"Izumi."

There was that voice again...

"Izumi!" Konata felt a sharp thwap on the top of her head. She looked up.

"You've been sleeping in class even more than usual lately," Kuroi said.

World History class. They were learning about... something or other. Konata couldn't even remember. By what was written on the board, it seemed like they were on medieval Europe. Hey, she had been there a few days ago. Wasn't that something.

"Sorry, ma'am... I guess world history just doesn't seem that relevant to me. It's all over and done with, after all. Do I even need to learn this?"

"As long as you're my student, yes, you need to know this. Now pay attention!" Kuroi said. "You'll have plenty of time for rest during Golden Week."

That's right... It was the last few days of April, that meant it was almost time for Golden Week. She had almost forgotten. And that made it... about two weeks now in Eclipse. It seemed like such a short time, and yet it also felt like she had been doing this all her life. But all these late-night training sessions were really making her tired, she had to admit that. After all, it was much more physically demanding than... well, anything she ever did before. Maybe she would take a break for a while. It was a holiday, after all.

For the time being, she opened her world history textbook, not entirely paying attention. It was only the history of this world, anyway.

Chapter 5

It's Now Feeling Like My Home

Kagami hadn't been sure, but now... There was definitely something different about Konata. Although she still wasn't sure what it was.

True, that girl had always been strange. It seemed like her entire life was devoted to anime and games. Maybe Konata thought she belonged in one of those more than in real life. Her entire behavior was apt to change at a moment's notice simply because she had started to read a new manga and decided to emulate the characters.

At first Kagami had thought that was what it was. That was the hardcore otaku way - a lifestyle Kagami would never understand, even if she tried.

Maybe Jason had something to do with it. Ever since they had met him at the beginning of the school year... well, maybe more like a week later or so... That was when Konata had started acting differently. She seemed to spend a lot of time with him, based on how familiar they acted when they would talk to each other - although Konata never gave any details on when or where they were hanging out together.

Then there was that thing a few days ago. Kagami had just arrived at school that morning with her sister, and they found Jason and Konata already there at the station. Konata was looking at a manga that Jason had just given her - something called Lucky Star, with some girls on the cover with weird hair colors.

"So I finally managed to get a copy of it for you," Jason said as he handed it to her.

Konata accepted it with interest, looking over the front and back covers, reading some of the front pages... "Thanks... This is awesome."

"Well, this is new," Kagami said as she approached them. "Usually you're the one loaning out the manga, Konata."

Konata looked up at her in shock. "Uh, K-Kagami! When did you get here?" She quickly put the manga away.

"Huh? What's that all about?"

"Oh, um... nothing," Konata said. That was really unlike her - usually Kagami would have heard all about whatever the latest manga was. Konata was not the shy type at all when it came to her passion. "Jason just loaned me one of his manga, that's all..."

"Lucky Star? What's it about?" Tsukasa asked.

"Umm..." Konata really didn't seem like she knew what to say. What did she have to hide, anyway? Kagami wondered. It was just manga...

"It's nothing you'd be interested in. Pretty hardcore yuri stuff, you know," Jason said. All three of them seemed to be shocked at that - Konata as much as the others.

"Th-that's..." Kagami didn't know what to say. Was it normal for a boy and a girl to share in their love of lesbian manga? Jason had seemed normal enough, but... deep down, he and Konata were the same. "You're both really messed up, you know that?"

After that incident, Kagami had never seen any more of Lucky Star around school, but she couldn't shake that strange feeling it gave her. What kind of age restrictions did it have on it if even Konata didn't want to be seen with it? It didn't even look that bad, but covers did seem to lie every now and then.

But more importantly... Kagami thought she knew what was going on between Konata and Jason. They were dating. In secret, for whatever reason - but it was definitely happening.

So that would explain why they spent so much time together, why they always seemed to be hiding secrets from everybody else...

The part that bothered Kagami the most was that somehow Konata had been the first to have any sort of romance in her life. She would never have thought that Konata would get a boyfriend before she herself did.

For whatever reason, they just weren't telling anybody about it. So Kagami decided she would stay quiet about it too, at least for now. They obviously didn't want her to know.

After that, as soon as she saw the chance, Konata decided to ask Jason about something.

"So what you told Kagami about Lucky Star... About it being yuri... That was a lie, right?" Konata asked. "I mean, there's nothing going on between my friends that I don't know about... Stuff like that."

"Yeah. I only said that so that Kagami and Tsukasa would lose interest," Jason said. "It was a big enough risk already just bringing a copy of that into this universe."

"That's good..." Konata said. She had been pretty sure that Lucky Star was just a regular comedy manga, no yuri relationships whatsoever... Konata was usually a fan of that kind of thing, but between herself and her own friends? That was just wrong.

"Now, doujinshi, on the other hand... That's a different story. You might want to avoid that."

"You mean -?" Konata was shocked. "So our fanbase is into... Well, I see where they're coming from, I'm that way about other manga, but still..."

"Yeah. We won't go into any more detail on that."

Tsukasa was waiting with her sister outside the school.

"Where are they?" Kagami said. "They're really taking their time."

"Um... I think they stayed behind for a bit. They said they wouldn't be long..." Tsukasa said.

"Konata and Jason... Of course..." Kagami muttered.

"What?" Tsukasa was confused. What was going on?

"Nothing."

Tsukasa waited patiently for a while longer. Kagami, on the other hand, seemed to be feeling a bit irate. She always got annoyed with Konata, but Tsukasa had never minded her that much. Personally she thought Konata was such an interesting person, with a whole different outlook on life. Jason was similar, especially since he was so new to Japan. Tsukasa thought it must be like a whole new world for him.

"Oh, there they are!" Tsukasa said.

Jason and Konata were just coming out of the school. Konata had her phone out, and was looking at the screen.

"Hey, Kona-chan, I didn't know you had a cell phone," Tsukasa said.

"Oh, this? It's new, I just got it yesterday," Konata said. "It's got all these new features that my old one didn't have."

"You had an old one?" Kagami asked. "I didn't even know that."

"Yeah, but nobody ever called me, and I didn't even carry it around most of the time. You should both give me your numbers and we can call each other."

They started walking together to the train station.

"So, I thought we'd check out this new restaurant that opened out in Ikebokuro last week. Sound good?" Kagami said.

"Yeah," Jason said. "I'm pretty excited for Golden Week starting... even though I'm still not sure what it is, exactly."

"Umm..." What were the exact days in Golden Week about? "Isn't it Shōwa day first... then...?" Tsukasa was trying to think.

"Constitution Memorial Day, Greenery Day, and Children's Day," Kagami finished. "That's an entire week long holiday, counting the weekend."

"That's a lot to remember..." Jason said.

"But all that really matters is no school!" Konata said. "A whole week to do whatever we want."

"Just remember your homework, too," Kagami said.

"Yeah. Work hard on that, okay, Kagamin? I'm counting on you."

Kagami sighed.

---------------

That night, Konata took the opportunity to get a better look at her new phone.

To tell the truth, it wasn't really a phone, although it would still work as one... Jason had called it a Talisman when he had given it to her after school. Through some process he wasn't able to explain very well (and didn't make much sense anyway), it was connected to a server back at the Eclipse headquarters that allowed for inter-universal travel.

She had never given much thought into how it worked - Jason had always done this for her before - but now she was really interested. She was now authorized to travel between worlds on her own.

There were still rules, of course, she couldn't meet Haruhi or else she would lose this job altogether. Of course, becoming part of that special branch that was investigating Haruhi was something to aspire for. If they ever needed someone to work on the inside, in direct contact with the SOS Brigade... Konata would be willing to take responsibility. Oh yes, she would.

For now she wasn't doing anything with the Talisman. Kuroi had been right - she needed to get some rest, maybe take a break from work for a few days. Enjoy some good old-fashioned gaming without real risk of injury or death, and then she would start taking missions from Eclipse.

That was something else exciting - real missions, not just training. The mysterious powers-that-be that ran this organization considered Konata to be ready to actually take missions and maintain security in all sorts of interesting worlds.

Come to think of it, who was in charge of Eclipse? Jason had said something about a guy... what had his name been? Farraday? Foley? Forsythe...? Yeah, that had been it. Anyway, apparently this guy was so busy running the entire organization that neither of them would ever talk to him or even see him. Just how large was the organization, anyway, if Jason had seriously never even spoken to his boss in five years of service?

So, to access the "Travel" function on this... Konata worked her way through the process, trying to remember all the steps. Enter the "Add New Contact" function, then enter a four-digit passcode for each blank instead of names, addresses, and phone numbers. Then you were able to access the mission assignments and access the travel server. With all of that security, she wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing the more interesting features of her new phone and getting any ideas.

Konata noticed it was getting late, about time to go to bed... or, as an alternative, stay up all night and play games.

She chose the second option. It had been a while since she had done that.

May 4th. Two days until the end of Golden Week. Kagami and Tsukasa were working on their homework together when the phone rang.

"I'll get it," Kagami said. She walked over and picked up the phone. "Hiiragi residence."

"Hey, Kagamin, I thought we'd go over that homework then?" It was Konata.

"That's funny, I didn't expect to hear from you until tomorrow. I guess this is what you would consider getting an early start."

"Oh, I've got something planned for tomorrow afternoon, so I'm going to be busy," Konata answered. "I thought we'd go over it today instead. So, what about that homework?"

"You just go straight to the point, don't you?" Kagami said. "Sure, you can come over. We were actually just working on it now."

"What? You're not done yet?" Konata said.

Kagami sighed. "When most people say they want to 'work together on homework' they expect that the other person isn't done yet. But you... You never had any intention of doing any of it yourself, did you?"

"Was it that obvious? Well, anyway, I'll be over there in a bit. See you then."

They hung up, and Kagami returned to the table to help Tsukasa with some problems. At least her sister would at least try to understand it on her own.

But what had Konata said about something planned for tomorrow? Konata never planned things out in advance. But Kagami thought she knew what this was about. It was all clear now, she was sure she knew exactly what Konata was going to be doing tomorrow.

May 5th. It was Children's Day - the last day of Golden Week before going back to school. At least it had been back in Japan, but in this universe Konata wasn't sure what the date was. The weather here was cold and crisp, probably early fall.

Konata had decided this was a good time to take on her first real mission. The target was a vampire, in this small village in the English countryside. The population had decreased significantly since he had arrived - nobody had left, rather, they had all turned into ghouls. According to the mission briefing, the Hellsing organization would be busy elsewhere, so it was up to herself and Jason to clear out the entire town. Konata was almost disappointed that she wouldn't be meeting Alucard, or Seras, or any of the other characters from the Hellsing anime. That would have been so cool, but this was work, and she couldn't always choose what the assignment entailed.

"So you're okay with the plan?" Jason asked.

"We're splitting up, going in two different directions, and when one of us finds the target we'll call each other and take it down as a team," Konata said. "That's all of it, right? Sounds good to me."

Konata's weapon this time around was a pistol loaded with silver bullets. The ghouls here were immune to conventional weapons. She had a decent amount of experience with guns, although she still preferred close-range weapons. The RPG fan in her really preferred swords.

It was a nice cool night. It could have been pleasant if not for the undead roaming the village. Konata was shooting them on sight, watching them turn to dust when the bullets hit them. She couldn't help but wonder what Kagami and Tsukasa were doing this afternoon.

No sign of the vampire yet. Apparently he used to be a farmer who lived nearby. If allowed to go on creating ghouls and drinking blood, he would quickly take control over an area much larger than this small rural town... So, if the Hellsing organization wasn't going to take care of him, nobody else in this world would. That's where Eclipse came in, Konata figured.

A few more ghouls stumbling around, moaning. Instead of her gun, Konata tried using some of that fire magic. It formed basketball-sized orbs of flame that she was able to aim quite accurately. She was very proud of her work on that ability, she had so much more control over it than she used to.

As Konata headed towards some small cottages, her phone rang. Was that Jason already? Had he already found the target?

She answered it. "Hello?"

"Oh, hey, Kona-chan!" Instead of Jason, who Konata had assumed was the only person who could possibly call her right now, she was surprised to hear Tsukasa's voice. But how? This was an entire different universe, you couldn't just call somebody like that, could you?

"Uh, hi, Tsukasa..." Konata honestly could not think of what to say. "What's up?"

"Well, me and Sis were going to the movies today, and we were wondering if you'd like to come."

"I'm actually kind of busy right now," Konata said. "Maybe another time."

Konata continued through the village as she talked. There was a small group of ghouls, armed with machine guns. Where did they get those, it doesn't even make sense, Konata thought. Generally the undead were too stupid to use weapons, but not in the Hellsing universe. It had been cool in the anime, but it made fighting them annoying. She took cover behind the wall of a house until the firing stopped.

Sensing an opportunity to fire back, she looked around the corner and fired several times.

"Wh-what was that noise?" Tsukasa asked on the other end of the line, her voice shaky.

"Just playing a game. That's all. I probably have the volume up too loud," Konata said. She had to find a way out of this conversation, it was too hard to concentrate on two things at once. Not to mention all the gunfire in the background. That couldn't possibly sound good from Tsukasa's end of the line. "Sorry I can't do anything today. Maybe we could do something some other time."

Some vehicles coming down the road. Military, from the look of them.

But the mission report had said Hellsing was occupied with other matters at the time! They weren't supposed to come here. And more importantly... what was Konata supposed to do? She supposed she couldn't let herself be seen.

"Okay. I'll see you later, Kona-chan!" Tsukasa said.

"Yeah. Later..." Konata hung up. That had been strange. She hadn't known that the Talismans still functioned as cell phones between universes. That would be useful to remember.

The ghouls raised their weapons to fire again. Konata gasped and took cover. "Come on, gotta stay focused..." she said. She was out of practice, she realized that now. The extra rest had made her less tired, but she wasn't thinking straight. As long as Jason was taking care of the other part of town, she was on her own here, and that meant to be extra careful.

There was some machine gun fire. Not the ghouls this time, some Hellsing soldiers had been deployed from the vehicles and were taking them down. So was Konata's mission over?

She was still considering what to do when another burst of gunfire went off. A few sounds of ricocheting bullets. And suddenly an intense pain.

Konata lost the ability to stand... She dropped her pistols and fell face forward onto the ground. It had all been so sudden.

So that was it, then... She thought as she faded out of consciousness. No option to restart, it's all over...

Her final thought: What's going to happen now?