"That's incredible."
After seeing the wishes Setsuna, Murasame, and the Stellaron gremlin had made, everyone else was eager to give it a try.
One after another, they tried making wishes to Haruhi.
"I... I want to see if I can fly?"
Whoosh—
Mako Hitachi felt an unfamiliar power surge into her body. She suddenly became incomparably light, and with a single leap forward, she soared into the air.
It was almost like flying on a sword. She could use practically anything as a medium to soar freely through the sky.
"I want an ingredient with meat like a chimera's, a rich texture, and different flavors depending on whether it's fried, grilled, boiled, or cooked some other way..."
Bang!—
An unknown creature with a bizarre appearance was dropped in front of Erina.
"Can you try again and create a space habitat?"
Crack—
Outside Earth's orbit, Haruhi constructed a complete space habitat in accordance with Herta's wish.
It maintained gravitational equilibrium and moved in synchronization with Earth's orbit.
Its overall structure resembled the architectural style of the Starsea Empire, though the equipment inside each section had not been filled in, leaving the interior somewhat empty.
"Me, me, me..."
"I want to make a wish too!..."
Several hours later, Earth had become incredibly lively.
Haruhi, who had still been causing trouble everywhere not long ago, had transformed under Setsuna's training into something resembling a universal wishing machine.
Everyone clamored to see whether Haruhi could fulfill their wild ideas.
"That's incredible."
Herta strolled through the space station, looking around as she went.
Most simple and straightforward wishes could be made real with a single thought from her.
Others required Haruhi to spend some time carefully "thinking" them through.
There were also a few wishes that were too complex or involved powerful forces from other worlds, leaving her temporarily unable to do anything about them.
For example, acquiring some sort of powerful authority, or creating an extremely high-level object belonging to another world.
"Ugh..."
After creating all sorts of strange things and granting people even stranger abilities,
Haruhi rubbed her head and shook out her hair.
"I'm getting a little tired... I can't concentrate enough to make wishes anymore."
"Mm, that's enough."
Setsuna smiled.
Although distorting the world through information manipulation did not consume any energy, Haruhi needed to remain constantly focused in order to restrain herself and prevent her unconscious powers from running wild and causing destruction.
Actively making "wishes" also consumed her mental stamina.
"When we first met, I thought you were just a spoiled brat who caused trouble everywhere. Looks like you've grown pretty quickly thanks to the Commander, huh?"
Himeko handed Haruhi a bottle of juice.
Everyone strongly agreed. Training alongside Setsuna had, to some extent, changed Haruhi's willful personality.
"Mm..."
Haruhi grew a little embarrassed again.
"Then... Commander, does this mean... I passed?"
She asked timidly.
"Of course."
Setsuna nodded.
Looking around, the Express crew realized something incredible.
From creating a universe to producing all sorts of little objects, Haruhi Suzumiya had used her powers countless times in ways both large and small, yet she had not caused a single large-scale accidental disaster, nor had she created anything bizarre because her abilities went out of control.
There had been a few minor spatial distortions, but they were insignificant.
She could already suppress her unconscious rewriting of environmental information and actively use that power at will.
"You've learned to control your information manipulation ability. Your training has paid off."
"Thank you, Commander!!"
Haruhi threw herself at him again and gave him an enthusiastic hug.
"I'll teach you one more thing. You can practice it slowly from now on."
"Remember this passage. Recite and repeat it silently every day. It can temper your mind."
Setsuna recited a strange sequence of seemingly meaningless syllables to Haruhi. It belonged to no known language family, yet listening to it had an inexplicably calming effect on the mind.
It was the Sword Heart Mantra, the mnemonic formula used by Taixuan Eminence to cultivate the Sword Heart.
"Taixuan Eminence has five disciplines. You only need to cultivate the Heart discipline."
"When the mind merges with the lake, it becomes still water. When the lake of the mind freezes, it becomes dustless. When the ice of the mind turns clear, it becomes a bright mirror. When the mind's aura becomes formless, it becomes Taixuan. It can help temper your heart and allow you to control your own consciousness more freely."
"Okay!"
Haruhi agreed. After reciting it several times, she truly felt her restless mind settle into tranquility.
"In that case, we can go back."
...
Whoosh—
Several minutes later.
The Express crew returned from the pocket universe to the Astral Express.
Looking down at Earth below, everyone felt somewhat dazed.
They had spent several months inside Pocket Universe No. 15, turning Haruhi, that willful little brat, into an adorably soft little girl.
—At the very least, she never threw tantrums in front of Setsuna.
And along the way, they had picked up an entire greater universe for free. The scale of the universes carried aboard the Eternal Snowfall had now risen by several levels.
Haruhi Suzumiya would have plenty of opportunities to make herself useful in the Starsea Empire from now on.
At this point, only a few days had passed in the outside universe. For the people of Earth, it was still just another perfectly ordinary day.
"Mm... Taking over this world should be much easier from here on out."
Setsuna glanced over the holographic interface.
The protagonist of Haruhi Suzumiya's world was naturally Haruhi Suzumiya herself. Once she had been dealt with, everything else became much simpler.
"Deploy the Angeloids to Earth."
He snapped his fingers, and Sophon immediately led the Angeloids in carrying out the standard conquest procedure.
"Also, you can't be the only person the Data Integration Thought Entity sent to observe Haruhi, right?"
Setsuna turned toward Yuki Nagato.
"Mm. The Data Integration Thought Entity contains several distinct schools of thought. There is the mainstream faction that wishes to observe Haruhi from close range, the radical and reformist factions that wish to directly stimulate Haruhi, the compromise faction that seeks a point of balance, and the conservative faction that wishes to conceal its own existence."
"After Haruhi was discovered, several humanoid contact interfaces for organic life-forms besides myself arrived in this star system."
Nagato answered in a completely emotionless voice.
"Identify them and determine their locations. Also, I want to communicate directly with the Data Integration Thought Entity..."
Setsuna continued issuing orders, but before he could finish speaking,
Suddenly—
Crack—
The sound of space shattering came from outside the Astral Express, as though someone had forcibly punched through a spacetime passage.
A surge of energy dispersed along with it.
"Haruhi?"
Everyone instinctively turned to look for Haruhi Suzumiya, but quickly realized this was not something she had caused.
"Time-Plane-Destroyed-Device ready! Source of destruction in this spacetime plane successfully located!"
"Confirmed... locating surveillance target..."
"Huhhhhh?! Is it really here?! Are these coordinates actually correct?!..."
Bang—
A girl wearing a sailor uniform, with wavy chestnut-colored hair, emerged from the void.
Her destination coordinates had originally been inside the Astral Express, but because of its protective magic and energy shields, the teleportation failed and instead bounced her outside.
"Huhhhhh?! The teleportation coordinates were disrupted?!"
"Why am I in the skyyyyyy?!!!—"
Bzzzt—bang!—
The girl slammed headfirst into the side of the train carriage, her enormous breasts flattening against the glass directly in front of Setsuna's face.
The impact even squashed them into oval shapes.
"Ugh..."
She let out a miserable groan before losing consciousness and fainting on the spot.
"Hm?"
Setsuna glanced outside.
"Oh, a future traveler. She crossed through spacetime into this timeline."
"Go pick her up and ask her what this universe turns into in the future."