"Uh, Tsukasa...? You awake...?"

She didn't remember going to sleep. She had been so exhausted she must have just passed out somewhere. It was early morning, and all around her, mostly just laying on the cold and damp grass, were other people sleeping or waking up. Everything felt kind of fuzzy like it was a dream that she was still having, but then she remembered. Tokyo, demons, alternate realities... and Konata.

"Mm... yeah," she said, stretching. Usually she couldn't wake up this easily, but after some much-needed rest she was able to notice how uncomfortable sleeping in a public park could be.

"You're awake? Good, that's everyone, then. We're moving out, we've got a lot to do today!" Kamina was a few meters away, acting like he was scouting out the area. Even Tsukasa could tell that nothing of importance was within sight, so what was he looking for?

"We're going... now?" Tsukasa said. Kamina had already started off, and Dante sauntered along behind him, keeping a good distance. Come to think of it, hadn't Kamina said he was going to stay up all night as watch? He didn't seem tired at all.

"Guess so," Kyon said. "Come on."

Pulling herself to her feet, Tsukasa hurried ahead with Kyon by her side, both trying not to get separated. Today really was the day they were supposed to die... Staying together as a group seemed the best plan. The thought of never returning home, and considering that nobody would ever know what had happened to her if she died here... Tsukasa tried to avoid those thoughts, but it was no use. They always forced their way in.

"It almost makes you wonder. Did Haruhi come up with this whole situation? I mean, demons, gateways to other worlds, it's all the kind of stuff she talked about all the time," Kyon said. They passed by a convenience store where a few men were digging through what was left, looking for anything useful. "I mean, the aliens and espers existed before, but now just about everything else is all showing up at once."

"Do you think Konata's really like that too?" Tsukasa said. "She always really liked games and stuff, I did too, but I never wanted them to be this real..."

"It's got their names all over it. Face it. Both of them are working together trying to kill us."

"N-no, Konata wouldn't... She said we'd be okay..."

But here she was, with three people who were, for the most part, strangers, and she was only really able to trust one of them. There were so many numbers hovering everywhere. Today nobody's was higher than a four. And Kyon and the others were still at zero.

There was the sound of an explosion just a block or two away. It shook the ground, and Tsukasa could even feel the vibrations inside her. Instinctively she stopped following Kamina, but he simply paused for a second and took off, tattered cape flying out behind him. Passersby were giving him even more stares, wondering why anyone would chase after a sound like that. Dante continued on as well, but in less of a rush. He gave an indifferent shrug.

"What do we do? Are we going along with this?" Kyon said. His expression seemed to say that the final decision was up to her. She knew what she wanted to do, and that was to go back to the park and see if it was possible to wait this out somewhere quiet.

Four days. No, that wasn't any good either...

"I think..." Tsukasa took a deep breath. "I think we should go with them."


Chapter 29

The Fear of the World


Konata was dead. She had been murdered during a storm nearly a year ago on her way home from work, and the killer was still unknown. It was difficult to adjust, but there was nothing to be done; she was gone.

Konata had faked her death, using some kind of magical clone that she left behind as evidence. Since then, she'd been wandering around other universes in which everything fictional became reality. And, a few days ago, had dropped in back home to save everyone from an onslaught of demons from one of those other universes. And after that, they'd found out she was God.

One of those theories, Kagami thought, seemed much more feasible than the other. But it wasn't the one that had actually happened... was it?

The apartment was lit only by the flickering gray light of the TV set. She was still sitting there in the armchair in front of it, long after the image had gone away. If it had ever been there at all.

"Kagami-san... Can we leave now?" Mikuru said after several moments of uneasy silence.

"Sure... I don't think there's anything here."

Just in case, they did a quick sweep of the room looking for anything of use. There was nothing of interest, just some old broken furniture. At one point, the TV made a jittering sound that could have been a voice, and Kagami quickly set her attention on it to see if anything would come back. Nothing did.

"Nevermind this," she said. "Let's go back. I don't like it here."

Mikuru seemed to agree, and they left the room with the television still buzzing its white noise behind them. The dark hallway stretched out in front of them. There was the possibility that they missed something up here, an office, or maybe the landlord had lived in one of the apartments and kept the keys in their room. The much more appealing option right now was to head to the stairs. Kagami had started experiencing a bit of a headache accompanied by a twisting feeling in her gut. The sooner they were out of here, the better.

As they came to the point where one hallway met the other in a perpendicular T-shaped corner, an old bottle went rolling across the floor on its own, in an arc right past them and coming to rest against the peeling wall. They heard the now-familiar sounds of something hacking up a cough. Mikuru shrank back behind Kagami and pressed herself up against the wall.

Approaching cautiously, but not truly scared, Kagami drew one of the guns, making sure it was loaded - of course, she chose the one with just three bullets left. No time to switch it for the other one - another one of those armless monsters was in the hallway, somehow drawn to her flashlight despite its lack of eyes. Something wet and brown dripped from what seemed to be its chin.

Being afraid of monsters seemed childish now. Kagami had seen what real-life terror was like, the fear of loss, of loneliness, isolation. Things that couldn't be killed. But this could. It wasn't really so bad, was it?

Her aim had improved quickly. The first shot went straight into its head and splattered it all over the wall behind it, something that looked kind of like especially thick and chunky maple syrup. Mikuru let out a breathless gasp. She was still terrified of the things, even if Kagami wasn't. It fell down on the floor, twitching, and she put another bullet into the chest for good measure. It stopped twitching after a few seconds.

"What are you waiting for? Everything's fine. Let's go." Kagami could see the dark shadow of the door to the stairwell up ahead.

Konata would know what to do in a situation like this. It was just like one of her games, wasn't it? Defeat the monsters, find the key to the next area. Try not to lose your mind in the process. That part was probably different. But more importantly for now, how were they going to get out of Silent Hill - clear the area, or whatever the term for it would be - and onto the next stage? Kagami could already see the news back home, the aftermath of the attacks and pictures of her and Tsukasa in the newspaper labeled as "Missing."

Something about this place just wasn't completely real. Maybe she could accept that she came from an anime, and once she got back home that's how the entire rest of her life would be. But this place? It was wrong. That was the only word for it - wrong.

Directing the light down at the steps, Kagami descended carefully. She heard Mikuru close behind her. Protecting her was the right thing to do, but in all honesty she was useless. Those other two...

They came to the bottom of the stairwell, back into the lobby with its wall of mailboxes. Nothing had been overlooked here, there wasn't anywhere to keep keys here. That door at the end of the hall sat there in the dark. It couldn't be the only way to the north end of the town, could it? Even if they had to take the long way around through the woods, braving whatever might be in there, they'd get through somehow.

How did they even know that's where they were supposed to be?

Mikuru gave voice to those thoughts. "Where are we going next? I don't want to stay here..."

The empty room still seemed oppressive. Kagami thought it over for a while longer, but she already knew the answer. "We'll just... keep looking, I guess, and see if we find them." And, although it sounded cruel, added, "If we find a way out of here... This universe, I mean... We're going to take it. It doesn't matter if we're all together or not."

"But, Kagami-san - "

"I know. But the longer we stay here, the more I feel..." Like I'm just losing it, like I don't know who to trust, what to believe... Maybe you're not even real, maybe you're just a delusion. "I just don't like it here. We'll leave it at that."

They turned around to leave through the front door, but there was a loud crash from behind them.


Koizumi's plan - if there was enough to it to call it one - was simply for Konata to focus in on Haruhi, and try to create a gateway to wherever she was. Jason had endorsed the plan as well, and she trusted him possibly even more than Koizumi - after all, he'd spent all that time monitoring her.

It was harder than it seemed. Konata could easily channel Haruhi's character. All of the little nuances, her interests, her physical appearance, and, of course, the voice. She often went through a similar process before starting her shifts at the cafe. The difficulty was that she had no clue what sort of universe she was actually making a door to, and could only begin to guess what Haruhi might be doing there. Had she gone on her own will, or had she been forced? Did she know what was going on? Had she been told about herself, like Konata had?

The noisy bustle of Cental City distracted her. Occasionally they'd see a blue-uniformed state alchemist, although they had yet to see any recognizable characters from the show. A few people passed by, ignoring the four of them for the most part. They were all background characters, but in this world they had names, identities, their own goals. The level of detail in these worlds was something that would never be shown in the original work, because these were fully-functioning worlds, and not everything revolved around the Elric brothers. Hell, Konata had her own anime and she never did anything significant (in that version of her life, at least), yet she was still the main character.

"I don't really get what I'm supposed to be doing..." she said, although she'd already expressed that several times before. "You don't have any theories better than this?"

"All I know is that whenever you've done anything significant in the past, you've been in danger," Jason said. "Unless your life is threatened, the amount of changes you can make seems to be very limited."

Koizumi was taking in the feeling of the city. "I don't suppose we'll find many dangerous situations around here. You said you know what this world is?"

"Oh, sure," Konata said. "I guess we could get into a lot of danger if we really wanted to. I don't know, I guess look for some guy about my height with a red coat and blonde hair, and something'll be trying to kill him."

"That's an... interesting strategy," Koizumi said, nodding.

"I wasn't really serious about that," Konata said.

Sure, there was plenty of action and danger here, but she wasn't in the mood for it now. And anyways, everything seemed perfect. Peace and quiet, typical city life. Come to think of it, there was no guarantee that this was even during the series. It could be the past or the future, and all the major conflicts would be resolved.

"Any other plans?" she said, staring off into space idly.

"Beats me," Junpei said. "You and Haruhi are practically the same person, aren't you? I don't know, can you form a telepathic link or something?"

Jason nodded. "Maybe. If she really wanted to."

"Wait, seriously? I was just making a joke! She can do that?"

"Her powers are loosely defined. Anything's possible."

"I don't think it's gonna happen. I'll just focus on getting us to wherever she is..." Konata sighed. Back to the basics, talking didn't get them anywhere. It would be interesting to meet the Elrics, though. For one thing, to compare her height to Edward's. He'd always been a character she could relate to in that regard.


After the process of forming a pactio, the light had died down, although Miyuki was aware that her face was probably very red. Everything settled down, and she was left with a card featuring an illustration of herself, dressed in an elegant robe and carrying an ornately decorated staff. A large, prominent script read "Tacara Miyuki" in English lettering.

Sceptrum Animus.

They were still waiting for the others to come back with news. Nagato had spoke of a possible new doorway appearing, although she didn't seem to think that either Konata or Haruhi had anything to do with it. The source may not matter, as long as it took them somewhere safe. This world was calm enough as long as they stayed around the school grounds and there weren't any extra dimensional spaces opening up.

"If you're ready, we can try it out," Negi said, while she was still engrossed in studying the illustration.

"Oh... Yes, that would be wonderful," she replied.

Before the process - the ceremony, if that was the correct term - he had explained the system to her in relatively simple terms. Now that a contract had been formed, she possessed some of his magic power, which would manifest itself in an artifact and a card. She had the card now; she had only to activate it. Once that was done, the artifact would appear and she would also have enhanced physical abilities.

It was very similar to a fantasy novel, as she had expected it would be, but now the thought of using magic power herself was frightening. What did it feel like once those abilities were called forth? And she was always so clumsy, what if she wasn't any good at this?

"Activate it for just ten seconds," Negi instructed her. "Usually I don't do any training like this, but I understand why you would want to. Just take it easy." Something about having a boy who was so young say that it wouldn't be a problem was comforting.

"Sim Mae Pars! Per Decem Secundās! Ministra Negiī, Tacara Miyuki!" The words came easily to her, and once the last syllable was uttered she felt the spell take hold.

The staff - the same one from the drawing on the card - appeared in her hands. She was tempted to just stare at it, wondering how something could appear out of nowhere, and admire the elaborate handiwork on it.

"It looks like your artifact will let you use magic. Can you do any spells?" Negi said.

"I don't know, umm..." Miyuki wasn't sure what to do. The feeling of power was distracting, and the idea of calling forth any kind of magic seemed dangerous. She couldn't help but be afraid that she'd accidentally do something destructive, unaware of her own ability. She hesitated.

"You'll need to do it quick - " Negi said, and the ten seconds expired. Everything returned to normal. "Too late."

"Should I reactivate it?" Miyuki asked, caution in her voice. It had gone okay. Admittedly, she hadn't done anything, but it had still been okay.

"No, that's fine... Wait a while. I think you should be able to perform simple magic, mostly healing spells," Negi explained. "I'm not sure how this would be against one of those... ah... Celestials, but it's better than nothing."

"Alright..." Miyuki found that if she racked her brain a bit, she could think of some Latin phrases, and with any luck she'd be able to use some spells.

They trained for about two more hours, taking breaks in between. During the practice Miyuki managed to use at least one curative charm, resulting in a radiant green glow that Negi claimed would heal minor injuries - if either of them had any, which they didn't at the moment. Miyuki was reminded of how Konata had healed Tsukasa back when they had first seen her. The thought of the impact this could have on the medical field in the real world... Would it be ethical? Magic wasn't accepted by most people back home, but if she did have this power...

Things could never go back to normal, not after an experience like this.

"How's it going, Miyuki?"

She turned around to see Spike standing there. "Oh, Spiegel-san, hello. Everything's fine here."

"Good... 'Cause one of those doors just appeared again," he said.

"You mean..." That was a good thing, wasn't it? It seemed as if everything that needed to be done in this world had been completed, so it should be time to move on. Still, the thought of what could happen next was frightening.

"Yeah, looks like it's time for us to move out. Don't you wonder what Konata has planned for us next?" he said. By his tone, it was apparent that he really wasn't that enthusiastic about it.

"So Konata can alter things here too? I suppose that's a good thing..."

"Nagato was saying... something... about that, I didn't get most of it. The source may or may not be Konata. It may or may not lead us to Haruhi, although I could really care less as long as it's safe. And walking through it may or may not spell certain death for us."

"I see..."

Miyuki turned the card over in her hand, a nervous gesture. The pink-haired illustration of her - actually, that was what she looked like, so was this an illustration or a photo? - was holding the magic staff confidently, and it made her feel like maybe she could do something useful next time they were in a difficult situation. She'd never been a person of action, she'd always absorbed information and never applied it... But she was capable of doing something useful, and while the card affirmed that fact, maybe it had been the truth all along.

"So? Are we going?" Spike said.

"Of course... Let's move on."


"That's you guys, isn't it?"

Ever since her first impression of the girl back at Comiket, such a long time ago, Kagami never thought she would actually be happy to hear Rei's voice. The locked door had been hacked to pieces with that lightsaber thing she had carried.

"What are you doing here?" Kagami said. Honestly, though, she didn't know what she was doing in this place herself.

"I heard gunshots, are you two alright?" Now she saw Joshua too, his red hair easily visible. That was all four of them.

"Yeah, we're..." Kagami wasn't quite sure if she was telling the truth here. "We're fine."

"H-how did you find us?" Mikuru said.

"We were all over the place looking for you. Once I found Joshua, I figured the two of you must be around here somewhere... Crazy place, isn't it? I'm amazed you guys managed to survive," Rei said.

"Thanks for believing in us," Kagami said dryly, but deep down she was hugely relieved. It at least seemed like this was really happening. She wanted to believe that it was.

"I don't suppose the two of you have found a way out of here, have you?" Joshua said. "We found a road leading out of town back a ways, but it just dropped off into a cliff. Really odd."

"I'd rather just get out of this world entirely. Isn't there some way to do that?" Kagami said.

Rei held up her phone. Same kind that Konata used to have. Of course. "Still no service from the guys back at Eclipse. Other than that, I've got no clue." She slid it back into her pocket. "So you guys were at the other end of town, eh? Anything interesting? I want to check it out."

"Really..." Kagami had a hard time believing that anyone would want to see more of a place like this. Then again, there was something about this building she didn't like. The television upstairs might have something to do with it.

From upstairs, something large and heavy could be heard being dragged. A metallic scraping sound, in short rhythmic bursts. Something walking around. Everyone heard it, and listened to it speechlessly for a few seconds. Seeing three other people react to it was good, Kagami decided, it confirmed that it wasn't her imagination.

"Want to go see who's up there?" Rei suggested.

"What... the hell is wrong with you?" Kagami said, nearly dumbstruck by the very idea. "The four of us are all here now. We're getting out of here."

Joshua nodded. "That's probably the best plan. Let's go look outside, shall we? It's a bit lighter out there."

Despite the lack of any real sunlight, leaving the apartments and stepping outside onto the street was almost a blinding transition. Kagami could see everyone much more clearly now. Anything more than five feet away was swallowed up by the fog.

"So where to next?" Rei said, like a kid on a field trip.

"I think we came from... that way?" Mikuru said. She raised an arm in a weak pointing motion, but lowered it. "No... Kagami-san, wasn't it..." She squinted, as if that would help her see through the fog.

"I'm pretty sure it was over there," Kagami said, pointing to the right. "I guess we'll go the other way."

They left the apartments behind them. It seemed like the sirens could come back a third time at any moment, and throw them all in different directions yet again, ensuring none of them would ever get out. The thought of going back home - or even of being in any place more pleasant than this - just seemed like an impossible dream. This wasn't a place that you could just walk away from.

"Hey, there's a Chinese restaurant. Think anyone's home?" Rei said.

"Do you really think anyone would be? This place is completely deserted." Kagami still glanced up at the sign, which named the cheap-looking establishment the Lucky Jade Restaurant. "Wait a sec, didn't we pass that before?"

Mikuru looked up at it, her head tilted to the side. "I can't remember."

"No, I'm almost sure..."

Suddenly, they heard Joshua's voice. It came from somewhere in the fog, he couldn't be seen. "Hey, come check this out!"

Kagami tried to follow his voice. "Where are y- " She nearly ran into him, he was closer than expected.

A wooden door stood there, ironically in the middle of the street. How strangely familiar.

"Is that...? You found the way out?" Rei said. She ran up to it, circled around it with a look of fascination on her face. "It's just like the other one! I think this is the way out!"

"Are you... sure...?" Kagami said. The whole thing seemed too good to be true, it couldn't possibly be happening. It was like the phone call. The news report. She was still on her own, wasn't she? She was alone and all the other people and this door were her imagination going crazy.

Rei had already opened the door, and the blackness inside seemed to call to her. "You wouldn't seriously turn this down, would you? Konata came through, we've got our way out. Let's go!" Before any further argument was possible, she had stepped through and was gone.

"I guess... you're right," Kagami said. She watched Joshua go through, and saw Mikuru give her a look as if asking for confirmation. "Let's go," Kagami told her.

She stepped through the gateway.


There was a train station, one Tsukasa thought she might have recognized, or at least she knew its counterpart in the real world. This one was blasted apart, apparently the site of the explosion from before. Waiting by the center of the blast was a figure, about six feet tall and hovering just above the ground. Red bat wings on either side of its faceless black head.

Kamina had already engaged it in a very one-sided shouting match.

"So you're the one who's going to try to kill us, eh? Well, I'm sorry to say that's simply not going to happen! There's no way something as ugly as you is going to stop us here!"

"Are you... serious..." Kyon muttered. "We could have avoided this. The only reason we're supposed to die right now is because that idiot ran straight in here and pissed it off!"

"Why the hell aren't you saying anything? Are you that much of a coward?" Kamina shouted.

The black thing flapped its wings silently, its head pointing at them. Other than the beating of its wings, it was motionless. Tsukasa noticed its hands and feet, misshapen things at the ends of its limbs that just seemed to have a single long finger and a thumb... like claws, impatiently waiting to rip into something.

She also noticed, back behind it, a door stood. Just a plain, wooden door... with no frame around it. Like the ones that had brought them into this world. It was the way out, but how would they get to it?

"Tsukasa!" Suddenly Kamina's booming voice was directed at her. "Fire up that... thing you found! We're taking this bastard down!"

"Huh? Oh... Y-yeah." The COMP. It was still in her pocket... wasn't it? For a moment she couldn't find it, and she lapsed into a panic before feeling it in her other pocket. She could barely keep her hands still as she booted it up.

"Hurry up with that, won't you?" Dante said. He was about midway between where they were and where Kamina was having his standoff. A cautious distance. "I don't like the looks of this thing... Reminds me of my brother, somehow."

How did she summon the demons, again? Right now she actually wanted to have them standing between her and that monster. It hadn't made any movements yet, but that somehow made it worse. It was sizing them up, wasn't it? Deciding how it would kill each of them... Tsukasa starting working faster, desperately trying to remember the instructions, and that was when the bright flash of blinding, glorious light appeared.

"In the name of God, you are commanded to leave this place or face divine wrath." The voice was coming from behind them. Tsukasa turned around, somehow comforted by the sound. It didn't seem to be speaking against her...

Another winged figure was there, feathered wings instead of leathery ones. It was more human than the other, and it was armored. Its right hand held a long spear, the left held a shield.

"Sons of Man, you defy the will of the Lord. Retreat at once." As it spoke, although the target of its words was unclear, more of them were descending around the first.

"Angels?" Kyon said, going on incoherently. "I never thought they existed... I guess they say that demons existing would prove that angels must exist, but... This is unbelievable..."

"Great, we've got backup! Did you invite them, Tsukasa?" Kamina yelled over to her. He was completely unfazed by the development.

"Umm, I - " Tsukasa gasped as she saw more demons appearing, a full battalion to defend this crucial location against the angels.

"Doesn't this just keep getting better?" Dante said. "Don't you realize? The angels are with the government. They're defending the barrier. This is the edge of the lockdown, and they're trying to keep everyone in. Absolutely great."

Light started forming around him, and in a split second lightning came down at the same time that he jumped out of the way. The angels didn't just want the demons gone, they wanted to clear the entire area, including eliminating the humans. Strange, Tsukasa had always thought that they would be more peaceful. This wasn't what she needed right now.

"N-no, please don't!" Tsukasa said, realizing how feeble she sounded. "We're... not trying to leave, we're just..." That was a lie, the door was right behind that huge and terrifying demon and she wanted to get to it more than anything else right now.

"You hate these demons just as much as we do, don't you?" Kamina said, raising his sword in a pointing gesture. "How about we make a deal? We won't try to escape, as long as you help us survive. Got it?"

"Can you really - " Kyon started to say.

"Very well." Incredibly, the angel seemed to be agreeing with Kamina. "Faithful servants of the Lord shall be rewarded."

What are we really doing? Tsukasa wondered. Obviously Kamina knew about the door, he had to notice it back there, but how would they get past? It wouldn't be right if they turned against the angels, they were supposed to be good, weren't they?

"I guess I've never been very religious, especially after finding out about Haruhi..." Kyon was saying. "Do you think that's what we are to them? Konata too, I suppose. We're the ones carrying out their orders..."

Surrounded on both sides, able to see the way out just ahead, Tsukasa realized she would have to do the one thing she never thought she would, or even could, do. Stand and fight.