Click—
Several minutes later, the Angeloids dragged the unconscious girl into the train and placed her on a seat in the observation car.
Seen up close, she had a pure and adorable face, while her sailor uniform could barely contain her enormous breasts. Even lying flat on her back, they were impossible to ignore.
If one had to sum her up in a single phrase, it would be: baby face, huge breasts.
"She teleported into this world through a spacetime tunnel. Her original destination coordinates were inside the Astral Express."
"The automatic defense system blocked her. Since the target displayed no further hostile behavior, no counterattack was initiated."
The Angeloid reported.
Ever since a starship had suffered a boarding attack long ago, every vehicle in the Starsea Empire had been equipped with teleportation-disruption systems specifically designed to prevent teleportation abilities from locking onto internal coordinates.
Himeko touched a finger to the girl's forehead and sent a surge of energy into her.
"Mm... Ngh..."
"It hurts..."
The girl slowly opened her eyes, gradually sat up, and rubbed her aching head.
Then she looked around at her surroundings.
"Eek?! Where am I?!"
Seeing Setsuna and the Express crew gathered around her, she jumped in fright.
Clatter—
The Angeloids showed no courtesy whatsoever, raising their weapons and aiming at her.
"State your name and purpose, and explain why you attempted to teleport inside the Astral Express."
"You have ten seconds to organize your answer. If you refuse to cooperate, we will employ necessary force."
"Eeeeeh?!—"
Surrounded by a group of fully armed angels, the girl was so frightened she nearly burst into tears.
She hurriedly scrambled to her feet and waved her hands frantically.
"Waaah!!"
"Wait! I-I-I... I'm not a bad person!!! I don't mean any harm, don't shoot!!!"
"I'm from the future. I-I came here to find you!!..."
"Stop."
Setsuna made a gesture. The Angeloids lowered their weapons and withdrew.
The girl took several deep breaths and patted her ample chest before finally speaking in a soft, timid voice.
"Um... My name is Mikuru Asahina."
"I'm from... from the future. We observed a spacetime discontinuity along this timeline. Every worldline extending forward from this point was cut off."
"After investigating, we determined that aliens from outside this world and Haruhi Suzumiya caused the spacetime severance."
"So... so the future sent me here to observe Haruhi Suzumiya. I-I-I... I'm telling the truth! I'm really not a bad person..."
Under the pressure surrounding her, Mikuru's voice was tiny and soft, without the slightest confidence.
She wasn't sure whether these strangers would believe her. After finishing, she hurriedly added two more explanations.
"By 'future people,' I mean people who come from this world's future. Time isn't continuous. In a single instant, countless temporal planes can stack upon one another."
"Because the spacetime disturbance caused by Haruhi Suzumiya bent the time axis, the road leading into the past was sealed off. People from the future can no longer return to timelines earlier than that point..."
"So they sent me to observe Haruhi Suzumiya."
She looked up timidly at everyone like a frightened puppy.
Mikuru knew her explanation sounded fantastical, almost like she was telling a story, and she had already prepared herself for something to go wrong.
Instead—
"There really are people from the future?! Does that mean all my wishes came true?!"
Haruhi Suzumiya rushed forward excitedly, enthusiastically took Mikuru's hands, and inspected her from head to toe.
"You don't look any different from us! I thought people from the future would all become robots or grow wings or something?!"
"Mm... You're a little older than me? If we were on Earth, you'd basically be my upperclassman?"
"An esper, a time traveler, and an alien... Ah, we could start a club!"
"You're talking about the original worldline, right?"
Setsuna picked Haruhi up and carried her away before smiling at Mikuru.
"I believe your identity. I know who you are."
"I was originally planning to use a transdimensional spacecraft to head into the future and bring you back. This saves me the trouble."
"Huh?"
Mikuru hadn't expected them to believe her so easily.
"Then this place is?..."
"This is an exploration convoy of the Starsea Empire. We've already captured the esper and alien in this world, and we're currently conquering it."
"Congratulations. You future people will all be citizens of the Starsea Empire from now on."
"Eeeeeh?!—"
...
"Aah!—"
Like a panicked little hamster, Mikuru spent nearly an hour finally understanding the situation.
"Haruhi Suzumiya has already joined the aliens?!"
"Yes!"
Little Haruhi planted her hands on her hips.
"The Commander allowed me to join the Starsea Empire. It took me ages to meet his requirements."
"!!!"
"Th-This... this wasn't part of the plan..."
Mikuru looked like she was about to cry.
"I... I was originally ordered to observe Haruhi Suzumiya at close range. I'd even finished the paperwork to transfer into North High, waaah..."
"Who gave you those orders? What's the future world like?"
Herta asked curiously.
"That's classified information."
Mikuru raised an index finger to her lips.
"Huh?"
"It's one of the rules of time travel. We can't tell people in the present about factors that could affect the future."
"?"
"Then how old are you?"
Catgirl Herta asked again.
"That's also classified information."
"...How did you travel to this world?"
"Because of classified information, classified information assigned me to act as the connection between this spacetime and the future, responsible for classified information and classified information."
"Then I used classified information to perform classified information, and I arrived here and crashed into the Astral Express. I originally wanted to use classified information, but I fainted, waaah..."
"???"
Herta stared at her in utter disbelief.
Every important keyword had been replaced with "classified information," leaving everyone unable to help admiring Mikuru's professionalism.
"You didn't tell us anything at all?!"
"That's also classified information..."
"..."
Herta despaired and turned her gaze toward Setsuna.
"Commander, do we have any way to study the future?"
"We do, but there's no need."
Setsuna shook his head.
"This world will only have one future from now on—the future of the Starsea Empire."
Following his gaze downward,
Whoosh—
the Angeloids were carrying out the routine conquest operation across Earth.
Aside from Haruhi Suzumiya, the "core" of this world, and special individuals such as Yuki Nagato and Mikuru, this world was nothing more than an ordinary pre-spaceflight human civilization.
Thousands of Angeloids crushed the resistance forces in the blink of an eye, formally announcing their takeover of the entire Earth and Solar System.
Sophon skillfully signed sovereignty-transfer agreements with the various nations and began integrating all the countries on Earth.
"Ah?!—"
Mikuru was frightened all over again.
"If this happens, then... then our future will be changed too?"
"Wouldn't that mean the future people would be forced to perform classified information because of classified information, causing a severe classified information, and then..."
She closed her eyes and tried to contact another timeline.
Crack—
Within the higher-dimensional structure of spacetime, the timeline of Haruhi Suzumiya's world underwent a tremendous transformation.
Earth's original path of development abruptly came to an end. In its place emerged a new future created after the Starsea Empire conquered the world and began interfering with the universe.
That future was completely unknown, because no one knew what would happen under the Starsea Empire's rule.
A single thought from Setsuna, or any new technology he brought from another world, could have profound consequences for the entire universe.
The new worldline merged with the old one and completely replaced the original "future."
Beep—beep—beep—
Mikuru discovered that her connection with the future had been completely severed.
More precisely, the future she was familiar with had become a history that no longer existed.
"Eeeeeh?!—"
She spun around in panic, tears pooling in her eyes as she nearly burst into tears.
"Wh-Wh-What am I supposed to do now?!..."
"I can't go back anymore! I don't have anywhere to eat or sleep, and I don't even have a job anymore, waaah..."
Pfft—
Setsuna found teasing this airheaded girl far too amusing.
"It's fine. The Starsea Empire provides food, lodging, and parties. Come on, let me introduce you to your new friends."