If you'd asked me how I felt about trains, I'd just have shrugged. Like cars, they were just something to get from one place to another, never mind all the romanticising about them. Of course, it was true that they were sometimes quite relaxing, a good time to read a book or just collect your thoughts by staring out of the window…I guess I just don't particularly like or hate trains. I'm impartial.

Of course, if you DID like trains…a trip with Haruhi and the others would probably change your mind. Throughout the first 20 minutes of the journey, the group was springing all around the carriage, opening windows, yelling about what they were going to do when they were all there…before anyone noticed, Koizumi, Mio, Yomi, Nagato and I vacated the carriage for the one behind. As soon as we entered, Yomi took a seat next to Mio by the window, Nagato took an empty seat next to a blank-eyed, bluey-purple-haired student, and Koizumi and I occupied the seats in front of her.

"Man, they're really pumped for this, huh?" Koizumi said. I half-turned to him, then turned back.

"I'll say. Such a pain…"

"Hahaha, I guess you could say that." he chuckled, then drifted into silence for a second. Almost literally.

"So, I guess you'll want me to explain the whole deal with you and Haruhi now, right?" He said. I turned to him and sighed.

"You're so enthusiastic about telling me." I shrugged and rolled my eyes. "Well I guess you'd better tell me then, in that case. I was wondering about it a little, and it'd bring this whole thing to a close, afterall."

"Ahaha. I was hoping you'd say that." Koizumi chuckled again. "So, what do you want to know about, first? I can't say that my answers're gonna be perfect, but…hey, I can give it a shot."

He sat still in thought for a moment, before he began to speak.

"I guess I'll go ahead and start by explaining the Haruhi thing. After she got all emotionless, you carried her around with you-"

"I didn't carry her literally."

"Aha, yeah, of course." Koizumi rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment…well, it looked like embarrassment, anyway.

"Anyway, to continue…you took her around until you saw this…fake me at the top of some sort of tower, right?"

"Yeah."

"And then…you somehow thought that Haruhi was the key to getting out of all of it."

"Yeah. I'd probably realised it unconsciously a couple of minutes before, though."

"Because of what happened before with the whole "Sleeping Beauty" scenario?"

"Wasn't it Snow White?"

"Heh, well whichever. I guess you know better than me." Koizumi shrugged, before continuing. "Anyway, you don't really know why you thought she'd help, right?"

"No, I guess I can't say I do. Maybe it was the Snow White thing, who knows."

"Right…tell me Kyon, have you ever heard of the phrase "Deus Ex Machina?"

I paused for a moment before replying. I have to admit, I only had the slightest inkling of what it meant. I knew "Deus" meant "God," for example.

"I guess I've heard of it." I replied. Koizumi smiled, as he does.

"Well it basically means "God from the Machine." It's basically a term used to describe a device used in fiction – a device that's basically a "get out of jail free card" for the author."

"Weird analogy."

"Ahehe, but at least you get it." Koizumi grinned. "Most Deus Ex Machinas are criticised because they're seen as a lazy way for the author to escape a scenario that he's backed himself into."

"So you're saying Haruhi was a Deus Ex Machina?" I asked, slowly feeling as though this was getting gradually more preposterous. Although, now that I think about it, I should really have expected that sort of thing from Koizumi by now.

"Well, something like that. It's not like we're actually living a story, right?"

After the previous series of events, I wouldn't have been surprised if we were. Though I guess an author would find most of my experiences with Haruhi fantastical enough to turn into novel form. Hell, most people who heard them would probably think I was making it all up.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I nodded. "So I kept Haruhi there till she awoke because I unconsciously knew that she was the key to undoing the…" I paused. What were those things called? Well, whatever. "the…plot of those things? And the actual effect that happened when Haruhi awoke was that of a Deus Ex Machina?"

"Basically." Koizumi replied. "And from what you've told me…I get the feeling that Haruhi just got bored of everything as soon as she awoke, and ripped down everything that the Outer Ones created."

Outer Ones…it sounded familiar, somehow.

"So the whole universe-fusion thing was that weak?" I asked, unable to believe I was actually willing to take a lesson on quantum physics, or whatever.

"I don't think it was because it was weak…the Outer Ones, and particularly that fake me you told me about, probably didn't anticipate that Haruhi would wake up. After draining all of her energy into a…excuse the pun, but a "spiral of depression…" they must have assumed that she was totally helpless. The God Within Her must have subconsciously pulled you into that world with her, knowing that you'd awaken her and unwind everything."

"Right. And that led to Haruhi basically breaking their entire world apart and recovering Ayumu?"

"That's right. After recovering Ayumu, the one binding them to our…Macrocosm, was it?"

"Probably."

"Well then, that probably broke their whole thing once and for all. That was when that thing appeared in the Closed Space, just before you passed out."

"Huh. I see. What happened with that, anyway?"

"Well, we don't know what it was, but we just treated it like a giant Celestial. We think it was one of the Outer Ones trying to physically- or metaphysically- break through the barrier between its Macrocosm and ours, trying to take us by force. But we just cut it to pieces and sent it back."

"Right." I figured this was everything, so I just took a minute to roll it all around in my head. Looking back, I guess it was kind of out-of-character for me to be so interested in the whole thing, but I guess I just wanted closure on the whole issue before going back to life as normal.

"Oh yeah, and there was something else, too." Koizumi interrupted my train of thought and turned to Nagato, behind us. "Can you help us out?"

Nagato looked up from the book she was reading and nodded slowly. This worried me a bit- wasn't there someone sitting next to her? It must've been shown on my face because Koizumi was quick to assure me;

"Don't worry, he has earphones in. I'm sure no one will hear, and if they do, we'll just tell 'em we're planning a sci-fi novel."

A sci-fi novel. If there was a more appropriate description of everything that had happened, I didn't want to hear it.

"Nagato and I were talking about…well, the state of everything now." Koizumi began.

"Everything?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean the universe, and the Macrocosm that we're in. Where it all is."

"Right, all of the parallel universes, huh." I nodded.

"That's right…Nagato says that after everything went back to normal, she detected a sort of…split in the Macrocosm."

"A split?"

"Basically…" Koizumi paused to think. "Remember how I told you about "Chocolatey Kyon" and "Lemony Kyon?"

I did, unfortunately.

"Well, the same principle for the Multiple-Worlds thing works here. There is a Macrocosm in which all of the universes are merged into one- so, the worlds that Ayumu and Izumi are from are merged with ours, for example- and there is a Macrocosm in which they are separate. In the beginning, there was only the Macrocosm in which they were all separate. Am I right, Nagato?"

She nodded, staring with the same blank look she always uses.

"So," he continued, "after the Outer Ones invaded and starting fusing all of them, it made a split…you know how single-celled organisms reproduce through Mitosis?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Like that. All of the matter built into this one universe that you were sucked into was just blown apart, and it must've taken a while to rebuild itself, but when it did, it went back into two Macrocosms. That's what Nagato tells me, anyway."

"So…how does Nagato know that?" I wondered aloud, spotting a hole in the explanation.

"Simple analysis of massive inter-dimensional data swamps." She replied. "A rip in the dimensions was detected and sealed, with the ensuing data undergoing careful and precise analysis."

"Essentially," Koizumi translated, "She detected the collapse of the Macrocosm, and drew a conclusion from it. Thinking logically, if our universe was fused with other universes, then our original universe MUST still exist, without Izumi and everyone in it, right?"

I thought about it for a moment, before agreeing.

"Which brings me to the final part of my explanation. There are two anomalies in this entire scenario- Kujo, who was part of our team, and Goshima, the girl you discovered in the alternate universe."

I remembered Kujo clearly, but Goshima…the name wasn't familiar in the slightest, but I remember a girl in the other universe, definitely. What she had been doing was a different matter entirely- I was completely blank.

"Kujo, as we said before, only exists in one universe at a time because of his "Stand" power. It acts as a kind of anchor. So he must have been ripped straight out of his universe and ended up in this combined one." Koizumi explained. "What must have happened after everything tore apart was…he must have been flung right back to the universe he came from, the original one, as the Macrocosm repaired itself."

"So that's why we couldn't get hold of him." It suddenly made sense, in some insane strand of logic.

"That's right. Too bad we couldn't say goodbye, huh?"

I nodded, before allowing him to continue.

"And Goshima…from what you've told me, she was essentially a part of that universe- the universe being the messed-up one that the Outer Ones made. So after it was destroyed…"

Suddenly I remembered glimpses of what the girl had told me, about her town, and spirals…they weren't clear, but they were enough to give me a horrible feeling.

"What could've happened to her…" I murmured. Koizumi looked down and frowned.

"I'm not sure…I guess we can only hope she made it back to her world without anything bad happening…"

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I assumed we were finished…and what a horrible note to end it on.

Then, Koizumi started again.

"Oh yeah, I forgot something. It's only a small issue, though. Now that the Outer Ones are totally gone from our universe…well, essentially, it's like they were never here." He stopped here for a moment.

"Are you going to explain that more or just leave it on a cliffhanger?" I said, to which he smiled and shook his head.

"No, no. That was for effect." He continued to smile, irritatingly. "Anyway, it's as simple as that. It's as if they were never here in the first place, which means none of the events that occurred ever existed. This in turn means…well, have you felt yourself slowly forgetting things?"

I thought back to a few moments ago, when I couldn't think of the name "Goshima…" nor could I think of the "Outer Ones" that Koizumi was telling me about.

"I guess you could say that." I replied.

"Well, eventually you'll just forget all about these events. Because, well, technically none of them happened. I'm pretty sure everyone else has already forgotten everything, except the three of us and perhaps Miss Asahina. If she does remember, she's doing a good job of keeping it hidden."

"Well, I know I don't want any nightmares in ten years' time, that's for sure." I couldn't remember exactly what would give me nightmares, so maybe that was a good thing.

"Haha! Right, right! And none of us will remember it, either…even Nagato."

This somehow made me turn around and look at Nagato, as if I wanted confirmation or something. She replied with a short nod.

"So that's it? Everything's back to normal?" I asked.

"Basically. Or it'll be normal, anyway, once your memories are replaced with memories of this world. It'll be like you were here all along…which I know sounds weird, but I guess you can't really say anything against it…afterall, maybe you have been here all along, and your memories of the universe without Izumi and everyone are the ones that're false."

"Now you're just being facetious." I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Hahah! You got me!" Koizumi laughed. "But…I guess we can agree that this is the best case scenario for everything, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess I see your point, there. So as well as Haruhi, we've got to handle Ayumu, Izumi, Takino and everyone as well?" I sighed, resting my forehead in my palm.

"Yeah, that's right. I hope you like a challenge, Kyon!" He chuckled.

"Ugh…" I groaned, and said nothing more.

And this is where I am now. On a train, watching the ocean glisten, seeing the sun bounce off the mountains of Amigara. We've still got another half an hour before we reach our destination, so I guess I'm going to spend it resting, staring out the window and…well, waiting for my memories to erase themselves. I never would've thought I'd be in this situation…but I guess you could apply that to all the scenarios that being with Haruhi has forced me into. The least I can do is try and make my last thoughts happy, but I can't help thinking about that girl. The girl…what girl? All I know is that I get such a horrible feeling in my stomach when I think about her, a feeling of apprehension…as if there's been no closure on the issue. I'm starting to worry a little, but I'm not too sure why. I guess I should just focus on thinking about the end-of-school concert that the Light Music Club put on…I hear they're replacing Sakaki with Mio, but I can't think why because Sakaki was a good bassist. The concert was pretty good, I have to say, and I even stayed for the encore…everything was pretty good. I'm a little too optimistic about this vacation, though…with Haruhi I guess anything can happen. Man, looks like it's going to be a hectic couple of weeks, afterall…

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, again. Hopefully all the ends have been tied up here, and hopefully people are still reading. There'll be an epilogue soon, in two parts. It won't be as long, and hopefully it won't be too long until I write it. Thanks for reading, again.