Kyon -- Big Damn Hero: Resonance Cascade (part two)

Disclaimer: The novel series of Suzumiya Haruhi that began with '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. TVtropes (the website) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License, and so is every part of this fic that isn't the property of someone else. For example: Additional characters are borrowed from Higurashi, which is the creation of Ryukishi07, and Half Life 2, which is the property of Valve.

Also: Nonoko's theme song is Credens Justitiam for this chapter, as she is a firm believer in justice! Wataru's battle theme is Fires of Hokkai.

"Second Chorus: Intensity"

"Intensity is a measure that can indicate when scale has slipped control and the force being applied to the situation has exceeded or diminished beyond the proper volumes. Misunderstanding this can have severe repercussions."

"Perspective" -- LP-MK:SK Memetic String (-working translation-)

Surrounded, and seeing no valid escape routes, Kyon grit his teeth at the incoming projectiles, trying to shield Kuyou and the cat she cradled in her arms with his own body. He heard something -- a shrill, very familiar voice rasping an excited, "Shining Seal -- Project!"

A flash of light blinded him even as the first flechette slammed into his shoulder, not piercing his flesh thanks to the skinsuit but still delivering all of its force. The impact numbed his entire arm almost instantly, only allowing him to keep his balance thanks to the gravity manipulation devices in his skinsuit. The glowing, two-pronged dart fell to his feet, exploding -- and nearly knocking him off balance anew.

He improbably managed to keep his feet, staring in surprise at the incoming flechettes -- which were freezing in place in the air before him, then vanishing in bright flashes of nothing. He looked at the ground, almost flinching away in recognition of the glowing circle there.

The interdiction field ... so if he touched that, he'd be frozen in place. He scowled, turning to look at his savior--

He felt a shiver run through him, an instant of an incredibly unfamiliar emotion filling him before he felt himself grow hot, and then intensely, almost overwhelmingly calm.

His sister had a manic, gleeful grin on her face as she waved around a rod with a red gem at the tip. Her weapon was a gleaming sphere, surrounded by a golden crescent, offset by the shining white and blue outfit she was wearing. Her cheer wasn't even slightly diminished by the fact that she was being carried by Haruhi.

He'd never seen Haruhi look so anxious or scared before, but then, he'd never seen her with blood on her face, either. The older girl looked as though she'd taken a blow to the face, her clothing disheveled and singed, her nose and upper lip marked with still-drying red stains. A distant part of his mind noticed that Haruhi was flying -- he'd have to ask her about that later.

The glowing balls of light were new, too, but watching them catch flechettes, and then Haruhi fling them back, he thought he understood what they were for. All around him, the robots exploded, many of them because Haruhi was flinging them at one another as she finally landed to one side of the circle he was stuck in.

Still at Haruhi's side, but giving him a cheerful wink despite her flushed face, Nonoko gleefully cried, "Radiant Buster!" A blast of brilliant energy shot out in a twisted braid, the strands seeming to come together as they touched on a robot -- causing it to detonate in a familiar spray of sparks and components.

The lanterns following Haruhi were a massive cloud, whirling around the three of them, providing them all some measure of cover. "Nonoko!" Haruhi yelled, concentrating, raising entire ten meter square sections of the earth straight from the ground, then slamming them down on the robots swarming across the field, "Let Kyon out! You need to give him his gear!"

"Yes!" Ryouko wailed, evoking a furiously hot spark of something that Kyon rapidly shoved down. "You have to disable the interdiction field and give Kyon-kun his equipment!"

"No!" the girl countered, shaking her head. "I can do this! This is a magical girl's test of courage!"

"It's not!" Haruhi protested, raising another section of earth -- the field was rapidly becoming a twisted jumble of overturned soil around them. The next screen of incoming flechettes was absorbed by her barrier, and then she shoved it back below the ground before they detonated. "This isn't a game, Imouto! This is dangerous!"

"I know!" Nonoko gave a bright, confident smile. "That's okay! I understand! I used to be afraid, and need Kyon-kun to be strong! But I'm not left out; I'm not alone!

As if to underscore that remark, a stray flechette broke through their combined defenses, narrowly missing the top of Nonoko's head, and in fact catching a few stray hairs, leaving them to drift down to the girl's side in an absurdly slow counterpoint. Kyon felt his hands tremble in response to that, and forced himself to still and not squeeze Kuyou too tightly.

"No! It's a test!" Nonoko countered, shooting Haruhi a scowl, ignoring the narrow miss. "You get to be a magical girl, so--"

"It is a test," Kyon agreed, before she could continue. Haruhi gave him a stare of horrified confusion. Nonoko broke off from her argument and gave him a look of surprise. Perhaps most strangely of all, even Ryouko looked aghast at him--

He put her out of his mind. Oh, he'd be talking with Ryouko later.... They would absolutely be having words, after this. But for that moment, his attention was focused on his sister.

Haruhi cursed and turned her attention to raising another rampart of soil around them to repel the next wave of attacking robots.

"Imouto," Kyon said, his voice as gentle as he could manage, putting on the bright, reassuring smile he hadn't shown her since she'd woken him up crying about a nightmare, long ago. "This is a magical girl's test of trust."

He hoped that would work -- would convince her to let him out, so he could try and keep her safe. He couldn't afford to be trapped, while she was out there in so much danger!

She stared at him for a stunned, blank moment. "A test of trust?" she asked, bewildered. "What.... But, I do trust you! It's you who don't trust me!" She shook her head fiercely. "If you trust in me, everything's going to be okay!"

"No!" he cried out, shaking his head, his vision blurring. "Listen-- You're-- I made the same mistake you're making right now, Imouto!" He bit his tongue, unsure of what else to say.

The girl stepped backward, half-stumbling. "W...what?" she asked, looking to Haruhi for support.

"I...it's true!" she agreed, wincing. "Kyon ... and even me-- We've been too sure we could do it alone, before, and not relied on others when we should have. It's a test of trust -- that's right. But it's a test of trust that other people really can handle things, Nonoko -- this is something Kyon has done before!

"W...we do!" Nonoko agreed fiercely. "And I trust you, Haru-nee! And I trust Kyon-kun--"

"Do you trust him enough to let him fight on his own?" Haruhi interrupted, putting a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder. "He's not a magical girl, so he needs his equipment back -- and right now, you've got a fever! Are you sure you're doing the right thing?"

"Imouto..." Kyon tried more gently, having had a moment to think about it. "If you want to earn my trust, then, please, don't try and force it like this. You're right -- I haven't trusted you enough in the past. But this isn't the right way to do it -- and you know that. Are you really earning my trust when you don't listen to me?"

She stared at him in stunned amazement, her eyes slowly widening, filling with tears as her confidence flagged and guttered out like a candle in a fierce wind. "I.... I'm not trusting you because I'm not listening to what you say?" she asked, clear drops spilling from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks.

"We all depend on our allies!" Haruhi agreed. "We work together -- trying to get into a fight just because you haven't, to prove yourself.... Nonoko, you have to trust Kyon handle this -- he's taken care of things like this before!"

Kyon nodded, still giving her that reassuring smile. "We all want to help, Imouto. I can only tell you this because I've learned from my mistakes. So, why don't you try and learn from me, and not make your own mistake? For now ... you're not ready to handle this on your own. Leave it to your big brother and sister, alright?"

Nonoko shifted her shoulders, her eyes watering. With obvious reluctance, she gave a hesitant nod, her hands trembling. "O...okay," she agreed, sniffling again before shakily pointing the wand at him. "Shining Seal -- Release!"

With that cry, the interdiction field vanished. Kuyou was levitated from his hands almost instantly -- he presumed by Haruhi -- so wasted no time sweeping his sister into his arms. "You can trust me, right?" he asked her.

She sniffled and gave him another nod, managing a smile as she handed over the wand in her hands. "...and you'll you trust me, too?" she asked, her voice cracking.

He felt like someone had driven something into his heart, but kept his smile anyway, hugging her even more tightly. "I promise," he swore.

Haruhi was not having fun. Kyon was okay, thanks to -- of all people his sister -- and he'd somehow talked the little girl out of attacking the slider robots head-on. That didn't change the fact that her nose still hurt, her clothing was ruined, and that they were surrounded by aggressive hunter-bots!

"Absolutely, Imouto; anything to keep you safe," he agreed. Haruhi shivered again at his voice, and focused on keeping the defensive barriers in place, gently levitating Kuyou to the ground. The girl stood steadily, still holding Shamisen in her arms, her dark eyes fixed on Haruhi.

"Imouto," he said, as the girl's costume vanished in a scintillating pattern of triangles, revealing his greatcoat. "This girl is Suou Kuyou. I want you to help her and Shamisen out for now, okay?"

"Okay," she said, shrugging out of the coat, which he quickly slipped back on. "Thank you ... Nii-san."

Haruhi felt her heart skip a beat, remembering the significance of that phrase to Kyon. Hadn't he complained to her once that more than anything, he wanted her to call him that again? As she watched, she was certain that some of the anger Kyon wasn't showing had been dimmed by that. At least briefly, some small part of his smile became more genuine, before he turned to her. "Haruhi, I'm sorry to ask this; can you buy me some time?"

"Yeah," she answered immediately, practically tripping over herself to reassure him.

Haruhi was watching for it, and had to wince at the way he didn't quite look at Ryouko, hovering anxiously between him and his sister. Taking a deep breath, he flipped first one, and then the second of his slider weapons into the air. While they were spinning upward, before they began to fall, he declared, "Activating Gungnir."

Haruhi's eyes widened as the pair of cylinders, mid-tumble, lined up on their long axis and suddenly snapped together, their joining edges opening up and revealing a complicated swarm of tiny gears, glowing leads, and other strange connections. They merged seamlessly, but before they even fell a centimeter further, Kyon slammed the hilt of his beam-saber into it.

Even though she was still worrying about incoming fire, Haruhi had to admit that the display was impressive. The hilt sank seamlessly into the mass as Kyon released it, and then ... it transformed. Kyon didn't hesitate to snatch the weapon once it had finished shifting, though Haruhi couldn't quite figure out what it was.

The weapon was very like a spear, with a narrow shaft that was as long as Kyon was tall -- but instead of the bladed tip of a spear, the malmetal had formed into a largely triangular structure, struts, narrow guidance fins and ... were those exhaust ports?

He thrust the pole-arm into the air, and the tip of it launched skyward, vanishing into a silver streak and disappearing from sight, leaving only a twinkle to suggest where it had gone, soaring away on a brief, almost invisible jet of some heat-less force.

The shaft remained in his hand, collapsing into something much smaller -- something that to Haruhi looked like nothing so much as a pair of binoculars. "What did you just do?" she wondered.

"Setting up," he answered, peering through his viewfinder. "Yuki and I designed this function hoping I would never have to use it."

Rearranging the earthen walls around them to prevent any of the hunter robots from climbing atop and having the perfect angle to fire down at them, Haruhi shivered slightly. She didn't like hearing Kyon say such things! But ... if there ever was a situation that called for it....

Trying to inject some levity into the situation, she asked, "So, you have a spellcard, too? Divine Spear - 'Spear the Gungnir'!"

"That's right," he agreed absently, fiddling with the viewfinder in his hands, occasionally raising it to his eyes and scanning around, even though they were surrounded by high walls of packed soil.

"H...how does it work?" she wondered, pulling Nonoko close to her, while the young girl watched attentively.

"Multiple lock-on confirmed!" Ryouko exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Targeting queue is at one thousand, three hundred thirty seven locks of a possible sixty five thousand, five hundred thirty five!"

"Fire," he ordered, as Haruhi stared upward in amazement, and Nonoko allowed an awed gasp. From further away than they could see, whatever Kyon's weapons had turned into glowed like a brilliant red sun, shedding out visible rays in all directions. Even if they couldn't actually see it, the source of the spearing light beams was obvious.

It took Haruhi a moment to realize that it was actually firing down in a very narrow cone, with them in the middle, evidently a 'safe' zone. All around them, the earth shook with impacts -- and the now familiar sounds of exploding robots.

"Basically, it's just like a satellite that floats up high enough to pick a charge off any of the ambient electrical forces that Yuki-chan told me were in the atmosphere," he explained. "It can anchor itself against the magnetosphere and stay there. Then, I tell it where to fire."

He shrugged, flipping the small device in his hand around until it became a pole again, setting the base against the ground as the storm of descending energy finally abated.

"If there was ever a situation that called for beam-spam, that was it!" Haruhi exclaimed, lowering the walls she had raised cautiously, almost crying out in joy to see that the entire army of robots had been reduced to rubble, not one left standing within their sight. Then, too, the ground was steaming, marked with craters and blast marks -- between her constantly shoving the soil around, and Kyon's attack ... it looked like a ruined hellscape, not the track of their school.

Suddenly, she could understand Kyon's reluctance to use power instead of talking things out.

He grunted in response as there was a solid, metallic impact -- she whipped her head around, but all she saw was that the firing component of Kyon's weapon had returned -- now smoking strangely. Not smoking, she realized in amazement; it was so cold it was causing vapor to steam off it!

"Altair and Vega are completely tapped out, now," he said sourly. "So, no shields, and no real ranged attacks -- outside of throwing rocks." The weapon flipped out of Kyon's hand, splitting apart the same way it had formed. He snatched the sword hilt from the jumble, then grabbed each of the cylinders, wincing when ice formed across his skinsuit gloves before he could stow them in his pockets.

"You named them ... that?" Haruhi asked, her heart skipping a beat as she felt twin spots of heat on her face.

He took a deep breath, then met her eyes, giving her a small smile and placing one hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright, Haruhi? You've got blood on your face."

She squeaked and shook her head furiously. "I-- I'm fine! I just smacked my nose!" she insisted.

Oh, when the mood was better, she was going to ask him more about when he'd named those weapons -- but before that, she had to keep him from being any more worried about her or his sister.

"It's nothing!" She couldn't help raising a hand to rub at the dried blood over her lip.

His smile widened slightly, still not reaching his eyes. "Of course," he answered calmly. He turned his attention back to the school building -- or what was left of it.

Haruhi realized with dismay that the dust had begun to settle, and now ... there was nothing left of Kitago's main structure that resembled a proper building. The bulk of it was smashed beneath the monumental ... thing that had dropped through the portal whirling overhead, and what few parts of the school that hadn't been crushed had collapsed anyway.

"Impressive!" Wataru shouted, from atop the nearest pile of rubble, as the dust cleared. "Not bad for a monkey! That's the first time you've done anything yourself, Kyon! I thought all you could do was hide behind girls!"

Haruhi gritted her teeth, scowling, and punched upward into the empty air before her -- simultaneously jerking the large, flat piece of rubble he was standing on away from the pile, launching it into the overhead structure.

The slider released a satisfying yelp of alarm as he fell off his perch, slipping toward a jagged pile of debris. Before he struck it, he suddenly slowed, his body briefly surrounded by the same green, protective field that had shielded him from her earlier blast. The glow remained until he scrambled to his feet, ignoring the concrete that powdered itself to rubble on the wall of the structure behind him. Kyon stared at Wataru with an expression Haruhi couldn't recognize -- except to know that she didn't like it.

"Impressive!" Wataru called again, shaking his head as he picked his way down his rubble pile. "But nothing you -- or I -- do matters here! You can't save your world, you know!"

Kyon huffed a short breath, then retorted, "Are you so sure that just because you failed to save your world, I will too?"

Haruhi's eyes widened as Wataru's cocky grin was instantly replaced with a hateful sneer. "I saved my world!" the other boy screamed, whipping one of his weapons from his holster, bringing up a cylinder that shifted into a sleek black weapon, marked with red highlights. "I bargained to save my people!"

"How many of the people of your world are still around?" Kyon countered almost instantly. "I get it -- I see it, now. You fight so hard for your sister because after everything else they took away, she's the last piece you can chase -- isn't she!"

"That's a lie!" Wataru roared, eyes blazing as he fired his weapon. Haruhi's defensive orbs swarmed the incoming fire, soaking up the bursts more easily than the hunters' flechettes, or the taller robot's massive beam. He paused for a second, halting the rapid-fire spray, then pulled a different trigger.

Haruhi tried to keep herself ready for almost anything. When a solid, pulsating sphere of golden energy -- smaller than her own, but radiating with unstable power -- launched from the weapon, she was actually startled to realize her first attempt at countering it worked. Telekinesis allowed her to hold the thing in place effortlessly, instead of letting it fly toward her, Kyon, and Nonoko. For a heartbeat, she was tempted to fling the trembling orb of pulsating energy back at Wataru, as he stared in confusion ... but instead, she stared straight at him as she launched it at the building behind him.

Even he turned to watch open-mouthed, the unstable orb launched into the giant blue structure -- and rebounded with a strange noise, almost like a low squeak of some sort, before it abruptly burst in midair, evidently harmlessly.

When her eyes turned back to Wataru, the boy was trembling, reaching for his next weapon only to have his hand caught in Kuyou's-- No, the other Kuyou, Haruhi realized, frowning. This one had no ribbon in her hair. Her eyes fixed on Wataru, and her discordant voice -- carrying across the distance even though she didn't raise it -- announced, "Go ... home. No ... use ... here."

"So, you're just a pawn like everyone else," Kyon deduced, shaking his head. "I don't believe those allies of yours are planning on helping you, Wataru. Really ... if you want to save anyone, you should be joining us. Listen ... you want to protect your sister, right?"

One of Kyon's hands went to Nonoko's shoulder. "I do understand when you have to protect people close to you, Wataru. I just think you're going about it the wrong way. Really ... we're not so different, you and I," he concluded.

Haruhi blinked, and Wataru's anger lessened, giving way to confusion before his eyes went to Nonoko -- and comprehension dawned. Giving a bitter laugh, he remarked, "Then ... you'll never give up. And you'll understand why I can't, either."

With that, he let himself fall backward into a tear in space that opened around him. The other Kuyou released his hand and let him vanish, turning her attention back to her counterpart. Her dark eyes blinked languidly, betraying no emotion.

"Synchronize," she demanded, one hand reaching toward her counterpart, not taking a step across the meters separating them.

The strain against the Chorus had fluctuated around them, sometimes lessening, sometimes increasing. After Kyon had rained precisely delivered bolts of plasma on the surrounding attack synthetics, the pressure against Kuyou lessened, allowing her to focus on the environment.

The Other had paused her assault for the moment, trying to observe her, but unable to see into that precious core of 'memory.' Kuyou's own false observations spun away, diffusing into the enormity of the resonation that the Other maintained within her.

Kuyou's eyes blinked, that tiny part of her body slowly closing and re-opening, forcing a re-trigger of her perceptions and double-checking. And then again.

The Other represented something alien, and Kuyou felt an unpleasant resonation within her to recognize some small parts of it anyway. That Other wanted to force her to its will, and she had to resist, somehow. It was pre-determined that she not merge ... not become synchronized.

The memetics that Kyon had delivered to the smaller entity that shared some genetic and behavioral features with him were mutated, as the smaller entity delivered back unexpectedly:

"Y...you're a fairy person, too, right? Just like her?" She pointed to the other entity that Kuyou had focused most of her recent observations on. More than just 'memory', there were the resonant memetics, there. "Don't you have more power when you don't spend your strength to keep a larger form? You can trust Nii-san and Achakura to take care of you, even when you're small!"

Kuyou turned her attention and focus away from the Other, instead orienting her observations on Kyon's younger sister. She was no longer wrapped in the same defensive structures she had been using earlier, and her force manipulation tools had been returned to Kyon -- but her memetic imprint still retained significant potential. It was the strand she had been looking for, provided by him, changed by her, allowing her the escape she had sought.

As the Other chose that moment to resume the attack, she opened herself up to it, allowing the other to try to synchronize with her, even as she synchronized herself to Ryouko. A complex loop of memetics from the other entity that Kyon's sister now clutched in her hands resonated as she aligned, her perceptions and bounds shifting.

Blinking at her double, she offered a polite smile. "I will not allow you to harm this human," she told the Other. "I am in love with him," she added, feeling sudden, deeper understanding of what that concept entailed from Ryouko's memetic library, and applying that meaning to herself more fully than she had before.

Challenging the disruptive Other, she concluded, "Synchronize with that! Activating 'chibi-mode'!"

The Other's extended string sank into places where Kuyou was not, any more. Her perspective shifted yet again, smaller still -- down to a level she had never experienced in such a way before. Bits of attempted synchronization struck at her from the Other, rejected by the bond she shared with Ryouko -- now amplified enough to repel that foreign influence.

She was aware of the sudden void that her connection with Ryouko invoked in the Other -- it destabilized, struggling, trying to force the synchronization anyway. No longer retaining the symbols that were vulnerable to such an attack, she watched, and shared her observations with the rest of the Chorus -- wiping away the recent storm of false observations she had not allowed outside of the shadow-song.

The Other, that thing which looked and behaved like, but was not, Kuyou, gave a curious reaction then, instead of trying for new possibilities or adapting, exerted itself further -- and shattered. For a single instant, the entirety of the Other and the Noise it brought with them were silent.

Visibly, it was represented by the portals overhead -- and throughout the rest of the shadow-song -- collapsing, all of their foreign energy abruptly rejected from even her pale imitation of the entirety of the Chorus. Distantly, at the edges of observation -- for the span of a single rotation -- she could observe myriad other worlds, a complicated, tangled mass of asymmetric eleven-dimensional objects.

Somehow, through a haphazard and unnatural process, those other objects, those not-Choruses, jarred and flowed in twisted mockery of the natural rightness of the Chorus. Without the Other to shield them, Kuyou was astonished to observe that, to them, the Song was as destructive as Noise was to the Chorus!

No sooner had she realized this than the connection was closed, squeezed down to a narrow window of potential that she could only barely perceive. Shielded from her observations somehow, she realized ... linked to something in the structure of exotic materials that had been dropped from the upper portal. Even with the Other missing, that thing represented difficulties.

Yet ... every entity there had been arranged for part of some greater harmony. She returned herself to the proper scale of time to better interact with the others. Her newly shrunken form drifted slowly down on the influence of reduced gravity, until she was plucked from the air by Suzumiya Haruhi. Her attention fixed on the golden eyes of the larger girl, and she explained, "We must destroy this dangerous structure!"

"It's maintaining a beacon that locks the sliders onto this dimension!" Ryouko agreed anxiously. "There appears to be a dark fusion reactor inside there that resonates with something in another dimension. It seems likely that this is what they use as an emergency fall-back function!"

"What the hell just happened to the other Kuyou?" Kyon asked in bewilderment, casting about with a dark expression. "She just seemed to kind of turn into sparkles and drift away?"

"I provided an observation of myself that was empty, as my true self was mirrored to memories!" Kuyou replied, pleased at the improved library from her connection with Ryouko. Communication was rapidly gaining efficiency! "She attempted to synchronize with it and successfully became nothing, because she didn't understand what I was or how I changed!"

Kyon shook his head. "Never mind," he said, turning to look at the large blue structure -- squinting at the sight of a massive gate built into the side of the thing hundreds of meters overhead lifting, revealing row after row of crafts ready for launch. "So ... how do we take this out?"

Kuyou kept her attention focused on Haruhi. "Let me help you, Suzumiya Haruhi!" she declared.

Haruhi's eyes widened in confusion for a moment, before she nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "I'm tired of this, so let's end it quickly! Kyon, you're on our perimeter; now you have to buy us some time!"

He nodded at that, frowning as he pulled his harmonic resonance tool from his pocket, keeping it on standby to conserve power.

Drawing a breath, Haruhi set Kuyou on her shoulder, where she adjusted her gravity functions to effortlessly stick there. Then the taller girl put one hand on Nonoko's shoulder and pulled her close, between Haruhi and Kyon. Both to remind him that she was safe, and in a small way, to deflect some of the emotion he was holding in check. "Imouto, we work together, right? So, let me show you something, too! This lesson is not difficult. First! Concentrate your mind!"

Kuyou added her strength to it when Haruhi formed an orb of energy before her, flaring it wide with ambient power -- her own influence crushed that energy into a smaller shape, allowing Haruhi to force even more energy into it. The flickering, pulsing ball of light stayed a steady size -- not much larger than Kuyou's own current physical form.

"Whisper the incantation to your ally tenderly," she instructed, as the crackling orb of power began to make a high-pitched, piercing buzz, and the remaining attendant orbs Haruhi had began to get pulled in, joining the other energies there.

Nonoko watched eagerly, her eyes wide, Ryouko hovering at her shoulder as she hugged Shamisen tightly to her chest.

Faint tones of strain entered Haruhi's voice, resonating with the effort that Kuyou herself was putting into maintaining the effect as the girl raised her hand, directing the writhing power construct along with it. "Aim it at someone you don't like!" she called.

Kyon shielded his eyes, unable to look at the light directly as he scanned for any other attackers, and Haruhi's eyes were squinted as well. "What next?" Nonoko asked excitedly.

Nearly at her limits, Kuyou was almost relieved when Haruhi concluded with a shout, yelling, "Finally! Unleash your annihilation of love! Master Spa~ark!" The last syllable stretched for a long moment, the girl drawing it out as she unleashed the last of the energy she was adding to the attack.

The pulsating orb flickered briefly for a moment, and then was surrounded, leashed in a pair of rotating bands of light, inscribed with formulas and symbols that represented the functions of the Chorus that the effect emulated. Kuyou appreciated that brief symmetry, even as their combined force blasted toward the source of that unwanted resonation.

Taking a deep breath, Tsuruya forced a smile she didn't quite feel. Though she didn't know what was happening, she knew where Kyon had vanished, at least. Koizumi was handling the administrative side of things with the school as much as they could, within proper channels.

She trusted him for that, though, and had decided to wait for her friends to come back, surveying the quiet, still shoe lockers. She was surprised to find she didn't have to wait long, though -- shortly after she claimed her position at the front doors, she saw a wavering distortion in space that vanished as suddenly as it arrived, leaving her friends in its wake.

She was halfway across the distance between them when she took in the details. Tsuruya had seen Kyon angry once, and his current expression showed that his dissatisfaction went deeper than it had that one distant time. Her own smile vanished, especially when she took in Haruhi, her clothing torn and singed, a rime of dried blood beneath her nose. Worst of all, Kyon's little sister wobbled unsteadily at Haruhi's side, for some reason carrying Kyon's cat in her arms and wearing only her pajamas.

Ryouko had shifted to a form with crystalline fairy wings, hovering anxiously over Nonoko's shoulder, while Kuyou had shrunk to the same size, floating weightlessly by Haruhi and staring fixedly at Kyon.

Well, there might not be much to smile about -- especially if Kyon's little sister was involved -- but she could at least make the best of a bad situation! "Okies," she declared, moving to Haruhi's side and peering closely at the girl. Was she hurt? Best to have Yuki or Mikuru check her out! More importantly ... what was Nonoko even doing there? "Haru-nyan, let's get you looked at!"

"I'm fine," she protested quickly, rubbing at her nose. "It's just a bump-- Oh! Yuki-chan, can you make sure Imouto's alright?"

"I'm fine!" the youngest girl protested, echoing Haruhi. Glancing behind her, Tsuruya wasn't terribly surprised to see that Yuki, Kanae, and Mikuru were there -- probably, the rest of the school would be soon, too.

"Let's get somewhere secure," Tsuruya began, before their surroundings shifted in a strange blur, and the lot of them were abruptly in the clubroom in a similar formation. Kyon shifted his shoulders and crossed his arms over his chest, brooding near the tea station. At his side, Haruhi nervously avoided his gaze.

"A lot," Kyon answered sourly, shaking his head. "I don't even know where to begin. Yuki-chan, is Imouto okay?"

The quiet girl had already moved to Nonoko's side, kneeling on the floor before her and placing one palm flat against the girl's forehead. "Body temperature is elevated as a result of fever," she said quietly. "Neutralizing."

Yuki's eyes turned to the younger girl's, and she offered an incredibly tiny, but still reassuring smile. "It is okay."

The girl's eyes fluttered shut and she slumped forward, caught immediately by Yuki -- still conscious, but wobbling. "I feel dizzy...."

Holding Kyon's sister effortlessly, Yuki added, "Her condition has been restored." The smaller girl blinked, not moving away from Yuki's side -- in fact, after another wobble, Nonoko hugged herself against the stoic girl. "She is no longer at any danger."

Kyon released a sigh that wasn't quite explosive, nodding at that, obviously relieved. "Good," he grit out, glancing at his sister, then visibly restraining himself, turning a cold, impassive gaze on the entity hovering in place over Nonoko's head.

Ryouko allowed a quiet sniffle to escape, and then raised one small arm, causing a diagram of an unfamiliar object to appear in the space between them.

Kyon blinked once, frowning at the display. "And ... this is?" he prompted, one of his eyebrows ticking in anger.

Tsuruya felt her neutral expression shift into an unhappy frown. This ... was bad. Even Haruhi and Yuki were frozen, unable to approach Kyon in such a state. Kanae and Mikuru drew in almost matching worried gasps, huddling together anxiously.

"In this formation, your harmonic device is capable of erasing me and preventing further issues," Ryouko explained, tears trickling down her face.

"Is that ... so?" Kyon asked, his eyes sharpening as he studied the diagram thoughtfully. Tsuruya and Haruhi both felt themselves wince at the intensity of his focus. "So ... why are you showing this to me?"

"I cannot self-terminate! But if you erase me, then I won't have to feel this way! I won't have to feel ... guilty! Negative emotions are terrible; I never want to experience them again! It's fine to erase me to make that stop!" the tiny being sobbed. "I don't want to feel bad!"

"You can't go away!" Nonoko protested, shaking her head furiously. "No, no! You're a good fairy! Even if you didn't do things right for my brother, he'll forgive anyone! There's no way to get on his bad side forever, because he knows who to trust!"

The angry light in Kyon's eyes dimmed, very slightly as he suddenly looked sharply away -- it was enough, though. "K...Kyon," Haruhi started uncertainly, frowning, "s...she didn't.... I don't think she meant...." She couldn't complete the sentence though.

But, then, that was what she loved about Kyon; he heard it anyway. He stood up, one hand covering his eyes. "Yuki-chan ... is she telling the truth?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered quietly. Still holding Nonoko, her voice soft, Yuki turned her attention to Ryouko, explaining, "You are now experiencing a full range of emotions, instead of only those which you have labeled as 'positive.' I will now explain my behavior toward you since your conversion."

"This can't be related to that!" Ryouko protested. "Physical sensations and emotional are entirely different!"

"Huh?" Nonoko noised, unable to follow the conversation. "I don't speak fairy yet! I don't know what some of those words mean!"

The stoic interface blinked, then continued, "When you consider that she might be in danger, what is your reaction?"

"I'm mad!" Ryouko yelled. "I want to protect Nonoko and hurt the people who want to hurt her!"

Yuki nodded once, very slowly. "Then, that is how I feel when...." She paused, turning a thoughtful glance to Nonoko, then a much more meaningful one toward Ryouko. "...he is threatened."

"I want to help Nii-san fight, too!" Nonoko agreed excitedly, her face lighting up as she nodded. "I don't want to think of Nii-san ever getting hurt! That makes me sad -- that's why I want to help him!"

The heiress felt sudden, surprising sympathy for the anguish on Ryouko's face as the tiny being trembled in place, still floating, tears flowing down her cheeks uninterrupted, only to vanish into sparkles of light as they fell free.

"It's okay!" Nonoko cheered, managing to pull one hand free of Yuki's half-embrace and grab Ryouko around one ankle, pulling the tiny figure down to her chest and squeezing her tightly in a hug. "You don't have anything to be sad about! Nii-san is okay, thanks to us, right?"

Tsuruya exchanged a glance with Haruhi, both girls seeing the opening at the same time. Before Kyon could reply, Haruhi had taken Nonoko, and Tsuruya grabbed Yuki's hand -- a second later, the pair of them hugged themselves against a surprised but unresisting Kyon, incidentally pinning Yuki and Nonoko between them.

As if in answer, Kyon's phone began to ring, making Tsuruya wince slightly at the horror theme she remembered Haruhi choosing for Kyon's mother.

He grabbed the device from his pocket with a minimum of wriggling, answering as quickly as he could. "Hello? Mo--" He held the PDA away from his ear, his slowly forming smile instantly replaced with a scowl as he listened.

Huffing out a breath and shaking his head, he said, "Okay-- Calm down, Mom-- Imouto's with me--"

Irritated with the way things had been going, and that her attempts to calm Kyon down were meeting with failure, she didn't bother to ask and just plucked the phone from his fingers.

He -- and Haruhi -- stared at her with mild fascination and horror, but neither moved to stop her as she flashed the pair a smile, carefully raising Kyon's phone to her ear, ignoring the angry shouting and cheerfully calling, "Hello, Mother~!"

"Imouto was almost kidnapped today," she offered, realizing a way to take care of the problem. "But she's smart, and knows where Kyon-kun goes to school! Plus, Kyon-kun's a very good bodyguard, so when he found out, he rescued her! We're taking her to the hospital right now to have her looked at, though she insists that she's fine -- right, Nonoko?"

"She can't know what really happened!" Haruhi yelped suddenly, wincing. "Ah--" She cut herself off, biting her lip.

In response, the small girl giggled, giving Haruhi a wink. "I'm fine!" Nonoko chirped into the phone, when Tsuruya presented it. "There's nothing to worry about, Mom!"

Tsuruya raised the phone to her ear again, continuing, "So! Kasai will be by to pick you up in a bit and bring you to Nonoko, okies?"

Not waiting for an answer, she added, "See you at the hospital, but no phones allowed from here!" before hanging up. Nodding, she handed the phone back to Kyon.

Waving a hand dismissively, Tsuruya explained, "Ninkyo dantai business; you mentioned that Takahashi needed to be framed for something by today? Well! Now you don't need to worry about it! We'll make it clear that this is Takahashi's fault, and not yours -- so she'll have nothing to blame you for!"

"That's right!" Nonoko agreed, nodding energetically. "Magical girls have to hide their identities to protect their families and loved ones! If Mom knew we were fighting dark generals, she'd panic!"

"I.... I'm not really sure that claiming that you were kidnapped -- or even 'almost' kidnapped -- is the best alternative to that," Kyon mumbled, shaking his head.

Heaving a sigh, Kyon shook his head. "I-- I need to actually use the coat and disguise function to make sure there's some evidence to implicate her," he mumbled, frowning.

"I'm not letting Haruhi go out like this when she's hurt!" Kyon protested. "Really--"

"No, this is fine," Haruhi countered, shaking her head, giving him a grin. "You're the main hero -- I'm.... I'm not hurt that badly! I'm okay with being hero support and doing the little things like this for you, for now-- Aside from which, if your sister taught me anything, it should be 'trust in your allies and don't try it alone,' right? So, Tsu-chan, Yuki-chan, Ryouko, and I can take care of this!"

Kyon's lips pressed into a flat line, and he started to shake his head before Yuki stepped to Haruhi's side, giving him a look that Tsuruya thought looked the slightest bit admonishing.

"Okay, okay," he allowed reluctantly, frowning, unable to meet her eyes. "I'll just ... watch over Imouto...."

"And make sure you know where Sasaki is," Haruhi added. "Really, she's a liability, so if you're making sure she's somewhere she can't be used against us, that'll be perfect -- you can call them, right, Kyon? Just to keep tabs on her location?"

"Exactly right," Tsuruya agreed. "Okies -- Kyon-kun, Mori-san is waiting in the parking lot in a car -- we'll send everyone else with you to the hospital. You can coordinate with her." Admittedly, this was totally ignoring school ... and trusting Koizumi to handle that -- but they had higher priorities! "Don't forget to check in with Koizumi, too!"

Hmm, come to think of it, she really needed to see about making Koizumi's role as Kyon's subordinate clear to the rest of the Tsuruya-gumi. Haruhi wouldn't mind that, probably, would she? Well -- they could discuss that while implicating Takahashi!

Before seeing the group off in the car that Tsuruya had called when Kyon first disappeared, Yuki invoked one of her changes to clean Haruhi up -- and heal her scrapes and bruises. Haruhi almost heaved a sigh of relief that he calmed down, but her previous irritations were replaced with an almost equally uncomfortable blush that he was so obvious about his concern.

Still, seeing her unmarked and undamaged was what it took to convince Kyon to let her go off with Yuki and Tsuruya. Haruhi caught the way that Yuki moved very carefully, always keeping her bandaged hand out of his line of sight, and tried to ground herself against that reminder.

Even then, she wasn't terribly surprised to find Kyon turning her own words against her. She felt like blushing all over again when he swept his coat from his shoulders and set it around hers -- for all of its weight, it became much lighter once she was wearing it properly.

He gave he a long, studying look, then finally said, "Alright, Haruhi ... I'm trusting you, here -- if you bring back my Yuki-chan or Tsuruya-hime with so much as a single scratch on them--"

Despite the situation, Haruhi found the sentiment uplifting. "Then you'll be in line behind me," she countered, giving him a scowl she thought he could tell she didn't mean.

Judging by his approving nod, he could. "Don't try and touch Altair or Vega," he warned, turning his attention to his younger sister, comfortably asleep in his arms. "You'll get frostbite."

That warning was much less playful than the last, so she merely nodded back as he climbed into the car with Mikuru and Kanae, both of them fussing over his little sister. Kyon hadn't even seemed to notice the way that Kuyou had stuck to the top of his head and just remained there effortlessly in her smaller form, but she was confident that they'd be okay.

"Okies," Tsuruya said, nodding decisively as the dark car with Kyon and the others in it rolled away. "Mikuru-chan and Kanae-chan should help keep Kyon-kun calm, but let's hurry up, alrighty? I want to try and hurry back before 'mother' arrives, eh?"

"Right," Haruhi agreed, glad that her friend was able to take charge when she was so rattled. A glance to one side showed the dark limousine rolling off school grounds, Kyon and the others inside. "Ah, we didn't coordinate with Kyon, did we?" Then she shook her head and gave the green-haired heiress a sharp look. "'Tsuruya-hime'?" When had that happened?

Blushing, Tsuruya offered a guilty grin. "I guess for Kyon-kun, maybe my given name is too close to yours?"

Haruhi thought it was more likely that Kyon was just too worried about sounding disrespectful of his boss's daughter -- even if they were engaged. And in that vein of thought, even though she wished Kyon would give her some positive attention, she said, "Well ... that's actually really cute." Then, realizing it didn't do any good to keep it to herself, she mumbled, "I'm a little jealous...."

"Then think of how long you've been 'Haruhi' to him, Haru-nyan," Tsuruya replied confidently, smirking. Shaking her head, she brought the discussion back on track: "No worries about coordination," Tsuruya said easily. "Mori-san is with Kyon-kun, right? She'll tell us and Koizumi, but we have to get out of here, and soon."

"We will not be stopped," Yuki assured the others, standing still at Haruhi's side, though her attention was on the car Kyon was in as it vanished from sight. Indeed, Haruhi almost jumped back when Okabe burst through the doors, glaring around, but evidently looking right through them.

A step behind him was another teacher, and behind them, a horde of students who had waited until the lunch chime and were now searching for some sign of the battle they had heard Kyon get called out to. Haruhi took Yuki's and Tsuruya's hands in her own. "Well ... what next then?" she asked Tsuruya expectantly.

As far as she had gotten them, the heiress must have had a plan. Certainly, she'd dealt with Kyon being upset with more calm than Haruhi could summon!

Tsuruya tilted her head to one side, her cheeks coloring slightly. "Not sure," she admitted with a grin. "Ah, I'll call my father and we'll work out the details together! We'll just let him think it's Kyon-kun taking care of things, instead of us!" She turned to look at the tiny, blue-haired fairy figure hovering next to Yuki. "You have Kyon-kun's to-do list so we can help him out, right?"

"Yes," the figure answered, not as cheerful as Haruhi was used to hearing her sound. Though ... Ryouko expressing a wider array of emotions was new, and probably good, it was also unsettling to see the almost eternally-cheerful chibi so morose. Still ... it was nothing short of a miracle that Yuki or Kyon hadn't been harder on her, considering what could have happened to Imouto....

Tsuruya pulled her phone from her pocket as Haruhi began to feel a bit awkward remaining standing in the parking lot, evidently invisible and unobserved by the other students. Come to think of it.... While Tsuruya quickly hashed out the details of some plan with her father, Haruhi turned to Yuki and asked, "Um, Yuki-chan ... considering how angry she made Kyon, why aren't you more upset with Ryouko?"

Yuki blinked once, then lowered her gaze, frowning slightly. She didn't say anything for a long minute, and Haruhi was about to repeat her question before Yuki finally answered, "I cannot be upset with her about this situation. It is the result of my own impatience. Asakura Ryouko's involvement has undone the damage I would have unintentionally caused. Based on recorded data, if she were not able to work with...." She trailed off and turned to regard Ryouko. "...Magical Radiant Nonoko, then his equipment would not have reached him in time."

Tsuruya cut off mid-word, giving Yuki a strange look, then giving Haruhi a very insistent one, before turning away and speaking even more quickly.

Wait, what? Why did Haruhi have to deal with this? She was stressed and shaken enough from getting involved in that battle -- which was not in any way fun -- and now Tsuruya wanted her to.... But then, she realized what Tsuruya was up to, and that it was the right thing to do. What would Kyon do here?

Yuki wasn't done, though. "Furthermore, without the context of Magical Radiant Nonoko's influence on local memetics, Suou Kuyou would not have been able to resist synchronization. Even if he were unharmed, Suou Kuyou would have been forced to synchronize with the unknown alternate-dimensional iteration of herself."

Compelled by morbid curiosity, Haruhi shifted her shoulders and uncertainly asked, "What would that do?"

Well, it was undoubtedly bad -- but thinking about this right now was not helping. While she could understand why Yuki considered that she'd made a mistake, Kyon would undoubtedly be supportive and tell Yuki she was being silly. And ignore his own problems trying to make her feel better. Even if what Yuki said was true....

"Okay, Brigade Chief's prerogative," Haruhi declared, shaking her head. "You don't get to blame yourself for this."

"Because I'm not blaming myself for getting into this fight," Haruhi countered. "So ... you can try and say it's Kyon's fault for forgetting his things," she started, wincing at the memory she had of chastising him for just that. Very quickly, she continued, "Or you can try and say it's only because his sister was sick. Still ... I don't want to say it's my fault for being too eager to help Kyon, and neither should you."

"And ... you're saying it would have been even worse if she weren't involved?" Tsuruya hazarded. "Not just for Kyon-kun, but for all of us?"

"Okies, so -- let's focus on our current task -- getting someone else in trouble, and making sure Kyon-kun's not grounded for this," Tsuruya reminded the others, smiling. "Yuki-chan, if you're feeling bad for not being here, now's the chance to make it up! Okay, here's what we need to do...."

While he was used to receiving calls from his wife throughout the workday on occasion, Yuuto was not a man who often found cause to worry about his family at work.

He hadn't been worried about his son, precisely, as much as he was worried about how his wife was going to handle things. He knew, for instance, that his son had a much more complicated dating situation than his mother had considered, but at the same time, Yuuto was proud that his son didn't hesitate to accept the opportunity he knew he wanted. And that should have been a good thing, but the way that Kyon was barely given a say in the matter reminded him a bit too much of some of the circumstances of his own wedding....

That was a distant, background concern compared to the panic instilled in him by his wife calling up and crying that -- of all things -- their sick daughter had gone missing. Unable to focus on his work, Yuuto sat at his desk and stared disconsolately at the numbers he couldn't bring himself to shuffle around. When his phone began to ring with the tone he had set for his wife, he answered it without hesitation.

"Yes?" he yelped, ignoring the way his voice might carry into the hall. "Anything? Did she turn up?"

He turned away, pointedly not looking when he saw the rotund form of his superior ambling in.

"Y...yes," his wife answered shakily. "E...evidently.... Kyon-kun saved her? U...um, Kasai-san, from Tsuruya-san's staff is coming by to take me to her? I don't-- What has Nonoko gotten into? I don't understand!"

He didn't either. Pretending confidence he didn't feel, he said, "Everything's going to be alright -- she's with Kyon now, isn't she?"

"Yes!" the woman agreed. "I-- Ah-- Kasai--" She hung up without any further warning, and considering that she was running to Nonoko, he couldn't fault her in the slightest. He snapped his phone shut with a sigh, turning to regard the rounded figure that stood on the other side of his desk, one eyebrow raised.

"Suzumiya-san," Yuuto greeted the man, rising from his desk and bowing solemnly. "I apologize for my performance today."

"No worries, Yuuto-kun," the wider man sighed, shaking his head and ambling around to the window, staring outside. Yuuto wondered at how easily the man slipped into a casual mode of address for his subordinates, but he was easygoing enough that it was more surprising than unwanted. "Evidently there was some sort of event at the school -- our children both go to Kitago, and my daughter ran off in the excitement. I'm guessing from that call, something similar happened with your son?"

"Y...yes," Yuuto agreed, offering a wan smile. The strange thought that his son and his superior's daughter might know one-another crossed his mind suddenly. Of course, Yuuto couldn't imagine Kyon being called by first name, even by the daughter of such a man ... he would still be 'Kyon' at the end of the day.

He heaved an unsteady sigh. "It ... seems that my daughter somehow ran off while she had a fever," he began, shrugging.

"Goodness!" Suzumiya exclaimed, his face drooping from 'slightly tense' to 'deeply worried.' "Is she alright?"

Both men cut off to bow deeply when the hulking figure of Tsuruya, attended by Aida, strode through the doors. "Yuuto-kun," he said without hesitation, only glancing at Suzumiya, "your son and daughter are at the hospital, and your wife should be there soon -- come with me. We have much to discuss."

"Er," Suzumiya said, wincing. "We.... The Daitokuji account hasn't been settled yet, so--"

"That.... We have to finish that by tonight," Suzumiya warned, though Yuuto was already halfway down the hall behind his boss, not hesitating to join his wife's rush to be with his family.

"Oh," Yuuto said belatedly, shaking his head when he realized that Tsuruya was alone, "it'll be faster if we take my car."

Tsuruya Kenshiro grunted in response, nodding as he followed. Less than a minute later, they were buckled in, and twenty three seconds after that, Yuuto had immersed himself in his element, weaving effortlessly through traffic, while the large figure in the passenger seat stared impassively. That was good -- most people tended to have an annoying habit of screaming or trembling when Yuuto drove efficiently.

The drive from the Tsuruya Corporation headquarters to the hospital was thirty minutes in light traffic.

As he vaulted out of the seat, he wondered if that might have been too much for his boss; however, even as he ran toward the hospital doors, the larger man passed him effortlessly, a cigar still clenched in his teeth. "You know," Tsuruya remarked, just as they passed through the doors, "if you ever wants a more interesting career than finance, I could use a driver like you."

Not sure what that meant, Yuuto nodded, vaguely recognizing the woman in the traditional kimono -- wasn't she a maid? She was at the omiai they had arranged for their children, he recalled -- as she directed the pair of them to the same room Kyon had stayed in twice before.

Yuuto charged through the doorway and skidded to a halt at the side of his wife, putting an arm on her shoulder comfortingly as he scanned across his children. Kyon was sitting in the chair to one side of the bed, looking harried -- he'd only seen Kyon look like that after the pair of them had given him a stern talking to about violence.

Nonoko, on the other hand, looked in almost perfect health, despite sitting on the hospital bed, her bright eyes tracking across everyone else in the room.

"Yuuto!" the woman snapped, turning to look at him. "Tell him! Tell Kyon-- Whatever he's doing that makes people try and kidnap Nonoko, he must stop it at once!"

"Oh?" Tsuruya rumbled, stepping into the room, tucking his cigar away into his pocket as he frowned.

Yuuto tried to process that part -- kidnapped? But ... she looked fine! What was this?

"It is not Kyon-kun's fault that this has happened," the large man mused, shaking his head. "Rather -- it is mine!"

Yuuto felt his heart lurch in his chest as he and his wife turned to stare at his employer in shock.

He wasn't meeting their eyes, gazing out the window at some distant thought. "Hmm," he sighed. His eyes regained focus, meeting Yuuto's before turning to his wife's, unflinching. "So! Our son has done a substantial service to me and my organization, though this service was not without some visibility.

"Indeed -- such a decisive and successful action on his part gained the attention of many! I try to reward those who work for me, and in a moment of foolishness -- you see, I do not have Aida with me -- I forgot that I must ensure to reward his loyalty. Can I defend this? It is a failing on my part! This is because your son is my daughter's bodyguard, and I had forgotten my original promise to him."

"Bodyguard," Tsuruya corrected her with a gentle smile, shaking his head. "Do you not know what your boy does? You ... do know he is competent as a martial artist?"

Yuuto felt his mouth drying out as he thought back to Kyon's casual knowledge of how the ancient sword he had found was crafted and maintained. He had thought, like his wife, that 'bodyguard' meant 'escort' more than anything else -- that the Tsuruya family liked him because he was polite.

"You met with Kasai while he was recovering," Tsuruya remarked, his smile fading. "Those injuries were taken defending my daughter -- and our son, here, stepped in when Kasai fell, preserving her safety! From that day, your son has served my daughter -- and my organization -- faithfully, asking in exchange only that I protect his family. And with this, I realize that this noble son is greater than myself!

"Truly, an ideal match for my daughter! I've met no one else I consider worthy, and more importantly, I've never heard of another young man so much as catching her eye!" Tsuruya snorted, shaking his head. "To think my carelessness could put the match of our children at risk? Truly -- you will have better protection from this day forth."

"Y...your ... organization?" Yuuto's wife managed, shaking with barely restrained emotions. "Kyon ... doesn't work ... with Yuuto."

"No," Kyon answered slowly, speaking for the first time since Yuuto had arrived. "I work for Tsuruya-hime, and when she asks, I work for Tsuruya-sama." He nodded to his superior. "Ah, Tsuruya-sama, I can't speak for my family, but for me, I understand how this happened. Tsuruya-hime already told me that she planned to see to watching over Imouto, Father and Mother."

Yuuto was a bit surprised at how Kyon slipped into the respectful titles for his family -- but if there was ever a situation that called for it....

"Indeed," Tsuruya agreed, nodding. "Kyon's service to our organization has been impressive! He has protected my daughter, brought the Sumiyoshi-rengo in our town to heel, thwarted their operations when they sought to retaliate, and perhaps most impressively.... With his help, my daughter even negotiated an alliance with the Sonozaki-gumi!"

Yuuto grabbed his wife when she made a sputtering noise and her eyes rolled up. He managed to catch her before she fell completely limp.

"Hmm," Tsuruya said, frowning. "I didn't get to the parts where he brought his uncle in to bring those former Sumiyoshi-rengo into the Yamaguchi-gumi!"

Resisting the temptation to fall over and join his wife, Yuuto heaved a shaky sigh. "T...this is ... rather a lot to process," he managed.

"Well, let's leave your children alone to rest a bit after the day," Tsuruya said, shaking his head. "We have much to discuss."

"Y...yes," Yuuto agreed, realizing that whatever happened ... as crazy as things were....

There was no way to deny the fact that Kyon seemed to know what he was doing -- and more frighteningly, seemed entirely capable of handling it.

"Oh, Akane," Yuuto sighed to his wife. "You're really not going to like this...."

Mikuru wasn't a coward, though she admitted to herself that she wasn't very brave. Even so, while it was nice being with Kyon and his sister, that calm was shattered like a sea struck with a comet when Kyon's mother arrived.

So, when Kanae started to flinch from the woman's anger at ... seemingly everything, though it all was coming down on Kyon, Mikuru wasn't actually running away from her. Rather ... she could tell that Kanae was about to try arguing back against the woman, and that somehow seemed like it would be much, much worse than anything else that had happened so far.

The pair quietly excused themselves to the cafeteria, and Mikuru led her 'younger sister' there on a slow, ambling course. "Sempai likes milk," Kanae remarked belatedly, looking up to Mikuru for support.

"That's right!" she agreed, nodding. "Oh, we forgot to ask Nonoko what she wanted, didn't we?"

"Ah, but, Nonoko's pretending to still be recovering from her fever," Mikuru countered, shaking her head as she met Kanae's startled look with a soothing smile. "So she should avoid dairy products for tonight, at least."

It didn't take the pair of them very long to pick up a small bottle of orange juice, and two very cold containers of milk.

"Um," Kanae hazarded, when they turned around, walking toward the elevators. "I...is Sempai going to be okay?"

"But.... Um...." Kanae shifted her shoulders and looked worried. "Sempai's mother seems really angry," she said in a subdued tone, staring at the small carton of milk she was carrying.

"E...even Kyon-kun was a bit angry today," Mikuru soothed the other girl. "Ah, really.... With his sister in danger...." She suddenly had a moment of inspiration, and remarked, "Kyon gets upset when he sees the people he cares about in trouble!"

Mikuru smiled softly, realizing where the other girl's mind was. "Like when he protected you at the beach," she reminded Kanae. "Even if she's angry ... I think that Kyon-kun's mother will understand that Kyon-kun wants to protect his friends. And we can trust Tsu-chan to fix this, like she said, too! I'm sure everything will work out, even if it may be difficult for a brief while!"

Kanae beamed Mikuru a more confident smile, nodding. "Okay! I'll think that too -- thanks, Mikuru-onee!"

Mikuru held the drinks she was carrying to one side, smiling down when Kanae glomped onto her, fitting one arm about the smaller girl's shoulders. "That's what I'm supposed to do for you, Kanae-chan," she agreed. "Now, let's see if Kyon-kun and Nono-chan are ready for their drinks?"

It was actually a comfort to return to school for Sasaki. As happy as she was that Kyon had rescued her, she also greatly appreciated the reliability of a normal routine without any of the frightening dangers of her last encounter.

It was a school that until recently had been for boys only, which left her one of a surprisingly small number of girls on the campus. She supposed that should have better prepared her for what was coming, but receiving a note in her shoe locker had quickly disrupted her inner peace and made things difficult.

After class was released, she read it carefully, seeing that it was exactly what she had expected -- a written confession from an unfamiliar boy. It probably would have been more flattering if she'd known him better -- or there were more girls in the school. Somehow, it felt like more of an annoyance than anything else.

Really, it was more the desire to move past it that prompted her to write the reply that she did. She had apologized to the boy in the politest note she could muster, warning him that her heart already belonged to someone else.

Irked by such thoughts, she went home and prepared for cram school, deftly avoiding her mother by leaving a few minutes early.

Of course, she wasn't simply walking down the street.... Where she had previously been shadowed by Kyouko's former allies, now she was shadowed by Kyon's. Really, she should have felt a lot more nervous about being followed by organized criminals who wore their pins of affiliation in broad daylight....

Then again, Kyon wore the same pin, and even though she felt guilty to admit it, Sasaki aspired to earn one of her own, to be able to work at his side someday.

Kunikida's arrival, joining her for the walk to cram school, was a bit too perfectly timed for him to just have been walking by. It wasn't just a coincidence.... He ran up to her with a broad grin and a happy wave.

Had she been too subtle before? She nodded a greeting as he waved and called, "Good evening, Sasaki-chan!"

She gave him the same polite smile she used the last time he'd called her that. "And how are you doing tonight, Kunikida-kun?" she asked.

"Oh, fine, fine," he answered, grinning. He shook his head and turned to look down the street. "How about you?"

"Things have been improving for me lately," she decided. Then she remembered to ask, "Oh, if it's not too much trouble, do you have the picture I asked you for?"

"Yes," he agreed, his expression hardening slightly, his smile slipping. "Ah ... though ... lately it seems that Kyon's been getting himself into trouble-- He left school in the middle of class! It sounded like someone had challenged him to a fight!"

Sasaki froze in dismay for a moment before shaking her head. While she wasn't pleased with the idea of him facing threats like that more often, she had to admit a certain amount of relief to herself that she wasn't the only source of trouble like that in his life. Really, she had to talk to Kuyou at some point, and better understand that girl's connection with Kyon.

"I hope he's alright, then," she allowed. Since she had paused her walk to the cram school -- and they were early anyway, she turned to face him properly, "Did you see him after?" Hopefully, Kunikida hadn't gotten close enough to be endangered.

"No," Kunikida admitted, his neutral expression shifting to a frown. "He's.... He's probably fine, though! He beat up one of the ringleaders of that voyeur photography ring a while back, so I'm sure this guy was nothing for him, either!"

She pursed her lips, glancing around. She spotted a wiry man with dark shades leaning against a nearby lamp post, reading the sports section on the latest Hanshin Tigers game. Further up the street, a man who had been ambling toward them suddenly stopped, crouching down to fumble at the non-existent laces of his loafers to cover his pause. They had similar suits, but more importantly -- both had the same pin that Kyon wore.

No one threatening was nearby, at least, and the sidewalk wasn't crowded. "I should probably give him a call and let him know I was worried about him, then," she said with a nod. "Thank you for letting me know about that, Kunikida-kun."

A flash of irritation crossed his face before he pulled his phone from his pocket. "I took this picture earlier this morning," he said, flipping his phone over and rapidly punching keys. "I'll send it over...." Less than a minute later, her own phone buzzed, and Sasaki checked the message.

Kunikida hadn't included any text, but the picture had come through just fine. A picture of Kyon, sitting at his desk and leaning back to talk to Haruhi, who was leaning forward companionably. Well ... really, they were actually a bit close.

Sasaki suppressed that thought, forcing a smile, though really, she felt sympathy for Haruhi. Sitting next to him every day like that.... She shook her head a sudden surge of insight; Haruhi must be one of the other people Kyon was looking out for.

Naturally, it would be less stressful for him if Sasaki were to spend more time around his other allies, and if it looked like Haruhi herself could use a friend to distract her from Kyon.... And being somewhat more honest, Sasaki was starting to realize she wouldn't mind help in that direction, either.

Decided on her plan, she studied Haruhi in the image, her smile slowly becoming more genuine. "Thank you again, Kunikida-kun," she finally said, pocketing her phone. "I do appreciate this."

The boy's expression was frustrated, but he bit something back and stared moodily at the sidewalk in silence. Of course ... if she was trying to be subtle about things with him, maybe, really, she wasn't doing him any favors. Honesty was the best policy, after all, wasn't it?

"Even though the one I am interested may be beyond my reach, that doesn't suggest that I should immediately adjust my interests elsewhere," she said abruptly. It was more blunt than she usually preferred, but.... "I consider Kyon-kun a very dear friend, you know, and Kunikida, you're a friend as well. Having wanted and lost the opportunity, I find myself even less inclined to risk those things I have an assurance in. You understand, don't you?"

"Yeah," he muttered, shaking his head and turning away. "Yeah ... sorry." He sighed and shifted his shoulders, then managed a wry smile. "Somehow ... I'm really not that surprised, huh? Ah ... I think ... I'll skip cram school tonight, but anyway -- take care!"

"Ah," she protested, restraining herself from calling out more loudly -- or chasing after him -- when he abruptly turned and dashed away.

She heaved a small sigh and shook her head. That had been handled very poorly after all ... she'd have to find some way to make it up to him. She hoped that Kyon was having a better day at that point, at least.

Kyon: Big Damn Hero

The Open Battle Arc V

Chapter Forty Eight: Resonance Cascade (part two)