Author's notes: I don't think I've ever underestimated the length of one of my works this much. Ten chapters is indeed the bare minimum, as I said, but I'm now working on chapter 16 and can confirm there will be 17 chapters plus an epilogue. This seems like a good time to take a break, and potentially let my reviewers catch up, so next Thursday you'll instead see a new short story. Two weeks from now we'll be back with chapter 12.

- Chapter 11: The Last to Know -

We had dinner to celebrate the closing of the case. Haruhi, Koizumi, Miss Asahina, and me. It felt wrong to leave out Nagato, but there wasn't much we could do about it. I might be the "boss", but Haruhi had done the casting, and Nagato's character wouldn't comfortably fit in at this party.

Huh. Could Haruhi have cast Nagato the way she did as a form of group shunning? Punishing her for what she did by excluding her from the SOS Detective Agency's adventures and group activities? That's certainly more of a Haruhi way of doing things than killing Nagato would be.

Buoyed by that thought, when Haruhi raised her glass of juice and announced, "A toast to a successful case!", I raised my glass with the rest of them, without any muttering about how the case wasn't really successful given that the person we'd given the address to was an impostor with unknown motives. It was funny to think that Haruhi actually knew that, knew the whole solution to the mystery, but was keeping in ignorance whatever part of her it was that was happily clinking glasses with us.

I was seated beside Haruhi on one side of the table, with Koizumi and Miss Asahina on the other side. The bill was coming to me, but it wasn't quite a normal SOS Brigade gathering. Though Haruhi had already demonstrated a willingness to visit our usual cafe while in this world, we were instead dining at a more formal, adult place that seemed native to the Moonlighting world: the food and decor were both Western style, and the staff were all Caucasians. Presumably Haruhi had chosen the place, though I had no memory of the selection process. I guess we'd jumped over that part.

"You two are an incredible duo, Ms. Addison," Koizumi said after taking a sip from his glass for the toast. "A perfect synergy of personalities and deductive instincts. Long may you be cracking cases together!"

I think I hate Herbert Koizumi even more than Itsuki Koizumi.

"Everyone, this is only the beginning for the SOS Detective Agency!" Haruhi pronounced, sweeping her hands out like a ringmaster announcing the next circus act. "So long as we keep our minds open and our hearts believing, we'll have case after case to solve, paycheck after paycheck rolling in! We'll have mind-numbing mysteries to crack, eccentric characters to meet, thrilling yet hilarious car chases to... um..." She turned to me. "Well, you're the boss, so pick whatever verb you want!"

"Race?" I tried.

"Hmm. Awkward and unimaginative, but I guess I can live with it." Don't critique my word choice when you can't even come up with your own. "The point is, from here on out we're going to keep moving up and up! We'll have so many clients coming in, Herbert and Agnes will be spinning off into their own adventures!"

"Whu-wh-why the two of us?" Miss Asahina had gone completely pink.

"Well, you have such good chemistry together."

"That is true," Koizumi said, rubbing at his cheek. "Not as good as you and Mr. Hayes, of course, but..."

Do you think you could stop throwing me and Haruhi at each other for just one minute? Please. I have even more reasons to not want to be in a relationship with her in this universe than I do in the real world. Also, you and Miss Asahina getting together is happening over my dead body.

Haruhi smiled benevolence upon them. "Plus, you're the two next best detectives in the agency. Of course, it's up to Mr. Hayes whether or not you two can take on an assignment together. He's the boss!"

Stop. Saying. That.

The food was pretty good. Strange, but I appreciated the change of pace. It was probably one of the few meals I'd actually eaten in this world, instead of just scene-jumping and "remembering" eating later on, because the flavor and texture left an actual impression. The discussion stayed lively, despite the fictional nature of most of the things we were talking about, and Miss Asahina looked very cutely put out by Koizumi's comparing their chemistry unfavorably to ours. It felt like we were finally taking a breather from all the worry and confusion that had beset us since coming to this "pocket realm". Haruhi was happy, and that meant the rest of us could breathe easy and enjoy ourselves.

After we'd finished eating, Haruhi took three toothpicks and marked one. "Since those posters seem to be working, we should put up some more. Let's split up into pairs, and each pair will take a neighborhood. We'll meet back here in an hour." She didn't ask my permission for this plan, even though I was ostensibly the boss, but that was fine with me. "Whoever draws the marked toothpick goes with me."

She had Miss Asahina pick first. Since she was in the seat opposite hers, Haruhi had to lean across the large table to reach. Because of this awkward stretch, her fingers loosened around the bottom of the toothpicks, and I could see which one was marked.

Miss Asahina picked an unmarked one. Koizumi immediately reached for his pick, but Haruhi jerked back to our side of the table and said, "Now you pick, Kyon."

Though I could no longer see the mark on the toothpick, I remembered which one it was. If I picked the marked toothpick, I'd go with Haruhi. Unmarked, and I'd go with Miss Asahina.

Easy decision. I picked the unmarked one.

As soon as I did, a scowl formed over Haruhi's face. There it is again – that negative reaction to me being with Miss Asahina. Like jealousy, but different somehow. Seriously, what's her problem? I've been at her side for practically every minute of this simulated episode, and she gets cheesed off just because a random drawing decides that -

Crap. She let me see which toothpick was marked on purpose, didn't she? The whole drawing was a test to see which of them I'd rather be with. That's why she had Miss Asahina pick first and me pick second. Ordinarily I wouldn't give a damn about Haruhi knowing that I'd rather spend time with Miss Asahina than her, but this could well be connected to her reason for keeping us in this world. Crap, crap, crap.

As we left the restaurant, I sidled up to Haruhi and said in her ear, "Don't be a grouch. Spending time with Mr. Koizumi isn't a death sentence." She grumbled wordlessly. "You should at least be grateful you didn't get paired with me. I'm sure you've gotten sick of having me in your face all the time."

"Because you've gotten sick of me, right?" she said without turning her head. She moved away from me and put her arm in Koizumi's, her other arm bearing the posters. "Have a nice time with Ms. Asahina."

Haruhi didn't sound bitter about it, just frustrated. The kind of frustration you feel when you've attempted a level in a video game a dozen times and are still stuck. And you're nowhere near ready to give up on it, but you're starting to wonder how you're ever going to beat it.

Still, her reaction was odd. Normally Haruhi wouldn't want to spend all her time with me. Nobody likes being around the same person all the time, no matter how fond of them they are, and while Haruhi was strange in a lot of respects, she had more than once made it clear that she needed her space, just like anyone else. So what was the deal?

Miss Asahina looked a little weary and shy. Haruhi had given her our share of the posters, and she pretended to busy herself with them as we walked.

"So, how have you been, Miss Asahina?" I tried.

"Pretty good," she nodded.

I couldn't resist asking. "How are things between you and Mr. Koizumi?"

"Fine." She nodded again.

It was starting to feel like I was talking to Nagato. "Look, I know that lately it seems like I've been ignoring you, and not giving you the sort of work you deserve, after the years you've put into the agency. I didn't mean for things to be that way."

"That's okay. It sounds like you and Ms. Addison are getting some good work lined up for me and Herbert, and I really do trust you guys. Ms. Addison, especially. She's always been so supportive."

"Yeah, she – What?" I looked to her face to see if she was serious. "Haruhi, supportive?"

"Uh huh." She stopped to put up a poster. "Even before you came to the agency, Ms. Addison always made things fun, no matter how bad business was. If anyone is feeling blue, she always finds a way to make them laugh. I know you think she's not responsible enough, and really, that's one of the things that makes it so great to have you with us, but Ms. Addison is responsible in her own way. She looks after us, and does everything she can to make us happy. She may not have a great head for business – just between you and me, I don't think these posters have anything to do with our getting more clients – but she cares about us."

"Okay, that does it." I can't believe Haruhi is doing this. Does she think that just because she has these powers, she can do whatever she wants and we'll stand for it? No way. And since I've been thinking about filling Miss Asahina in, anyway... "'Ms. Addison' doesn't care about anyone but herself. Listen, you're not a receptionist named Agnes, okay? You're Mikuru Asahina, a time traveler."

"W-what?" She spun around, planting her back against the wall. "Wh-what are you saying?"

"You remember, don't you? Koizumi, Nagato, and I all remembered. You came from the future to look after Haruhi Suzumiya. Haruhi made me curry bread and had you give it to me. You had pity on her and told me that she made it, so that I could thank her. And for that, she tried to yank your hair out. I got mad when I caught her doing that, and so she brought us to this fantasy world where she can pretend that none of that happened and you and Koizumi think she's this incredibly nice person and a brilliant detective. She doesn't think she can be nice enough for us to like her, so instead she's forcing -"

"Shut up!"

I fell back a step. Was that Miss Asahina who had just shouted?

"Just sh-shut up!" She was trembling, and tears were starting to stream down her face. "Wh-why do you have to make me remember that old world? You're just like Miss Suzumiya; you can never leave anything alone! The best thing she's ever done for me is taking me to this world where you aren't yourselves! I h-hate both of you! I wish I didn't have to classified information!"

She turned and ran, dropping the posters in a scattered heap.

I broke out of my shocked stupor. "Miss Asahina, wait! I..." She wasn't out of shouting distance yet, but she ignored me. She already had a substantial lead, and she was running so fast, even with her short legs, that I stood little chance of catching her.

I couldn't blame her. She'd been such a trooper about Monday's events, it hadn't even occurred to me to be gentle about reintroducing her to the real world. Going in an instant from having a considerate and responsible boss, a "supportive" supervisor, and an earnest love interest to a mission babysitting the world's most unreasonable despot had to be a violent jump. I hadn't caused any of her struggles, but I certainly hadn't made them easier for her.

I bent down and gathered up the posters from the street. With the way this world worked, it probably wouldn't make a difference whether or not I put any of these up, at least not so long as Haruhi thought we'd put them up, but there was no sense in letting them go to waste.

As I proceeded to throw up posters on any available surface, it occurred to me that I'd also been too quick to jump to conclusions. Haruhi didn't necessarily contrive for 'Herbert' and 'Agnes' to idolize her; it could be that's the way it was on Moonlighting. Sure, she might have picked the show for that reason, but it was more likely just happenstance. After all, she was watching the show that very evening, so it was probable that she just threw us all into the first fictional universe that came to mind. Just something to get away from the problems she was facing in the real world.

I liked that idea. It meant that I didn't have to think about things like why Haruhi put herself in a world where she'd thought she'd killed an old man, our employees got into fist fights at work, and (most perplexing of all) she and I were "partners". Because then all of that would be meaningless, just random tosses of the dice.

I liked it. But I couldn't make myself believe it. Haruhi had picked Moonlighting for a reason; I just couldn't put my finger on what it was.

I passed by an electronics shop. In the window were displayed a bunch of TVs which were showing the news. Something caught my ear, and I stopped and looked. People in uniform were carting away a body under a sheet.

"Mr. Harbert, paroled just six months ago, was found dead by a young parishioner..."

Oh, man.

Nagato?