@jthornton
Thats what I was coming in the comments to see if someone explained. Felt strange that that wasnt the actual TL note...hard to believe that there are people that have never seen Haruhi.
Negi does it again, baits us hard with the childhood friend/random new girl trope known in romance manga.
Its handled super well cause I dont feel any sort of romantic feelings between them and Takebayashi meets up with the other guy from the Kyoto trip (most likely boyfriend at this point)