- Chapter 13: There Must Be Another Way -

"What?!" Haruhi burst out. "Yuki, what the hell is wrong with you?!"

Nagato did not respond to that. I realized that, once again, it was up to me to be the voice of calm reason. "Nagato, I un-"

"First you stand back and let Asakura kill Kyon, and now you're going to join a bunch of other aliens to gang up on me and kill me? I know the me from this world has been mean to you, but this is just unacceptable!"

"It was not my decision," Nagato said.

"But you're going along with it!"

"If I do not, both your plane of existence and mine may be destroyed, including yourself, your counterpart in this plane of existence, and everyone you care about."

It must show that I'm getting practiced at dealing with Haruhi that I was able to cut in at this point. "Hold on. Haruhi, you have to keep in mind that to Nagato, we're just alternate versions of the brigade members she knows. It's not like she's letting her actual friends die."

"Did you hit your head and fall into a vat of brain-eating bacteria? How could you possibly say that those two cold-blooded jerks in this world are her real friends?"

"I didn't say they were her real friends. It's just that to her, we aren't her friends, either."

"That's still completely stupid! Who else but a true friend would have spoken up for her the way you did when Asakura put her down?"

"That is correct," Nagato said. "You both have been nothing less than true friends to me since your arrival in this plane of existence."

Excuse me, I'm on your side in this argument, remember? "Alright, but you heard what Asakura said. Nagato's people are already keeping a close watch on her because of those 'errors'. She took a risk just by warning us what they plan to do. If she rebels against them to help us, they could take her out of commission entirely."

Haruhi arched a brow. "'Take her out of commission entirely'?"

You can't get much more humiliating than Haruhi looking at you like you're a loon. "Look, I don't know how their whole penal system works, all right? When Asakura stepped out of line in our world, they made her fade away into pixie dust and move to Canada. Maybe they'd do the same thing to Nagato. Maybe they'd do something worse. Is that what you want?"

"Of course that's not what I want! But we have to stick together!"

"How does guilt-tripping Nagato fit under your definition of sticking -"

"Pardon me." Shamisen's rich baritone cut through even Haruhi's and my bickering. "Why do you not proceed with your plans rather than arguing over what is clearly an academic point? If you have the means to return to our own world, then surely it will not take more than 48 hours to do so. Once that is accomplished, you will never see this girl again, so whether or not you wish to remain friends with her after this will not matter."

The silence which followed Shamisen's statement could not have been more unpleasant.

Nagato's eyes were lowered sorrowfully. Koizumi looked like he wanted to sidle out of the uncomfortable discussion. Even Haruhi was momentarily silenced.

It hadn't really hit me before that once we were back in our own world, I would never see this Nagato again. Or this world's Haruhi, either. I guess you could say I'd faced the same thing when I chose not to live in a world without aliens, espers, and time travelers, and I'd been okay with it then. I didn't know at the time that that world was still my own, just altered, and that the human Nagato and the powerless Haruhi were technically still the Nagato and Haruhi I knew. But still, that situation was different. I knew that that Nagato, Haruhi, Koizumi, and Miss Asahina would be okay without me. Nagato and Miss Asahina would have a little more difficulty adjusting to Haruhi's insanity, and I'd like to think that Haruhi would miss me a little bit, but they'd all be fine in the end.

This Nagato, though... She was dealing with more grief from Asakura and the other data organisms than usual, and without a supportive Haruhi and a caring me to help her cope. What was she going to do without us to talk to? Even Koizumi was less friendly with her in this reality.

Could we really just leave things like this?

"I'm not saying I don't want to stay friends with her," Haruhi huffed at last. "I just want her to be true to the Yuki I know! That Yuki would never try to kill an innocent person, especially not a friend."

"Haruhi, think about what Shamisen just said," I sighed. "By the time this even becomes an issue, we should be gone."

"So what? What difference does it make if we're gone? It's not like this Yuki is going to just stop existing once we leave!"

"Right. And you want to spend what little time she has left with us arguing about whether or not she would kill you if you stayed here for longer than you in fact plan on staying here?"

Haruhi opened her mouth, but apparently it was just a knee-jerk reaction, because a moment later she closed it again without saying a word. Just folded her arms and made a frustrated grunt.

With all the frustration Haruhi has given me, and continues to give me, and will probably be giving me for a long time to come, it was nice to see that I could frustrate her too.

"Actually, Koizumi," I said. "I don't understand why you felt Nagato had to tell us that at all."

He smiled. "Just establishing for you how little trust you should place in the Data Integration Thought Entity."

"Well, you wasted your time. I trust Nagato to stand by us in the end. I never trusted the rest of them to begin with."

"I see. Even though she has told you herself that she will not stand by you?"

I looked over at the girl in question as I answered, "Nagato is stronger than she realizes."

"Hey, you're not holding Shami right," Haruhi said to her. "You've got to cuddle him more, like this..." She mimed for her.

"Hey," I said to Koizumi. "Asakura thought Haruhi wouldn't be able to use her powers in this world. But she not only used them, she used them in a way that she could tell that she was doing something supernatural. She's never done that before. Any idea what's going on?"

"Yes, that was most unanticipated for us as well," Koizumi nodded. "I can only assume that the fact that you were in peril was what triggered such a dramatic use of her power. Anything more subtle and you would have died, and Miss Suzumiya could do no less than everything within her power to prevent that. A purely speculative theory, but it makes sense, wouldn't you say?"

I had to admit that it did. Haruhi would never let anyone in the SOS Brigade die, or any of her friends for that matter.

"How she used her powers here at all does not have such an intuitive answer. We are confident that the data organisms were neither lying nor in error when they said that Haruhi Suzumiya could not use her power while in the form of a transdimensional 'ghost'. Therefore, the only possible explanation is that your Miss Suzumiya and ours must be different in some respect that relates to their abilities."

"You mean, my Haruhi has a different set of powers than yours does?"

"Of course not. Our universe and yours branched off from each other just recently. Miss Suzumiya's power is essentially the same. But its present strength is much different in your Miss Suzumiya."

"Kind of like how she got stronger when we were making the movie, after she got over her fight with me?" I realized what I had just said. "Wait, exactly like that. I never made up with her in this universe, so..." I shook my head. "No, that power boost must have wore off by now. Otherwise she'd have been doing crazy stuff like putting laser beams in contact lenses all the time in my world. I mean, she hasn't exactly been quiet and well-behaved, but..."

"You have hit on the essential principal. The boost she got from making up with you was short term, but it is evident from watching you and your Miss Suzumiya together that you have accomplished much more than getting past one argument. The essential relationship between you two, your bond, is much stronger in your universe than it has ever been in ours."

"And you think that might be what let her use her powers in this world?"

"Exactly. Broken by pain and despair, our Miss Suzumiya is at the ebb of her powers. Your Miss Suzumiya, powered by the trust, loyalty, and affection you show towards her, is at peak strength. I suspect that if she wished it, your Miss Suzumiya could vanquish ours and take control of her world, even in ghost form."

A thought hit me. "Could she wish us back to our own world?"

"It is quite possible. However, the training it would require to make such specific use of her power would exceed the 48 hours the data organisms have allotted you. Assuming, of course, that it would be even possible to train her to have such control. Her relationship with you gives her the will, but not the focus."

I shook my head. "You've got only a tiny part of the picture. All you've seen of our world is me and Haruhi, so our relationship is the difference that stands out to you. But much more than that has changed for Haruhi. She has friends now. Real friends, who she has camping trips and slumber parties with. Her aunt, the one who died of cancer in your world, has gone into remission. She got to present her movie at the Cultural Festival, and form her own rock band, and teach a whole gang of bullies a lesson, and a whole bunch of other things she hasn't gotten to do yet in this world. I know how much you love blaming me for everything that happens with Haruhi, but the fact is, I'm just a small part of her life."

Koizumi nodded. "Perhaps. But I have a suspicion that many of the things you mention would not have occurred if not for her relationship with you."

"Boo!"

This exclamation from Haruhi, followed by a high-pitched shriek that could only come from the frail Miss Asahina, momentarily interrupted our conversation. Both cries were muffled, as though coming from another room, and glancing around I saw Haruhi indeed had stuck her head through the wall into the next room.

Laughing, she said, "Thanks for keeping her distracted, Yuki! That was great!"

"Hey," I realized. "I thought Miss Asahina stayed behind."

"She may have only said she was staying behind so that she could follow and spy on us." Koizumi shrugged. "Or perhaps Miss Nagato brought her along."

I just nodded at first. Then it hit me. "That's right," I said. "The way you came in here with Nagato, I assumed you brought her with you. But you wouldn't have gone back to fetch her. She came to warn us about the 48 hours all on her own."

"That does not mean we can trust her."

"No, it means I can't trust you. You acted like you were responsible for Nagato telling us that."

"Really? When did I ever say that?"

"Enough with your double talk." I folded my arms. "You're going to a lot of trouble to show you don't trust Nagato."

"I don't see what you're getting at. Do you think she and I are in cahoots?"

"No, I do think that you honestly don't trust her." I allowed the hint of a smile to slip in. "But I also think that in spite of that, you like her."

"That seems rather an arbitrary hypothesis."

I wasn't clear on what 'arbitrary' meant, but I took my best guess. "It would be, except the Koizumi of my world told me outright that he likes her. And I can't think of a single reason why you would be any different on that point."

"Perhaps the Koizumi of your world trusts her." He said this in a somewhat bored tone, like he had figured that I had nothing to back my suspicion.

I didn't let it get to me. "He does, but he would like her even if he didn't. It's just that if he didn't trust her, he'd be ashamed that he likes her. In his eyes, it would almost make him a traitor to the agency, right?"

"You make some interesting guesswork." He shrugged. "But that's all it is. And your motive is suspect. Anyone can see how worried you are about our world's Nagato. I think you wish to see that she is taken care of after you are gone, by providing her with a friend. You intend to convince me to become such a friend, or perhaps, to convince yourself that I already am."

"You didn't have to apologize to her earlier, when she first told you about me," I pointed out.

"I am in the habit of being a gentleman at all times, all the more so when the lady represents a faction I am trying to establish a cooperative relationship with." He shrugged again. "If it will help you to move past the subject, I allow that I would not wish to see Miss Nagato penalized for whatever devotion she shows to you."

I supposed that was better than nothing. Anyway, at this point in the discussion it was getting obvious that at least one of us was just being stubborn.

"We have more important matters to discuss. Were you able to plant in Miss Suzumiya's head the idea of replacing you in the SOS Brigade?"

"Haruhi did that herself. My Haruhi, I mean."

"Excellent. Then we need only arrange you and Miss Suzumiya lodgings for the night, and with luck, the SOS Brigade will have a slider in their ranks tomorrow afternoon."

"We're staying at Nagato's," I said immediately.

Okay, so it was a little rude to say that without having gotten permission from Nagato first. But did we really have a good alternative? Miss Asahina was terrified of ghosts, probably all the more so thanks to the "peekabo" routine Haruhi was pulling on her, so we couldn't possibly impose on her. And even in our own world, neither me nor Haruhi had been to Koizumi's house. (At least, I hoped with every fiber of my being that Haruhi hadn't.) I wasn't ready to trust him enough to spend a night there, or at any of the safe houses the agency could provide. If it were just me, I'd take the plunge, but with Haruhi in his hands too, that just wasn't a good risk. I didn't even know yet why Other-Koizumi was helping us. There was the danger of the two Haruhis' powers clashing if we stayed, but he didn't know about that at first.

"Is that wise, given that she has threatened to kill Miss Suzumiya?"

"Especially because of that. She's guaranteed us that Haruhi is safe with her for the next 48 hours."

"Incorrect."

I jumped, because this last word didn't come from Koizumi. Nagato had silently approached us while I was caught up in our conversation. Koizumi must have seen her approach, since he was facing the opposite way, but he didn't say a word, damn him.

"Wh... what are you talking about, Nagato?" A thought struck me. "I know it's probably closer to 47.5 hours now, but -"

"No guarantee. The situation may change at any time."

"Of course," Koizumi said. "If the power of the two Haruhis begins to interact before the 48 hours are up, you will act immediately to rectify that, won't you?"

Nagato nodded. She looked at me. "It is not safe for Haruhi Suzumiya to be with me. Some of my conspecifics favor discorporating the unrooted artifact of Haruhi Suzumiya immediately so as to eliminate the risk. If they should manage to act against consensus, they will know where you are through me. Indeed, the possibility of using Haruhi Suzumiya's trust in me against her is the sole reason I have not yet been decommissioned."

"So... you want us to stay with Koizumi's people?"

"Preferable, but not optimal. It would take a maximum of 86 minutes to locate Haruhi Suzumiya if we knew she was in a residence belonging to the agency. Recommend that you and Haruhi Suzumiya spend the night in a stranger's house and tell no one your resting place."

I glanced at Koizumi. "Still don't trust her?"

He didn't answer that. "They could be followed."

I noticed Haruhi approaching us from the opposite direction. I decided not to say anything. Let Koizumi see how it feels to have someone surprise you from behind.

"Apart from data organisms, only Mikuru Asahina and yourself are capable of sensing them, and therefore following," Nagato answered Koizumi, stroking Shami all the while. "Neither you nor Mikuru Asahina are capable of doing them physical harm. Therefore the danger is less than or equal to that which they would experience in any location known to data organisms."

"I still think it unwise to leave them without protection. Or at least someone to observe them. We don't fully understand how their condition works, and Miss Suzumiya's powers could be triggered at any time."

Haruhi was now standing right behind Koizumi. Her mouth was less than a half meter from his ear. She chirped: "Hey, I've got a great idea for someone we can stay with!"

Koizumi jumped, I think. I'm not too sure because I was occupied with the awful chill that goes up my spine whenever Haruhi comes up with an idea.

"Indeed?" Koizumi said. "Somewhere where no one would think to look for you?"

"Positively no one!"

"Then why don't Miss Nagato and I excuse ourselves while you and your companion head to your lodgings for the night in private? We will meet you tomorrow afternoon in the Brigade clubroom."

Something about the way he phrased that first sentence made me want to punch him. Too bad I was still a ghost.

"Yuki, you can take Shamisen for the night, okay?" Haruhi said.

Nagato didn't answer. It was Shamisen who replied: "That is quite amenable to me."

Once we were out of sight of the Tsuruya mansion, I said to Haruhi, "So where are we headed?"

She grinned at me with a few more volts than usual. "Are you ready for this?"

Almost certainly not.

She hopped on her toes like a kid at an amusement park. "We're going to stay with Asakura!"

"Are you drunk?! Asakura is the one who tried to kill me!"

"Right, 'tried', past tense. I fixed her so that she won't try to kill anyone, remember? And of course I'm not drunk. I told you I've sworn never to touch alcohol for as long as I live, remember? You never pay attention."

"That was just an expression. Please tell me you aren't really so dense that you didn't realize that."

She didn't tell me that. Instead she gushed on: "Think about it. Ryoko Asakura's place is the absolute last place anyone would expect us to go. At the same time, she's the one person in this world we can be sure would never try to kill us!"

"Yeah? Well, she can tell the Data Integration Thought Entity where we are, can't she?"

Haruhi wagged a finger. "If she can't try to kill anyone, she can't try to kill anyone. That means she'll censor all her communication pathways to exclude any mention of our being present!"

"And what makes you think that that's the way it works? When you were rewiring her brain, you said you had no idea what you were doing, so how could you -"

"You worry too much! This is a dream, so it works however I think it works."

Cut out the "This is a dream" part, and that STILL sounds like something you would say.

What's worse, I'm not so sure it isn't true. Even so, Asakura is dangerous, and the thought of staying in her home is a nightmare. I much preferred it when she was in Canada.

"Anyway, do you have any better suggestions?" Haruhi demanded.

"A million. We could stay with Kunikida. Or Taniguchi. Or Ishigaki. Or -"

"I'm not staying with any of your lame friends. And my friends' houses are the first places someone would look for us."

"I'm pretty sure the first places they would look would be my house and your house. Anyway, the point is we can just pick a house at random and there will be someone nicer than Asakura living there."

Haruhi's face twisted with disappointment and a touch of disgust. "Just pop into a random stranger's house and sleep there? What kind of pervert are you?"

For the record, I didn't mean a stranger's house. And I think Haruhi knew me well enough by now to know that wasn't what I meant. Now that she brought it up, though, it wasn't such a bad idea. "We don't have to sleep in their beds. We can just take the couch and reclining chair in someone's living room. I mean, we're ghosts; we can't use blankets and sheets anyway."

"That's still trespassing and invasion of privacy. Unacceptable."

"So you expect Asakura to just invite us on in?"

"It can't hurt to ask. If she says no, I can threaten to use my powers on her again."

Wouldn't that then qualify as home invasion? Besides, she probably knows that you can't use your powers at will.

"Anyway, I'd like to keep an eye on her, in case she tries to do something bad to Yuki. She sounded pretty mad the last time we saw her."

...Okay, that was something I could get behind. I doubted we could really keep much of a watch over a humanoid interface, but any effort made on Nagato's behalf was worth it as far as I was concerned.

Even when "it" meant staying under the same roof as Ryoko Asakura.