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Summary:
Yuki continues her long-winded explanation about who she is and what she’s doing. She says that she was born three years ago and is here now to observe Haruhi. It was also three years ago that an information flare occurred as a result of Haruhi. The data life forms are interested in Haruhi because she may hold the key to their evolution. They’re telling Kyon this now because they think that there must be a reason that he’s been chosen by Haruhi. They can’t let Haruhi herself find out about her powers or else there might be unforeseen consequences. Kyon is the key to Haruhi, so if something happens, she’ll look to him first.
The next day, Haruhi is excited because the mysterious transfer student has finally arrived. In the afternoon, Kyon goes to the clubroom and plays Othello with Mikuru, who looks very uncomfortable around Yuki for some reason. Haruhi soon drags in Koizumi Itsuki, the new transfer student. Surprisingly, Itsuki is unfazed when Haruhi announces that the purpose of the club is to find and play with aliens, time travelers, and espers. He even joins the club as its fifth member. The day after that, Kyon finds Haruhi undressing Mikuru again in the clubroom. This time, she puts Mikuru in a maid outfit and has Kyon take pictures. When Itsuki shows up, Kyon tries to stop Haruhi from harassing Mikuru.
Haruhi then gets on a chair and proclaims that the first phase of spreading their name has been a big success. However, she’s not happy that they haven’t gotten any tips about mysterious things. She decides that the club will meet on that Saturday to search the town for those mysteries. When the time comes, they form two groups and draw lots to determine who’s going with whom. Haruhi is clearly unhappy when Mikuru and Kyon get put together, as seen by how she repeatedly tells him that this isn’t a date. He and Mikuru go for a walk and start talking about her love life, or lack thereof. She suddenly announces that she has something to tell him.
Sitting on a park bench, Mikuru informs Kyon that she’s actually from the future. She’s not allowed to say anything much more about it, but ends up trying to explain time travel anyway. Mikuru mentions that three years ago there was a large time-quake, and that no matter what they did, her people were unable to go back any further in time than that. They came to the conclusion that a temporal fault-line of sorts appeared. And of course, it’s all because of Haruhi. Mikuru was sent here to keep an eye out for new time changes around her. She also repeats (what Yuki said) that Kyon is the one chosen by Haruhi and that there’s a reason for everything Haruhi does. Kyon’s got a lot of questions for her, but Mikuru is prohibited from answering any of them. In the end, he decides to put aside the entire issue and whether or not he believes her.
The two of them meet up with Haruhi’s group for lunch and redraw the lots afterwards. This time, Kyon is paired up with Yuki, but the two just go to the library. Kyon accidentally falls asleep and wakes up only when Haruhi calls him because he’s late meeting back up with the rest of them. Before everyone parts ways, Mikuru thanks Kyon for listening to what she had to say, whereas Haruhi is still pissed off at him. The day gets worse when he finds out that his bike was taken away for being illegally parked. Haruhi’s attitude towards him ends up persisting for the next few days.
By now, Kyon has figured out that Itsuki probably also wants to talk with him. Itsuki reveals that he is indeed an esper, one that is part of an “Organization” that consists of other espers. Like the other stories Kyon has heard, it all started three years ago. Itsuki explains that this is all like a dream, a world created by one person – Haruhi. However, he goes on to say that if the “God” becomes unhappy, she can just destroy and recreate the world. And similarly to Yuki’s data life forms, the majority of the “Organization” believes that it’s best if she doesn’t find out about her powers. Kyon then tries to get Itsuki to prove that he’s an esper by heating up a cup of coffee, but Itsuki says that he has no powers unless a certain number of conditions are met. Itsuki does seem confident that he’ll be able to show Kyon sometime in the future. Before he leaves, Itsuki says that the biggest enigma is Kyon himself, but also that Kyon is just a normal human.
When Kyon returns to the clubroom, he finds Mikuru in her underwear, in the middle of changing into the maid outfit. Kyon thinks to himself that Mikuru is too obedient for following Haruhi’s orders of having her wear that when she’s in the clubroom. He then notes that Haruhi never showed up to the club that day.
Preview:
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Ok, that was a lot of dialogue. So Yuki is an alien, Mikuru is a time traveler, and Itsuki is an esper. In addition, Haruhi is like “God” and created this world three years ago, or so Itsuki’s “Organization” theorizes. Suffice to say, I was a bit overwhelmed. Who knew that the funny series this started off as could throw all this at you so quickly…
Not that I’m complaining about the plot. It’s very interesting to see how the three storylines are similar, all revolving around Haruhi and three years ago. Yuki, Mikuru, and Itsuki are all unsure of what part Kyon plays, but they know he’s important to Haruhi. There’s also a certain intentional irony that Haruhi has indeed assembled the aliens, time travelers, and espers that she wanted to meet from the beginning. Makes me wonder if they’re really investigating her or if this is all just conjured up by her subconscious.
This episode ended up being much more serious than funny, as they fleshed out some big parts of the storyline. Haruhi and Mikuru both made some great expressions throughout. Anyway, I look forward to seeing how the producers will balance the serious and the funny. Next week is the ninth story, an island outing, which appears to be more of the humor.
