When I finally opened the door to back into the club room, I almost slammed it into Asahina-san's shoulder; she'd been standing just a little too close to the door. Although she had her back to the door when I went in, I suspected that she'd been listening to my conversation with Haruhi. She muttered something but I'm afraid that right then I wasn't really interested in idle talk, even with the beautiful Asahina-san. Instead, I turned my attention to Nagato, and to this little problem of the baby dragon under our noses.

Yes, I was bothered by what Haruhi had said, but I am capable of paying attention to more than one thing at a time, and right now the dragon problem was much more urgent.

"Is Haruhi aware of the… that thing?"

Nagato shook her head.

"She doesn't suspect anything?"

"When you left I sealed the door and altered its composition to make it soundproof. Suzumiya-san would only have realised that something was odd if she had tried to open it."

Which she didn't, I presumed. Can I open it now?

"Yes. I will remove the seal."

"What are you talking about?" Asahina-san interrupted, looking timid. She was back in her school uniform now, but she seemed uncomfortable.

There is an egg in the cupboard, Asahina-san. That's about all there is to say, really.

"An egg?" she looked puzzled. "But I don't keep any eggs in this room, and there's no food in the cupboard."

Ah, I see. No, not that kind of egg. This is a big one. And it's going to hatch.

"A baby animal?" Asahina-san looked excited at the idea. "How cute!"

And before either of us could stop her, Asahina-san knelt in front of the cupboard door and pulled it open, and a glistening, reptilian body almost a metre long from nose to tail tumbled out and into her arms. It looked up at her and made a noise which was something like the squawk of a baby bird or the whine of a hungry dog. It was a dark green, almost black; its snout and tail were quite stubby, as were its limbs, and its claws, while they looked sharp, seemed to be quite soft. To my surprise, Asahina stroked it along its head and neck, even though it was still covered in the sticky fluids from inside the egg, and there were several bits of shell still stuck to it, which she began picking off. When I looked closer I saw that it had two small wings on its sides, but they were thin and membranous and seemed to be stuck down by the slick fluid that covered it.

"It's so soft," Asahina-san murmured, stroking the scales on its neck again as it butted its head against her hand affectionately. Then it squawked again, plaintively, and I realised that it wanted food.

"Of course!" Asahina-san said. "But what do dragons eat?"

Meat, I suppose. But where are we going to find any meat for it around here? I suppose I have cat food for Shamisen at home, but I can't take a dragon home! I have a mother and a sister there! Not to mention that Shamisen probably wouldn't like it at all…

I heard the grating sound of metal scraping against metal and looked up to see Nagato with an open can of cat food in her outstretched hand. She knelt next to Asahina, offering to the tiny dragon, and with a pleased sound it set upon it, gobbling away. Do you always carry cat food around with you for emergencies, Nagato?

She didn't respond, and I wondered how long the egg had been here for. Had she been preparing for its hatching for some time?

Never mind that, we have to work out what to do with this thing. How are we going to get rid of it?

"Get rid of it?"

Suddenly both girls were staring at me with varying degrees of outrage on their faces. Well, Nagato, it was you who said we should try 'damage control' and keep strange things like this away from Haruhi, wasn't it?

"That does not necessitate its destruction," Nagato said, firmly.

How are we going to keep it, though? That thing is going to need a lot of food, and I'm sure it's going to get really big! We can't take care of it forever!

"You don't have to worry about taking care of it, Kyon," Asahina-san said. "You already have Shamisen. I'll take care of the dragon."

That's very considerate of you, Asahina-san, but that's not exactly what I meant. It's going to get too big to keep in an apartment, you know.

"But by then it'll be old enough to take care of itself, so we can let it go, right? And it can go out into the wild and find other dragons."

But… but we don't even know if there are any other dragons or whether this is just a creation of Haruhi's! And it'll cost a lot to keep, and it could cause a lot of damages. Maybe Nagato can explain this better than I can. She's always articulate, logical, and to the point.

"Asahina-san is being reasonable. There is no need to dispose of the creature. I suppose I am not human and am not expected to understand such things, but it would be cruel to abandon such a helpless being."

What is it with girls and babies?

Having finished the cat meat Nagato had been feeding it, the dragon nuzzled her hand affectionately before curling up against Asahina-san again and falling asleep.

"It seems it would be best for Asahina-san to house the creature," Nagato said, tonelessly. Did Nagato want to take the dragon herself?

Asahina-san seemed to think so. "I suppose so. He seems to be like a bird who thinks the first thing he sees is his mother. But you can come over and see him any time you want to, Nagato-san! I'm sure he loves you too since you gave him his first food!"

Nagato nodded. "In that case, I shall continue to provide food." Tentatively, she reached out to stroke the soft baby scales and I could have sworn that her face softened a little then, too.

And so it was settled. The little dragon had chosen two mothers for itself, and the two of them talked about what to name it as we walked back to Asahina's apartment, while I carried the great lump wrapped up in Asahina's maid apron. Why is it always me? That thing was really heavy!

"What do you think, Kyon?" Asahina-san asked me. I hadn't been listening to their conversation in the slightest, as I had begun to dwell on Haruhi's parting words that afternoon, so I had no idea what she was asking my opinion.

"What to name him, of course!"

Oh, are you still talking about names? And when did you decide that it was a boy?

"I don't know, he just seems like a boy," she replied, and Nagato gave a slight nod in agreement. Good grief. "So what should we call him?"

I didn't know what to say. I had no idea what was an appropriate name for a dragon, and my mind was firmly on other things at the time. It shouldn't really have been such a surprise that the word 'Shinigami' popped out.

"God of death? Like Ryuk?" she frowned in thought. Well, I didn't think 'Ryuk' would be a very good name for a dragon – although it might be a useful code if you want to talk about him without Haruhi being suspicious!

But now the two girls were flanking me, and both looking at me curiously. "You're bothered by Ryuk, aren't you, Kyon?" Asahina asked, carefully.

Well, yes, but he's a pretty disturbing guy! Who wouldn't be bothered by Ryuk?

She shook her head slightly, as though I was missing the point, and then looked across at Nagato, who ignored her. Asahina has always been scared of Nagato, I think, which is understandable – and Asahina hadn't even seen half the things I had, like when Nagato fought Asakura. It looks as though even when they are getting along, Asahina still defers to her. At any rate, Nagato was ignoring her in this instance, which she seemed to take as permission to speak.

"Kyon-kun…" she said, in that angelically timid voice, "Kyon-kun seems… hmmm… seems to be the one who's most upset by Ryuk's coming here."

I'd talk to Koizumi before you start making assumptions about who is the most upset. He's the one being run ragged trying to clean up all the closed space that she's creating.

Asahina looked at me with surprise when I said that. "Suzumiya-san is still creating closed space? This is unexpected. Nagato-san, did you know about this?"

Nagato said nothing, just staring straight ahead. Asahina-san had just opened her mouth and drawn in a breath to speak when Nagato finally interrupted her. "Closed space is not my concern."

"Ah… yes, I see…" she agreed, faltering and falling silence. After a few more paces she said "But shouldn't we be concerned? Even if such things are Itsuki-san's role rather than ours, the creation of closed space is significant in relation to Suzumiya-san's mood, so… shouldn't we be concerned with its meaning?"

Closed space isn't all that meaningful. It means that Haruhi's dissatisfied, but that could mean everything. She's not a subtle person. Haruhi is the kind of person who will use a steamroller to kill a fly. If she were a doctor, she'd rather amputate limbs that fix broken bones.

"Ah, I see, perhaps that is the case," Asahina-san agreed. "But… but I would have thought, since Suzumiya-san is getting the things that she wanted, she would be more satisfied than ever. She has Ryuk, and all these other things have been happening…"

That's what I thought, too, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I'm not sure whether I should be grateful for this or not. If Haruhi is unhappy it is possible that the world will become more dangerous, or that more dangerous events will begin to occur. Even if that is not the outcome, life is still difficult for Koizumi at the moment. And yet, after my conversation with Ryuk this afternoon, I must wonder whether it may in fact be to my advantage. I have been worried about Haruhi… well, being too interested in Ryuk, and forgetting about the rest of us, but perhaps if she is still unsatisfied then she realises that Ryuk is not such good company. And yet even if she gets tired of Ryuk's companionship, I know she'll never give up the Death Note. Nothing in this universe could make Haruhi choose an ordinary life.

I realised that I was smiling, and that Asahina-san was watching me with great curiosity. She seemed almost worried. Hey, cheer up, Asahina-san. How could I have been worrying about Haruhi when Asahina-san is worried too, and right beside me? My first duty should always be to protect this angel.

"What exactly does Kyon-kun think of the situation right now?"

"Haruhi is probably dissatisfied that events are not occurring in the way that she wants them to. She created that event with the vegetation taking over the school, but then Nagato undid it all, which must have been frustrating for her. There are many other strange things going on in the world, but most of them are happening far away, in other countries, and not right here. Even now, we're hiding this dragon from her. In a way it may be even more frustrating than nothing interesting happening to her at all."

Asahina-san looked relieved. For a brief moment, I remembered Koizumi's warning to me about this girl; that she was lulling me into a false sense of security with her beauty and charm, that she wasn't all that innocent or powerless, that she was using me and he just didn't know what for.

But when she looked up at me in all sincerity, and asked what I thought she should do about Haruhi if this was the case, there was no way that I could doubt her intentions. Nagato did look at her oddly, but that's nothing out of the ordinary. Nagato is always curious and their friendship, if you can call it that, has always been somewhat tense.

After that little exchange, the conversation veered back towards names for the dragon, not that the girls ever managed to agree on anything. Asahina-san wanted to name it something cute, but Nagato-san's suggestions were all strange names that she probably got from science fiction novels. But at least the conversation was fairly light until we got to Asahina-san's apartment building. After a brief discussion the girls decided that they would both go to the apartment to help their little dragon to 'settle in', and then I handed the little bundle, still asleep, over to Nagato.

I decided to leave then. As exciting as it was to think of visiting Asahina-san's apartment, I didn't really want to spend my entire evening taking care of that irritating little monster and worrying about how we were going to keep it a secret, and what on earth was going to happen when Haruhi found out, as I was sure she would. Not long ago I would have assumed that it would be almost impossible for Haruhi to find out about any strange things going on in the area, but now I assumed that it was inevitable. If Asahina-san and Nagato-san wanted to take responsibility for this particular problem, it was absolutely fine with me. The less responsibility I had, the better. I said a quick goodbye and turned to walk away. I couldn't get away from there quickly enough.

Before I had walked too far from the apartment building, through, I heard the soft fall of footsteps behind me and felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Asahina-san standing behind me, staring at her feet. Nagato was still standing at the door of the apartment building, holding the sleeping dragon and staring towards us. What is it now, Asahina?

"Um… Kyon-kun…" she said, at last. "What I really meant when I said that you were bothered by Ryuk is… um… Haruhi isn't really around much any more… and she… it's because she spends all her time with Ryuk. So I wondered… does Kyon-kun…"

It was hard to see what her face looked like, as it was growing dark and she wouldn't raise her head, but if I wasn't mistaken, I believe she was blushing.

"Kyon-kun seems tired and sad lately, too, just like Itsuki-kun, even though Kyon-kun hasn't been fighting the closed space like the espers… and I started to think… does Kyon-kun miss Suzumiya-san? Is that what this is?"

What an interesting question.

I think Asahina-san finally raised her head to look at me at that point, but I was no longer looking at her and stared up at the sky instead. Did I miss Haruhi? I had a feeling that perhaps this was an important question. But what difference did it really make? To tell you the truth, I was sick of thinking about it. I have had far too many conversations about Haruhi today, and I really just want to go home and stop thinking about her.

"The truth is…"

The only truth is that I don't really know what I think. It makes me sad that the SOS Brigade is falling apart and that Haruhi has abandoned us for Ryuk, and it does make me a little sad to think that maybe I'm not 'the one chosen by Suzumiya-san' any more. But then, I always hated being that person, and I hated being responsible for Haruhi's mood and keeping her under control. If it means that I can some day free myself from that responsibility…

But do I miss Haruhi?

"The truth is, Asahina-san," I said to her, at last, "I don't really care. Haruhi can do whatever she wants with whoever she wants right now. I just want to rest."

I think she was smiling at me. Who would have thought that that would be the right answer?

"I'm glad, Kyon-kun," she said, warmly, and to my surprise, she hugged me. Then she jumped back almost immediately, and now I was sure she was blushing. "I'm sorry! I'm not supposed to do that! Er… I mean, if Suzumiya-san isn't here it doesn't matter so much, but… um… what I'm trying to say is, it's good if Kyon-kun is happy."

She bowed to me in a very formal goodbye, and then ran back to the apartment building where Nagato was waiting for her. I watched them for a while; they stood there for a few moments before they finally decided to enter the building. I wasn't sure whether they were talking or not; it looked more like they were having a staring contest. I had a feeling that perhaps, for whatever reason, Asahina-san had decided that maybe it was finally time to stop being afraid of Nagato and look her defiantly in the eye.

Ah, but I can't be bothered trying to work out whatever power games the time travellers and the aliens are playing. It's bad enough trying to keep track of everything else that goes on here. I stretched my arms and turned around to head home, determined to have a good night's sleep. I just hope Haruhi doesn't interrupt my dreams again – often they're the only peace I get.