Tsuruya and I walked side by side down the empty street. Illuminated white by the street lamps. Usually when a guy and a girl are walking alone during the late hours of the night, it's usually because the guy is escorting the girl home like in this case here. Doing this with Tsuruya though really changes the mood. I feel like I'm the one being escorted instead. I can only fear for those mentally slow groups of jocks that wonder the neighborhood at this time of night. I'm completely sure they would be biting off more than they can chew if they start messing with Tsuruya. Then again, they don't exist in this reality I'm sure.

Enough day dreaming, I can't imagine a (logical) reason Tsuruya would ask to go home with me. She's well off on herself.

"Kyon, I need to ask something of you." Tsuruya asked suddenly.

Of course! She wanted to talk. How stupid of me for wondering about something so obvious. What could she possibly want to discuss with me?

"Mikuru is fading." Tsuruya said simply.

"Eh?" what was she talking about? She knew? This isn't right. Koizumi and I are the only ones that can be aware of Asahina's current condition.

"I need you to promise me that you won't let her disappear." Tsuruya said with a touch of authority.

Anyone who's been around Tsuruya enough would know. She does have these rare moments where she has an aura of influence around her. It's really preventing me from asking any questions I wanted to at the moment. It wasn't helping that the very questions I probably should've been asking didn't come to mind. She was moving too fast, I'm not the type that can organize my thoughts that quickly.

"H-how did you…" I started but I hit a wall. There was only one thing going through my head. She's obviously not an illusion. What is she?

"Please, she's all I have. If she goes, there won't be anyone else left. I don't think I can handle that." Tsuruya asked sincerely.

Could it be possible? I'm not sure if she's really from the old world or not. It wouldn't be right to deny though. I'm not that heartless of a person to just say no. I wasn't planning to let Asahina disappear in the first place. Even so, she's the closest of Asahina's friends. I don't really care how she's able to sense Asahina come and go. That's something I expect Koizumi to pick at. She's probably all alone in this reality. Haruhi doesn't know any of Tsuruya's friends except Asahina. Most likely they don't exist. Asahina might as well be the only person with her in the reality in the sea of illusions. I understand how it can be maddening to feel a person as important as that disappearing.

"She'll be fine." I hope she will be.

"You promise?" Tsuruya stopped walking and turned. She met eyes with me to make sure I meant it.

I nodded, do I have a choice?

To my relief Tsuruya smiled.

"I believe you. Good luck." Tsuruya said. We arrived at her house. Great timing as always, you never really get enough of it in this reality. Tsuruya waved and walked past the front gates to her house, or mansion, whatever. The doors closed but I felt like there was one more thing left to say. I need to know if she's from the old world or not… how do I o that now?

"Wait!" I yelled.

The sounds of Tsuruya's footsteps stopped. I can only hope she was listening.

"Describe Haruhi's true personality." I said automatically.

I waited for an answer. It took about thirty seconds before I heard a reply.

"I can't say. It's up to you Kyon. Good night."

Nothing anyone had ever said to me in my life left me as empty as I felt then. At least I can tell Koizumi that indeed, Asahina is Uru. All I need to know is if Koizumi had tracked Uru all night. Why wait? I'll call him right now!

"There we go." I dialed Koizumi's number as I was walking back home. It wasn't hard. All you needed to do was mash a few button while thinking about the person you wanted to call. This reality makes things easier that way, it probably similar to how Haruhi used the phone in the old world. If I'm right, I'll have to complement her muscle memory.

I kept on the phone for a minute but Koizumi wasn't picking up. I tried a few more times. To my disappointment he still did not answer. I guess I'll find out tomorrow…

"Oi! Open the door. It's me!" I knocked on the front door of my house. Strangely enough the lights were on and nobody seemed to be answering. Usually at this time of night, Uru is already asleep and although the door is unlocked the light are always off. Strange now that it's the complete opposite of what I usually run into. I extracted a house key hidden somewhere around the area and let myself in.

"I'm ba-"

What I saw disturbed me. There was a body sprawled on the couch. No… It wasn't Uru. Upon closer examination, it was as if it was dead, a cold lifeless expression.

*slap*

"Koizumi." I called shaking him by the collar slapping him lightly on the face over and over on the face. "What the hell are you doing in my house? Oi!"

*slap slap*

My hand was starting to hurt slapping these cheeks of steel; this guy literally can't crack a frown. Koizumi started to stir. Good thing too, before I got serious. There were so many things I would have wanted to do if I didn't need to know what he was doing in my house, door locked, lights on.

"Good morning Kyon." Koizumi mumbled half awake. He sat upright on the couch, a bit slouchy.

"So how'd the spying go? Was it a success?" I asked as patiently as the soreness of my body would allow me.

"I was caught." Koizumi… smiled…

"And I see that the best course of action was to take a nap on my couch." I said through gritted teeth. My muscles were on fire. I was stacking cans on day while this… this… Argh…

"No... After I was found out, she invited me in, we had supper *yawn* with dessert I might add. I apologize Kyon, for some reason I feel really sleepy. I haven't had such a feast in a while."

Supper huh? I looked into the dining room from where I was. Since the table only had room for two for some reason, my share of dinner usually set on the table was placed next to Shamisen's bowl on the floor. Brat couldn't be bothered to leave it anywhere else could she?

"Asahina didn't come to work today." I said trying my best to keep Koizumi from his precious sleep.

"Ah yes, my theory, perhaps tomorrow morning no?"

"Yes Koizumi, go back to sleep… so I can-"

I was about to pull something really nasty like forcing my socks up his nose but my train of consciousness hit a wall when my stomach was struck by a magnitude fifteen earthquake causing me to capsize onto the floor and make like a cell phone on vibrate. Luckily I was able to reach the bowl, unfortunately I was lacking in dining utensils.

I woke up the next morning. Instead of getting out of bed I just laid there feeling the enormous weight of the bags under my eyes. Do I bother getting up to go to school today? It feels almost too long since the last weekend. Forget about school. I better get down to Koizumi. Speaking of weekends I really can't be sure how far off the mystery search is from now. My sense of time hasn't ever been good in the reality. For all I know it might be tomorrow.

"Morning Koizumi." I waved to Koizumi.

He was sitting on the couch biting a piece of toast that Uru had made for him.

"Good morning Kyon. Did you sleep well?" He asked.

"Meh."

I looked over to the kitchen. Uru was there of course the sound of running water was loud and clear from the living room.

"Yesterday, after work, I had a little encounter with Tsuruya." I said.

"Is that so? I am not surprised." Koizumi said coolly.

"It isn't? She could be from the old world. I really couldn't tell." I grabbed my own piece of toast from the plate on the table.

"If she is not from the old world, there really isn't anywhere else she could have come from." Koizumi replied.

"She didn't seem like it at first." She seemed way too comfortable with the reality to be from the old world.

"Kyon, Tsuruya's family, as I have told you before, have various affiliations with our organization. If she is indeed as calm as you thought she was, it is because she has been prepared for this type of scenario." Koizumi explained.

"Meaning that she knew something was up from the start, the old world?" I asked.

"I cannot be sure of how much she knew in the old world. I'm sure she knew about Suzumiya's powers to some extent."

That closes that matter. The subject of Tsuruya both in the reality and old world is don't ask don't tell when it came to Haruhi and her powers.

"Kyon…" Koizumi said.

"What is it?" I asked.

Koizumi looked into the kitchen.

"Uru has disappeared." Koizumi said.

I went into the kitchen to check. She wasn't there. The water was still on and the plates were half washed. I went around the house to check the rest of the rooms. She wasn't on the second floor either. Deciding that it was pointless to look any further I returned to the living room.

"You're right, she's gone!" I said.

Koizumi took up his thinking pose.

"She is gone… If she was leaving she would have informed us, she would have used the front door, and she would have finished washing the plates… She would have made sure to make more toast..."

"Read the damn moment." I snapped watching Koizumi take the last piece from the plate. "Aren't you being too carefree?"

"I cannot think on an empty stomach." Koizumi said. "No worries Kyon. I was expecting this."

"Expecting… Sure… why?" I held out my hand for an explanation.

"For now I will say that if Uru had truly 'disappeared' than somewhere in this reality Asahina has appeared. Our job now is to find Asahina and when we do I will explain everything to you both." Koizumi got up grabbed his bag and placed his half eaten toast in my hand.

"Oh great, something else we have to find." I groaned.

"No necessarily. Asahina will most likely appear in the places she normally would be found according to the time and day. It is a weekday, and we are late for morning home room which would mean…"

"She's at school?" I guessed.

"That's right." Koizumi said.

"We better get to class then." I said grabbing my stuff as well.

"We will not be attending the morning classes today." Koizumi said suddenly.

"What was that?" I asked with my hand on the door knob.

"If we stay in class we might not get a chance to meet up afterwords. Worse yet, we do not know when Asahina might switch with Uru again. We must seize the opportunity and have our meeting now. In the clubroom if possible." Koizumi said leaving out the door before me.

Usually the sidewalk is bustling with students walking to school in groups. Koizumi and I being late, it was empty. The most appropriate assumption may be that we missed the illusion. The reality assumes that Koizumi and I are already at school, thus there is not need for any illusions anywhere other than the school. In short, it was deserted outside.

"So how are we going to get to Asahina?" I asked.

"Hopefully we will be there in time before she decides to revert back to Uru again." Koizumi shrugged.

"What do we do if it does happen?" I asked.

"We leave the school and observe Uru until the switch happens again. Either way it will get difficult if we miss her now."

"So the personality change doesn't take place in the body. It takes one away and inserts the other?"

"That is what I believe. So far, I don't think there's anything withing reason to doubt that theory."

"Even if we do find her and have the meeting how can you be so sure that she won't fade then?"

"Because you and I are in her presence and as long as we are, she won't be allowed to leave. Our attention keeps her tethered to the spot and the change is impossible. In extreme cases you might even have to keep constant eye contact to keep her from fading."

"That's not too hard, I'll just have to stick with her all day and she'll be fine." I said. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. To be honest Asahina fading without any exceptions were the most of my worries. Since All I have to do is keep an eye on her, I can take it easy."

"If there is one thing… that I am sure about, is that it will never be that easy." Koizumi smiled.

To Our Beloved Readers: Well... damn... I finally did it didn't I? See you next week

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Thanks For Reading: LordPlagus777