The school clock rang 4:00 pm. I had a very bad feeling about this...

Askaura said, 'Kyon, this would be the 8th time.'

What did she just say?

The door swung open, and there he was, Mr Hasegawa.

'Hello. Should we cut the formalities and go right to the fight?' Mr Hasegawa asked.

'Stupid! You are still calling it a fight? There's hardly any fight! But sure, the sooner I kick your ass the more time I have to figure out how to get out of this!' Asakura said.

Mr Hasegawa shook his head with a confident smile and said, 'Being an alien interface you don't sound too smart. I must have said it before already. There's no way out of this unless I allow it.' He raised his left arm and pointed to a gadget on his left wrist with his right index finger and said, 'This device is programmed so only I can control it. Time will reset at exactly 4:10 pm back to 4 pm unless I stop it. You, my dear lady, will eventually accumulate enough error and malfunction, and I am looking forward to it!'

'Stop calling me "my dear lady"! And you talk too much. Let's do it.'

It did not take much time for Asakura to defeat Mr Hasegawa. She threw a couple lightning-like whips at him; he dodged the first but the second one hit him on the torso, sending him flying into the wall, and he lied there unconscious. For a 70-year-old man asking for a fight, he sure did not look prepared.

I went over and checked on him, who's out but still breathing.

'Asakura, is this the right way to treat the elderly?'

Asakura said impatiently, 'Shut up. He's still breathing? Good. Let me try torturing him this time.'

'Wait up, could you tell me what's going on?'

'What is the point of it? You won't remember any of this very shortly.'

She materialized her classic Rambo knife from thin air and was ready to carve Mr Hasegawa like a roast. I pleaded, 'Please, tell me. Maybe I am meant to do something?'

Asakura laughed coldly and said, 'No, you are not meant to do anything but die.'

I took a step back.

She said, 'Not by me, that guy. Well... technically speaking, yes, by me, but he made me do it.'

'So you are saying Mr Hasegawa is using you to kill me? Why? What did he have against me?'

'I don't know, but he said a few times he wanted you dead. But, in case you haven't noticed, I've kept my promise and you are still standing.'

'Wait… when did he say he wanted me dead? I didn't hear him say that.'

'He said it during the first, third, and seventh iteration of the time loop. Oh, wait - you can't remember, can you? Because you cannot remember what happened in the previous time loops. Why am I repeating myself?'

A time loop... suddenly I remembered the conversation Asakura and Nagato had at Nagato's apartment -

'(Mr Hasegawa) offered Yuki 2 ice-cream cones yesterday. That's too much junk food.'

'No, I only had one.'

'Two. I saw it. You love eating I know, you don't have to lie... Uh, never mind. My bad. Sorry about acting like a mom.'

Mr Hasegawa was definitely conducting experiments at the conference. At first I thought he offered Nagato 2 ice-cream comes at the same time. In reality, he offered one ice-cream cone once and created a time loop making it seemed he offered it twice in Asakura's point-of-view.

Okay so I was in a 10-minute time loop, stuck with Mr Hasegawa and Asakura inside the literary club room.

Asakura said, 'Take a few steps back as this is going to get messy. I'll try to convince him to stop the time loop.'

Asakura stabbed Mr Hasegawa on his right shoulder with the knife as if he's stabbing a block of jelly. Mr Hasegawa regained consciousness and screamed in pain. My back suddenly felt a sharp pain as if my muscle memory was reliving the stabbing I experienced last Christmas from that same knife.

'Stop this time loop, or you will wish you were never born!' Asakura commanded loudly.

'Torture all you want…', he raised his shaky left arm up and looked at his gadget on the wrist, 'In 7 minutes, I won't remember any of this, and I can go another 10 minutes of whatever you have for me, then another 10, another 10...'

Asakura pulled the knife out and stabbed him on the left shoulder in one smooth swift motion. Another scream from Mr Hasegawa - and he passed out. It was too gruesome even if this was done to a guy who was trying to kill me…

I did not want to watch anymore and I turned away. I believed she stabbed him a couple more times and he stopped responding. She dropped Mr Hasegawa on the floor, took off the device off his left wrist and analyzed it for several minutes.

'Asakura, can we talk?'

'We've been through this before. Why do you keep insisting? How could you be of any use?'

'Well, excuse me, if you haven't heard, I've been saving the world several times no thanks to you and your brand of violence.'

'You think you haven't said that to me before?' Still, she stopped and stared at me for a second, then said, 'Fine. Let's try it again. Yes, we have gone through the time loop 7 times already. This is the first time I do not kill him right off. Not my fault really, he is not making it challenging.'

'How did he create the time loop?'

'I don't know, but you heard him, it had something to do with this device on his left wrist. I did try to tinker with it the last few times and I don't think it could actually loop time. I tried to communicate with the Data Integration Thought Entity, but it's not going through because we're in a completely sealed closed space. He also has a device on his right wrist that he claims it transcends time and helps him fight and defend more effectively against me, but so far he's been inferior. I knocked him out in a few seconds each time.'

I looked at the device on his right wrist. Its face glowed with sort-of a glow-in-the-dark-green color.

'Is he an alien?'

'No. Why?'

'Where does he get all this technology from?'

'The time jump signature is similar to what your kind uses. As for a device that transcends time, we don't need one since we transcend time.'

'So he is probably a human, from the future.'

'Yes, Captain Obvious, any more bright deductions?'

'Do you think he will become powerful enough to beat you?'

'Based on his progress? Not in a few hundred thousands time loop.'

'A few hundred thousands?'

'Oh, you don't have to worry about that from happening, in fact, he said it himself. He's counting on me to malfunction.'

'Malfunction?'

'You know when Ms Nagato went haywire and changed the world? I will also go haywire after enough time loops have occurred. But because I'm just a backup, I am going to fail much sooner. My guess is I'll begin to mishandle the error overload in about 15000 repeats, but rather than changing the world, which I lack the ability to do so, I'll probably just kill you to end the time loop.'

The accumulated negative feelings were something the alien terminals were incapable of handling. Even though Asakura smiled like a friendly girl, she could not understand emotions, as well as not understanding why I did not want to die.

Oh my God. We needed help. I asked, 'Can we go get help?'

'We are in a closed space about the size of this room. I am not sure where it comes from, but I have a feeling it's Ms Suzumiya's. No one can get in or out of it.'

Haruhi and Koizumi went to visit Mr Hasegawa - maybe he made Haruhi do it?

I said, 'Haruhi could be in trouble… Mr Hasegawa was to meet her… how could he be here at the same time?'

'Well, you seem to forget that the time traveling mechanism your kind uses can space jump too. However, what I don't get is why he doesn't just kill you himself instead of going through this painful process dragging me into it. Well, Kyon, care to enlighten me?'

'I don't know who he is. You said he talked a lot, so try getting the answers from him. Find out why he hates me. Find out how he knows about Haruhi and us. Ask him why's he going through so much trouble to kill me, befriending Haruhi and all. Ask how he accesses her power…'

'Fine, I will ask him.'

'Without the torture?'

'No guarantee.'

It's almost 4:10 pm.

I said, 'Asakura, please keep repeating how many iterations we're in to me… Although I don't think Deja Vu is happening to me yet, I am sure it will eventually, as I experienced it during the Summer vacation. I am sure I will remember more and more, and that should help me figure things out… just… work with me on this and don't go malfunctioning, okay?'

Asakura laughed, 'As much as I don't really care about your life, I will hate to lose to this man and disobey my orders. I'll do my best.'

'Thank you -'

The surrounding flickered.

The school clock rang 4:00 pm. I had a very bad feeling about this...

Askaura said, 'Kyon, this would be the 88th time.'

What did she just say?

The door swung open, and there he was, Mr Hasegawa.

Something began to sink in. This scenario happened before.

Asakura said to the old man, 'I have to say you have improved and lasted a bit longer. Like, 30 seconds!'

'My dear lady, I know this is driving you crazy and I am enjoying it! I'll keep going and going until you lose it.'

Oh boy, my brain felt like it was pushed up to light speed then grinded to a full stop with memories came flooding in. Unlike the endless Summer time loop, we're only repeating a 10-minute interval. The accumulated information from various repeated conversations was extremely overwhelming. I remembered Mr Hasegawa said using subliminal messages - messages that targeted the subconscious mind - to make Haruhi create the closed space and the time loop, and he confirmed using the conference setting to conduct the experiments in broad daylight...

Asakura went to work. After about half a minute, she leaped into the air and sent a blast of red beams towards Mr Hasegawa, who despite his age was able to jump out of it somehow, but the floor he's landed on suddenly had spikes sticking out and he landed on some of them, and got badly hurt.

I remembered Mr Hasegawa said the device that transmitted the subliminal messages was directional, and it shaped like a laser pointer. That was why I heard the strange whisper that one time but neither Nagato nor Koizumi could hear it; he directed the signal towards Haruhi, with me sitting to the left and back of her. Logically the message had no effect when I heard it because I had no power like Haruhi. He also said he did it on purpose to dare me, as he did not think I would be smart enough to figure anything out. He was right...

'Enjoy the win, but you will lose the war...' Mr Hasegawa said.

I remembered Mr Hasegawa said he was worried that Koizumi would figure out what he was up to, so he purposefully sent Koizumi the mystery paper to keep him away from the conference for at least a few days. He was also secretly monitoring Koizumi's phone conversations with the members of his organization to confirm if the closed space experiments were successful or not.

Asakura said, 'Kyon, how much do I have to repeat this time?'

No, his name was not Hasegawa… he's Fujirawa! So it was him after all, even though he did not look like an aged version of him. That's right... he had his face changed to look like the actual Mr Hasegawa so he could use Mr Hasegawa's fame to host the conference. I foiled his attempt to change the future and he had landed in jail for 50 years for his crime. But why go through this complex scheme to try to kill me?

'Why did he go through all this to try to kill me?' The question rolled out of my tongue.

'He said a lot but there were two questions he would not answer. One, how he knew so much about you and the gang. Two, that question you just asked.'

'He really hates me...'

'Yep. He wanted you dead or suffered eternally. I asked if ripping your limps off would be suffering enough, but he did not want it, quote, any other way, end quote.'

'That was not funny.'

'I don't know funny.'

An idea suddenly popped up. 'Maybe the reason why he's doing this is because he cannot kill me any other way. Have I said it before?'

Asakura said, 'That's actually something new coming out of your mouth. Would you like to elaborate?'

'Gosh... Okay then... last time Fujirawa's scheme was foiled by none other than Haruhi herself. Haruhi could sometimes sense danger subconsciously and protect us from danger, subconsciously… In order for that to not happen, Fujirawa gained her trust, then subdued her… probably under hypnosis...'

'Gain her trust, and use her power against you. Looks like she would not be of much help here. We have no way to reach her even though there is a 2-second gap.'

'Hmmm? A 2-second gap? What are you talking about?'

'I mentioned this to you about a dozen times by now. I figured out how he created the closed space and the time loop, and how the device on his left wrist worked. It started with me noticing earlier that in each time loop, the closed space lasted 598 seconds, not 600 seconds. I deduced the 2-second gap was crucial and I worked it all out. You know about the subliminal message emitter, or SME for short?'

I nodded.

She continued, 'Minutes before 4 pm, he used the SME to play an instruction for Ms Suzumiya to create the closed space at exactly 4 pm. Because Ms Suzumiya would be unconscious by that time, the only way for her to know exactly when to create the closed space was by hearing a unique sound, like the chiming of a clock. The second instruction was to be played on schedule around 4:09:55 pm to remove the closed space, which took 3 seconds to complete, that left 2 seconds until the third scheduled instruction was to be played at 4:10 pm - to return to the time when the unique sound was played. The function of the device on his left wrist is to broadcast a signal to turn off the SME, but the signal cannot reach the SME unless the closed space is removed.'

'Surprisingly I understand what you just said...'

'With me repeated this a dozen times? You better.'

'So 2 seconds are insufficient for us to get help from anyone else?'

'Nope.'

'And you cannot reprogram the device so you can stop the SME?'

'I cannot, the code is encrypted and I cannot transmit a signal I have not seen at least once.'

That's a dead end then.

'Is there any difference between the current closed space and the previous ones?'

'That is an interesting question. The closed space has been expanding since the time loop started. It started with just about the size of this room, but it had stretched to about 20 feet in all directions from the room.'

'Would the closed space ever get large enough we can reach Haruhi? She should be near the train station.'

'At this expansion rate, I would have malfunctioned well before that. Oh and I think I overestimated earlier. Based on the new data, I shall fail around 8800 loops instead of the previous estimation of 15000. The fights are actually getting longer. Unlike your experience with the endless Summer vacation, which you told me about dozens of times by now, this one is pretty much a non-stop stress-fest for me, and you can say it is tiring me out. I don't envy what Ms Nagato has gone through last Summer.'

Nagato - could she be the reason why Fujirawa picked this time and plan to attack? She should be in her classroom - Did it all come back to this, that she would be the one who saved us again?