Well, I know it took a while, but I hope you guys are still interested. Am I getting better with Kyon's narroration?


The next morning was as drab as the past few days had been, in a sense. I muddled through my thoughts about the previous day, wondering what all that nonsense Koizumi spouted out meant? I went in my morning routine and began to make my way to the front door of my humble abode when I looked out the kitchen window and noticed Haruhi sitting on my front steps eating a curry bun. What the Hell was she thinking, the situation made me feel like Odysseus, cursed to forever adventure onward into unlikely victories. I took a deep sigh and finally took the first step out of the door and into the world of bizarre happenings and melancholic thoughts. The day was rather clear, just like the past few days had been, but I was fairly sure that the inclement weather that was conveyed in the final hours of those days had been strapped on to this one as well. I took the time to look down at Haruhi as I shut the door behind me, she was wearing a red ribbon today. Wait, a red ribbon, that's very unusual, I decided to seek out the reasoning for this anomaly.

"That's a different color ribbon than the usual."

Haruhi turned around as if she hadn't noticed I was there from the second I had screeched open my front door, her cheek was stuffed full of bread.

"I thought it would be fun to wear a different color today! It's Friday, after all! We didn't get to do our fun activity the day before yesterday, so I thought we should do it after school hours today!"

A million-Watt smile zapped across her face, signifying that whatever she had planned had to be at least better than the usual search around the city for invisible beings that were already in the same club room as her for an hour a day. This better not be some stupid trip to the Karaoke or something.

"It's a surprise, as if I would tell you anyway, you would just make up some lame excuse to not show up!"

The subconscious level of my brain sent me a reminder of Asahina's constant "that's classified" when Haruhi stated that. Asahina… sigh. She had a look on her face that was telling me 'let's go!' with a hint of 'you're a moron' seasoned on top to spice up the mixture. She gulped down her bun, ripped another chunk out and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Let's get going, I think I know the way to school, let me lead."

"Don't speak with your mouth full."

Haruhi gave me a contradictory look of confusion and resentment as she swallowed yet another chunk of the bread. She decided to stop wasting time by staring into my soul and stood up to begin the hike.

"This way!"

She pointed down the street into the maze of homes, at least she got the first direction right, I half expected her to point right rather than left. Haruhi then began her usual, robust march down the road, seeing as I went to the same girl as that crazy girl, I was forced to follow by law. Haruhi completed the routine I had anticipated would occur today as well as yesterday; her energy level drained five percent per minute, leaving her decimated at the top of the incline to school. I was beginning to contemplate whether Haruhi had unlimited energy like Koizumi had stated or if she was just a normal Human-being. Or possibly she was a pseudo-omnipotent girl. The walk beside Haruhi was similar in comparison to the previous day, meaning that not much was worth-while mentioning to anybody.

After my liminal classes and lunch, I made my way up to the club room in the old half of the building. The day was beginning to turn for the worst, as had all the past few days, as I predicted. Maybe I should go into the psychic business. I must have totally forgotten to knock the door today, because all I remember is barging right in. The scene that blasted me in the face as I entered was so erotic that I lost control of my fingers, my books dropped to the ground.

Asahina was standing by the costume rack with a privacy-deprived look on her face as well as a blood-red blush. She only had her bra and her panties on. STRAWBERRIES!

"WAH?"

As Asahina prepared herself for a large, ear-splitting scream, I took it upon myself to rush back out of the door and into the hallway. The angel of beauty sadly, doesn't know how to simply lock a door. Of course I could say it was my fault, but she still needs to set her mind prior to getting dressed for such a task. About two minutes later, a muffled voice penetrated the door and slid across my eardrum with a soft whisper.

"Y-you can come in now, Kyon."

I obeyed this blissful request and quietly opened the door. Asahina was in her maid uniform, already working on the first cup of warm, neutralizing tea. Sigh. Asahina, you are indeed an angel.

"Suzumiya said she would be back in a few minutes, you can go ahead and sit down, if you like."

I will adhere to your consultation, Asahina, your wish is my command. The club room was as silent as a roam through the meadows of an RPG game with the music cut off with Nagato occasionally flipping the pages to her book, it was quiet, just not quite enough. I only had about ten minutes of glorious rest before Haruhi barged in the door with Koizumi behind her. She said nothing, but walked immediately to her computer and heavily sat down. Koizumi stood there for a few seconds and decided to come in as well, he grabbed the box to Chinese checkers and slid it across the table in front of me. I shrugged my shoulders giving him the 'sure, why not' vibe. We only had enough time to set up the marbles on the colorful board before Haruhi stood up and cleared her throat so loud that it sounded painful.

"Today the SOS Brigade is taking an all-expense paid trip to a Hot Springs Hotel!"

What? A hot springs hotel, really Haruhi? Satisfyingly, it's a better choice than I would have expected but why there of all places? Haruhi gave me a disgruntled look.

"Because, there's a wishing well there that has a spell on it, if you throw twelve yen in and make a wish, your wish comes true!"

That has got to be the most obsolete story I've ever heard come out of that girl's constantly-moving mouth. Wait! If we go there, I might get to see Asahina in her bathing suit! Oh, how I wish to gaze upon her impressive shape, what a magnificent sight that would be! Haruhi gave me yet another look of displeasure and slung her index finger directly in front of my nose.

"Kyon, don't go getting any funny ideas! This isn't a time to goggle at Mikuru, got it?"

To be honest, I really didn't care about the two cents Haruhi threw in, this could be chance for me, and so I will seize it! Haruhi backed her hand away from my face and began to go on her lecture of plans for the trip. I must say, Haruhi, you've outdone yourself this time, atleast you thought up an actually entertaining activity, for once. You have my condolences for so graciously setting me and Asahina up.

Afterwards, Haruhi made it apparent that she had already told the others where we were going, leaving me out in the cold in the entire situation. Wouldn't I need my bathing suit, Haruhi? You didn't plan this one out very well. Asahina let me use her cute, pink cell phone to call my parents and inform them that I wouldn't be back until Sunday evening, astoundingly, their answer was 'alright'. Didn't they care where I was going or if I needed them to bring me anything, a bathing suit and some extra clothes, for example? Koizumi approached me after Mikuru and Haruhi were already out the door and in the hallway and Nagato was on her way. He got uncomfortably close to my ear.

"I suggest you do as Haruhi says."

Wait, what does that mean? Can you please get away from my ear? I whispered in reply to follow the apparently discrete conversation.

"What do you mean?"

Koizumi then backed off and gave me a look of appreciation for understanding before he followed Nagato out of the doorway. I looked out of the window for a second and noticed that it had begun to drizzle yet again. Damn it, why are all these days like this?

The trip to the Hot Spring Hotel was less than memorable, consisting of about two train rides, five bus rides, and two miles-worth of uphill walking. By the time we arrived at the Hotel, I was already exhausted from the hike. Trudging to and from school along with this task made me feel like Sisyphus, cursed to forever roll the boulder up that anonymously located hill. Although the prospect of Asahina getting close to me in the warm spring waters was flowing vigilantly through my subconscious, there was still the factor of Haruhi. I wish she was dating Koizumi or something, although that would be totally gross, at least I would get some time with Asahina rather than Haruhi always interrupting. Haruhi checked in to the front desk and argued with the concierge about the option of receiving a room on the highest floor of the building for about thirty minutes. During this time period, I took it upon myself to finally take a rest, so I squatted down and leaned against one of the wooden columns in front of the concierge desk. While the little man in the suit argued with our obsessive Brigade leader, Asahina began to sit down beside me. Ah, the angel of redemption has descended upon me today, willingly shedding light upon this rainy day.

"Kyon."

Asahina whispered in a content and soft voice in my ear, I really didn't mind it.

"We can't get too close for the next two days, ok?"

What? Why is that? Has this goddess suddenly unveiled herself as Medusa? This cannot be!

"Why is that?"

I whispered back to Asahina. Her answer was a short, insignificant:

"That's classified."

She looked down at the floor briefly and then proceeded to stand back up. Her skirt was right at my eye level, I struggled not to look in that direction.

After Haruhi won her battle of wits against the reprieved-of-energy concierge, Haruhi turned around to face us as a lightning bolt-powered smile formed across her face. She held up the card to the room. Koizumi proceeded to fetch a trolley for all of our bags, except my bag, that is. Damn you, Haruhi. The Hotel was rather Western-feeling with a nice fragrance of cherry blossoms and maple wood drifting about. We finally reached our hard-earned destination, Haruhi brutally retrieved the room card from her pocket and slid it across the lock beside the door handle. A small, comfortable room with two rooms and four beds lay beyond the doorway, it was definitely cozy, based on looks. Haruhi firmly grasped Asahina's arm and rushed through, onto one of the well-made beds. Well, not made anymore. She shoved Asahina down onto it and began pouncing between the two beds in the left room.

"See? I told you this would be fun!"

Wait, who's paying for all this, are you, Haruhi? I couldn't begin to imagine how her parents would react if they found out she spent all this money on a nice hotel stay for two nights, I know my parents would be furious. The room had a nice cinnamon smell to it, unlike the rest of the building, signifying that this room was of class and higher stature!

"Come on, Mikuru!"

Haruhi picked her up and began to jump from bed to bed along with her. Asahina's chest girth was pouncing up and down, synchronized with Haruhi's jumps. I think I need a hot chocolate. Koizumi and Nagato proceeded inside, leaving me in the hallway to deal with the trolley, thanks a lot guys. I made my way inside the distinctly fancy room and concentrated on picking my bed and lugging the trolley behind me. All four of the Brigade members had chosen their bed, leaving no bed for me. Damn it, why do I always choose the short stick out of these situations? Just as such a thought popped into my mind, Haruhi's coincided with mine, thus making my argument valid!

"Attention! Now that we are here, we must begin the search!"

Wait, a search? I knew a trip such as this was too good to be true, but at least we can relax in the Hot Springs after said search, unless, of course, Haruhi planned on keeping us searching for whatever she wanted to find over the whole span of this trip. Haruhi stabbed a sharp look in my direction, intensifying her seriousness.

"Look, Kyon, you're going to play in on this search unless you want me to kick your ass, got it?"

Do I have much of a choice, oh warrior goddess? Haruhi almost continued on her rant before Koizumi interrupted.

"Excuse me, Ms. Suzumiya, may I inquire as to what this search is for?"

Haruhi's mood diverted into a mischievous tone as she opened her mouth to answer Koizumi's question, leaving me feeling like the fat kid who just won't shut up after his Mom tells him to more than twice at an ice cream shop.

"We're looking for ghosts, of course!"

Wait, did you just say ghosts? Oh brother, why can't we just have a nice, relaxing trip to the hot springs, you're going to ruin the whole trip, Haruhi. Haruhi jumped down from standing on her bed and decided to sit on the edge of it instead, I took a glance at Asahina and noticed that she looked as frightened as ever, probably due to the prospect that Haruhi is forcing us to search for ghosts. Haruhi snapped her fingers and began to run her mouth again.

"We're starting the search in twenty minutes, so be downstairs in the coffee shop! Last one there has to pay, Kyon!"

Did she just automatically assume that I would be the last one there? Haruhi, your level of pigheadedness astounds me, even now. Haruhi marched out of the room and into the hallway, giving me a nasty scowl before she slammed the door. There was only one bathroom In the entire suite Haruhi had bought out for us, so I didn't have enough time to take a shower, seeing as Koizumi and Nagato took five minute showers while Asahina took a ten minute one. All the worth, if she's clean and has the aroma of lavender caressing her head. I decided that I wouldn't have enough time to take one fairly early, so I began my descent to the coffee shop, surprisingly, Haruhi wasn't there, leaving a perfect chance for me to not be the last one there, thus cancelling me out as a contender for paying up for all of our drinks. With only five minutes left, I decided to lay my head down for a few minutes, just to get some extra rest for the hardship ahead. Sigh.

"Kyon?"

A soft, gentle voice awoke me from my slumber, I slowly opened my eyes and noticed Asahina was strategically poking my face. Ah, what a gift to be awoken by such a beautiful girl. I rubbed my eyes and lifted my head, Koizumi and Nagato came into focus, sitting on either side of Asahina. I took a look around and noticed that Haruhi was nowhere to be found, I checked my watch.

"It's three minutes after the time Haruhi set herself, what's got into her?"

Koizumi turned away from the gift shop he was gazing at and placed his eyes upon my drowsy face.

"She should be here any minute, now."

Koizumi shrugged his shoulders after stating that and moved his focus back to the gift shop across the lobby. The entire lobby was about three stories tall, almost like a large mall, there were many people attending to their own business back and forth to the shops lined up on the circular walls. With my vision fully restored from sleep, I noticed Haruhi walking out of a shop labeled "Haunted Emporium". Well, at least I know why she was in there. With my watch passing the fourth minute past the due time, Haruhi jogged the last few feet to our table in the coffee shop. I decided that now would be, more than likely, my only chance to ever point out her mistake and get on her for it. Carpe Diem!

"You're late, Haruhi."

Haruhi threw a nasty look at me as she rebuttled.

"Yeah, so what?"

"You have to pay for our drinks."

After I stated this, Haruhi's look became even more intense, I think that her face was an obvious sign of my hard-earned victory.

"Whatever, what do you want?"

Koizumi, Nagato, Asahina, and I gave her the order of beverages we desired, afterwards, Haruhi marched over to the register in the bakery section of the coffee shop. The shop was fairly loud, I could only make out whether Haruhi was following through with her promise or not by the way her lips were moving. Surprisingly, she stuck to it, and carried five drinks over to our table, almost dropping mine, probably intentionally.

"Here."

She pseudo-courteously passed the drinks out to each of us and took her seat between myself and Koizumi. The seats we were in were made of fake leather, although the bottom of the seat was rather flexible and comfortable. I glanced at Haruhi as she took the first slurp of her drink and it came to my attention that Haruhi had the same drink as me, I guess my drink sounded good to her when I had ordered it. Haruhi's hair had a sensationally overwhelming smell of cherry blossom intruding my nose, leaving me in a state of daze for a second or two. Haruhi began to speak again as she slammed down her drink.

"Alright, let the SOS Brigade ghost search begin!"

What? You haven't even given us instructions or directions yet, how does this make sense?

"I'm getting around to that, Kyon!"

Haruhi reached into her pocket and drew out five sticks, two of which had tips covered in red, similar to the sticks we used for our first ever club search. As Haruhi organized the sticks in her hand, I glanced at the table below and noticed that mine and Haruhi's drink were side-by-side, and the level of liquid inside was identical. Damn it, Haruhi, why did you do this, I can't tell which one is mine! I naturally chose the drink closest to me, in hopes that it was mine, and took a sip. After this movement, Haruhi looked at me out of the corner of her eyes then continued organizing the sticks. Haruhi's hand came crashing down upon the section of table in front of her.

"Alright, everybody pick a stick, no examining, just pick one!"

I reached for one of the sticks in Haruhi's hand after I had placed down my drink. Afterwards, all of the brigade members checked the sticks in their palms to see if they had chosen one of the sticks with the red tip. Sadly, Koizumi and I had the two abnormal sticks, maybe next time, Asahina. And so, without much delay, the brigade chief stood up and barked out her orders pertaining to the next thirty minutes of activity.

"Koizumi and Kyon, you're to search the upper two floors while my group will search the bottom floors! No half-assing it, if I catch you goofing off in some shop, I'll have your head mounted above my fireplace, got it?"

Yes, oh dictator of the free world. Haruhi threw a look of seriousness in my direction.

"Good! One more thing, you're not allowed to go into the hot springs area of the hotel!"

"Well, ok then, why is that?"

"Because I said so!"

After spouting this nonsense, Haruhi marched off with Nagato and Asahina light-footedly following. Koizumi turned his attention toward me after the girls were out of sight.

"Want to go to the game lounge?"

"Sure."

The entire thirty minutes Haruhi so eagerly gave out was filled with nothing but arcade games and prizes, although I can't complain with such a compromise. Koizumi seemed to be a lot better with arcade and video games than he was with board games, which wasn't good for me when it came to down to winning. About twenty minutes through the session, I remembered that Koizumi had used his esper powers in the school common area a few days ago, seeing as there wasn't much else to do, I decided to embark on a quest for the answer.

"Can you use your powers outside of Closed Spaces now?"

Koizumi's eyes left the arcade game screen and met mine.

"Well, it's funny you should ask that, I actually can."

"Could you do that all along?"

"It's really only the past few days that have allowed me to use said powers, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to burn the napkin I used to get my point across to you in the school common area."

I examined his hand for a second then cascaded my eyes around the arcade room, looking for a possible target for him to use. A bit to my left, about twenty feet away, I spotted a young child holding a slushy he had just bought from the coffee shop across the lobby.

"Can you heat up his slushy?"

Koizumi paused the game and shifted his body in my direction, examining the child I was pointing at.

"Well, that's not a very nice thing to do, but I guess it's not too terrible, as long as we can back away from this topic after I'm done."

"Fine."

Once I agreed to Koizumi's request, I gave him the green light to commence his operation. Koizumi lifted his hand and pointed at the child's cup as his finger began to glow a bright, vivid yellowish-blue. After about half a second, his finger stopped glowing and a small stream of smoke was flowing from the tip of the fingernail. I glanced back at the kid and noticed that there was a one-by-one inch hole in his cup, with a bright blue liquid flowing from it. The small kid examined his cup and began to cry, his Mom leaned down and tended to his leaking cup. Koizumi made it apparent that he wanted to look inconspicuous for the crime, so he and I turned back around and un-paused the game. How was Koizumi able to use his powers outside of a Closed Space? Does that mean Nagato can manipulate data around her without closing a space around the location? Can Asahina travel back and forth through time without using the TPDD? After my contemplation on the topic, it was already time to get back to the coffee shop, Koizumi and I made our way to the same table we had congregated at before and took a seat. About two minutes later, Haruhi, Asahina, and Nagato showed up as well, Haruhi had a particularly disgruntled look plastered on her face. They all took their seats beside us.

"Did you find anything?"

"I'm sorry, but we didn't, I guess we just didn't look in the right places."

After Koizumi's reply, Haruhi examined me and made it apparent that she knew he was lying.

"We didn't find anything either, there was an old, underground part of the building, but the stupid concierge wouldn't let us get to it! It pisses me off!"

Well to be quite frank, I really can understand why they wouldn't want to let three young girls into their basement, especially you, Haruhi, you could break their radiator or something.

"Let's mix up the groups again."

Haruhi reached for the five sticks again and strategically began to place them in her palm behind her back. She slammed her arm on the table and looked around at all of us, judging by her optimistic expression, she wanted us to begin pulling the sticks out of her grip. After Nagato and Koizumi had chosen their sticks, I reached for one of my own, but as I almost placed my finger on one of them, Asahina's hand came in contact with mine.

"Wah, I'm sorry, you go first."

"No, it's alright."

"Just pick one, damn it!"

After Haruhi insertion on our polite volley, we both chose a stick. After we had our sticks in grip, we all opened our fists and examined each other's hands to see who had the mysterious red-tipped sticks. I gazed upon my own stick and noticed that I had received yet another one of the red-tipped sticks, but to my dismay, Haruhi had one as well. Damn it, just my luck, why couldn't I get with Asahina? The group stood up and I followed suit, after Koizumi, Nagato, and Asahina had left, Haruhi turned her body toward me and began to speak.

"Let's see if we can get into the basement of this place!"

Really, Haruhi? She's just going to spend this time to intrude into some useless basement, was she really just as bored as I was then?

"Well I've heard a few people saying that the manager of this hotel keeps his victim's bodies in the basement, wouldn't it be cool if we found one?"

No, it most certainly would not be cool, that actually sounds quite frightening.

"Remember what happened last time you wished for something really bad to happen, Haruhi? We found a dead body."

Haruhi gazed at my hair as her mood morphed from eccentric to slightly worried, but then it changed back again.

"Yeah, but that was a set up by Koizumi and his friend, you can't say that my wish actually came true!"

Well, she had a valid point, which was a rare situation for somebody as controversial as her. Haruhi gave off an optimistic smile of victory then continued in the mission she was forced to stop as time didn't permit. She then grabbed my arm and tugged me along to force me to help her accomplish her pointless goal. Haruhi, as I've said millions of times before, couldn't you just find some nice guy and go to the movies with him or something rather than this? Your level of eccentricity is probably interfering with your hormones, though, oh well. As Haruhi dragged me down the hallway in between the Gift Shop and the Restrooms, I noticed that there was a bright, glowing EXIT sign at the end of it. As we approached the EXIT sign, I noticed Haruhi probably had no clue where she was going, I inquired.

"Do you even know where yo-"

Just then the very floor fell out from under Haruhi and I, we plunged into a pit of darkness. We must have fallen a good fifteen feet, because contacting the ground from the brief fall was quite painful on my back, but just when I thought it was over, Haruhi used me as a cushion to sustain her well-being after the fall. The small hatch overhead that we had fallen through began to get smaller and smaller until the two doors of it had met in the middle. It was completely dark. My common sense told me to feel around for a light switch, and to my good fortune, there was one. I flipped the switch up, resulting in a faint light powering up on the walls, on either side. As I subconsciously patted-myself on the back for my accomplishment, I decided to examine Haruhi to see if she was alright as well. She turned around and I saw a look I had only ever seen once on her face before, at the remote island Koizumi had taken us to, when Haruhi had just seen the body on the floor after the door came crashing down. The whole event gave me the horror movie feeling where you think somebody is about to grab your shoulder and scare you so bad that you almost soil yourself.

"Where are we, Kyon? What is this place?"

"I would tell you if I knew the answer myself."


TO BE CONTINUED!