Kyon

is a fake name used by Kyon during one of his travels into the past. He told Haruhi his name is "John Smith" in order to hide his identity. Although just a passing thought to name himself that in the chapter "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", it becomes a critical factor in volume four, "The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya". Seemingly presented with a normal high school life, a world without Haruhi, the extent of his "normalness" and of his attachment to the Brigade and Haruhi are made evident. "John Smith" is referenced in the first novel and in the anime shortly after Haruhi and Kyon 'first' meet. Haruhi asks him if they had met before, to which he replies that they haven't (which is true, from his perspective). Kyon has said on occasion, at the end of The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya and at other intervals, that revealing he is John Smith will be his last ace in the hole should something arise regarding Haruhi. However, Kyon feels it is a last resort measure in case something like the events of the book happen again in which he has no support from anyone. To that end, he was willing to defy even the Integrated Data Entity, for he realized that while Haruhi was the one with reality-altering powers to which no one was supposedly safe from, he was the lone exception, the only thing keeping Haruhi from throwing everything out of whack. He realized now that he had become linked with Haruhi (in the intended sense and more), even something like the Entity wouldn't exist without him keeping Haruhi's powers stable. Him revealing himself to Haruhi as John Smith would radically change everything.

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