Chapter 667 - 667: Herta, I Want You to Become a Catgirl and Help Me Train!

"Oh..."

Herta and Yuki Nagato pondered Setsuna's words for a moment.

Compared to Magic Gods, Aeons, or other supernatural beings, Haruhi Suzumiya's ability to reshape the universe was no weaker than theirs.

But there were also two problems:

First, Haruhi's ability was a completely unconscious manifestation of her emotions. Even she herself was unaware of it and found it extremely difficult to control.

Second, Haruhi Suzumiya herself was merely an ordinary little girl.

There was nothing remarkable about her physical abilities. She needed to eat, drink, and rest. She got tired after running, and it hurt when she bumped her head against a desk...

Although she possessed the ability to distort the world, her actual combat strength in a one-on-one fight, especially one without any restrictions on methods, was highly questionable.

Not to mention that in the original story, under certain circumstances, Nagato had even stripped Haruhi Suzumiya of her powers.

"Uh, sure, she's an ordinary human right now, but what if Haruhi Suzumiya wished that she herself could become some kind of godlike existence?"

Gudako suddenly thought of a question.

"Theoretically speaking, what she can interfere with and distort includes not only the universe, but herself as well."

"If Haruhi wanted to become an omnipotent god, could she do that too?"

"!"

Everyone froze. It was an unexpected angle, yet perfectly reasonable.

"...You've got quite the imagination."

The Herta puppet clapped a few times.

"Madam Herta and Ruan Mei have been researching how to cultivate and control the power of Emanators and even Aeon-level beings. If this little girl can achieve that just by making a wish..."

"I suggest renaming the Genius Society the Haruhi Suzumiya Fan Club from now on."

"Let's try it."

Setsuna cleared his throat.

"I also want to see where the upper limits and boundaries of Haruhi Suzumiya's ability lie."

"And while we're at it, we can teach her how to use her power properly so she stops randomly imagining things whenever she has nothing better to do."

Haruhi Suzumiya wasn't like the other girls, someone they could simply recruit and take away. She needed training and "development."

"Conducting experiments within this universe could lead to unpredictable consequences."

Yuki Nagato warned them.

"The information explosions caused by Haruhi Suzumiya are unconscious and emotional in nature. After receiving an excessive amount of information from the Starsea Empire, she will continuously generate many dangerous ideas."

"Because she is no longer restrained by reason or common sense, she will interfere with and manipulate the surrounding information environment on a large scale."

"That's easy enough."

Setsuna tapped a few times in empty space, projecting a small portion of the Eternal Snowfall.

Whoosh—

A silver entrance emerged from the void before everyone.

"You just need a universe for experimentation, right? I've got plenty."

...

"Mmm..."

After an unknown amount of time.

Haruhi Suzumiya slowly woke up. Still groggy, she opened her eyes and sat up in bed, looking around the unfamiliar surroundings in confusion.

She discovered that she was in a completely unfamiliar place.

Looking outside through the window, it seemed to be a largely undeveloped planet. Everywhere she looked was desolate.

The starry sky overhead was also different from Earth's. Not only were there far fewer stars, there wasn't even a moon.

"Yo, you're awake?"

Setsuna sat beside the bed and gently pinched Haruhi's cheek.

"?"

"Where... is this?"

Haruhi Suzumiya tried hard to remember what had happened earlier.

"Didn't I run into a group of aliens driving a train, board their train, and then go with them to fight off the Trisolaran invasion of Earth?..."

"And then, then, hmm..."

The rest of her memories seemed to blur together, giving her a slight headache.

"Wasn't I on the Astral Express?"

"This is pocket universe Number Fifteen aboard the Eternal Snowfall. It's also a recently created universe that hasn't undergone much development yet."

Setsuna answered.

"Huh?"

Haruhi froze.

"Pocket universe? What's that?!"

Even Yuki Nagato was hearing this strange new concept for the first time.

"You can think of it as an independent space isolated from the greater universe. Even if the outside universe suffers a dimensional strike or gets reduced to scrap by an Aetherophasic Engine, it won't affect this place. The reverse is also true. Nothing that happens inside the pocket universe will affect the outside universe."

Setsuna gave a concise explanation.

Apart from constructing shipborne Galactic Wonders and hosting parties, the greatest feature of a pocket universe was its independence, which made it perfect for letting Haruhi experiment freely.

"Oh..."

Haruhi Suzumiya didn't really understand, but she nodded anyway.

"Mr. Alien, what are we doing here?... Wait, how did I even get here? And how do you build a pocket universe?..."

A whole new pile of questions immediately sprang to mind.

"Haruhi, do you believe in superpowers?"

Setsuna ignored her questions and asked directly.

"Huh?"

Haruhi Suzumiya froze for a moment, then her eyes lit up.

"Of course!"

"I used to think aliens, time travelers, Demon Lords, gods, and stuff like that were all fake, but since I've already met real aliens and a real Demon Lord, then superpowers must exist too, right?!"

"Mm."

"Then do you believe that you have superpowers yourself?"

Setsuna rested a hand on Haruhi's shoulder and asked with a smile.

"Me?"

Haruhi pointed at herself, then immediately shook her head.

"Huh? How could that be possible?!"

"I can't fly, and I can't use magic. I... I'm just an ordinary student! Well, I guess I'm not that ordinary anymore. There probably aren't many people who've seen real aliens, right?!"

Pfft—

Haruhi Suzumiya had absolutely no awareness that she herself was the source of all the trouble. She sincerely believed that she was just an ordinary person.

Her way of thinking was simply a little unusual, and she happened to love excitement and novel things.

"Come on, let's run an experiment."

The Herta puppet beckoned, leading Haruhi Suzumiya to an open area outside.

She deployed all kinds of complicated experimental equipment, then pointed toward the barren horizon in the distance.

"Now imagine that this planet is the Earth you live on, with seven continents and five oceans, and that we're currently standing on an island in the Pacific Ocean..."

"Huh?"

Haruhi Suzumiya stared at her as though she were an idiot.

"How does this place look anything like Earth? And what kind of test is this supposed to be?"

"...Just try imagining it first. Maybe a miracle will happen?"

Herta coaxed her patiently.

"Oh."

Haruhi Suzumiya closed her eyes and thought for a short while.

Then she spread her hands.

"I imagined it. Now what?"

"..."

The planet remained exactly as it had been, without the slightest change.

"Strange."

Herta checked the equipment, unwilling to give up, then pointed toward the empty ground ahead.

"Now imagine there's a city over there that's even bigger than Tokyo..."

"?"

Haruhi closed her eyes for a moment, then shrugged.

"Mm-hmm? I imagined that too. What are you trying to do?"

"Imagine there's an Eiffel Tower over there..."

"Imagine there's a space cruiser in front of you that's bigger than an entire city..."

"Imagine that's a space habitat..."

"???"

Herta kept throwing one strange suggestion after another at Haruhi, hoping to witness that miracle-like power resembling the ability to make things true simply by thinking hard enough.

She tried everything from large to small, from spaceships to ordinary human buildings.

Yet not a single reality distortion occurred.

"Are you sure you're actually imagining it seriously?"

"Come on! These requests are weird as hell, okay?! And why should I listen to you and stand around here daydreaming anyway?!"

Haruhi planted her hands on her hips, looking thoroughly annoyed.

She ran over to Setsuna to complain.

"Mr. Alien, that talking doll is so weird. What is she even trying to do?"

"...No."

After watching the two of them bicker for a while, Yuki Nagato shook her head.

"Only when Haruhi Suzumiya genuinely wants to achieve a certain objective and forms the corresponding thought can she potentially manipulate the surrounding information environment."

"Her idea must be something she personally considers reasonable and finds interesting. Concepts that are too explicitly defined interfere with Haruhi Suzumiya's cognition."

"Oh..."

Setsuna fell into thought.

Looking at the furious Herta puppet, who was already preparing to make Haruhi Suzumiya study mathematics, physics, and chemistry, a strange idea suddenly occurred to him.

He pulled Haruhi Suzumiya closer and pointed at Herta.

"Don't you think it'd be really funny if she put on a maid outfit, turned into a catgirl, and started meowing?"

"Hm?"

Haruhi blinked. Herta's eyes widened in alarm.

"Commander, what are you say—"

Before she could finish—

Poof—

A pair of fluffy cat ears instantly sprouted from Herta's head, exactly the same color as her hair.

A tail suddenly emerged from beneath her skirt and swished through the air.

"!!!"

Herta was utterly horrified. She turned her head, and the moment she opened her mouth, even her voice had become noticeably sweeter.

"Commander, what happened, meow?!"

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