Content Warning: The following story contains content that some readers may find objectionable and/or disturbing. It contains: Transformation as a central topic.
Disclaimer 1: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, organizations, or events is purely coincidental.
Disclaimer 2: The following work uses character and concepts from the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya bu Tanigawa Nagaru and the Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya by Puyo. The author of this work is not associated or connected in any way with the creators of those works.
Running headfirst into a brick wall. After having taken a ride in a dryer. That was the physical sensation that best corresponded to what the adult version of Mikuru Asahina was feeling right now. She had been returning to her own time after helping Kyon return the universe to its original form when suddenly, this happened.
Mikuru had not made it back to her own time. There were two aspects of her surroundings that told her this: Firstly, it was nighttime, and she had been aiming for daytime. Secondly, instead of the regional outpost her fellow time travelers had established on the former site of North High, she was at North High itself. Based on the scenery around her Mikuru guessed that she hadn't gone more than a few months into the future from when she had left. The trees were regaining their leaves, which meant it was Spring, but there was no sign of the infamous "Potato Robot Event" that had occurred during the Summer of Haruhi's second year at North High. She shuddered in remembrance of that event. It had left mental scars on most of the high school's population, and physical scars that remained on the school for the remainder of its existence.
Mikuru had encountered a fault in the timeline that had stopped her prematurely. It was far larger than any her people had encountered before save for that which blocked off the past beyond the event that created the espers. It had not been present when she traveled backwards through time. That should not be possible. The past and future always were and always would be. For a fault in the timeline to exist here, it must have always existed there. Yet it had not. Something was very wrong.
A girl's voice came from behind her.
"I imagine that was quite unpleasant for you. Am I correct? My understanding of organic lifeforms is not perfect, so I'd appreciate an honest answer. While you can still give one, that is."
Mikuru turned to face the person who had spoken. The voice was not one she recognized, but when Mikuru saw the speaker's face she recognized it instantly, and it sent a pulse of dread running through her body. It was another of North High's students or rather, another of North Highs former students. The two of them had never met during Mikuru's time at North High, but Mikuru still knew her face. She was in the dossier Mikuru had been given so many years ago, and labeled as extremely dangerous: Ryoko Asakura.
"Are you going to answer me? I suppose not. It's too late for you to give me an answer now. Oh well, that's a pity."
Rather than waste time asking what Ryoko meant, Mikuru reached into a pocket, bigger on the inside than the outside, that was hidden on her skirt. Unlike her younger self, she was permitted to carry advanced weaponry. No matter what Ryoko had in mind, she wouldn't get the chance to pull it off before Mikuru disrupted her connection to the physical world. All she had to do was pull out her weapon...
But her hand refused to close around the weapon's handle. In fact, Mikuru could barely feel her hand. It had gone numb. She pulled it from her pocket and gasped as she saw what had become of it. Instead of her hand Mikuru saw a useless, dark mass. Panicking, she grasped at it with her other hand, only for a clacking sound to result. Her other hand had suffered the same fate, its fingers fused into a hard, useless mass.
Mikuru shuddered, her breaths coming in shaking gasps. She wanted to scream, but her throat muscles were too tight for any more than a faint whimper to emerge. In all of this, Mikuru failed to notice as pressure began to build in her shoes until the moment they burst apart. Just as had happened to her hands, the toes on each of Mikuru's feet had merged into a single black mass. The changes continued up her legs, restructuring her bones and causing Mikuru to fall backwards onto her plump rear.
The shock of the impact was finally enough to free Mikuru's vocal cords. "HEE-HAAAW!"
That involuntary reaction, the bray that should have been a simple "oomhp!" finally explained to Mikuru what was happening to her: She was turning into a donkey. It was with an almost detached peacefulness that Mikuru realized that in the time it had taken her to have the initial realization, fur had begun to spread up her arms and legs, her ears stretched out from her head, and a donkey's tail was poking out of he skirt.
Once Mikuru had taken this all in she noticed a shifting in her mouth: her jaw stretching and teeth reshaping. This broke Mikuru's calm, and the time traveler's detached composition broke down into a braying panic. She desperately attempted to stand, but her reshaped legs would not allow it. All she managed to do was flop onto her side.
The transformation continued. Mikuru's clothing tore apart as her body gained mass. Soon, the only physical signs that she had once been human were her hair and the torn clothing laying around her. The newly-transformed donkey was thoroughly exhausted by her transformation; even if she had known how to stand with her new body Mikuru would not have had the energy to do so.
Ryoko spoke, "Well, that deals with you. I do apologize for not giving you enough time to answer my question, but the two of us are being watched, so I felt a bit of pressure to hurry things along. Off with you now."
With that said, a glow enveloped Mikuru and she disappeared from the school grounds, sent to a holding location Ryoko had set up.
Ryoko gathered up the tattered scraps of Mikuru's clothing. It wouldn't be very smart to leave evidence lying around. Once finished, she turned to face a small grove of trees lining the school's perimeter walls. "I apologize for the wait. It is your turn now."
Mori Sonou was not a normal woman. She didn't fit into any of the categories Haruhi Suzumiya had called for on her first day of high school (alien, time traveler, esper, or slider), but that did not make her normal. She was one of the most dangerous agents employed by the Organization, and a talented actor. She also enjoyed dressing up like a maid; a habit she had picked up when she played one during the SOS Brigade's island vacation. This last fact explained why an operative on a covert observation mission was wearing a maid's dress.
Although the Organization had North High under constant watch, that duty would not normally have fallen to Mori. Earlier that day, however, the Organization had received a garbled message that, as near as they could tell, was a warning to be on alert. Knowing that they could not afford to take a warning lightly the Organization had dispatched every agent it had available to the observation and protection of Haruhi, Kyon, and the espers. Even now, the majority of their agents were on protection detail. Mori was alone in observing North High because the higher-ups decided that with the students gone for the day, it was unlikely to be attacked, but if it were, she would probably be able to deal with it.
Mori was mentally cursing that thinking. Nobody had expected Ryoko Asakura to return. There was no way a human of the modern day could defeat an alien like her. And even if it were possible, Mori wouldn't have had the chance to try. From the moment the adult version of Mikuru Asahina had appeared, Mori had been unable to do anything but breathe and move her eyes. Ryoko had disabled her before even starting on Mikuru.
And now here she was: The well-known, psychotic alien was standing before Mori's frozen body with a friendly smile on her face. The same smile she always wore, no matter what. That same, frozen smile...
"I would say that it's rude to spy on people, Miss Mori, but I did expect you to do this after I sent your Organization that warning. Oh, is that confusion in your eyes? You want an explanation, don't you? I'm sorry, but I won't be explaining anything. I know what happens to people who explain their plans."
As soon as Ryoko finished speaking Mori felt a rumbling coming from deep inside her. Despite her paralysis, the rumbling worked its way out of Mori's mouth as a deep moan far deeper than anything coming out of a human body should be. "OoooooooOOOooo!" It was familiar, but Mori did not immediately recognize it.
With the release of the moan, Mori found herself released from her paralysis. She scrambled backwards, not even thinking about the pointlessness of the act. Even the best human agents were helpless against data interfaces like Ryoko.
Mori's feet began to feel pressured inside her shoes, and remembering what happened to Mikuru, Mori raised herself onto her tiptoes. She was just in time; as her new hooves tore her shoes apart Mori found herself standing with relative stability. But now she could not run. Her changing legs would not allow it.
Mori felt pain in her abdomen, and a pressure on her backside. It felt like her panties were squeezing into her. The faux maid lifted her long skirt to see what was happening, just in time to see her panties get torn off by her swelling udder. A brown cow's tail swished into sight.
This was too much for Mori, and she tried to scream. "MOOOOooooOO!" Again, it was that same deep moan, but this time she recognized it. Her ears, having transformed as well, flicked back and forth.
Mori held that position, with her hands holding up her skirt and her legs transforming, until her hands suffered the same fate as her feet and became hooves. Her hips finished transforming, and Mori fell to all fours. Her body expanded massively, shifting and changing until it was indistinguishable from a cow's. All that was left was for her face to change, which it soon did: Mori's nose broadened and flattened as her mouth pushed out into a cow's muzzle. She was finished changing. Just like Mikuru before her, the only physical signs Mori was once human were her hair and tattered clothing.
"Well, off with you now. Please keep Mikuru company until I send more people to join you."
Ryoko was already gathering up the remains of Mori's clothes while the new cow was disappearing. After she was finished, Ryoko paused for a moment, confused.
"Oh dear, did her frilly hairpiece stay on? I'd wanted to take that for myself. Oh well, I can take it later."
Before classes started in the morning, Itsuki Koizumi called a meeting of the members of the SOS Brigade not named Haruhi. The disappearance of one of the Organization's top agents had not been missed, and he wanted to see if any of them had any information. Kyon, as the normal human of the bunch, knew nothing. The news from Yuki Nagato and the teenaged version of Mikuru Asahina, though, was not good. According to Yuki, the Data Overmind was in an uproar over some sort of unauthorized action, although she did not have access to what the action in question was. Mikuru's news was even more alarming: She had lost contact with the future.
Mikuru had lost contact with the future once before, when they were trapped in a time loop, but Yuki assured them that that was not the case this time.
The news from the supernatural women, though alarming, was also not useful. Eventually the four of them had to split up to attend their classes. Whatever was going on, alarming Haruhi by skipping class would not help things.
The teenaged version of Mikuru Asahina was sitting in class and trying to look like she was paying attention to what the people of the twenty-first century called education when a message came over the device she used to contact the future. No one else could hear it, since the device was broadcasting only to Mikuru. The message was very faint, "Danger... danger... run... run..."
Mikuru did not have the composure of her older self. Upon hearing the message, she immediately stood and started running from the room. She barely managed to call back to the class, "I-I'm sorry everybody! I j-just remembered something! I have to go!"
Most of the class was stunned by this outburst. Tsuruya, as Mikuru's closest friend, recovered more quickly than the rest of the class. She stood and began to pursue Mikuru.
The teacher called out, "Hey, wait! Where do you thi-"
Before the teacher could finish, Tsuruya paused, shrugged at the teacher, and continued chasing after her friend.
The modern day heiress quickly caught up to her time-traveling friend.
"Hey, Mikuru! What's going on? You didn't actually forget something important, did you?"
"Ah! Tsuruya! No, I'm sorry, I can't explain right now. But w-we have to run! I know that much!"
Tsuruya looked at her friend. She could see it in her eyes: This wasn't just something unpleasant, Mikuru was genuinely terrified of something.
"Alright, Mikuru, where do we have to run to?"
But Mikuru didn't answer. She was looking at something behind Tsuruya. The time traveler's eyes widened in horror and all color drained from her face. Mikuru turned and ran, but didn't get far before her shoes split open to reveal that her feet now more three long, scaly toes each, causing her to tumble to the ground.
Tsuruya knew she should do something to help Mikuru. Her friend was in trouble, but she couldn't bring herself to move. All she could do was stand there and gape at what was happening to Mikuru, one arm weakly pointing at her in disbelief.
Meanwhile Mikuru was continuing to transform. The back of her skirt tore open as a set of white tail-feathers grew from Mikuru's backside. Her lips hardened and pushed outwards, forming a beak. Mikuru, disbelieving, raised her left hand to examine her face but all she got was a face-full of feathers. Her left arm had begun to transform into a wing while she was occupied with her new beak. Her right arm was swiftly following suit.
Mikuru cried. There didn't seem to be anything else to do. Her voice wouldn't even come out properly; all of her cries came out as coos.
Then Mikuru noticed a new shifting. It wasn't the shifting inside of her that had transformed her so far; it was on the outside. This new development got just enough of Mikuru's attention for her to realize that her clothes were shifting over her body. No, that wasn't right. Her body was shifting under her clothes. Mikuru was getting smaller as she transformed! Soon all that was left of Mikuru was a white dove with an odd patch of red hair trapped in a pile of torn, oversized clothes.
This was enough to rouse Tsuruya from her stupor. She rushed over to help her transformed friend, but a voice from behind her stopped Tsuruya in her tracks.
"Ah-ah-ah. She's mine now. I'd thank you to keep your hands off of her, but you no longer seem to have any."
It was true. Tsuruya's hands had undergone the same transformation into wings that Mikuru's had. A new sight entered Tsuruya's field of vision from below: Her lips were transforming into a beak that looked, from her perspective, to be considerably larger than Mikuru's. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a sound best described as a cross between a squawk and a honk.
Tsuruya tried to take a step, but her right leg simply came out of her shoe and sock. It was just like Mikuru's save that it was darker in color. She stumbled, which the girl who had spoken before seemed to find very amusing, as she was covering her mouth as she laughed. Tsuruya's left leg soon suffered the same changes as her right.
An odd feeling of compression came over Tsuruya. It was like her body from her neck down to her legs was being squished and reshaped, but her height wasn't changing at all. When she looked down at her body Tsuruya saw that was exactly the case; her had a greatly lengthened neck while her body was reshaped like a crane's. Her head shrank and feathers covered her body, some of them white and some black. With a little more resizing, Tsuruya's transformation into a crane was finished.
For the first time, Ryoko had to remove some clothing from one of her victims. She just didn't feel that it would be right to send them to the holding location with any clothes on (Mori's hairpiece being an unfortunate oversight). Roughly pulling off the remains of Tsuruya's top elicited an angry squawk.
"Being loud won't do you any good, you know. I sealed this hallway to that no sound from inside would reach outside. Oh, by the way, Miss Asahina? If you ever return to normal it might be a good idea to not listen to messages that don't include the password. Well, of you go now."
And with that, the two new birds disappeared from North High, and Ryoko moved to dispose of their clothes.
Four people sat in the SOS Brigade clubroom after school.
"Argh! Mikuru's late! So late! She'll suffer a thousand penalties for this! I'll make her dress up like a- a- a... Hey, Kyon, Itsuki! What haven't I dressed Mikuru up as yet?" That was Haruhi Suzumiya, leader of the SOS Brigade and unknowing god.
As Kyon was momentarily lost in happy reminiscence of all the outfits Mikuru had been forced to wear, Itsuki answered, "I'm not certain, Miss Suzumiya. Perhaps we should look for her and ask the person in question herself?"
"Ah! Good idea, Itsuki! As expected of my brigade's Vice-Chief! Alright you three, let's go! It's Operation Find-Mikuru-And-Force-Her-Into-A-New-Cosplay-Outfit!"
With that, the four members of the SOS Brigade present, Haruhi Suzumiya, Itsuki Koizumi, Yuki Nagato (who Haruhi had not called on earlier because she was engrossed in a book), and Kyon left the clubroom and made their way to Mikuru and Tsuruya's classroom.
Upon their arrival the students on cleaning duty told the Brigade about Mikuru and Tsuruya running out of the room earlier, and how no one had seen or heard from them since. This news tore down Haruhi's veneer of anger and let her true worry show through. Haruhi tried calling her missing friends on their cell phones, but there was no response.
"Alright you three! We have two missing people! We're going to conduct a city-search for them! I know we normally break up into groups to do this, but we have to cover as much ground as possible, as fast as possible! So, I'll search north from here, Yuki, you'll search south. Itsuki and Kyon, east and west. It's time to find our friends! We'll meet back up at the clubroom later!" Without waiting for a response, Haruhi ran off.
Kyon turned to Itsuki. "Any idea what's going on?"
The esper sadly shook his head. "No, and if we combine the disappearances on Miss Asahina and Miss Tsuruya with Mori's disappearance..." he trailed off.
Kyon finished for him, "It looks like we're being targeted by someone. What about you, Nagato? Any ideas?"
But Yuki wasn't there.
"My dear friend, you don't think that Miss Nagato accepted Miss Suzumiya's order so readily, do you?"
"Not a chance, Itsuki."
"Yes, that is my thinking as well. Something is very wrong here. We'll need to stick together."
A third voice joined them, "Oh? And what good do you think that will do?"
Kyon stumbled backwards. That voice belonged to Ryoko Asakura, a girl who had already tried to kill him twice.
Itsuki stepped between Ryoko and Kyon. Like Mikuru, he had never met Ryoko, but the Organization had its own dossier on her, and Kyon had told him of the events of the other world. "Go! Run, now! I'll hold her off for as long as I can!"
"Oh? You want to do things physically? Well, I suppose that I can go along with that for a little while." With that, Ryoko revealed that she was carrying a combat knife, and lunged at Itsuki...
Only to fall flat on her face with a surprised, "Hweh?!"
Ryoko looked back to see what could be responsible for her fall and saw that her feet had fused together into a brown lump. Said lump was slowly sprouting tendrils from its base as the brown slowly spread up Ryoko's legs.
"I detected your attack earlier today and determined that these two would most likely be your next targets. All I had to do to lure you out was render myself undetectable. I could not interfere earlier due to the damage it would have caused the subjects in-transformation. But that is not the case now." Yuki Nagato had indeed not obeyed Haruhi's order.
Ryoko found herself lifted upright as the brown jumped to her knees and fused them together. She dropped her knife as her fingers and arms began to whither away, shrinking into her body. Strands of Ryoko's long hair began to rise up and fuse themselves together as green leaves sprouted from the ends of them. She was becoming a tree; a cherry tree to be exact.
"Oh, it's not fair! Every time I try to do something to shake things up I get punished! And this time I even had the backing of more than just the Radical faction!"
Those were the last words Ryoko Asakura spoke before the transformation reached her face, and she became wooden through-and-through. Without anything to put its roots in, the new cherry tree looked for a moment like it would topple, but then disappeared, clothes and all.
"So, Nagato, exactly what was all this about?" Kyon asked.
"The Radical faction of the Data Overmind argued for the return of Unit: Ryoko Asakura in order to stimulate a release of new data by Haruhi Suzumiya. It gained support for her return by altering her assignment from killing people close the Haruhi Suzumiya to making them disappear. It was believed that this would allow any action with an undesirable consequence to be undone by returning those taken. She has accomplished this by transforming them into various animals and transporting them to a sealed area in the local park. I have sent her to join them." Yuki proceeded to tell them the exact location.
"She turned Asahina-san and Tsuruya into animals?!" Kyon was outraged.
"Yes. Also victimized in this way were Mori Sonou and the alternate time-plane version of Mikuru Asahina."
Koizumi spoke up, "Will you be able to return them to normal?"
"Yes. However Unit: Ryoko Asakura's code was highly advanced this time. It will take approximately three days for the code to return them to normal to be ready."
"Well, that's not good news, but things could be much worse. I'll have to contact the Organization and see about having them set up a cover story that will calm Miss Suzumiya down." Kyon didn't like to admit it, but Itsuki could be pretty reliable at times like this.
As Kyon and Itsuki walked off discussing what kind of cover story would be best, they failed to notice that Yuki had stopped accompanying them at some point. They both believed that it was just her trademark silence as she was engrossed in her book.
In truth, Yuki had been halted not long after the defeated Ryoko was transported away.
"You know, that was quite inconsiderate. The Data Overmind voted, and the majority was in favor of this plan. You've acted quite selfishly by stopping Unit: Ryoko Asakura." It was Emiri Kimidori, the alien data interface who had been made into Yuki's handler in the aftermath of the incident in December. "I have now been assigned to finish her job."
Yuki had already known that. Under normal circumstances she would have been able to fight Emiri and have a decent chance of victory, but although it hadn't looked like it on the physical plane, her battle with Ryoko had left her drained of attack data. She could not fight Emiri. She could not even resist.
Yuki's changes had started with her feet, which had shrunken to the point her shoes fell off, only to tear apart her socks when they transformed into cloven hooves. A short fuzz of fur was growing up her shifting legs. The fuzz would not reach the top of Yuki's legs, however, because growing down from her things was a much thicker, fluffier wool.
Yuki's ears grew out from the sides of her head, growing into wide ovals with their own short fur. The bridge of her nose flattened into her face as she began to develop a muzzle.
Throughout all of this, Yuki had been maintaining a hold on her book. Then her hands started to shift, and her fingers transforming and hardening. As her hands finished their transformation into cloven hooves Yuki finally lost hold of her book. With this, she realized that there was a good chance that she would never get to read another book.
That was the straw that broke Yuki Nagato's eternal composure. She tried to yell out in anguish, but all that came out were the bleatings of a sheep.
Yuki fell onto all fours as her changes continued. Her body began to heat up as more and more wool grew under her school uniform she was clearly not turning into a recently-sheared sheep. Finally the shape of her torso changed enough that Yuki's body burst free of her clothing. Where Yuki Nagato had once stood was now a sheep with a mop of purple hair on its head.
"Oh, and Yuki? Trying to use that reversal program you've been working on won't do any good. I've revoked your data modification privileges." With that, Emiri transported Yuki to the holding area, and got rid of the scraps that remained of Yuki's clothing.
It was only when Kyon and Itsuki returned to the clubroom that they realized Yuki was no longer with them. Haruhi had of course not returned yet (it was only a few minutes after her decision to search for their missing friends, after all), and the two males noticed that no one entered the room after them.
After a quick discussion about when the last time either of them had seen Yuki was, both began to fear the worst. Remembering that Yuki had told them where the victims of transformation were being held, the two rushed to the park.
"I can sense a barrier here. It cuts off one part of the park from the rest; under normal circumstances nothing can get in or out, yet nobody notices it." Itsuki was still being dependable.
"So is this like that time with the camel cricket? Can you get us through?" Kyon asked.
"Yes. Take my hand and we can pass through the barrier together." Now Itsuki was being kind of creepy. Dependable, but creepy. Still, Kyon took his hand and the two of them passed through the barrier...
And found everyone who had been transformed. There was the tree they recognized as Ryoko. There was a donkey with hair like Mikuru's eating the last bit of clothing off of Ryoko. There was a cow wearing a maid's hairpiece, chewing on a piece of cloth torn from the Ryoko-tree. There was a dove and a crane, both pecking angrily at the tree. And there was a sheep that they knew could only be Yuki.
"Koizumi, remember what you told be at the lodge?"
"About choosing the Brigade over any other group?"
"Yeah. We need Haruhi. We need to tell her everything so she can reverse this. And I don't think the Organization will like that."
"I agree on both counts." Itsuki looked at his cell phone and chuckled, "Would you believe we actually get reception in here?"
Itsuki proceeded to call Haruhi and inform her that they had found Mikuru and Tsuruya. He refused to tell her what their condition was, telling her only their location and that they needed help.
After the two of them waited for a few minutes, comforting the victims as best they could, Kyon thought of a problem. "Hey, Koizumi, shouldn't you wait for Haruhi outside of the barrier? Otherwise she won't be able to get in."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. I expect Miss Suzumiya will be able to ma-"
Interrupting Itsuki was a great crashing sound coming from all around them. Haruhi had arrived, and her desire to reach her friends had resulted in the manifestation of her latent power to tear down the barrier.
Haruhi was out of breath, having run from her point of origin all the way to the park. "Itsuki! Kyon! Where are they?"
Kyon and Itsuki proceeded to explain everything to Haruhi: about the time travelers, about the espers, about the aliens, about Haruhi herself, and about what had happened that day.
Haruhi's reaction was not what either of them expected. "What are you both, idiots?! This isn't the time to be joking around! Unless... Unless this is all just some prank! I see, you got everyone in on it! You got a woodcarver to make the tree, and then you put some wigs on a bunch of animals! Alright, come out everyone! Joke's over!"
But Haruhi's disbelief was not enough to return everyone to normal. To do so would require a concentrated effort to use her power.
Kyon knew what to do. He would use the trump card with which he had threatened the Data Overmind during Winter...
Kyon grabbed Haruhi's shoulders and forced her to look him in the eyes. "I am John Smith."
Those four words identified Kyon as the mysterious older boy who had helped Haruhi vandalize her middle school. As the boy who had helped restore her faith in strange phenomena. As the boy who had directed her attention to North High.
And as someone who had traveled back in time.
Which meant time travel existed. Which meant that the rest of their story might be true. Which meant that her friends were suffering because of her. Which was not an idea Haruhi enjoyed. She finally had proof that supernatural phenomena were real, but it came in the worst possible way. Haruhi broke free of Kyon's grip and looked at the transformed people around her.
She didn't want this. She didn't want this at all. She wanted her friends to be safe and well. She wanted a world where this sort of thing wouldn't happen. And she wanted to forget that such a horrible thing had happened.
Haruhi Suzumiya had never before wished for something so hard, and now she knew about her incredible power. She was Haruhi Suzumiya. She was God. Her will be done. And so the world changed around her.
Suddenly, there were no animals but humans in that small area of the park. Nor was there a tree. For a moment, Haruhi thought she counted six more people with Kyon, Itsuki, and herself. But after she blinked, there were only four more.
"Ah, Mori! How are you doing? What are you doing here? And why are all of you naked?"
Mori, the younger version of Mikuru, Tsuruya, and Yuki all stood from the animalistic poses in which they had been positioned, and quickly moved to cover themselves with their hands. Their transformations had been reversed, but that didn't restore their clothing.
"Wait... Kyon! Don't look at them, Kyon!" Haruhi jumped onto Kyon's back and put her hands over his eyes. While Haruhi's attention was on Kyon, Yuki had the chance to generate new clothing for those present who were lacking them. The four of them dressed quickly enough that by the time Haruhi saw them again they were fully clothed.
"Heh? What? Weren't you all naked just now?" Upon seeing four simultaneous shakes of the head, Haruhi dropped off of Kyon. "Oh, heh, I guess I must have imagined it. Well, since everyone is here, let's go have a party!"
No one really felt like arguing with someone they had just seen change the world itself, so nobody objected. As the others were leaving, though, Kyon noticed that Yuki was heading to the other side of a small hill.
"Nagato! What are you doing?"
Upon reaching the other side of the hill, Yuki bent down, picked up something Kyon could not see, and stuffed it into a purse she had generated for herself. When she returned, Kyon saw that the bag was wiggling slightly.
"Nagato?" Kyon questioned.
She looked up at him and spoke a single word, "Punishment."
As the two of them left to catch up with the others, Kyon continued to question Yuki, but she gave no further insight into the contents of her bag.
All those involved had a wonderful time at the party.
- At the same time as Haruhi was changing the world -
Emiri Kimidori was pleased with how things were turning out. Haruhi's distress was generating a great deal of new data. If things continued like this, the Data Overmind's progress towards self-evolution could make a great leap forward.
Something changed the next time she took a step. Her right foot felt... bouncy. Emiri turned her head to look back at her foot just in time for something to tear its way out of her skirt behind her. As she turned, her left hand bounced off of her body and flung itself to the side. Her foot and leg had inflated massively, losing all definition in the process. It didn't look like human flesh anymore, having become green and shiny. There was no sign of what happened to her shoe or sock. The same had happened to her hand. And the thing that had broken out of her skirt had the same characteristics.
Emiri's inflating left arm had begun to tear apart her sleeve, but that ceased to be a problem as she began to shrink in size. Her body still felt like it was inflating, but her overall size kept reducing.
The shiny green tone spread to the rest of her body. Emiri rubbed her skin with her remaining hand, and the result sounded like two balloons rubbing together.
Emiri's shrinking body lost its human features and took on canine features. The alien interface had become a dog-shaped balloon.
Emiri lost track of how long she remained there, covered in a pile of her own clothes. In her new form she could neither move or speak. Eventually she felt someone scoop up her clothes, and her with them. Not much later, she was dumped onto the ground and her clothing pulled away. She saw who had picked her up.
Yuki opened up the purse she was carrying and dumped out an odd figure. It was Ryoko Asakura, still humanoid but at a greatly reduced size.
"Naughty, naughty, you two. Now play nice."
With those words, Emiri Kimidori felt the ability to move and speak return to her. She turned to the miniaturized Ryoko, "Well, let's take care of each other from now on."
The adult version of Mikuru Asahina was past the fault in the timeline, and back in her own time. She had to report the extraordinary events she had witnessed to her superiors. That a fault in the timeline could just appear like that had been unknown until now. It could mean a revolution in the science behind time travel!
If only her coworkers would stop laughing long enough for her to give a report. In order to prevent her younger self from figuring out who the donkey had been, Mikuru had fled as soon as she changed back. This meant that she was not present when everyone got new clothes. Which meant that when she returned to the future she was completely naked.
Mikuru sniffled. Why was it that no matter what her age, everyone always made fun of her?