The Lost Child

The Fourth

Saturday
Outside the train station

"Okay! Let's go find some weird and unusual events!"

I panicked slightly, this was the first time Haruhi and I were paired up together in a long while, the remainder were in the other group. I had already lost more money from my wallet having been late (or at least, everyone else was early, thus making me late by default), and I was fearful of what else she would have me do.

We split up and Haruhi immediately marched off to the back alleys, keeping away from the shopping district, and anywhere remotely fun. To be honest, even though the sun was high in the sky, the dark streets from the tall buildings overshadowing the narrow paths made the trip a bit creepy.

Disappointed that there was nothing stranger than a cat rummaging about in a dustbin, she moved out into the more populated areas, and began going into shops.

For a moment, I hoped she was actually going to act like a normal girl and check out clothes. My hopes were dashed and subsequently run over by a lorry once she started questioning the shop owner if he saw any odd things recently. The man sighed and told her no; I got the impression that this interview happened often.

I had the odd sensation that I was being tailed, though Haruhi in her mission to find impossible things was aloof to the feeling.

I kept an eye out for a green minivan, but was happy to see that nothing remotely resembling that colour was around us. I thought that perhaps a taxi with a familiar driver was coming closer, but again no. I searched around me, in case I thought that the others had chosen to follow us, but I couldn't see anyone.

"Well done, Kyon! It's good to see you really focussing on finding things!" Her grin surprised me in that it was sincere and not at all tainted with repercussions or possible pain, "Keep this up and you could be promoted to a higher rank!"

Great, so instead of being the lowest in the SOS Brigade, I'll become someone who is worthy enough to bring the tea leaves to Asahina-san.

Thankfully, I think she didn't hear me as she strode, more confident than ever thanks to my supposed help.

Thirty minutes later
Back at the train station

As expected, nothing was discovered, and a very disgruntled Haruhi stormed off to the meeting point.

"That was pathetic, Kyon, you could have at least found an alien landing site, or crop circles, but that?!"

What do you mean 'at least an alien landing site'? I thought that pointing out the one odd thing I saw, a person wearing a trench coat with black clothes underneath, sunglasses and had a distinct Asian appearance to him, was something to take note of. And how exactly are we going to get crop circles in the middle of the city?

"Rubbish! You can forget that promotion now!"

Ah, what a shame, it's not as if my life would get any easier otherwise.

Haruhi glared at me once more when we reached the others, before speaking to everyone, "Right, since today has been a failure, I'm going home. We'll meet at school to decide Kyon's punishment!"

What?! Punishment?!

Haruhi had already charged off to the train station and had got her ticket home. I didn't want to take the same ride with her, so I chose to sit in the square, picking a convenient bench.

That was until I noticed that the others hadn't left their original positions, and were all looking at me.

"What is it?" I asked, before assuming they wanted to know what happened, "I thought I saw someone interesting, he wore odd clothes, but Haruhi wasn't happy..." Their looks didn't change, and I started to get curious, "What?"

Koizumi moved towards me, and I got nervous at his invasion of my personal space, "There is a situation."

I stood up quickly, knowing what it could be, "Closed Space?"

He shook his head, "Unfortunately, were it something as simple as that I would not have had the need to inform you." He looked to where Haruhi left and kept speaking, "It is fortuitous that Suzumiya-san departed early. She did not even think to speak to us about how our own examination of the surrounding area went."

"You don't mean..." I felt my throat constrict and sweat beginning to build up at the base of my neck, "You found something?"

"Not just something..." Koizumi looked to the others, "We know what it is..." He turned to the shortest person of the group.

I walked over to the others and saw that Asahina-san was worrying. Had Haruhi questioned them, I'm sure she would have blurted something out just from the fear.

"Nagato, what did you find?"

She looked up at me and spoke softly, "It is still open. I will take you there."

Puzzling over her words, we walked for about ten minutes, and I realised that we were approaching the area of the shops that Haruhi and I had passed earlier when she began to ask all the various owners disturbing questions.

There was one shop that had shut down a while ago from the looks of the faded 'Closing Down Sale' posters that were torn and peeling from the inside of the window. The windows weren't smashed, but there was some vandalism in the form of graffiti. The door was ajar, and it was entirely possible for people to live inside.

Nagato's lips began moving, and I felt a barrier in front of us go down, as we walked inside into what presumably was the main room where the products were sold.

"Forty two minutes ago, I detected an unusual data explosion emanating from this region where Suzumiya Haruhi had walked by. Due to the proximity to other humans, I attempted to ascertain what exactly this data burst consisted of and requested temporary access to my powers to erect a barrier to prevent exposure to those not affiliated with her. Immediately, we ventured to this location and discovered what was the cause of the massive input of unreadable data."

Entering into the back area where the staff worked, I was speechless.

Hovering in mid-air was something I had never seen on this world.

It was difficult to describe, since its shape changed consistently, but if I were to try I'd say it was like a plasma bolt charging up. In order words, a crackling yellow ball of energy, which had tendrils of something that looked like lightning spidering out. It made a faint ring around it, to make a deadly looking cobweb.

"What is it?" I asked.

Nagato stepped forward and spoke, "It has only been recently classified by the Data Integrated Thought Entity."

She reached out one hand, but still stayed far from the reaches of the yellow and orange thing.

"This is a Dimensional Sliding Portal."

My heartbeat slowed, and I stared up at the monstrosity.

The Slider had appeared.

But, where was he?

"Has anyone come through?" I asked, realising the risk.

"Further analysis presumes that a Slider had indeed arrived in this reality. However my data protocols appear unable to detect that person's movements."

"Wh-Where does this lead to?" I felt drawn by the portal, the webs seemingly enticing me in to it, but I held that urge back.

"I briefly linked up to the other end of the sliding portal, and found that it belonged to a land known as Xen. From what little I could gather from the people's minds and systems there, it appears to be an intermediary dimension, where any form of creature can go to live. In your terminology, it could be seen as the central hub of the bullet train network."

Ahh, I get it now. So you can wait there until a portal to a suitable land opens up for you. I suddenly realised something important.

"Wait, so you're telling me more people can through?"

Nagato nodded, "Yes, and though it would be unwise to test, the possibility remains that it could also be utilised as a two-way portal."

"Can you close it, Nagato?" I needed to know, just leaving it open would allow all sorts to get through.

"I can fold the space around it to force an automatic shut-down, however it is highly unlikely I would be able to open it again."

I looked at Asahina-san, and she shook her head, "I haven't received any news about this from the future, so I can't give you any advice. Sorry, Kyon-kun..."

Ahh, don't give me that pitiful look, it's not your fault...

"I'm of the same opinion as you. It is dangerous to leave this open in the middle of the city, and who knows what else might come through. People from this reality might also get curious and venture in one day."

I didn't ask you, Koizumi. Yes, I see your shrug, and I raise you a sigh.

"Okay, Nagato. Close the portal, it's too much of an opportunity for worse things to happen if we leave things like this."

She nodded once, "Understood."

She stared at the portal and muttered an incantation. Slowly, I saw it begin to distort at the edges, and soon half of the ring had collapsed inside. Seconds later all but the central ball had gone, which began to fizzle out and die, as if snuffed out by a brisk wind.

"Well, that was harmless..." I remarked.

Nagato looked around and blinked, "All traces of sliding portal eliminated. No other occurrences manifested in nearby area. Reapplying self-restriction..."

I was happy for once, but something Nagato said earlier bugged me.

"Nagato, did you say that you couldn't search for the Slider?"

She nodded, "I will presume the person was human, and escaped through the doorway, given the lack of other exits in this building. As there have been no reports of a non-humanoid figure walking about, it is safe to assume that the Dimensional Slider comes from a reality very much like ours, only different in some form for obvious reasons. Therefore, this will make tracking down the Dimensional Slider to be near impossible."

"So, we have to wait for that person to make the first move..." Koizumi said, holding his chin in thought.

"It is also possible that I will permanently be unable to determine the location of the Slider, even if that person is in front of us."

"Why's that?" I asked.

Koizumi answered for her, "Is it because you only understand concepts of data within this universe, and thus cannot apply the same principles to another reality, even if things are the same?"

Nagato nodded, "Correct. It will be as if that person is invisible to my senses at all times. It may even be likely that the Dimensional Slider could pass through my barrier without meeting any resistance. With further calculations and close analysis, I may be able to generate similar data responses and thus be able to detect the presence of the Dimensional Slider."

I noted one glaring contradiction in that sentence, and had to speak up about it.

"But, in order to get that analysis, you'll need to find the Slider first and scan him for all the necessary details, which we cannot do since we can't find the Slider..."

All were silent until Koizumi spoke up, "I believe this is what certain people would call a Catch-22 situation..."

Thanks for that irrelevant phrase, Koizumi...

"Allow me to elaborate. Catch-22 is a famous book about World War II, from the perspective of the United States. In it, there's a soldier who wishes to quit being a pilot by saying he's insane. It is also assumed that any pilot who chooses to fly in such horrendous conditions would automatically be classified as insane, but no one will question them about their sanity. A pilot who seeks a doctor's note about getting a transfer away by claiming insanity would immediately admit that he was sane, as an insane person would not know of his mental state. Hence the Catch-22; in order to get the first item, you require a second item, yet to obtain the second item, you need the first item. Therefore, it is an impossible logical sequence to obtain both."

That's... That's just abominable... Thanks for the mindless drabble about things no one cares about.

Asahina-san looked at all of us and tried to interject, "But, maybe this Slider isn't a bad person..."

I nodded at that, because she and the others in the SOS Brigade aren't bad.

However, there is also the other possibility that a Slider from the opposing side had arrived first.

Koizumi sighed, "It appears we are at a loss. We cannot move until we know what the Slider's plans are, nor can we locate the Slider before he initiates those plans." He looked straight at us, "I suggest we sit and wait this out. Searching now will only result in frayed nerves and increased stress. Suzumiya-san is already under surveillance from the Organisation, and I presume the other two parties, at all times, so if anything happens we will be the first to know."

Despite the silly smile on his face, he did have a point, and I didn't particularly feel like going on another search.

"Okay, we'll do that. We'll meet up at school again, if anything happens, call me."

All were agreed to my idea, and we headed back to the train station, prepared for the worst.

Monday
Homeroom

Ouch.

It's almost like a psychic impulse... You have a nonsensical dream which has a convoluted plot, one that in the real world would never be accepted by even the stupidest of film producers, but it engrosses you all the same. Then, somewhere towards the end, as you reach the big finale, suddenly the bells of the end of the world are signalled. All the characters are telling you either to leave or to stay, but you always go finally.

Somehow, your body recognises the time which you get up at, and creates an entire dream based around your waking up to the sound of your annoying alarm, which had such a prominent role at the climax of your script. Cursing yourself for waking up, you usually forget the contents of what had just transpired, and yet, if you had the time for snoozing, you would reject that alarm call and go back to sleep, resuming the dream to get to the better ending.

That was why I yelled out loud in Okabe-sensei's class as we were preparing for the school day ahead of us.

Haruhi's mechanical pencil jabbed me particularly hard this time, and I jolted awake recalling a rather gruesome incident on December 18th the second time round. Having the accompanying piercing of my skin and embedding into my flesh at the same moment of the nightmare only heightened my incandescent fear.

Like the moment with the timing of the bells signalling the end of the world with my alarm, so did my near death experience at the knife of 'that' girl with Haruhi's pencil.

Apologising to Okabe-sensei, and making a weak bow to the rest of the class, I turned around sharply and glared at Haruhi.

She had on a particular grin, one that promised lots of trouble for me, but seeing as my body was racked with mortal terror, the effects of that nightmare not having worn off as yet, I wasn't yielding to her right now.

"Can't you just wake me the normal way?!" I hissed under my breath.

Her mildly surprised look of shock caved in to show her wrath, "The Chief must always punish those who neglect their duties!"

"And you thought to wake me because I was missing homeroom?!" I growled, only to close my eyes and let out a few deep breaths, "What do you want today, Haruhi?"

"Well, I need to think about your punishment for this Saturday, of course!" She grinned, and it was a tad more friendlier than before, though she still had that predatory look about her.

"Do whatever you want..." I waved her off and ignored her response, turning my head back to the front.

Several more pokes in my back got my attention back fast, and I snapped my head, only to see her frustrated and a little bit worried.

"Hey, Kyon, what's wrong with you?" She was worried, that was surprising to me, "You're not yourself today..."

You can talk...

"I have a lot of things on my mind at the moment..." It was no lie, but the truth need not be told now.

"Your sister again?" Haruhi asked carefully, almost sensitively one might say.

"Uhh, yeah. She's feeling better now, she can go to school now, but still needs to eat liquid foods."

"You know, I was watching something the other day, it was quite interesting." Haruhi piped up to smile a bit, "Imagine if you had a twin brother or sister that you never knew you had, only they were the complete opposite to you."

Yeah, that classic dramatic storyline, almost cringeworthy in most cases.

"The funny was, the twin came from a different world..."

I steeled myself, having heard those immortal words, I knew exactly why the Slider came...

"That person travelled the realities to kill his counterpart in each universe. Isn't that weird, Kyon? To have someone who looks like you, only to be very different in the way he thinks?"

I shudder to think. I began coming up with ideas.

My 'brother' would have to be less of a passive person and more active in his actions. I don't even want to think of what the others would have for their relative sibling.

Haruhi's alter ego would be beyond any capability of mine to comprehend terror.

"Yeah..." I needed to reply to her question, "It would be strange..."

At least my curiosity was sated, I knew why the Slider was here now.

To kill one of us.

Author's Notes

Ooh, plot development! Slider incoming! Given that novel 9 is probably leading to the emergence of the slider (two plotlines? Sounds like a parallel reality to me), though we won't know until novel 10, thought I'd bring up this last request of Haruhi's to realise who it is.

Impressions are welcome.

- J