Disclaimer: The novel 'Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu'/'The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi' is the creation of Nagaru Tanigawa. No disrespect is intended by the posting of this fanfiction, as I do not own the characters or settings involved. I'm merely dabbling with another set of paints. ;)
Additionally, a character or two is borrowed from Higurashi, which is the creation of Ryukishi07, but don't read too much into that. This chapter also features some incredibly heavy-handed Hyperion Cantos references, borrowed with all due respect from Dan Simmons (as referenced in the original Haruhi novels), so feel free to read LOTS into that.
Note: The soundtrack for the final scene is Fixed Mind (as sung by Shiratori Yuri; this is Kimidori Emiri's image song).
Akasaka climbed into the control vehicle, which was a very large van, but crammed full of sensitive monitoring equipment, each station with a technician or officer behind it. Ostensibly, the Special Assault Team reported to the National Police Agency, which meant that he was in charge, so he turned to the tactical officer, who was intent on an earpiece and the monitor in front of him.
"Sir," the tactical officer said, not looking up.
"What do we have?"
"We have heat signatures from the compound." Akasaka leaned in to study the screen; it appeared to be a feed from the helicopter overhead, examining a central garden in the estate, some mound covered with a tarp in the sand garden. The somewhat shaky image zoomed in on something sticking out from the edge of the tarp, resolution picking up until a hand could be recognized.
He took a deep breath.
"Judging by the setup we see here, there are two hostages in the interior section," the tactical officer added, switching views to a thermal scan, evidently able to pierce the building's roof. The outlines of two faintly visible forms were prone on the floor of one of the rooms, another pair of figures pacing back and forth around them. More figures were flocking to defensive positions. "We see twelve hostiles, counting the two who are with the hostages."
"Can we get them out?" Two hostages ... Tsuruya herself, and Asahina Mikuru?
"The house has a classical layout," the tactical officer said, breaking from his intense scrutiny of the screen, though one hand remained on his earpiece. "Tactical strong and weak points for this type of structure have been known for literally centuries. These terrorists seem to know them, too, and I don't see anyone moving to negotiate. We don't believe there are any hardwired explosives, but they could be concealed, or the entire place could be rigged to burn. You were right to call us in; these people are playing for keeps."
Akasaka nodded slowly. "Alright," he said. "I'm going to confer with the local police forces. Keep me updated."
The tactical officer saluted sharply, then turned back to his terminal, activating his radio briefly to bark out a few code-worded commands.
After stepping back out into the rain, he found Oishi staring bemusedly down the street. "Something on your mind?" he asked the detective.
Oishi glanced back, crossing his arms over his chest. "Let's go somewhere I can smoke," he answered.
Akasaka shrugged, and the two meandered a few dozen yards away, to a closed shopfront with an awning that provided some cover. After Oishi had fished a dry cigarette out of his pack, he lit it, and while his hands were still cupped around his mouth, said, "The mayor was very interested in Suzumiya Haruhi's whereabouts."
The NPA agent blinked, considering that. "Don't know if that means anything," he said, shaking his head. "But we've got a problem."
At Oishi's glance, he outlined the situation.
"Hmm," Oishi murmured, frowning. "Well. Why not just have those ... people take care of it?" he asked, covering his mouth to draw from his cigarette as he spoke.
Following the detective's example, the NPA agent wiped rain from his face, asking, "You know how to?"
Taking one final drag, the detective suggested, "Try calling Nagato-san's apartment. Kimidori-san should be there, right?"
"It's probably our best chance." Akasaka couldn't keep himself from sighing. "You have her number?"
Oishi nodded, pulling his phone from his pocket and handing it over to the NPA agent.
Itsuki landed amid the ruins of the Tsuruya estate, studying his colleagues as they released their own powers. The blonde woman with the accent and the tanned man with the deep voice. "Greetings, young one," the tanned man said, nodding. "It is fortuitous that we meet again."
Both of the other espers turned to stare over his shoulder quizzically as Arakawa and Nagato approached. "What, you're bringing friends into closed space?" she asked. "It isn't a good time to play around."
"These are my allies," Itsuki offered. "In real space, in this same place, is the time traveler we're trying to find."
"Can we not cross over and bring this person to safety?" the tanned man asked.
"I'm not sure where she is, and here, I can't even tell where the walls and floors of the building should be." He turned to Nagato. "Can you help?"
"Data manipulation is difficult here," she answered after a moment. "I will submit your request to my superiors." She blinked almost instantly. "The request has been granted." With that, she suddenly started spewing out a stream of syllables, too fast for Itsuki to pick out meaning. The debris of the house collapsed, billowing up in a massive cloud of particles, clearing suddenly to reveal an intact house.
The other two espers raised their eyebrows, impressed at the display.
Her eyes -- Haruhi's eyes at the moment, but Nagato's gaze out of them -- turned back to Itsuki. "Oishi-san sends a message. SAT teams are unable to swiftly extract hostages Asahina-san and Tsuruya-san. It is up to us." Her eyes turned back to the house, and she raised a hand, spitting out a shorter stream of words.
Hazy outlines of human figures sprang into view, filled with jittering, static, vibrating black and white particles, but looking strangely flat to Itsuki's view.
"What in the hells..." the blonde murmured, looking at Nagato questioningly. "What are you?"
"Irrelevant," Nagato answered, blinking flatly. "Time is critical." She slowly paced into the Tsuruya estate, walking through a two-dimensional image of a man holding something in his hands.
Itsuki quickly trotted to her side, glancing around as Nagato opened the door and led the way inside. Shortly, they found the center of the house, where two figures were laying prone on the floor, and two more paced around the room. Arakawa and the other espers followed.
"The speed of dimensional fault traversal appears to be decreasing," Nagato noted. "There is no surety that you will be able to act before being observed if you cross at this juncture." She paused. "I should be sent first."
"I agree," Itsuki said, frowning. He glanced at the other two espers, adding, "We'll pool our strength and send Nagato-san and Arakawa-san across. Then I'll go, and try and send everyone back."
"How do we do that?" the blonde asked, furrowing her brow.
"If we pool our strength and work together," the tanned man said, "then we should maintain our link with him across the closed space boundary."
"If I can borrow your strength," Itsuki said, bowing to the other espers.
"Right, sure," the blonde woman grumbled.
The tanned man agreed, "Our hearts are united."
Arakawa reached into his coat and pulled out his knife; a long, straight double-edged blade. "I should go first," he began, before Nagato shook her head and overrode him.
"My defensive capabilities are superior. I am prepared to act."
"I'm not sure-"
"Let's not fight about it," Itsuki said, wincing internally at correcting the man who had been a superior to him for so long. "Nagato-san might be able to do it alone."
"It would be difficult to cross the dimensional fault," she noted.
"Alright," Itsuki said, shaking his head, holding a hand out to the other two espers and embracing his power. "Let's do it."
Back in the SAT van, feeling like an invader despite his authority over the forces involved, Akasaka tried to stay out of the way of the technicians and officers manning their terminals. In the meantime, he kept one finger nervously poised over the 'send' button on the cell phone in his pocket.
"Movement," the chief tactical officer said, frowning. "I don't- There's an extra heat signature in the main room! Make that two, no, three now!"
"Move in," Akasaka ordered, one press of his finger sending a message from his cell phone.
Giving him one brief, doubtful glance, the tactical officer followed the order he was given, barking out instructions over the radio as the tactical sub-chiefs followed suit. Around the Tsuruya estate, eighteen Special Assault Team forces began their silent invasion. Uncomfortable with watching the outcome, Akasaka opened the rear door of the van to rejoin Oishi, who was relaying a report to a uniformed officer in the cover of the nearby awning. A noiseless burst of light behind them signaled contact.
It had begun.
Nagato recorded her observations of traversing the dimensional fault. The phenomenon had only been directly experienced four times by any interface so far, and her automatic archival functions still classified it as newly created data, compared to the Integrated Data Entity. It was worth noting that the interval of transfer was much faster with all three of the espers working together: merely one tenth of a second.
She had placed herself between the two forms on the floor, Asahina Mikuru, and Tsuruya, with defenses prepared; the two other figures in the room, unidentified males in similarly nondescript tan outfits turned towards her. She analyzed their weapons and altered the attributes of the propellant to render it noncombustible.
They pulled the triggers of their weapons, which then emitted tiny sparks and puffing noises as the primers ignited into the inert gunpowder. In the moment that they paused to look at their pistols in alarm, Arakawa transitioned through the dimensional fault, rushing towards the nearest man with his knife at the ready. Her library referenced his posture and stance as practiced manuevers, and without bringing the blade to bear, he violently shoved the first man across the room to slam into the wall.
Koizumi Itsuki transitioned next, rushing the last man. Nagato Yuki expanded her awareness of the area, searching with all senses and sensors for approaching hostiles before turning to Tsuruya. The girl was staring at her in surprise, wriggling where she'd been left on the floor, her wrists and ankles bound. Nagato Yuki altered the tensile resistance of her bonds, then reached town and drew a finger through them, freeing her.
After a few cycles running the logistics, she also altered Tsuruya's physical state to restore damage caused by days of being bound. Tsuruya scrambled to Asahina Mikuru's side as Nagato Yuki stood straight once more, relaying the message sent via PPC from Kimidori Emiri: "We must leave now."
Arakawa and Koizumi Itsuki had finished with the two men, but Nagato Yuki could sense many more forces approaching.
"What's going on?" Tsuruya demanded, crouching over her friend and looking around in bewilderment.
"No time," Koizumi Itsuki snapped, dashing to Asahina Mikuru's side and lifting her in his arms. He focused, and the girl completed the dimensional traversal quickly.
"Hey!" Tsuruya explained, her features showing alarm. "What-"
"No time!" he repeated, pushing the other girl through her own crossing. Arakawa was sent through next, and Nagato Yuki invoked a personal shield around herself and Koizumi to ensure he would not be harmed during the final traversal. After they had returned to the other side of the dimensional fault, she sent the termination code for the function.
Itsuki trembled in the closed space, falling back to sit and heave nervously.
"Trouble?" the blonde asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"It went pretty well," he replied shakily.
Arakawa nodded, surveying the group. "You did very well for your first fight," he said, placing a comforting hand on Itsuki's shoulder.
"Fight?" the tanned man asked. "Were there injuries?"
"Someone tell me what's going on!" Tsuruya screamed, crouching protectively over Mikuru's form and glaring at everyone else.
All eyes turned to the frightened girl with the wild, panicked eyes.
"Sorry," Itsuki said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You're Tsuruya-san, yes?"
"Yeah," she said warily.
"The head of your family was recently approached by a group called the 'Organization' and offered a place within their hierarchy," Arakawa explained. "He declined. The people who invaded your home were members of that group. We came to rescue yourself and Asahina-san."
"Oh? Dad sent you?" Tsuruya asked, suddenly calming. "You sure took your sweet time!"
"It's more complicated than that," Itsuki said dryly, before turning to Nagato. "Can you move us out of here?"
"Data manipulation is difficult here," she answered without hesitation.
"Well, where are we, anyway?" Tsuruya mused, looking around, before peering at Nagato thoughtfully, eyes widening. "Didn't I see you in a bunny-girl outfit with Mikuru-chan? Haha! Nice! Bunny-girl heroine!"
"Negative," Nagato replied, blinking. "I am assuming the physical image of Suzumiya Haruhi."
"So, you're some kind of magical girl, then?"
Nagato blinked several times, then said, "I have been called 'magical computer girl Nagato Yuki' by Suzumiya Haruhi."
Itsuki shook his head; Nagato's sense of humor was absolutely starting to weird him out. "Let's talk about this later," he said. "Um ... Tsuruya-san, I suppose you can come with us if you like, but we need to take Asahina-san to safety."
"Noooooo," Tsuruya said slowly, shaking her head, a strange gleam in her eyes. "She's not going out of my sight! I'm sticking with her, and if you try anything funny, you're going to get a Tsuruya-kick, nyoro!"
"Right," the blonde said, shaking her head. "Now I've seen everything. Hey, crazy girl, you mind if I carry her?"
Tsuruya eyed the blonde girl up and down, then shrugged, "I'll carry her."
The blonde allowed one eyebrow to tic in irritation before embracing her power, drifting a few feet off the floor, the dimly visible red halo that surrounded her shimmering in the closed space light. "It'll be lots faster if you let me carry her," she said.
Tsuruya blinked in surprise, her eyes widening. "Okay, then!" she allowed, suddenly grinning. "You must be a magical girl, too!"
"She's handling her first exposure to closed space rather well," Itsuki remarked to Arakawa.
"There could be plenty of other sources of trauma," the older man remarked darkly in a low tone.
Itsuki grimaced at the reminder. "Right," he sighed, holding out a hand and embracing his own power. "Okay, Tsuruya-san, if you don't mind coming with me?" Nodding at the other espers, he added, "I'll show you where we need to go."
Tsuruya wasn't sure what was going on, and she still hadn't found much cause to smile or laugh. She was searching, and the events she'd been through in the last few minutes were certainly better, but there was no guarantee she wasn't just imagining things. So after an exhilarating, dizzying trip across the strangely gray city, being hauled by a flying person to some apartment building she didn't recognize, she was left alone with the girl who called herself Nagato Yuki, and Mikuru.
She tried to busy herself with fussing over her friend, but Mikuru didn't rouse at all.
"So ... can you explain any of this to me, magical girl?" she finally asked. She was relatively sure that it was Suzumiya Haruhi ... but maybe Nagato Yuki was her magical girl identity?
Nagato's eyes turned from some point on the horizon and fixed on her, blinked once. "Maybe," she replied in a soft monotone.
"What's going on with Mikuru-chan, then?" she tried instead.
Turning her gaze back to the far horizon, Nagato said, "She has been sedated."
"Well, I knew that! I meant, can you help her?"
"When we return to the baseline physical reality."
Puffing her cheeks out and realizing it made her look like a petulant child, she joined Nagato in staring at the eerie gray sky, until another one of those streaking crimson orbs lit up in the distance. Very quickly, it zoomed towards them, stopping suddenly in the window and releasing the boy she had threatened to kick. He looked very tired.
"Okay," he said, rubbing at his face. "Arakawa's back at the safe house. Is it safe in the hallway, Nagato-san?"
She nodded slightly. "The protections that would slow your transition have been momentarily disabled."
"Good, I'll bring Asahina-san and Tsuruya-san across first." Before he could move towards Mikuru, Tsuruya picked her friend up. He placed a hand on Tsuruya's shoulder and said, "Close your eyes and walk forward very carefully."
She did as he said, clutching Mikuru tightly. She felt her sense of balance waver, but only momentarily before she recovered.
After a long shuffling pause, he said, "You can open your eyes." She did so, looking back over her shoulder warily, but the boy was already distorting into an oddly colorless version of himself, before he vanished.
The hallway was empty except for an open apartment door, where a girl with short hair and glasses stood. "Come in," she said genially.
There was little doubt that she was back in her own world ... and she contemplated making a break for it with Mikuru, finding the rest of her family and hiding in a deep bunker, but before she could finish considering the plan, the boy had returned behind her, along with Nagato.
"You'd better not hurt her," Tsuruya grumbled, looking at them all warily, but carrying Mikuru inside anyway.
Nagato and the other girl looked at one another for a moment, then both of them wavered, shifting forms.
Now Nagato was the one with short hair, and the other one -- whatever her name was -- was taller, with pale green hair and eyes. She turned to face Tsuruya abruptly, offering a small smile. "You must be Tsuruya-san," she said, bowing. "I'm Kimidori Emiri. I apologize for your confusion."
The boy snorted, closing the door behind him and slumping to the floor, exhausted. "How's Haruhi?" he mumbled. "Also, glasses again."
"She's doing as well as she can, Koizumi-san," Emiri answered, her smile fading slightly. She took off her glasses and handed them to Nagato, who silently donned them after closing the door. "But, that's fine. Now that Asahina-san is here, we should be able to proceed with the plan."
"What are you planning on doing with Mikuru?" Tsuruya asked suspiciously.
"We will scan her and attempt to connect with her neural interfaces," Emiri explained. Nagato walked into one of the side rooms. "If we cannot interface without triggering safeguards, we will attempt to wake her."
Tsuruya crossed her arms over her chest and stood between Emiri and Mikuru. "Why not wake her up first?"
"It is possible that automatic safeguards, given her current state, may trigger a defensive mechanism that returns her to her time of origin."
"Did you say time of origin?" Tsuruya asked, eyes widening. "She's from another time?"
"And yet, the 'magical girls' don't bother you at all?" the boy -- Koizumi -- asked, staring at her somewhat incredulously.
"Eh ... no, it's.... Um. Hmm." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Magical girls, okay. Time travelers, okay. But both at the same time? Seems kinda farfetched, doesn't it?"
Koizumi stared at her, then raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Okay," he said. "Different kinds of magical girls, then. Mikuru's kind can time travel."
"Oh! Well, that makes sense, then. So, how are you a magical girl?"
"Never mind that," Koizumi said, turning to Emiri. "Neural interfaces?"
"Yes. She has a complex artificial neural network mapped to most regions of her organic brain, attached to various internal devices."
"You mean, like ... cybernetic implants?"
"Yes," Emiri agreed.
"That explains a lot," Koizumi mused. "Actually, I had suspicions about that."
"As did we." Emiri turned her attention to Tsuruya again. "We will not cause permanent harm to Asahina Mikuru, but I am going to inject her with nanomachines to examine her more thoroughly."
"More injections," Tsuruya growled. "If you're not going to wake her up, she's had enough of that! She's my friend, not something for you to use!"
Nagato returned bearing a tea set, which she placed on the table.
Emiri's smile faded. "Please be reasonable, Tsuruya-san. I don't wish to force the issue, but you cannot oppose us here."
"Just you try it!" Tsuruya challenged, bristling. She didn't know how this was going to work out -- the last time she'd tried to fight for Mikuru it hadn't ended well -- but that was no reason to give up!
"As you wish," Emiri said, raising one hand from her side.
"Kimidori," Nagato called, freezing the other girl in place.
Tsuruya hopped over Mikuru and resumed crouching, so she could try and watch both of them more easily.
Some invisible communication seemed to pass between Emiri and Nagato, and the raised hand dropped to Emiri's side. "Very well," the light-green haired girl allowed.
"Tsuruya-san," Nagato said, "I will attempt to awaken Asahina Mikuru, if you wish."
"Y...yeah, okay," Tsuruya allowed.
Nagato went to Mikuru's side and knelt, then placed her palm on the prone girl's forehead. After a moment, she pulled it away. "I will need to inject her to rouse her, as directly manipulating her data could result in unforeseen consequences," she said. "If it reassures you, Asahina Mikuru and I attend the same club at school."
"Yeah?" Tsuruya asked, suspicious. "W...well ... okay, then.... But I'm telling you! If you try anything sneaky it's a Tsuruya-kick, nyoro!"
"Understood," Nagato replied, before taking Mikuru's wrist in her hand, raising it to her mouth, and biting it.
"Why don't you use fingernails for that?" Koizumi mused aloud, rubbing at his right wrist absently. "Wouldn't that be more convenient?"
"The organic mechanisms for teeth with the ability to inject fluid substances already occur naturally in this world," Emiri answered, pouring a cup of tea and handing it to the exhausted boy. "We are assembled from more readily found traits in local nature so as to be minimally divergent while not requiring constant self-modification to take samples or administer nanomachines."
Koizumi snorted, shaking his head and sipping his tea as Mikuru moaned softly, and Nagato lowered her wrist from her mouth.
"Am I back in the terminus?" Mikuru asked groggily. "My neural safeguards aren't registering...."
"You're awake!" Tsuruya cried gleefully, throwing herself at her friend and wrapping her in a hug.
"Korben!" Mikuru tried to yell, struggling weakly in her grasp, though her voice was muffled in Tsuruya's shoulder. "Get her off.... Wait.... What the hell!?"
Tsuruya released Mikuru and stared at her in consternation. "Y...you don't remember me?" And when had Mikuru used language like that?
"So, she wouldn't have happened to have substantial conditioning in her neural ... stuff, would she?" Koizumi asked, giving a knowing smirk before he sipped his tea again.
"Those restrictions have been removed," Nagato said.
"You hacked my implants!?" Mikuru yelped, staring at Nagato, aghast. "That's so dangerous!"
"W...what's going on?" Tsuruya groaned, grabbing her head. Why didn't her friend recognize her?
"Eh.... Um.... Sorry, Tsuruya," Mikuru replied, shaking her head, then hesitantly hugging her friend back. "I'm just ... a little confused is all."
"You still remember me?" That was all that mattered to Tsuruya; Mikuru was awake, and ... mostly okay! That was something to smile about, finally.
"Of course! I just remember, um, a bunch of other stuff, too."
Finding a moment of silence to interject, Nagato said, "Your implants have been disabled so that you could be awoken without triggering any defensive or automated systems. This is temporary."
"You're trying to steal time travel technology from me," she accused, narrowing her eyes.
"We wish to acquire it."
"Why?" Mikuru asked, shaking her head slightly.
"Asahina-san, there's any number of questions I'd love to take this opportunity to ask," Koizumi remarked, handing his drained teacup to Emiri, "but we don't really have that much time. Do you remember what happened to Kyon?"
"I ... um ... y...yes." Her eyes drifted shut, tears trickling out. "I remember, now. I went to visit Tsuruya, because I couldn't believe it.... How could it be meant to be that way?"
"Well." He glanced at Nagato. "We're being rather careless; is it possible that Suzumiya-san might overhear us?"
"The door is soundproofed," she answered him. "She will not hear us. We will be notified if she awakens."
"Right," Koizumi said, nodding, seeming to find his mental track again. "This world is going to be destroyed. We have to go back in time and prevent Asakura Ryouko from killing Kyon."
"B...but, no, that can't be right," Mikuru said, shaking her head more quickly. "I mean, I don't want him to die either! But that would create a paradox! You'd most likely just shatter this time-plane!"
"Not absolutely," Emiri said. "Details of this plan may be difficult to convey, but Nagato Yuki has arranged to temporarily transfer Suzumiya Haruhi's power into herself for the purposes of rewriting reality with the precise control of an interface, and none of the risks of Suzumiya-san becoming aware of it. However, in order for this to work, we must have several components.
"Firstly, we need a reasonable anchor to pinpoint the baseline instance of Suzumiya Haruhi's person of interest before death and give us a target insertion point. Secondly, we need Suzumiya Haruhi to believe that it is possible to do without paradox. Thirdly, we need the ability to go back in time and accomplish this. The only component missing at this point is time travel."
"The Integrated Data Entity is going to get a lot out of this," Mikuru mumbled, patting Tsuruya's back thoughtfully. "Well, I wish I could help you, but I don't have a time machine. We don't have any physical devices at all, outside of our impants. All of my tools are thought-projections visible to me via augmented reality. So, our time travel works by synchronizing our implants to a master control through time. Effectively, the source of our time travel is stationary in time itself, and reaches out to move us when required. I just have a beacon."
Nagato blinked. "That is time travel," she noted. "It is very likely that we can observe the signals you send through time and determine the functionality ourselves."
Tsuruya released Mikuru long enough to look at her face, but the other girl looked surprised, thoughtful. "That may be true," she allowed. "I'm just not used to being here without almost all of my nonessential memories locked off. But what about the possibility of far future sensors capturing signals at varying distances beyond Earth, calculating delay, and then everything being sent back from the master source?"
"That would be remarkably inefficient," Emiri said. "In any case, the crucial issue is that we would like your permission to attempt to reverse-engineer the technology."
"I'll ask my superiors," Mikuru replied doubtfully, raising one hand to her head. Her eyes became distant, dull, then abruptly snapped back into focus. "Denied," she sighed, tears shimmering in her eyes. "And they're really mad about my safeguards being disabled. Automated recall in thirty seconds. Y...you can try tracking me when I'm recalled, but they might just strand me here if they detect additional nanomachines in my bloodstream."
"What?" Tsuruya yelped, lunging at Mikuru and grabbing her tightly. "No! I won't allow it! I'm not failing you again!"
"N...no," Mikuru said anxiously, struggling weakly, "Tsuruya, it's not safe! You have to let me go! Twenty seconds!"
"We will help," Emiri said quickly, as Nagato rushed to Tsuruya's side, leaning in and biting her wrist. "And you will help us."
"Ouchie!" Tsuruya exclaimed, only realizing after the fact that it didn't hurt. Her entire body started to tingle, and she felt the room around her grow dim as a silver nimbus began radiating from her skin. "Oooh! I'm a magical girl now, too, Mikuru! We'll get to fight for love and justice together, nyoro!" she cheered.
"Tsuruya!" Mikuru wailed, still struggling. "Five seconds!"
Tsuruya clung even more tightly. "It's okay!" This time she'd be able to help her friend, and that was something worthy of a huge grin. She couldn't even help the cheerful laugh that escaped her if she had wanted to.
"Chronoton tracking system and temporal shielding enabled," Nagato said, backing away, just as all reality folded away into disorienting nothingness.
Hands shaking slightly, Itsuki spent a moment longer staring at the place where reality had ... cracked open around the two girls they had spent so long trying to find. Mostly around Asahina, really, but he was vaguely surprised that Tsuruya had been able to go with her.
"At least they made it out," he said aloud. "Though, I can't help but think that if her superiors still existed, presumably in the future, then the world must not end," Koizumi mused. "So, how does that work?"
"It is working," Nagato answered after a moment, while both her and Emiri stared intently into the space where the girls had vanished, only the faintest drifting particles of glowing silver remaining, winking out one by one. "Our superiors are diverging from consensus and combining resources."
"Wait, what? You were able to actually figure it out from watching that?"
"The particles that Tsuruya-san trailed will allow us to track their trajectory through time, as well as making the mechanism that is used for time travel possible."
"The shielding that Nagato installed should ensure that she arrives at the end timepoint intact," Emiri added. "To the best of our abilities, at least. There is a nonzero possibility that when this reality is merged with our ideal repaired reality, Tsuruya-san will also exist in a secondary divergent iteration from the present at the end timepoint."
Itsuki nodded tiredly, then went to the table and reached a shaking hand towards the teapot. Emiri reached it first, refilling the cup he had handed her earlier. After a soothing sip of the hot beverage, he curled his hands around the cup, seeking solace in its warmth. "So ... now what?" he asked.
Returning to the table, Nagato pulled the napkin from the crystal ball, and he quickly looked away, staring out the window. The thing still sparkled in the corner of his eyes and itched at the edges of his esper senses.
"And what do you need her for, anyway?" he added.
"Asakura Ryouko's faction is more readily able to implement our discoveries," Emiri explained. "However, we do not trust them, so we are using forced emulation through her waveform to simulate their input."
"Hmmm...." He closed his eyes, nodding. "I thought you might have factions. Can you tell me about them?"
"My faction is best represented with the word 'Compromise'. Nagato-san's would be 'Thinking', and Asakura Ryouko's would be 'Innovative'."
"Interesting. Anyway, assuming you pull this off, is there any chance anyone but you will remember it?"
"Unlikely," Nagato answered. "Asahina Mikuru may retain memories, but her automatic censoring system will likely not allow her to recall them outside of her primary time plane." He heard the sound of cloth shifting, and opened an eye cautiously to see the crystal sphere was covered again. "It is done."
"That fast?" Itsuki asked.
"There is insufficient time to construct a physical device," Nagato added.
He sighed, draining his teacup. "So, we lost anyway?" he asked.
"One of us can go back," Emiri said, shaking her head. "Our united factions have that much power. It will be Nagato-san, as she has already acquired the necessary permissions from Suzumiya Haruhi. Asahina-san's method of time travel is crude and unrefined; we have developed a superior form that will not require physical mechanisms, but also is less well suited towards transmitting physical matter."
"Well, is that important?" Itsuki asked. "As I understand it, you can convert yourselves into pure data, right? Couldn't one of you just ... copy the other one and then go back?"
"Yes," Nagato answered.
Emiri nodded. "Nagato-san, when I am restored, assuming that I suffer no instabilities of my own, I will do my best to watch over you."
Nagato blinked, something changing around her eyes that Itsuki was able to spot, but not quite name. "Thank you," she finally said. "I am leaving now."
Itsuki was ready to ask another question, but Nagato vanished in an eerie puff of blue light and a sharp scent of ozone. At the same time, Emiri closed her eyes and fell over onto her side, suddenly limp.
The entire SAT operation from Akasaka's signal had taken less than three minutes. Despite that, after taking all twelve terrorists alive, there was no sign of the hostages. The tactical control officer was livid, demanding a technician come in immediately and inspect the thermal imaging scanner.
The rain still sheeted down, as it had almost constantly since the entire case began, but neither he nor Oishi cared for the moment. The detective still waited beneath the awning he had found, smoking another cigarette, so Akasaka had just dumped the responsibility of the initial incident report on the tactical control officer and went to join him. They hadn't known one another a full week, but they had been in it together, ever since Student K's death.
"Akasaka-kun," Oishi greeted him, nodding and flicking his cigarette into a nearby puddle. "What do you think the final report is going to be like?"
"Koizumi Itsuki was sighted, but escaped," Akasaka said at length. "There's no sign of Tsuruya-san, Suzumiya-san, or Asahina-san." He furrowed his brow. "The missing persons angle will still be an issue, especially since Koizumi Itsuki and Suzumiya-san were seen going into the estate. However, SOCO is already going over the scene right now ... except for Tsuruya-san herself, it seems her entire staff was killed."
"Pity," Oishi said, grimacing. "How many?"
"Five," Akasaka answered. "Two maids, a butler, a chef, and a driver. The men also probably doubled as bodyguards. Initial examination says gunshot wounds. I'm confused as to why they were doing it all, though. How long did they expect to go unnoticed?"
"And what's so important about Asahina Mikuru, if she was there?"
"We could call Kimidori-san and ask," Akasaka said doubtfully.
"I don't think we'd get a straight answer out of them, now that they have what they were looking for."
The NPA agent nodded.
"Still," Oishi mused, "let's begin with a central premise. All of this started because Asakura Ryouko killed Student K."
Akasaka nodded again. "I suppose it must have," he allowed. "You said that Kimidori-san asked Asakura why she killed him ... what were her words?"
"Something about ... the 'observation subject's life form of interest,' I believe. Nagato-san and Kimidori-san wanted to know why she had done it."
"Right. And we know that supposedly the world will be destroyed because of Suzumiya-san's emotional state."
"That's what we've been told," Oishi agreed. "If we believe that, then I can only guess that ... whatever those people are ... Asahina Mikuru was one of them. Probably Tsuruya-san, too. Koizumi-san called himself an esper, and said that the others were ... well, neither of us know what those letters mean. We can call them anything, I suppose, but for now let's just say, 'faction A'."
"Right, and then we can label espers 'faction B'," Akasaka said thoughtfully. "Kimidori-san took the charge from a stun-gun without batting an eyelash. So, we can guess that Asahina Mikuru wouldn't belong to faction A, or else she would have been much harder to stop."
"That follows," Oishi said, nodding. "So, she's another part of faction B?"
"Or a third faction."
"Probably that," the detective said after a long moment. "Kimidori-san also mentioned that they needed Asahina-san to 'repair' the damage."
"This might be a bit of a long shot," Akasaka said slowly, "but do you suppose that she can ... bring Student K back to life?"
Oishi looked up thoughtfully, then gazed towards the cloudy skies beyond the awning. "Probably," he allowed. "I think Nagato-san said that it was impossible without her. In any case, if we haven't been deceived or just snapped due to pressure, I have to say ... Student K may be the most important person on the planet, living or dead."
The two were silent for a long time as the pounding rain suddenly lessened to a drizzle, then tapered into a sprinkling mist.
"I hope he knows it," Akasaka sighed.
To generate power for the leap, Nagato disengaged herself from her organic body at the same time as Kimidori, folding the other interface's waveform into her internal storage, then triggering a function to consume all of the security and safeguards they had set up in the apartment. Those functions were diverted to change the attribute data of her body's composition, which was then annihilated in a condensed, carefully contained reaction, simultaneously providing her more processing power and disrupting local temporal reality.
Above and around her, Moderates and Innovators had banded together with Volatiles; her own Thinkers and Emiri's Compromisers had been reinforced by the Stables, but the data-war was waging on every nonphysical plane of reality; the screams of the dying echoed across the data-medium. Countless other factions had split off to form their own temporary unities, only the Ultimates and Reapers standing alone.
The last vestiges of Emiri and Nagato's factions manifested in the dataspace around Nagato's microscopic temporal/physical reality breach, using their own dying data structures to assemble the thought-mechanism that would propel her back in time. Even as they moved to act, other factions emerged, desperate to try and observe -- or stop, or possess -- but interfere, regardless.
She was dimly aware of some other even more alien force entering the dataspace, striking first at the Reapers, distracting the combatants away from them immediately. All happened in the instant; less than a picosecond. Foreign data structures recklessly disassembled the Integrated Data Entity's entropy function; if the current conflict had somehow been overcome, there would be no return to functionality. Not after that.
The Ultimates reacted then as the alien force lashed, seemingly blindly, totally chaotically, overwriting the Stables with random tendrils of misinformation; a sea of bad sectors flowed from the rent crystalline regularity that had once been one of the longest surviving factions of the Integrated Data Entity. While the union was vulnerable and the time-mechanism was still being arranged, the Ultimates enveloped them.
The directive of the Ultimates would not tolerate immediate contact with physical existence; their goal was the ultimate in evolution for the Integrated Data Entity as a whole. She could not produce a number that would represent the chances of them becoming involved with her faction, or Emiri's, but it had happened, and now it meant the end of their efforts. No small band of factions could hope to stand against them, and the entire processing power and data of their united factions was already devoted exclusively to sending her and her data cargo back through the temporal breach.
But as she watched, the Ultimates merely surrounded the united factions and their data structures, not moving to observe, aid, or interfere. For the first time in Nagato Yuki's existence, their faction spoke, first with an echo of the foreign data that tore away its outermost data layers, then, eschewing direct memetic transmission, with four, succinct words, shocking in their confinement to mere language:
MACROSPACIAL QUANTUM COSMIC EXISTENCE
Then a perfect copy of the waveform extracted from Asakura Ryouko; something so secure and hidden that Nagato could not understand how they had found it even with her augmented processing ability; not even the Reapers should have been able to read traces of that data, and one final word:
PROTECT
Then it was done; the data-structures were aligned and she was compressed into a stream of information on a secure carrier wave, shunted back into physical reality and guided through a window less than the width of an atom. Behind her, she was aware of even the Ultimates being destroyed by that alien existence.
-discontinuity-
Her carrier wave was caught automatically by a previous temporal instance of herself, organic body intact, walking out of the school grounds down the hill towards the train station. An additional picosecond was all she needed to annihilate her organic body again; not to create a temporal breach, this time. Back within the dataspace, she corrected her primary function, then observed, briefly, that the consensus had been restored to the state of the moments before the primary protection target's termination.
Queuing a request for a new physical body, she appended a request for combat countermeasures based on her analysis of Asakura Ryouko's captive waveform, and a kill command for Asakura Ryouko's data link. That done, she chained the request to a reprioritizer and launched her future temporal instance of Ryouko's waveform directly at the Reapers with a command for immediate process.
The consensus immediately began to diverge at her breach of protocol; the Reapers were not directly addressed, and maintained their role as an entropy function. They did not choose to involve themselves with other factions. She ignored it; another high-burst package at the Compromise faction encapsulated Kimidori Emiri's divergent temporal waveform, and when automated systems moved to correct her data structures, she broadcast the last messages of the Ultimates to the entire Integrated Data Entity.
Then she was snared in the automated corrective functions of the Reapers; a rogue program to be overwritten and replaced with a more functional interface.
Itsuki rubbed his forehead and stumbled to his feet, walking to Emiri's side and kneeling next to her to check her for a pulse. Did she normally have a pulse? She didn't, now, and her breath didn't stir. He glanced at the table and peeked underneath the napkin, unsurprised to see the glass sphere appeared empty.
"Well," he said to himself, annoyed, "they all got out."
He looked towards the hall in alarm when he saw Haruhi, dressed in pajamas and rubbing at her eyes with the back of one wrist, trudging down the hall. "What's going on?" she asked groggily, before looking around. "Oh, Koizumi. Where'd Nagato go?"
"I'm not entirely positive," Itsuki admitted. "How are you feeling, Suzumiya-san?"
Haruhi's tired eyes fixed on Emiri before turning to Itsuki with frank disapproval. "Koizumi, be a gentleman and cover your girlfriend up while she's sleeping, why don't you?"
Working his jaw for a long moment while Haruhi trudged to the table and poured herself a cup of tea, Itsuki managed, "Of course," and went to search for bedding.
"Anyway," she continued, when Itsuki found a thick blanket and a pillow for Emiri in the hall closet, "I'm feeling okay. Surprisingly positive. I just got this feeling that somehow, when I wake up next time, it'll be everything bad that happened that was a dream."
"I'd like to think that," he agreed, covering Emiri's form, then placing the pillow beneath her head.
The apartment gave a powerful shudder, though Haruhi was unaffected and didn't seem to notice, tilting her head back and looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Right," she decided. "And on that note, I think it's time to wake up."
Nodding, Itsuki looked at Emiri's still, peaceful form, and took one of her cool hands in his. He wouldn't remember anything, probably, if it worked, and absolutely not if it didn't. "See you on the other side," he said sadly.
"Of course you will," Haruhi murmured, staring out the window as the rain lessened to a fine mist, and the city began to glow with the light of the rising sun.
BREAK/CEASE/HALT/FREEZE PROCESSES
The voice of the Ultimates, broadcast simultaneously to every nonphysical aspect of Integrated Data Entity. Nagato waited, able to perceive send-requests, but not able to observe anything not broadcast either to the entire entity, or at least her specifically.
NAGATO YUKI IS REASSIGNED AS PRIMARY
The functions binding her in place were terminated.
ALL QUEUED REQUESTS OF NEW PRIMARY NAGATO YUKI ARE TO BE PROCESSED AT HIGHEST PRIORITY
RESUME
The voices of dissenting factions sounded around her, but the word of the Ultimates would not be countered; Emiri's Compromise and her own Thinking faction sided with the Ultimates, and another first in Nagato Yuki's existence, the Reapers also sided with the union. As she was downloaded into her new physical form, she could hear the chorus breaking out anew, arguing over implementation of the new data that she and Kimidori Emiri had brought back.
She ignored them, her organic form wrapped in a thin layer of protective functions. The waveform function that she had borrowed from Suzumiya Haruhi in that other world aligned with suggestions of the Integrated Data Entity recompiling itself to a new state of being outside of time. Even though she had finished the task that she had needed those functions for, she retained them, bursting through the data barriers surrounding the enclosed space that Asakura Ryouko had created to try and kill her primary protection target.
Her optimized combat packages were delivered via the uplink to the Integrated Data Entity and she flew into the room, reorienting herself to land before her primary protection target, destroying several of Asakura Ryouko's automated attack functions in the process of entry.
"That hurts, damn it!"
Her emotive core calmed; he was intact. She had at least thirty-eight microseconds to spare before he was harmed. Minor damage had been taken in her hand, used to block Asakura Ryouko's knife; easily dismissed.
Even so, the bulk of her sensors were on her primary protection target. Superficial damage; light bruising that she could repair later. Her eyes met the gaze of the unit that was now her backup: "Your programs are too weak."
"Hello, Nagato-san," Kimidori Emiri greeted her.
Nagato Yuki blinked at her fellow interface ... but not the one she had been allied with. An earlier temporal instance. She considered checking the uplink to the Integrated Data Entity to find out if Emiri had synchronized, but decided that it would not be required before the request finished forming.
Instead she studied Emiri's new school uniform. "I see," she said quietly.
Emiri bowed her head. "I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "But, I did promise you that I would look after you, didn't I?"
"I am fine."
"Hmm," Emiri mused as Nagato stepped forward and unlocked the door to her apartment. "After you left the consensus to perform your new duties, the Ultimates had another message for you. But, you know how they feel; they didn't want to tell you personally while you were still in physical form."
Nagato paused, looking over her shoulder.
"You need to be careful," Emiri said, her tone apologetic. "I see you've released the sympathetic waveform that allowed you to control Suzumiya Haruhi's ability to create data?"
"Yes."
"Well, that's probably fine ... but there is a concern among the consensus that your stability may be compromised by the events you have endured."
"I am fine. Errors are unlikely to occur before an interval of at least six hundred years."
"That matches the Stable's predictions," Emiri agreed. "The Ultimates also instated a new protocol, so you should know that outside of emergency situations to be authorized by the consensus, all cross-temporal synchronization is limited to the Ultimates, the Reapers ... and yourself." Then the taller interface's expression shifted to concern. "Even though many factions are aligned with the decisions of the Ultimates, at least for now, a constantly repeated question is why the Ultimates wished you to retain the cross-temporal synchronization function."
Though she calculated the answer already, Nagato asked, "What do the Ultimates say?"
Emiri sighed and turned to look at one of the hallway windows. The same one that, in another reality, now, Asakura Ryouko had been made to crash through. "Nothing. They're silent again. Even though they can synchronize across time, neither they nor the Reapers exhibit observable changes to us."
Nagato blinked. Realized the implications of what Emiri was saying. The other interface had requested from her faction that she could be assigned to assist Nagato. But understanding the plans of the Ultimates would be a huge leap for any faction. So more likely than not, Emiri had been assigned to observe her. "I am sorry," Nagato told her. "The Ultimates are unlikely to allow you to retain any significant insight that I provide you."
Emiri smiled, nodding slightly. "That's most likely true. Do you remember the Macrospacial Quantum Cosmic Existence?"
She said nothing in return. Though Kimidori should have been aware due to her own divergent waveform, logic dictated that the Ultimates had decided that the Integrated Data Entity as a whole should know about it long ago. She would resynchronize with her superiors later, adding whatever was known of them to her own local databases.
"Well, anyway, there are still other things you should know ... namely, what was brought into the consensus is considered quite valuable. Even though we've achieved a new static limit, our previously halted evolution has been advanced. Asakura Ryouko has been removed from the Innovators and reassigned to the Volatiles. Her actions are deemed acceptable, because you, and I suppose myself, have undone the damage while retaining new data."
Nagato could not calculate how Asakura Ryouko's reassignment would impact her, except that the Volatiles were a more influential faction than the Innovators. Even then, the Ultimates were still a higher priority faction.
"I only mention reassignment because of your new unique position," Emiri clarified. "You are now the very first interface to be considered a sub-process of the Ultimates."
"I see," Nagato said quietly. She hadn't tried checking for new access routes, and doubted that she would try speaking to the Ultimates directly anyway. Perhaps at some future juncture, they might try to contact her, but they were more likely to relay a message through subordinates to avoid any chance of memetic alteration by direct exposure to physical reality. Even so, her connection with her Thinking faction had not been altered. "I also remain adherent to my original faction."
"Hmm, yes. Thanks to the ramifications of our new evolution, we have been allowed dual citizenship ... more, in some cases. For now, we truly are cousins, even if I also remain adherent to my original faction. We were never so far apart, were we? But in that case, it follows the letter of my assignment to observe you anyway ... even if I may pass certain observations on to you, first."
Nagato stared at Emiri, processing the information.
"We can be friends," Emiri added. "For a while, I hope. And despite the possible intentions of others, I can promise you, I will never move to harm...." Her smile widened. "Him. I value what we shared. As you know, I'm not fond of conflict, but if the worst happens I'll look after him for you."
The worst would be the nullification of Nagato's own data link and summary deletion. More than what had happened to Asakura Ryouko, who had returned to being a voice in the consensus. If Nagato were more definitively determined to be a rogue element.... But then, Suzumiya Haruhi's emotional state was unlikely to deviate as fiercely if something were to happen to Nagato.
Turning to look at the same window, still intact in this existence, Nagato allowed, "Thank you."
END -- CHAPTER 6