"Well, that makes as much sense as anything," I conceded, looking off the deck out towards the lake. "Their loss is your gain, I guess." More Haruhi assertions ran through my mind -- hidden treasure! Dark secrets! -- which further reminded me that the SOS Brigade was really starting to get under my skin.

I winced a bit. "Let's just hope that gets chalked down as a malfunction in the robot or something," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. Hey, technical difficulties works on everything else, right?