A new school year means fresh blood for the SOS Brigade! But not just anyone can join this elite group of alien-, time traveler-, and esper-hunters! As Haruhi puts the new recruits through their paces in one timeline, the veteran members visit the ailing Yuki in the other. Yuki reveals that her illness may be the work of other humanoid interfaces like herself, but when Kyon rushes to confront them, he runs into a familiar face he had hoped he would never see again...!