A/N: For reference, Yamada Denki is a big electronics retailer in Japan. I wanted so badly to use Radio Shack, but they don't appear to have any Japanese locations. D:

As always, I appreciate any feedback I can get, good or bad, especially regarding the more recent characters. Thank you to everyone who's read this story so far. Chapter seven is the longest one so far, so I hope you enjoy it.

Fujiwara's phone was no longer in service.

Tachibana tried calling him from my phone, just in case it was some sort of error on her end, but it was no use. If the sneering bastard was still living in this time, he was doing so without a cell phone.

"It's possible he just changed his number," Sasaki said. "Maybe he wanted to drop off the radar after his plan fell apart."

Sorry to say it, but I think it's more likely that he just went back to the future. I can't imagine what would keep him here other than his plans involving Haruhi, and those fell through a while ago.

"That's true, but there's still a chance he simply didn't want to be contacted," Koizumi said.

Tachibana sighed. "Then we'll just have to check his apartment."

When you say 'we', who exactly are you referring to?

"Alright then, how about this?" Koizumi said. "Miss Tachibana, Miss Sasaki, and myself can head over to Fujiwara's apartment. In the meantime, the rest of you can try to get your hands on that circuit Miss Tsuruya dug up. How does that sound?"

Haruhi wasn't having it. "Hold it. I want to track this guy down, too."

No way! Did you miss the part where he tried to kill you? It's too dangerous. We aren't even sure whether or not he still has his TPDD.

She glared at me. "If he has a time machine, does it really matter what we do? You can't surprise someone who knows the future, Kyon. Besides, we already agreed that he's probably powerless right now. This is our chance! If we all go together, we can really scare the crap out of him!"

"Miss Tsuruya's still in school anyway, isn't she?" Sasaki asked. "Would there even be anyone home to let us in?"

Oh, I'm sure there would be a maid or butler, but I doubt they'd just let us take the circuit and leave without Miss Tsuruya being there to say it's okay.

Tachibana clapped her hands together. "Then it's settled. We'll all go check Fujiwara's place together. We can worry about getting the circuit after we find him."

Why did I ever agree to this meeting? Once the three of these girls agree on a course of action, you might as well put it in the history books. Miss Asahina, you'll sympathize with me, won't you?

With that matter settled, the seven of us piled into a couple of identical black taxis and set off for the sneering bastard's apartment. Koizumi was the only guy in the group besides me, so the fact that I ended up crammed next to him meant my luck had to be extraordinarily bad. If there is a god, he's playing with a loaded die.

When we arrived, the apartment building looked surprisingly normal. In fact, it looked downright cheap. For all his condescending talk, the guy sure lived modestly.

It didn't have a call box like Nagato's place, so Tachibana led the way inside. As we followed her, Miss Asahina gave me a concerned look.

"Hey, don't worry," I said. "We have Kuyoh on our side, remember? She's way more powerful than that pompous ass, even with a TPDD."

She sighed. "I guess so."

We stopped in front of apartment 205, and Tachibana knocked on the door. For some reason, the address felt vaguely familiar, but I'd definitely remember coming out to a place like this before. I'd chalk it up to deja vu.

Several seconds passed with no sound from within the apartment. Koizumi tried knocking next. "Excuse me, Fujiwara? If you're there, we'd really appreciate it if you'd open the door."

Anyone familiar with Koizumi could probably sense the underlying hostility in his voice. It was his way of saying "Open the door, or we'll open it for you".

"We could try looking in through the window," Haruhi said.

How? We're on the second floor. If you have the equipment to repel down from the rooftop and look inside, by all means, be my guest.

"Actually—"

Not you, Koizumi.

He was about to try knocking again when a voice spoke from behind us.

"Well, isn't this a surprise."

We turned in unison, like something out of a poorly directed TV drama. Next to the stairway door was Fujiwara, standing with a bag of groceries in his hand. I felt Koizumi grip my shoulder, and realized I'd been clenching my fists.

"Are you aware of the situation?" Koizumi asked.

Fujiwara just scoffed and took out his key. "Certainly more than you are. I knew you'd come here soon, but I didn't think you'd bring such a mob with you."

The bastard didn't even acknowledge me, or Haruhi for that matter. His eyes were focused solely on Koizumi. "Hurry up and get inside," he said, opening the door.

The apartment was a mess. It was clear from the dozens of instant ramen cups lying around that he was living on a tight budget. Maybe whoever was supporting him in the future had pulled the plug after his stunt last April.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" he snapped, setting the grocery bag down on the table. "I do what I have to do."

That's code for "I'm broke, but I don't want to hear it from you."

Once everyone was inside, Haruhi stepped forward to look Fujiwara up and down. She turned to Koizumi. "So this is the guy who tried to have me killed?"

"Yes, that would be him."

"I see."

What followed was one of the most satisfying things I've ever had the opportunity to witness. Haruhi stepped forward and drove a knee up into Fujiwara's crotch, and as he doubled over, she slammed her elbow into the back of his neck. If Koizumi and Tachibana hadn't stepped forward to restrain her, she probably would have kept going.

"Miss Suzumiya! Please, stop!"

She struggled for a moment longer before deciding she'd done enough damage. "Now we're even," she said. "But if you ever try anything like that again, I won't hold back."

I tried really hard, but I couldn't stop the grin that was spreading across my face. As much as I'd wanted to get in a hit or two myself, seeing Haruhi do it was the next best thing.

Fujiwara struggled to his hands and knees. "...damn... bitch..."

And once again, the espers were forced to hold Haruhi back. Fujiwara got to his feet, using the table for support. "What makes you think I'm going to help you now?"

"Excuse me," Tachibana said, "but we really need to confirm... Do you still have your TPDD?"

Fujiwara's face became grim, and he slowly moved to sit on the couch. "If that's what this is about, then yours must be gone too, right?" he said, glancing to Miss Asahina.

She nodded. "Y-Yes, that's right. It was taken by Miss Kimidori."

Hey, don't reveal any more than you have to!

"No, it's fine," Koizumi said. "We can't really explain the nature of the situation if we try to hide the fact that Miss Suzumiya's lost her powers."

Fujiwara seemed genuinely surprised. "Seriously? Did Kimidori do that, too? Looks like things are really working out for you, then."

God dammit, now he's really pissing me off! "Wipe that smirk off your face. This is serious. Nagato's in trouble, and trust me, you don't want to be the one thing standing in the way of us getting her back."

Fujiwara just laughed. "I really couldn't care less about your little alien friend, but as it stands, my TPDD is missing, too. And there's no way I'm going to waste the rest of my life in this shithole."

"Then it sounds like you'll be willing to help us," Koizumi said, smiling as if he was oblivious to the tension in the room. "That's wonderful. What we really need is someone who knows how to build a new TPDD. Otherwise, we seem to have no way of finding out where Miss Kimidori has run off to."

Fujiwara rubbed his face and shook his head. "That's your plan? You've got to be kidding. That kind of technology won't be available for years."

Years? Don't you know anything about building one? You always act like you're three steps ahead of everyone else, but I guess it's all talk.

"Tch. Of course I know how to assemble one, but that's only if we have all the parts, and the most important ones haven't been invented yet."

"We have access to one of them," Koizumi said. Taking my cue, I pulled up the picture on my phone and handed it to Fujiwara.

His eyes widened noticeably for a moment, but he recovered his cocky tone before responding. "It's helpful, but there's one other part we'd need. Something you wouldn't be able to build out of scrap from an electronics store. Without that, it's completely useless."

"That's not necessarily true, though, is it?"

It was the first time Sasaki had spoken up in a while. "What do you mean?"

"Based on what Miss Asahina told us and what Koizumi was able to figure out, we're missing the part that punches a hole in the time plane, correct? The one we have merely sends the data through."

Fujiwara crossed his arms. "That's right. Most of us merely go back and repair the damage caused by the holes, to keep your present from falling apart. So what's your point?"

She didn't seem fazed by his attitude. "If what I was told about the events of last night is true, one of these holes should still exist, shouldn't it?"

Sasaki, what the hell are you talking about? The only time we used the—...

"The island!"

Haruhi and I had figured it out at the same time.

"Island?" Fujiwara said. "What island?"

Sasaki, you're a genius! Last night, when Haruhi's closed space fell apart, Miss Asahina took to the remote island. It had been a direct order, too. If the hole made by her TPDD is still there...

Miss Asahina connected the dots. "Ah! We could still use it to travel back to last night, outside Mr. Tamaru's mansion!"

Frankly, I wasn't sure how we could travel back to the same time without bumping into our past selves, but Miss Asahina's excited expression told me it would work out somehow.

"Wait."

Fujiwara had a hand up. "Reusing an existing hole in the time plane is dangerous, even with a modern TPDD. I told you once before, going back to the same point can cause even more damage, let alone using the exact same access point."

What does that mean?

"I'm not going to waste my time trying to explain it to you," he said. "But beyond that, even if we do manage to build some kind of crude TPDD, it's not going to be as sophisticated as the ones we're used to. Years of technological advances have allowed us to reduce the size of the hole to a pinprick; if you do the same thing with a TPDD made out of this time's technology, the hole's going to be a lot bigger and more dangerous."

Miss Asahina, can you translate, please?

She shifted uncomfortably. "Actually, he's right. Using a homemade TPDD in a situation like this would be dangerous. It could cause irreversible damage to the time plane."

I may not be as well-versed as some when it comes to the physics of time travel, but 'irreversible damage' is easy enough to understand. "So we still can't go back?"

The room was quiet for a moment. It seemed like every time we made a breakthrough, it was taken away from us.

"...you'd have to be quick," Fujiwara said. "If you manage to get that girl's powers back, she could repair the damage before it gets out of hand. But if you fail, we're screwed. Maybe Kimidori would fix it for us, maybe she'd just abandon this time plane and move to another, who knows. But whatever happens, it would be have to be settled quickly."

So if we aren't able to get Haruhi's powers back from Kimidori, all of time and space could fall apart. Great. Strangely enough, I think the high stakes of the challenges I've faced so far have desensitized me to this sort of stuff. When the fate of the world rests on your pitching, or your ability to get Haruhi to read a disclaimer at the end of a movie, this sort of danger starts to feel relatively normal.

I turned to Kuyoh. "One more time, do you think you could try to find Kimidori? If there's any way to get Nagato back without gambling the fate of the universe, I'd like to try."

She stared at me for a few seconds before responding. "She cannot be located."

I thought as much. It looks like this is really the only shot we have at finding out where she ran off to with Haruhi's powers.

"W-Wait, I'm not so sure about this."

It was Tachibana. "What do you mean?"

"Do we really have the right to do something like this? What if we can't stop her? It's like we're betting billions of lives just to save this one, you know?"

Betting billions of lives, huh? I guess she's right. There's a lot more at stake here than we have any right to bet, and I'm sure Nagato wouldn't have wanted us to risk so much for her sake.

"Still," I said, "we don't know if it's really that dangerous. Kimidori would probably step in to fix things if they went south, and if we just leave the Data Integration Thought Entity in charge, how long do you think it'd be before it decides to start remodeling reality to suit its needs?"

Sure, it might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm not going to sit here and try to convince Tachibana that rescuing Nagato is a good enough reason to try this. To her, I doubt it would be.

Fujiwara pulled a notepad out of a drawer and started writing. "Personally, anything's better than being stuck here for the rest of my life," he said. "Most of the complex circuitry is in the part you already have. As for the rest, it's all basic stuff." He tore the page out of the notebook and held it out toward Koizumi, but Haruhi grabbed it first. After skimming over the contents of the list, she looked up at him.

"Is this some kind of joke? How could any of these things be used in a time machine?"

"I'm not just going to duct tape them together, you idiot. They contain the rest of the materials I need."

Everyone was gathering around Haruhi at this point, and I managed to get a peek at the list. A 2200-watt microwave, a 3G cell phone, a laptop, a remote-controlled car, and a 20,000-watt generator. Is he screwing with us? It looks like he's just trying to get some free stuff. And what the hell does '3G' mean?

"Like I said, that's what I need. Do you want my help or not?"

Koizumi took the list from Haruhi and looked it over. "Of course we do," he said. "I'm sure the Organization has enough funds to cover the cost of these items quite easily. If there's anything we can't find in town, I can make a few calls and see what my associates can do."

"That sounds good," Haruhi said. "We can just use Kyon's laptop."

Hey, says who?

"Oh, quit complaining. It's not like we ever use them anyway. Besides, it's for Yuki."

Sasaki tossed me a worried look, but quickly shifted to match Haruhi's confidence. "Well then, it looks like we have some errands to run. Shall we split up and meet back here when we're finished?"

"That sounds good," Koizumi said. "How will we be dividing up?"

Ever the vigilant leader, Haruhi took charge. "We'll split into three groups. Koizumi, you're the Deputy Chief, so I'm putting you in charge of keeping an eye on Kyon. Make sure he doesn't slack off like he usually does."

As Chief First Member of the SOS Brigade, I'm exercising my right to v—

"Kyoko and Kuyoh can go together, and I'll go with Mikuru and Sasaki. Does that sound good?"

Hold it. No offense, but I'm not really comfortable leaving Tachibana and Kuyoh alone like that.

Tachibana's brow furrowed. "How long is it going to take for you to start trusting me?"

Just as long as it takes for you to convince me to. "Sasaki, why don't you go with Kuyoh? You two seem friendly enough. That'd leave Haruhi with Tachibana and Miss Asahina."

Haruhi crossed her arms. "Hmph. That's fine with me, if you think she can handle herself alone with an alien."

"I'm sure I can," Sasaki said, giving her a bright smile.

Fujiwara's laugh brought our focus back to him. "Ridiculous," he said, staring at Haruhi. "It looks like you've given him a little more influence now that you've found out about your life debt. Are you really simple-minded enough to let something like that influence you?"

Shit! Fujiwara, you bastard, keep your mouth shut!

He seemed surprised. "What, you really hasn't told her? Ahaha! What a farce! If I'd jumped out a third-story window to save someone, I'd sure as hell want them to know about it."

Haruhi looked at Fujiwara incredulously, then shifted her eyes to me. "Kyon, what the heck is he talking about?"

Dammit! I really don't want to go down that road right now. Someone, please, bail me out!

"We're losing focus," Koizumi said. "What matters right now is the task at hand. The sooner we gather these parts, the sooner we can get Miss Nagato back."

Haruhi's eyes shifted back to the list. "I guess you're right..."

Koizumi, if we make it out of this alive, I owe you one.

With that awkward moment behind us, it was decided that Haruhi, Miss Asahina, and Tachibana would track down the microwave and the toy car. Sasaki and Kuyoh would be in charge of finding the cell phone, and Koizumi and I would head up to the school to grab my laptop from the club room.

"I'll let you hang on to this," Haruhi said, handing Koizumi a keyring. "You'll need it to get into the club room. My house key is on there too, so don't lose it!"

Koizumi made a quick call, and when we walked back outside, there were three cabs waiting for us. I had to wonder how many more they had waiting around the corner on the off-chance that we'd need them. Those poor backup drivers, never getting a chance to see any action.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Haruhi giving me a stern look as she got into the back seat of the cab in front of mine. Dammit, Fujiwara, why'd you have to go and say that? Do you have any idea how much trouble you just caused me? If she brings this up again later, I'm pleading the fifth.

For the first few minutes, it seemed like the ride to school would pass in silence. Koizumi was busy staring out the window, and I wasn't about to strike up a conversation if I didn't have to. It wasn't until we came to a stop at a red light that he finally spoke.

"I'm still not sure why you were so adamantly against Miss Suzumiya knowing what you did for her. Perhaps you could fill me in?"

Just the conversation I didn't want to have. Honestly, I'm not even sure myself. A year ago, I would have jumped at the chance to get a little appreciation for everything I've done. I guess I just figured she'd end up feeling guilty and acting weird about it.

"Oh, so you don't want her to change her behavior? That's a surprise."

"Hey, don't put words in my mouth," I said. "It'd just be a pain if she suddenly started acting different, wouldn't it? Couldn't it destabilize the world or something?"

He gave me that same annoying smile. "It's possible, but it's more likely that she'd settle down a little. I think the fact that you're so hesitant to make her feel guilty speaks volumes about how much you really care about Miss Suzumiya."

Don't say things that'll cause misunderstandings, Koizumi. Haruhi's my friend, but who in their right mind would pick her over the lovely goddess we know as Miss Asahina? Pick any war in the history of mankind, and her smile could have brought it to a peaceful resolution.

He was quiet for a second, then stifled a laugh. "I suppose you may be right. Miss Asahina certainly does have her strong points, but as I've said before, I find Miss Suzumiya rather charming as well. Forgive me if I'm jumping to conclusions, but from where I'm sitting, your supposed feelings for Miss Asahina are awfully convenient."

And just what the hell is that supposed to mean? It's anything but convenient! First of all, she isn't allowed to date anyone from our time. And if we get too close, Haruhi could get pissed and create more closed space. I'm pretty much prohibited from pursuing the Miss Asahina route any further.

"But that's exactly what I'm referring to," he said, sweeping the hair away from his eyes. "She's the perfect scapegoat. You probably remind yourself constantly that she's beautiful, almost angelic. Am I right?"

I grunted and looked out the window. Apparently, he took that as a signal to continue.

"Due to the nature of her mission, any feelings you might have for Miss Asahina can never be returned. Even if she were to fall head over heels in love with you, her position as a time traveler prevents her from forming any lasting relationships with the people in our time."

What are you getting at?

"I'm saying, that frees you up to use her as an alibi. If you did, purely hypothetically, have feelings for Miss Suzumiya, you could deny it to yourself and the rest of us by convincing yourself you're infatuated with Miss Asahina. It's a brilliant form of denial, actually. Since it would be impossible for the two of you to actually date, no one can call your bluff. Not even you."

Hold it. You're just assuming things. Even if your theory technically works, it makes sense to go with the simplest explanation, doesn't it? No matter how you look at it, it's much easier to just say I don't have feelings for Haruhi.

"That's very true. It's a principle called Occam's Razor, though as we've seen with Miss Suzumiya, the simplest solution isn't always the correct one." He shrugged. "But perhaps you're right. In any case, I was merely explaining what it looks like from where I stand."

I don't think anyone was asking for your opinion. Dammit, he really knows how to piss me off sometimes.

We made a couple of quick stops by our houses to change into our uniforms, then headed for the school. I wasn't sure how we'd get past the gate, let alone make it all the way to the club room.

"Don't worry about the gate," Koizumi said. "That won't be a problem. Our main goal is to avoid running into anyone along the way."

What, they aren't under Organization control, too? I was sure you had everyone from the principal to the janitors wrapped around your finger.

"I'll assume that was sarcasm," he said, opening the car door. "Come on. We need to hurry."

I followed Koizumi to the gate, which was open just enough to let us inside. As we hurried toward the old building, I finally thought to ask,

"Hey, why are you still sucking up to Haruhi? You don't have to anymore, so why bother?"

He glanced back at me. "Oh? Have I ever given you the impression that I'm only kind to Miss Suzumiya because of her abilities?"

We made it to the building, and after checking to make sure the coast was clear, we headed inside.

"Well," he said, "I suppose I just want to make sure she understands that she's the one that matters, not just her powers. If my mannerisms were to suddenly change, or the Organization were to stop supporting her, it would look pretty bad, wouldn't it?"

Huh. I guess you're right.

We arrived at the club room without incident, and Koizumi unlocked the door. It felt empty inside without Miss Asahina brewing tea, or Nagato reading in the corner. When this is all over, I'll never take that sight for granted again.

"Which one was yours?"

Oh, right. The laptop. It didn't really matter to me whose laptop we used, to be honest. All I really had on mine was that game we'd played against the Computer Research Society, and even that had been collecting virtual dust.

With my laptop and its charger in hand, we hurried back to the front gate. It'd be interesting to see how these seemingly random supplies could be combined to form a working time machine. If he attaches it to a DeLorean and says we have to hit 88 miles per hour, I'm quitting. That is, if the others have even found their parts yet.

"Would you like to call them and find out?" Koizumi asked. "I've been meaning to give you Miss Tachibana's phone number anyway."

Sure, I guess. Just as long as she doesn't start calling me up and acting all buddy-buddy with me.

He entered her number in my phone and dialed, then handed it back to me. It took several rings, but she finally picked up.

"Hello? Who's this?"

"It's me," I said.

"Oh, Kyon! I didn't recognize your number. I'll be sure to save your contact information!"

In that case, my actual name is—

"Here, I'll give the phone to Miss Suzumiya."

Wait, no!

There was a brief shuffling noise, followed by Haruhi's voice.

"Hey, what's up?"

Dammit. Why does she just assume I want to talk to Haruhi?

"Well," I said, "we got the laptop. How are things going with you guys?"

"The toy car was easy, but we're still looking for a microwave. Apparently 2200 watts is a lot, so they're not as common. But don't worry, we'll find one!"

At least they were halfway there, even if it was the easy half. "I see. Have you heard from Sasaki?"

"No, not yet. I hope she's not getting sidetracked looking at phones."

Of course not. She's not like you, Haruhi.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. I'll call her and see what's up. Want us to come help you look for a microwave?"

"That sounds good. We're at Yamada Denki. Call us when you get here! Over and out!"

She hung up before I got a chance to respond, not that it really mattered. "They're at Yamada Denki looking for a microwave," I said. "Let's meet up with them there."

Once we were on the road again, I called Sasaki to get an update from her end. She and Kuyoh only had to get a cell phone, and with Kuyoh's powers, it was hard to imagine that they'd fail.

"Hey, Kyon," she said. "We've got some bad news. One of the employees at the store we're at said '3G' is a new type of cell network. It's still being tested, and it won't be available to the general public until later this year."

You're kidding.

"I'm afraid not. Kuyoh keeps asking me to define 3G before she'll make one, and I don't really understand what the difference is to begin with. Oh, hold on..."

Dammit. Why would the sneering bastard ask for something like that? If it's not something that exists yet, shouldn't he be the first one to know?

"Hey, Kyon. The employee we're talking to says they're doing 3G network tests in Tokyo and Yokohama, but only a few thousand phones have been released."

Tokyo? Yokohama? It'd take hours to reach either of them. "Hey, Koizumi," I said. "Think the Organization could get its hands on a super-rare type of cell phone?"

His eyebrows shot up. "Well, I can certainly try. Would you mind letting me talk to Miss Sasaki for a moment?"

I handed him the phone, and he spent a few minutes getting details from Sasaki and the sales rep. Once he was done, he made another call on his own phone to see what he could do. I swear, if we survive this, I'll never take the Organization for granted again.

Well, not for a couple of weeks, at least.

About fifteen minutes later, our entire group had reunited inside Yamada Denki. Haruhi had managed to find a suitable microwave, which ended up costing nearly 200,000 yen. Did people seriously pay that much just to be able to heat things up thirty seconds faster?

"They're supposed to be for commercial use," Haruhi said. "That thirty seconds adds up when you've got a bunch of customers waiting."

Still, that's a lot of money for a microwave. But with that checked off our list, all that was left was the generator and the cell phone, both of which had to be acquired by the Organization. Something had been bothering me, though. If Kimidori was essentially all-powerful now, shouldn't she be able to just snap her fingers and know what we were up to? Why hadn't we encountered any resistance yet? It didn't add up. Out of the presumably dozens of humanoid interfaces under the Data Integration Thought Entity's control, surely one of them would have been sent to follow us. Is it because Kuyoh's somehow protecting us? Or does the thought entity just not see us as a threat?

We are a threat, right?