Chapter 663 - 663: Haruhi Suzumiya: Would You Like Some Aliens Today?

"Whoa—"

Haruhi Suzumiya pinched her own cheeks several times along the way, making absolutely sure she wasn't dreaming.

Then she followed Setsuna aboard the Astral Express.

"Another new passenger already, pom?"

The moment Haruhi Suzumiya saw Pom-Pom, her interest immediately surged.

"A talking doll!"

"Are you real or fake? There isn't a person stuffed inside you, is there?!"

She pounced over to pinch Pom-Pom's cheeks, rub Pom-Pom's ears, and even took off the conductor's hat to look underneath.

There was no doubt about it. Little Haruhi Suzumiya was still a crazy little girl, and an extraordinarily proactive one at that.

—After all, no normal first-year middle school student would come up with the idea of drawing graffiti all over the athletic field.

"Stop it!! If you keep causing trouble, I'll throw you off the train, pom!!"

"This is the Astral Express, so you have to follow Pom-Pom's orders! Troublemaking passengers get thrown off even if they're Akivili or Aha!"

"Huh?..."

After tormenting Pom-Pom for a while, little Haruhi's attention shifted toward the other members of the Express crew.

First, she tentatively poked Jibril's wing, and a warm, smooth sensation met her fingertips.

"An angel! Are you an angel? Those aren't cosplay decorations, are they?!"

As though she had discovered an entirely new continent, she circled around Jibril again and again.

"Can you fly? Are you from Heaven? Are there other angels there? Is God your superior?..."

"I obey Master's commands. If you're asking how many Flügel there are... probably around five thousand."

Jibril was quickly becoming exasperated by the barrage of questions.

Next, Haruhi Suzumiya noticed the little Herta puppet off to the side, reading through some data.

"A doll? A doll that can move? Can you talk?"

She walked over and tried to touch Herta.

Rumble...

The Herta puppet turned its head, startling Haruhi Suzumiya.

"Oh, an ordinary human capable of interfering with the material world? Hmm... Theoretically, you're already enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with an Aeon, but you don't even seem to possess the destructive power of an Emanator?"

"Can I study you?"

She had originally been pondering the little blade, but the moment she saw Haruhi Suzumiya, she immediately discovered a much more interesting research subject.

From a purely theoretical perspective, Haruhi Suzumiya was unquestionably a "god." She simply had no awareness of it whatsoever.

Her creativity and imagination were still constrained by her own "common sense" and limited experience.

"You look suspicious—"

Haruhi Suzumiya narrowed her eyes.

"Hmm..."

Setsuna thought for a moment.

He had originally expected to encounter some formidable opponent in this world and end up fighting a fierce battle.

Now, however, things seemed much simpler. Haruhi Suzumiya had plenty of inexplicable traits, but getting along with her was still easier than dealing with all sorts of bizarre demon gods.

Even if she was a little tsundere and temperamental, Setsuna didn't care.

He was practically a god when it came to handling lolis!

From the cursed little girls of Black Bullet and the tiny shipgirls at the port, to all sorts of Lily Heroic Spirits... and all the way up to Spirits, dragon girls, and Outer Gods, there wasn't one he couldn't handle.

"I'm the leader of the Starsea Empire, as well as the owner of the Astral Express."

He crouched down and tidied Haruhi Suzumiya's hair, his voice warm and gentle.

"If you want to visit other worlds, I can bring you along. The Astral Express can travel through many universes."

"Oh!"

Stars practically appeared in Haruhi Suzumiya's eyes.

She was still very young at this point, and in her eyes, Setsuna was a mysterious and powerful older brother.

"But you have to listen to us. Only people who follow the rules of the Nameless can travel with us."

"If everyone starts having complaints about you, then I'll have no choice but to regretfully send you back to school."

His tone suddenly changed as Setsuna pinched Haruhi Suzumiya's cheek.

"Mmph..."

No matter how willful she normally was, faced with such a rare opportunity, Haruhi Suzumiya forcibly restrained herself.

"You're not going to kidnap me, are you?"

"Then should I send you home right now?"

Setsuna asked with a smile.

"No! No!!"

Little Haruhi shook her head like a rattle-drum.

"Can I stay here and look around?"

"Of course."

Setsuna handed Haruhi Suzumiya over to Himeko and the Express crew to look after.

"Show her around first, then scout out the situation in this universe."

"Tch. Come to think of it, some of the people in this world aren't simple either."

Haruhi Suzumiya was the "god" of this place. Likewise, there were also espers and time travelers who had come into existence because of her.

Mikuru Asahina was originally supposed to appear only after Haruhi Suzumiya enrolled at North High. Heaven knew where she was right now.

As for aliens like Yuki Nagato and Ryoko Asakura, they seemed to have noticed this place because of the "data explosion" and anomalies caused by Haruhi Suzumiya.

"Scan for any spacefaring civilizations that might exist nearby, and try to find the Great Goddess Nagato while you're at it."

Setsuna casually assigned Sophon another task.

"Understood."

...

"Haaah—"

Haruhi Suzumiya temporarily settled into the Astral Express.

She possessed endless curiosity about these visitors from another world, while the Express crew was equally interested in this little girl who could alter the world through her power alone.

"Come on, hurry up and tell me! Where have you been? What interesting things have you seen?..."

After making a rough circuit of the train, little Haruhi squeezed in beside Gudako.

She desperately wanted to hear stories from other worlds.

"Heh heh—"

Gudako deliberately put on an enigmatic air, basking in the superiority of showing off before a native.

She opened the star chart on a holographic interface and beckoned.

Little Haruhi immediately leaned closer.

"First of all, we're the Starsea Empire. We come from here, while this universe is here."

She pointed at two locations.

"These universes are all our vassals, civilizations that were conquered by the Starsea Empire in the past. We've visited dozens of different worlds."

"There are shipgirls, aliens, Transformers, and even worlds of swords and magic, just like the anime you watch."

"Oh—"

Haruhi Suzumiya listened with complete concentration.

"So... you've really met lots of aliens? What do they look like? Have you ever fought aliens?"

"Of course!"

Gudako casually selected a world on the star chart and began bragging to Haruhi Suzumiya with the help of holographic projections.

"Look, this is the Three-Body world. There's an Earth there too, along with lots of aliens..."

"Back when the Imperial Fleet launched its expedition there, we fought massive battles against the droplets and the Trisolaran Fleet and wiped out countless alien bastards..."

Combined with the projected holographic images, her story left Haruhi Suzumiya utterly dumbfounded.

"Whoa... Those are really aliens?!"

It was as though she had become immersed in a thrilling extraterrestrial adventure, watching the Starsea Empire's fleets sweep across the cosmos and fight bizarrely shaped aliens to the death in the depths of space.

"This is so interesting!"

"Where do the Trisolarans live?"

"Alpha Centauri, 4.2 light-years from Earth. Their home system consists of three stars, which undergo irregular three-body motion under their mutual gravitational influence."

"Oh..."

Little Haruhi nodded, only half understanding.

After a difficult round of explanations, she finally managed to grasp those advanced astronomical concepts and committed them firmly to memory.

"Then, then... what about the Trisolaran fleet?"

"Here. This is footage of the fleet battle back then. Their design philosophy is rather different from Earth's."

"Whoa!—"

The holographic imagery of the interstellar age gave Haruhi Suzumiya an enormous shock, completely immersing her in what she was seeing.

Gudako kept talking from late at night until early morning. Only when the eastern sky began turning pale did Haruhi finally yawn and reluctantly return to her room to sleep.

Her physical condition still couldn't compare to Gudako and the others, so she didn't possess nearly as much stamina.

"Mmph..."

"Haaah."

Even while lying in bed, her mind kept replaying all the spectacular sights and stories she had just seen and heard.

The vast interstellar wars and strange, bizarre aliens seemed almost close enough to touch.

She tossed and turned, her head filled entirely with the stories Gudako had told her.

So... space people, aliens... they're all real?

Mmph, and there are Trisolarans too, on... on Alpha Centauri... If only I could see them with my own eyes, ride a spaceship over there, and fight them...

Half asleep, she began entertaining some strange ideas.

The extraterrestrial civilizations she had once considered "impossible" had all become possible after the arrival of the Starsea Empire.

The girl's worldview shifted ever so slightly.

Aliens... I want them too...

I want...

...

Early the next morning.

After washing up, Setsuna arrived at the Astral Express' main control console.

He opened the star chart, preparing to conduct his routine review of the scanning results and arrange the next Trailblaze mission.

"Hmm... This world shouldn't be difficult to deal with. The main objective is to pick up Nagato, Asahina, and the others. If we get the chance, we can also study the Data Integration Thought Entity..."

"As for Earth here, we'll still let Sophon manage it in the future..."

He arranged the items into a list in his notes.

Suddenly.

Beep—

The Astral Express' AI alarm sounded.

[Warning. Warning. Unknown extraterrestrial fleet detected, currently advancing toward the Solar System.]

"Huh?!"

Setsuna froze.

"An alien invasion? What kind of insane plot twist is this?!"

"Give me the details."

Hum—

In an instant, the sensors swept through all surrounding information.

"An unfamiliar extraterrestrial civilization has been discovered in the Alpha Centauri system."

"Confirmed. Its technological level and biological characteristics have a 77.3% similarity to the Trisolaran civilization recorded in the database."

"The First Trisolaran Fleet has departed Alpha Centauri and is advancing toward the Solar System at one percent of the speed of light. Estimated arrival in this star system: four hundred years."

Whoosh—

The holographic screen displayed the detected alien fleet, identical to the one in their memories.

"Hmm?"

Himeko frowned.

"There's an extraterrestrial civilization this close? Why didn't we detect it yesterday?"

"According to yesterday's scan results, Alpha Centauri was barren. No traces of intelligent civilization were detected."

The AI replied.

"???"

"It suddenly appeared?!"

"The Trisolarans?!"

Setsuna was even more bewildered.

"What the hell? Wasn't the Trisolarans' home planet blown to pieces by a Fallen Star Lance ages ago?! Where did these Trisolarans come from?!"

"And isn't this the Haruhi Suzumiya world?!"

"?!"

His thoughts raced, and then he suddenly froze.

Something appearing out of thin air that did not belong in this world... There was only one possibility.

"Haruhi Suzumiya!!!"

The reason Haruhi Suzumiya's world had previously been able to maintain an ordinary daily existence was because her common sense told her that the world didn't contain so many bizarre things.

Now, after seeing the Starsea Empire and hearing stories about other worlds, Haruhi Suzumiya had begun believing in the existence of those extraterrestrial civilizations and was unconsciously rewriting the universe.

"So Haruhi Suzumiya heard too many stories yesterday and imagined a bargain-bin version of the Trisolarans into existence for us?"

"Can't you people tell her something else instead?! Make her believe the universe is full of catgirls and monster girls or something, okay?!"

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