[FFML] SOS Brigade in _____

[Henry Cobb]

SOS Brigade in _____
By Henry J. Cobb

[Another two series that must never be combined and especially not with
reference to current events. Oh the horror!. And yes, the full title would
give the game away. -HJC]

I awoke in a bed. There was something unusual about that, but I couldn't
put my finger on it. The room was clearly unfamiliar. I could tell that I
had never seen it before. As I sat up I saw that under the white sheet I
wore a thin shirt.

"Good morning!"

I turned to the sound of the voice. A girl was sitting in a chair. Her
simple pink uniform did little to conceal curves that seemed too generous
for a teenager, and yet somehow it was almost familiar, as was her face. I
noticed that I was wearing pants that matched my shirt as I turned around
to sit on the edge of the bed, "Who are you?"

"You don't know me?" The girl stepped up to place her palm on my forehead,
"Your fever has gone down. Oh, my apologies, of course we've never met.
My name is Mikuru Asahina."

"And I'm..." I could almost feel it, "I'm sorry, I don't know who I am."

"Well your family should be by in a little while. Let me go tell the
doctors that you are awake. I'll be by later with something to eat."

As she spoke I suddenly felt my appetite, "Yes, please."

I was left with my own thoughts for a while, such as they were. Who was I?
Where was I? Why was I here? I lay down and looked out the window. The
sky was blue. I could tell that to be a useful fact somehow, but I didn't
know why that would be useful. At least after sundown, if there was a
sundown, I could count the moons and compare the constellations. And why
would that be useful?

The only door in the room swung open again and a girl of perhaps ten rushed
in to bounce on my bed, "Kyon, Kyon! You're alive! You're alive!"

"Now dear," A woman walked in past a man was holding the door open, "We're
all happy to see that your brother has woken up, but he's just woken
up. He's still badly hurt."

"No, I'm fine," I sat up again and the little girl sat down next to me,
"Just a little hungry. Who are you people?"

"Oh!" Miss Asahina was standing outside the door and turned away from a
middle aged man in a white coat and dark pants, "Just a minute sir. I'll
get your lunch!" She walked off.

Had the man in the white coat been leaning down so that Miss Asahina could
whisper in his ear?

The man who was holding the door open turned to the man in the white coat,
"What's his condition doctor?"

"Well physically he seems to be fine," the doctor entered the room and bent
down to examine my face, "But he seems to have lost his memory from the
shock. We'll keep him here one more day for observations and then you can
take him home. Perhaps the familiar setting will help his memory."

"Kyon," the little girl grabbed my arm with both of her hands and shook it,
"how could you have forgotten Mom and Dad?"

"Oh, pleased to meet you Ms. Mom and Mr. Dad."

"No, no, no! They're our mom and dad!"

I could tell that none of these dark eyed, brown haired people were my
relatives, as sure as I knew that my eyes were green. Wait, how did I know
that my eyes were green? I put my free hand to my head.

"Now dear," her mother grabbed the girl's arms and pried them away from me,
"Your brother is still very tired. Let's let him rest until tomorrow."

"Okay, but you better be better then Kyon," the little girl who claimed to
be my sister took one last look at me then allowed herself to be escorted
away.

The family left and I was left alone again. There was something in their
claim to kinship with me that was very offensive. They were somehow
reaching far above their station with that claim. It was such a familiar
feeling, but not from these people, whom I was now very sure that I had
never met before.

What was I to be so high above the common people? Was I a prince? I
laughed at the thought.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Best to behave myself until I understood the situation better.

Miss Asahina entered with a tray piled high with food, including what
seemed to be an entire roast bird of over a kilogram.

"Isn't that a bit much?"

"You haven't eaten in a week," she placed the tray on a table that then
slid on its stand to be over my bed.

The tableware was of unfamiliar design so I picked up one of the
utensils. It was a knife of some sort, but scarcely sharpened at all. I
examined my face in its reflection. At least my face was familiar, even down
to my green eyes.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked as I started to eat.

Miss Asahina sat down in the only chair again. I found myself admiring her
curves while her glance was distracted. Then I mentally cursed
myself. There was something foolish about the distraction and something
forbidden. Again I felt a familiarity towards her I hadn't felt towards the
others, not even my so called sister.

"I'm volunteering at this private hospital during the emergency," She
smoothed out her skirt.

"That family didn't seem to be the type to afford a private hospital."

"The public ones are full."

Then why isn't there a second bed or even a cot in my room? Why was I
being treated so specially? I could see that she was holding back details,
so I switched topic away from my own condition and towards a broader
understanding of the situation, "Who is the king of this land?"

She almost laughed at that point, "We have an Emperor, but it is purely a
ceremonial, religious position. Japan has a prime minister, at the head of
a popularly elected government."

"Democracy? That is never stable. The people suffer under the jackals who
weasel their way in until eventually giving their full support to whichever
lion chases the scoundrels out."

"Are you done with that?"

I looked down. I had eaten everything on the tray. I wasn't stuffed, just
satisfied, "Yes of course."

"Would you like anything else?"

"No, I'm fine."

"I'll bring you a book of the history of this land," she left and returned
later with the book.

She waited for a moment as I looked at the book. There were strange symbols
on the cover. There were part of a language that I had never seen before,
but somehow I was working out their meanings from first principles.

"Is it okay?"

"Yes, it's fine," I waited for her to leave then opened the book and slowly
read the symbols one at a time. I read a few pages then returned to the
start of the book, my comprehension greatly increased.

The next day Miss Asahina showed me how to work the shower then left. When
I got out I found a fresh change of clothes laid out on my bed. I dressed
myself then finished the book just before my so-called family arrived.

As we walked down the corridor we passed Miss Asahina, who was pushing a
cart with covered trays on it. "I hope you have a full recovery," She
bowed to us and I found myself bowing back.

"I'm hungry!"

I turned towards a somehow familiar girl's voice and reached for something
at my side, but my fingers closed on air. What did I usually carry there?

"Yes, yes, just one moment, sorry!" Miss Asahina pushed her cart towards
the room where the voice had come from.

"I'm hungry too Kyon. Let's go!" My so-called sister tugged at my sleeve.

Outside there were not the horses from the history book but enclosed
self-propelled carriages. I entered the same one as my pseudo-family and the
father controlled the motion of the device with a wheel. The little girl
took the seat beside me and shouted out, "Let's go someplace nearby, I'm
hungry!"

"Now dear," Her mother said, "We're going to your brother's favorite
restaurant."

"Oh yes yes!" The girl bounced in her seat, "Hurry hurry!" Then she turned
towards me, "Say Kyon. I saw the way that nurse blushed at you. Is she your
girlfriend?"

"Of course not. We've barely met," For an instant I felt very irritated at
Miss Asahina, who had only been more than polite to me since I awoke. It
wasn't just that she was hiding something important, but somehow she had
used that same oh so sweet smile previously, at some moment of great
cruelty. I tried to remember it, but it slipped away.

"Look dear, you're giving your brother a headache again."

"I'm sorry mom. I'll be quiet," the young girl turned to me, "That's okay
Kyon?"

"Sure."

She unbuckled her seat belt, leaned over to rest her head in my lap, then
dozed off oblivious to the motion of our vehicle.

"The poor thing," her mother turned to watch her, "She's scarcely had a
moment's rest while you've been in your coma. Perhaps we should just
quietly go directly home?"

"Kyon's favorite restaurant. You promised!" The little girl didn't open her
eyes as she spoke, but she reached up to grab my knee tightly.

At the restaurant the little girl ordered for me and practically threw the
food into my mouth, "You like this and this and this," she made selections
from dishes I was sure I had not seen in a long time, perhaps forever. This
little sister was starting to grow on me. I was sure that the situation was
all a trap, but it was a good one. My complements to the designer of the
trap and the chief, but perhaps that last one was just because I hadn't
eaten in a while and everything was new.

"So Son, do you think you'll be able to start classes tomorrow?"

"I don't see why not," I turned to my alleged father. Training was
something that was always important, for some reason.

The next day an unfamiliar boy who seemed to be around my age came to our
house after breakfast, "It's true Kyon? You don't know who I am?"

"No I do not."

"Don't leave him guessing Taniguchi," My 'little sister' pushed past him
and out the door then turned back towards us, "Hurry, or you'll be late."

"Yeah, let's go Kyon," Taniguchi's use of my nickname almost sparked a
memory. Kyon was a shortened form of the name they used for me 'here', but
it also had an almost echo of my real name.

"Hold up Kyon!" Taniguchi called out to me, then hurried up the hill after
me, "You had us so worried these past few weeks and now here you are,
stronger than ever. Take it easy, we're not that late."

At the school I was introduced for the first time to another unfamiliar
'friend', Kunikida. He assured me that he'd help me out with my studies
until I recovered.

When the teacher arrived he apologized for the late delay in the start of
the school year due to the disaster and said that thankfully we could make
up for the lost time by working through full days on Saturdays. The
students didn't seem very thankful about this, but introduced themselves as
prompted. I gave the name that had been given me and repeated the same
formula of looking forwards to working with everybody that the other
students had used then resumed my seat.

"I'm Haruhi Suzumiya," It was that voice.

Again I reached in vain for something that wasn't strapped to my waist as I
turned to look at the girl who had stood right behind me. Miss Suzumiya's
face was mildly familiar, but not to the same extent as Miss Asahina's. Her
figure was also not quite as full, but this did not bring the same
revulsion to my eyes.

"I'm not interested in normal humans," She continued, "But if any of you
have a spaceship, time machine or psychic powers then please help me get
out of this world."

"Same old Haruhi," Taniguchi muttered, while the rest of the class avoided
looking at her.

I adapted well to my studies, only being caught out when a question
involved some fact that I hadn't been told, however Miss Suzumiya did even
better. It hurt my pride that she would be better than I so I took my
revenge between classes. I turned in my desk towards her, "I see you
missed a question."

"It's not my fault. I lost my memory in the disaster."

"Me too. We were both in the same hospital."

"Really?"

"Mikuru Asahina."

"You like that type, don't you?"

"I should, but somehow I don't."

"She's a student here you know, second year."

I hadn't noticed. I suppose it was because I had been paying too much
attention to my studies to keep up with you, Miss Suzumiya. On a whim I
decided on another tack, "I've figured out your patten."

"Pattern? This world is full of patterns and it's always the same. Same old
city, same old people, same old ground and same old sky."

That was the first person who'd remarked to me about a strangely unchanging
sky. I filed that fact away for later and resumed my attack, "You add one
hair tie every day of the week and then reset back to one on Monday."

"Then you missed the most important part, because I also change the color
of the ties. It's the only way I can keep track of the days around
here. Stupid calendar and there's different ones for Western and Chinese
also. Well fine, you've found me out, but I don't care about these days.
They just repeat the same old same old."

After class Taniguchi waited for Miss Suzumiya to leave then walked up to
my desk, "I'm warning you Kyon."

"What about?" I gathered my books together.

"About Suzumiya."

"You've got your eye on her? Be my guest."

"Oh hell no. Sure she's got the looks and she's smart and athletic, perhaps
even better on both counts since her recovery, but she's a total
weirdo. She dated every boy who'd ask her out in junior high then dumped
them all, usually in five minutes or so."

"Well I think it's good that somebody's talking with Miss Suzumiya," Ryoko
Asakura, our always smiling class president walked up, "Perhaps it will
help jog her memories."

The next day Miss Suzumiya arrived at school with her hair cut short under
a single yellow ribbon.

"It's not Monday," I needled her.

"Like I said, I don't care."

We had a reseating lottery and Miss Asakura read out our new positions. I
got the second seat from the back next to the window. Miss Suzumiya got the
one seat behind me.

Later that day between classes, Miss Suzumiya had her face down on her
desk, facing away from the unchanging sky she so dreaded. Even a few
clouds were apparently insufficient variety for her.

For some reason I felt some empathy towards the monster and attempted to
make conversation, "I see you've tried out for almost every club at the
school."

"None of them are interesting."

"How about the sports teams? I hear you're quite the athlete."

"It's the same boring old rules every game."

"Well you're not going to find your aliens just sitting there. It's not
like they're walking around the school."

She didn't respond so I turned back forwards as the next class started.

At the end of the last class for the day, Miss Suzumiya reached forwards
and pulled my collar to bang the back of my head against her desk.

I turned around to her, "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Yes, that's it!"

"Fine, name your weapons."

"I mean about the club."

"Okay, clubs are good. A little blunt and primitive, but a satisfying way
to bludgeon and break bones."

"I mean our club."

"What?"

"The club you mentioned!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Kyon! Find out the rules for starting a student club while I find a club
room," Haruhi dashed out of the classroom.

Taniguchi mouthed "You're doomed" to me, but I looked up the information in
the student handbook anyway.

I had almost left the school while reading the handbook so I didn't notice
until a hand grabbed the back of my collar and I was dragged back into the
school and up the stairs. I managed to get a look back at my assailant.
It was Haruhi of course. Just how strong was she anyway? I stomped down
with my feet against the stairs and stopped. She toppled back past me and
towards the stairs below. I reached out with one hand to grab the stair
rail and caught Haruhi with my other arm, wrapped around her chest.

"Kyon, you pervert!" She screamed and scratched at my hand with her nails
so I dropped her.

"Now what is this?" I kept my distance and didn't offer a hand to help her
to her feet.

She rose and dusted off her skirt, "I found the room. Follow me."

"Slowly this time! No running up the stairs. It's against the rules."

She grimaced at this but walked the rest of the way, "Here you go."

"You're going to get the Literature Club to help you search for aliens?"

"No, look," She threw open the door, "There's nobody here," She pointed to
a room that had a table, two bookshelves and a girl sitting by the window
reading a book. Apparently the natural light meant that she didn't need to
turn on the room lights, but Haruhi turned those on.

"Excuse me miss," I said to the girl in the corner, "Do you know when the
Literature Club will be back?"

"I'm the only member," the girl didn't look up her book and simply flipped
the page. With the light on I could get a better look at her. She was short
and thin and her huge glasses dominated her face. Why would she bother to
dye her hair blue and then just sit in this room? Was this some reaction to
being teased about her hair color?

"But miss, student groups must have five or more members."

"They all graduated last semester."

"See?" Haruhi turned to me with a triumphant grin, "If we don't take over
she'll lose the room anyway. So we only need to find two more students to
join and we can become official. Let's see, what kind of students to grab?"

I took the rare moment when Haruhi was so overcome with thought that she'd
actually be silent to approach the seated girl, "Excuse me miss, but are
you really okay with all this? That person wants to take over your room
for her own nefarious purposes and it's all fine with you?"

"It's fine," She turned another page and kept on reading.

"So let's see," Haruhi was writing on a piece of paper, "What's your name?"
She asked the girl, who didn't look up from her book.

After a moment, perhaps waiting for me to respond, the girl said "Yuki
Nagato."

"With which Kanji?" Haruhi leaned over Yuki.

Yuki reached up, grabbed the paper, wrote her name on the third slot, under
mine, then handed the paper back to Haruhi.

"Where did you get an official application form?" I asked Haruhi.

"At the school office of course. I had to search the entire school to find
this one empty room. Okay we need a really cute girl, Mikuru Asahina of
course," Haruhi wrote down that name, "And we need a mysterious transfer
student. Do you know of any Kyon?"

"Well, what planet are you from?" I just barely kept from snatching the
paper from Haruhi's grasp and tearing it up. I glanced at my outstretched
hand and didn't see any scratch marks from Haruhi's earlier attack. It must
have hurt much worse than it actually was.

Miss Asahina proved surprising easy for Haruhi to talk into joining her
club, but when Haruhi was informed that the nurse's outfit was not
available she took out a measuring tape and read Miss Asahina's
measurements out loud while I stuffed my fingers in my ears and looked
away.

The next week the mysterious transfer student arrived in the form of Itsuki
Koizumi, another strangely familiar stranger with a strangely abhorrent
smile.

The day after Mr. Koizumi joined Haruhi's club I received the all too cliche
note from a hidden admirer for me to meet them alone behind the
school. With any luck it would be a large gang of bullies for me to
pummel. I needed the stress relief after putting up with Haruhi every day.

As I walked to my appointment with destiny, or date, I found myself again
reaching for the item I never had. Strange how I had managed to curb that
reflex around Haruhi, perhaps because I couldn't bear the thought of her
mocking me about it.

I was surprised at who it was who was waiting for me, "Miss Asakura? Is
this your note?"

"Yes, I've been meaning to talk to you for some time, could you walk with
me please?"

I didn't trust her smile, but I wanted to get to the bottom of this. I
didn't even object when she reached out to grab my right hand with her left
hand. Holding hands, was this supposed to be a date?

"It's so good to see you're getting on so well with Haruhi. She's been so
depressed, for well ages."

So this wasn't a date, but some sort of intervention?

"But it's so strange that she'd hook up with somebody like you," Miss
Asakura pulled my right hand around to rest on her right hip, pulling
herself closer to me, "I worried that my sister just isn't herself these
days. I mean, I worry about her like a sister. It's just my responsibility
as the class president," She put her left hand around my waist and leaned
against me.

I glanced away and saw a house with a red tile roof in a style that my
textbooks said was common to Latin America, not Japan.

Miss Asakura rose up on her toes to whisper in my ear, "Let's have some
fun, but not here. Just a little bit further," she rubbed up against me as
we walked past thatched roof huts with six legged livestock in the
distance.

"Now," We stopped in a forest of giant ferns under an emerald green
sky. She stretched up again to lick at my right ear then twisted around in
front of me, "Die!" She stabbed me in the kidney with a knife, "Oh no, that
won't be anywhere nearly enough to finish you," She pulled out the knife as
I stumbled backwards.

She stepped forwards with the knife at the ready. She was so intent at
scanning my body for the next point of insertion, that she never saw the
kick to her side coming. She bent down and recovered on her free hand and
feet, "Who?"

It was Yuki, who reached out with both hands father than the length of her
arms somehow, like the hands passed beyond the limits of this strange new
world and when her hands returned she was wielding two identical short
black curved swords, "You've changed your face 'Ryoko', but not your
methods."

"You haven't even done that, traitorous sister. Is it so you can work
better with them, or is your face just so boring that it suits your
personality?" Ryoko sprang forwards to swipe at Yuki, who blocked the knife
with her left sword while she swung her right sword at Ryoko's face.

Ryoko did a back flip to avoid the strike, her advantage of reach canceled
by the shorter girl's two longer blades, "Why do you keep our dear sister
confined on Earth where we can reach her? Is it that you've warned the
children of the pattern about her power? If she exercised that in their
precious castle then she might even snuff out all these shadows and end the
war."

Yuki returned to her usual silence and kept up an uncharacteristically
vigorous attack.

Frustrated, Ryoko threw her knife at Yuki's head and the knife was suddenly
a dozen knives.

Yuki dropped her swords, swept her hands in front of her and the knives all
froze then dropped to the ground.

When I looked back I didn't see Ryoko at all, "What's happened to her?"

"She has escaped from this world. My sister may return, but I shall be
ready this time," Yuki looked down at me, "Do not move. She has probably
used one of the thousand traditional poisons of The Courts. She's a much
better spy than chemist."

Yuki knelt down, unbuttoned my shirt, unfashioned my pants, pulled those
down a fraction, then sucked on my wound.

"Don't you need to spit the poison out?" I asked, my mind full of trivia at
a time like this.

She sat up to take a breath of air, "I've made myself immune to them all
over the years," then knelt down and returned to her efforts.

I must have passed out for a moment because the next thing I knew I heard a
door opening. I looked up. Taniguchi was standing at the door to our
classroom. Yuki had her back to him and was making sucking noises on my
body, with my clothes undone.

"Uh, excuse me. Just take your time," Taniguchi backed away and closed the
door.

"Are you okay?" Yuki sat up.

I looked down. My wound was gone, except for what appeared to be an old
scar and there was no blood anywhere. Except for the tear in my shirt it
might as well have been a dream. I looked up at Yuki's face and froze.

She followed the direction of my glance and reached out with her tongue to
lick the drop of my blood that had been left on the side of her mouth.

"Did you lose your glasses in the fight?"

She reached up with her hand to her face, "I doubt anybody will notice."

"Can't you just snatch another pair out of wherever?"

"It's best not to do that so much around my sister 'Haruhi'," Yuki helped me
to my feet with one hand. Another impossibly strong girl.

I turned away from her to redo my clothing.

-HJC
The actual title is of course: SOS Brigade in Amber.
H.S. herself can't make the title for two good reasons.