November 10th:

Asahina was still off. Of course, most students tended to catch colds around this time of year, so Kyon didn't really find it that impossible. Haruhi appeared to have gotten over her absence by now, and the costumes had been stacked up in one corner, waiting for her return.
'... And we're done for the day! Not to mention that perverted stalker on the grounds, covered in soot! Not an alien at all!'
Sasuke snickered softly, disguising it as a cough, his expression melting into a frown. 'We had to spend the entire day looking for it. Unamusing...'
The brigade had finally broken up. Kyon looked up, from this position he could see the schoolgrounds reflected in the mirror, the evening light tricking down on the courtyard-?
Huh?!
He was positive he saw Asahina running across the courtyard, she looked distraught. Springing to his feet, Kyon ran to the window and looked down, scanning the courtyard. She was nowhere to be seen.
Did I.. imagine it...?

November 17th:

Now... Now Kyon began to worry. She had been gone for over a week, a simple cold would have a hard time of putting down a normal human, Asahina was from the far future, no doubt she would be immune to such petty things as the common cold. Another day, another meeting of Haruhi's useless ramblings. Night fell, he found sleep impossible, the clock next to him ticking arrogantly against the silence. Darkness filled the streets at midnight, the stars blotted out and seeming now non-existant. With an annoyed groan, Kyon sat up.
Ugh... Who am I kidding...? I'm never going to get to sleep at this rate...
His curiosity peaked at the sound of police sirens in the distance.
Did something happen...?
His phone began to ring not long after; Koizumi. What could he want?
'K-Kyon!'
'What...? Do you know what time it is?'
'The police are all around the school. They found a dead body...'
'...?! W-who died?' Worry filled his voice.
'I-I only saw her for a moment, but I'm sure... It's Miss Asahina. She looked like she'd died of fright. Damnit, why did this happen?!'
The phone slipped from Kyon's grasp and tumbled to the floor.
'Kyon...? You still there? Hello...?!'

He slumped to his knees. Depression filling his heart and shrouding the room in darkness...

My, my... We aren't getting off to a good start are we, "Kyon-kun"? So... Let's think... Let's retrace our steps and resolve this paradox before it destroys the timeline...

The alarm woke Kyon from hazy dreams, barely managing to sit up before his sister burst in to officially wake him.
'Mom says that she's making scrambled eggs on toast!'

Kyon woke up fully, brain working again. Didn't they run out of eggs the last time they had that? Did she buy some more when he was out...?
'Mom says that we're using the last of the eggs! If you don't come down you won't get any later!'
Haven't I heard this all before...?

November 10th:

Somehow time had rewound to the start of the week, Based on the reactions- or lack of- from the others, he was the only one who had noticed.
'... And we're done for the day! Not to mention that perverted stalker on the grounds, covered in soot! Not an alien at all!'
Sasuke snickered softly, disguising it as a cough, his expression melting into a frown. 'We had to spend the entire day looking for it. Unamusing...'

Shut up, Haruhi! Miss Asahina will turn up dead in seven days! We don't even know what hapened or where to start looking! All you can think about is a homeless pervert?!
He made a mental note and a large effort to grab Koizumi's attention.

C'mon, damnit! The one time I need you to read my mind! Useless Esper!

'Hey, Koizumi.' He called out after Haruhi had left, but before he could follow.
'Huh? You look a bit unsettled.'
'Right, so... say that I'm reliving this week.'
'Mm...?' Koizumi's expression read mild disbelief.
'At the end of this week, at midnight, you call me to say that the police found miss Asahina, dead.'
Shock flitted across Koizumi's face. 'She dies...?'
'I need you to sense about the school, find something- a lead, anything!- to tell us where she's gone!'
'Give me a moment.'

The clock ticked quietly in the background as Kyon locked the door to prevent any of Haruhi's sudden returns. The Esper closed his eyes, feeling about with his sixth sense.

The whistle of the wind through the trees...

The last few students departing under twilight skies...

The echo of footsteps not in this world...
A flint of Mikuru Asahina's hair in the light, her breathing as she ran- just for a second he could smell her perfume! He turned, trying to locate her...
'Hmm...?' He opened his eeys and looked back, eyes seeming almost red. The mirror, the only new thing in the room. 'Huh?!'
Kyon stood with his back to the mirror, but his reflection turned to look at him, face twisted into a dark sneer, eyes aglow hellfire gold!
'Move!' The Esper seized his wrists and pulled him away, the reflection dissipated back into the room, slightly distorted.
'Woah! What?' Kyon turned, stopping as he saw the mirror. 'The Janus Mirror...'

It came back to him now.
I saw Miss Asahina in the reflection, but when I looked out the window she wasn't there!

Kyon softly rested his palms against the glass, fingerprints be damned-!
A surprised cry escaped him as the glass gave way, and he fell through, Sasuke and Koizumi moving quickly to grab his legs.
'W-what the-?!' Sasuke was shocked. 'Is this what you meant by "Weird stuff"?!'
'Hey, there's... A space in here.' Kyon's voice carried back, echoing.
'What do you mean... "In here"?' Sasuke wondered. 'How can he even be inside the mirror?!'

'You get used to it.' Koizumi groaned, frowning as he heard the locked door rattle. 'Oh crap!'
'Why is the door locked?! Someone let me in!' It was Haruhi!
'What do we do?!' Sasuke looked around, panicking. 'Help us, Nagato-san!'
Tripping over his own shoelaces, Sasuke crashed into Koizumi and sent them all into the mirror. The rippling surface of glass returned to normal. Nagato put her book down and calmly gathered the boys' belongings and hid them in a cupboard. Haruhi almost fell into the room as she unlocked the door.

'They have gone home to study.' Nagato explained to Haruhi's confusion.

The wind was knocked from their lungs as they crashed onto the cold, grassy ground.
'Ugh... Ow.' Kyon graoned, looking around; the skies above were dark, shrouded in an eclipse of an abnormally large moon. They were in a large walled garden, cast into shadow by the large castle that stretched before them.
'Where is this...?' The Esper looked around. 'How are we outside?!'
Sasuke seemed terrified.
'Didn't was fall through a mirror...?'

So we're suddenly in Wonderland... Great.

The inside of the castle was shadowy and dark, only slightly warmer than outside.
'...? Mikuru!' Koizumi shot off into the darkness, chasing after something that he had either seen or sensed. He was swallowed up by the darkness in seconds, leaving only the two remaining.

'Uh...' Sasuke looked around. 'Which... Way did he go?'
Why did you have to say that...?

Hopefully they had found the path that Koizumi had taken, the corridor stretched into darkness no matter what way they looked. A glimmer of hope lingered in the distant voice.
'... Kyon's been so kind to me. He never forces me to dress up...He's never rude to me- or openly perverted... I don't deserve his kindness.'
'Miss Asahina!' Kyon called out, looking around.
'Asahina-san?' Sasuke wondered, hugging himself nervously.
'"Kyon's so kind!" That's hilarious...' Their blood was chilled at that echoing, twisted impersonation of Kyon's own voice. He turned, eyes going wide at seeing who emerged from the darkness, sneering at a hidden joke, the eyes burning an unearthly golden colour as they watched his horrified face. A dark blue scarf blew in an undetectable breeze, hands in pockets, but one withdrawn to gesture to Kyon. 'Isn't that right, other me?'
The twisted, sneering face was his own.

'W-what are you? Who are you?!' Kyon struggled for an explanation as his brain struggled to process it.
'I am you.' The other Kyon replied, pointing accusingly.
'My, my, my...' Sasuke chewed his fingernails nervously. 'There's... two of him...'
The other Kyon took a sharp step forwards, grinning manically. 'I am the Shadow of your true self. You can't hide things from me! You hate Haruhi! Everything she wants to do sucks! "Let's look for aliens!" Searching for Espers? Being dragged around and abused? I am sick of walking on eggshells around this obnoxious brat!' The Shadow's eyes seemed to glow brighter, the gold melting and swirling into cosmic nebulas, raging suns and back into soft gold once more. 'You can't deny it!' It's voice was an inhuman growl, slick with venom. 'Don't even try!'

'Don't reject it, Kyon. It'll freak out and bring the whole castle down on our heads if you do.' Sasuke could no longer chew his fignernails and his eyes darted nervously between the two. 'You... You have to admit it's you.'
'You're me...? You're me, you're me, you're me...' he repeated it like an insane mantra.
The Shadow chuckled deeply. 'Hmph. You've got to mean it. So... Don't you just want to strangle the life from Haruhi? Ahh... To feel her life fade from under our fingers around her neck-! To watch the light leave her eyes! If she didn't have those... powers, we would've done her in long ago! We still could. A grab to the head, a quick twist of the neck! Snap! No more walking on eggshells! No more Closed Space! No more universal rewrites!'
Kyon began to tremble visibly at the Shadow's words, he turned away in disgust. 'No. You... You're-'

Sasuke gave a frightened whimper. 'K-Kyon, no!'
'You're... not...'
'Haruhi needs a black eye or two!' The Shadow grabbed his shoulder. 'That's how she'll learn respect! She needs to learn the value of other's lives-! Oh? You thought you could hide that too...? Why don't we talk about your own subconscious desires? How it is that you-'
'I KNOW THAT!' Kyon bellowed, a dam within him broken and loose emotions spilling out, interruping it mid flow. The grip on his shoulder changed; softer, reassuring, and bathed in a pale blue glow. Crystaline feathers blew past on the breeze. He looked back, the figure was tall, clothed in whites and light blues, the face was half hidden beneath a mask of soft blue feathers, glitter set around the eyes. Kyon knew that face; it was his own, older, adult. It's hair was longer and wavy past the shoulders and blowing softly in the breeze.

'You're me...'

Morpheus, Shaper of Dreams...
The other nodded, dissolving into a bright light, leaving only a white mask hovering in the air. Kyon took it, it vanished and left him with a strange sense of inner peace.

'That was incredible.' He found Sasuke by his side, helping him stand- when did he collapse to his knees? 'Are you alright, Kyon?'
'I'll.. be fine. Let's go and... find Koizumi before he gets into trouble.'

Next Chapter:

Koizumi: No. Please, anything but that!

Koizumi: You aren't real! You aren't real!

Sasuke: I-it turned into a monster!

Koizumi?: Oh, my, my, my!