."

"...Is that so? But why don't I see you?"

"Of course he's hiding. You didn't look for him intentionally, so you wouldn't have found him."

Is that so? But I am, after all, a deity. An ordinary girl, especially one who deliberately hid herself—if she had acted like a normal person, I might not have noticed her at all. But since she deliberately "hid," she was as bright and conspicuous as a searchlight in the dark—yet I didn't notice her, which is strange.

"Dimensional power?" I whispered the term in her ear.

"What's that?" Sasaki asked curiously. He didn't seem to be faking it.

“You possess some very strange powers, don’t you?” I rephrased it.

“Aren’t you the same, Kyon?” Sasaki chuckled. “Or rather, Wright Baldwin?”

"Hehe, is that so?" I replied casually, and then followed Sasaki inside.

Wright Baldwin? How would she know my real name? Or does she just know that I'm a famous author?

As I made this guess, I followed Sasaki to sit down at a table. On the other side sat three people: two men and one woman.

One of the most striking figures was a girl—or rather, a woman?—with long, black hair, fair, cold skin, and an expressionless face. I couldn't quite guess her age. However, she was wearing the same black school uniform as Sasaki, so she was probably a high school student.

Is she Sasaki's classmate?

As I was thinking this, the woman, like a machine that hadn't been waxed, awkwardly raised her head to look at me, opened her mouth, and uttered a sound like an old-fashioned gramophone: "Kyuyo, Suoh."

"What a strange name. Is it Nine Luminaries Suoh?"

She shook her head: "Suoh, Kyuyo."

...Are you missing a screw in your head?

Sasaki, upon seeing this, explained, "That's not the case. Kyon, Miss Kuyou just doesn't quite understand the concept of 'self'."

I nodded: "Sky Cover Domain?"

……silence.

Well, it's really a defective product. The craftsmanship of that "sky cover" thing is just too poor. Compared to that, our Yuki is much cuter.

After thinking all this through, I completely lost interest in this Nine Luminaries or something similar.

The second woman was an adorable little girl with a lovely smile, cute brown hair, and cute pigtails.

How adorable! There seems to be no better compliment than this.

Of course, there's nothing else to it besides being cute.

"You have... superpowers?" I asked.

"You must be Kyon-senpai, right? It's an honor to meet you." The cute girl smiled sweetly, "Sasaki-senpai often mentions you." Then she stood up, extended her hand, and seemed to want to shake hands with me according to Western etiquette.

"What a polite child. What's your name?" I chuckled and extended my hand as well—then, as is my habit, I patted her head.

"Huh?" Before the cute girl could figure out what was happening, she felt a warm, extremely binding sensation spread from the top of her head throughout her entire body. She couldn't help but let out a soft moan, "Mmm..." and closed her eyes as if she were enjoying it.

The cute girl immediately realized she'd embarrassed herself, tried to open her eyes, and brushed my hand away, but the feeling was just too good. Not only that feeling, but the boy himself was equally pleasant. In his presence, I couldn't help but want to be affectionate, to crave his touch, and so much more…

So, until I withdrew my hand, the lovely girl didn't object verbally or physically. She just kept her eyes closed, seemingly very happy; if she had a tail, it would probably be wagging by now.

After I withdrew my hand, the girl lowered her head, her face flushed, and she looked a little disappointed. Her voice was so soft it was almost a whisper: "Just call me Kyoko Tachibana..."

"It's nice to meet you both." I smiled and nodded, then sat back down. "Alright, can we start talking about what's going on? Or, before that, how about a cold drink or something?"

"Cough, cough..." The man I had completely ignored frowned and coughed twice, hoping to get our attention.

"Of course, it's customary for me to treat... Ah, please ignore what I said earlier, just consider it a gentleman's modesty."

"Iced coffee." That's Sasaki.

"Orange juice." This is Kyoko Tachibana.

"..." This is the Nine Luminaries' defense.

"I want--"

"Okay, one iced coffee, one orange juice, and one more... right? Waiter, please come here."

"Kid! Don't ignore me!!!"

"If I were you, I would obediently shut my mouth and hide in a corner pretending to be dead, instead of howling like a ghost like this."

Like a warhammer, the chilling words were etched directly into his soul, nearly shattering his cowardly spirit into pieces.

After that, the unpleasant guy seemed to have gone mad and remained motionless.

“Alright, let’s continue.” I gave the other three girls an apologetic smile: “Can someone explain the current situation to me… Sasaki?”

I called on Sasaki, but he only gave me a gentle smile and that was it. He didn't explain anything further.

"Actually, I'm not entirely clear about the current situation either..." Sasaki said, and it didn't sound like he was making excuses.

“If you don’t mind, I can explain,” said the girl who called herself Tachibana Kyoko.

"Go ahead." I nodded.

"Let me introduce myself first... I, well, in general terms, am a psychic. Just like Tsuruya-senpai, whom you know. Similarly, I have many companions. However, our theory is slightly different from Tsuruya-senpai's—we believe that our power comes from Sasaki-kun."

"Wait a minute," I interrupted her, "When did you awaken this ability?"

"What happened a few months ago?"

"No, it's nothing, please continue."

"After that, we encountered Tsuruya-senpai's organization and discovered that while they possessed the same power as us, they cast a reverent gaze upon another being—that is, Suzumiya-san. They believed that their power was bestowed upon them by Suzumiya-san, and that Suzumiya-san was the creator—this was utterly absurd, they must have gotten something wrong. So we engaged in argument with them time and time again. In the end, neither of us could convince the other. After that, we lost contact with each other."

"It sounds like something an idiot would say—I mean, this 'fighting for the true God' rhetoric sounds like something a medieval religious idiot would say."

"I've said so much, why don't you understand, senpai? — Fine, I'll let you see that one anyway." After saying that, Kyoko Tachibana extended her hand.

"Want to do it again?" I asked with a light laugh.

No, no! Hold my hand—

"I don't really want to go to that kind of subspace—okay, okay, don't make that face like you're about to cry, as if I've bullied you."

So, when I took her hand again, Kyoko Tachibana stopped crying and started laughing.

As the surrounding space twisted and deformed, we left the real world and entered the subspace created by Sasaki.

"Let's go for a walk," Kyoko Tachibana suggested.

"No need." The magic I released instantly revealed the entire subspace. It was more sunny and calmer than the one in spring, and it didn't have that blue, transparent pure energy raging around.

"Don't you think this is a good place? It brings peace of mind."

"To be honest, I prefer things to be a bit more lively." After I finished speaking, I took Kyoko Tachibana's hand and returned to the real world once again.

"So, senior, do you think it's better to give this power to someone who could destroy the world at will, or to someone who is rational enough and can control themselves?" Kyoko Tachibana asked in the end.

"It's the same. Whether the world is destroyed or not is completely irrelevant to me. I just need to pay attention to what I should pay attention to and protect it."

"But senior, you—"

“Yes, I owe Sasaki—but that’s all I owe Sasaki. The rest is none of my business, and I don’t care—like your stupid cult.” I shrugged and then downed the lemonade in my glass.

"Alright, I don't want to hear any more. Right now, I just want to leave—Sasaki, would you mind coming with me?"

"Is this an invitation to a date?" Sasaki, who had been silent the whole time, asked.

"I suppose so." After I finished speaking, I grabbed Sasaki's hand and ran out quickly. Only the sulking Tachibana Kyoko, the still dazed time traveler, and the seemingly lesbian Suoh Kuyo, who was clinging to the waiter's hand, were left behind.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Harmless to Humans and Animals

Let's ignore those messy fake SOS Brigade members for now. Sasaki and I walked hand in hand down the street. Apart from our Kita High School uniforms being a little less than ideal, everything else was perfect.

We chatted happily about the weather, fashion, literature, art, politics, and current events. Just like in the beginning, Sasaki and I clicked. We were both good listeners, offered appropriate responses, and gave suitable compliments. Being with her was relaxing and pleasant, like a gentle breeze.

"You're really excellent, I mean, excellent from every angle." I praised her again. However, Sasaki didn't respond with her usual smile, saying things like she wasn't that good.

She stopped and turned to face me. Only then did I realize that there were hardly any pedestrians around anymore.

—No, there was absolutely no one there! The airflow around them changed, and the entire space seemed to freeze.

I looked at Sasaki, then asked, "Did you do this?"

“Isn’t this ability convenient?” Sasaki said with a smile. “You just imagine something in your mind, and then it becomes real.”

"That's not entirely wrong... but it still feels a bit awkward." I looked at Sasaki, slightly worried. After all, dimensional power isn't something you can use casually. Overuse can even destroy your soul.

“No? How could it be wrong?” Sasaki’s smile grew even brighter: “Just like Haruhi, who thought to herself: I don’t want Kyon to leave me, I hope we never leave each other. We’ll go to the same high school, the same university, and be in the same class. We’ll get married after graduation and die together in the end—if she thinks like that, it will become a reality, won’t it? Just like now, Kyon, you’re by Haruhi’s side, not me.”