Final exams were similar to what Konata imagined Hell to be like. Not that they were hard - one sleepless night of cramming was enough to get by. It always had been, and always would. The part she didn't like was just how boring it all was. Sitting at a desk, staring at the questions until the printing all blurred together, repeat for an entire week. Hell was probably like taking exams for eternity, in a classroom without a window to let in even the faintest glimmer of hope. She was forever grateful for that window in her classroom.

Today was the last day of school before summer break, and exam results were finally posted. She looked over the list for everyone's names.

Jason had managed a slightly above-average score. She knew that he was smart, but the school system didn't seem to agree with him too well. Miyuki, as usual, had the highest grades in the school. Tsukasa was a few points lower than Kagami, both still earned fairly high marks. And Konata's scores...

"Wha - ?! How?" Kagami couldn't believe it. "How do you always manage to do so well on these?"

Konata's grades were about on par with Kagami's. Comparing the time taken to study... Kagami spent about an hour or two each night for a few weeks, while Konata crammed it all in for just four straight hours the night before.

"That's just how I am," Konata said with a grin. "I'd never want it to change."

"You only studied for one night! How is it even possible?"

"Well, I did a basic overview of each subject. And then on test day just about all the questions are over the exact material I looked at the night before. It's almost like they plan it out that way," Konata said thoughtfully. "And after all, it's always worked out like this. I see no reason why it would ever change."

"That's not even possible," Kagami said. Not only was it not possible, it just wasn't fair that someone could succeed with so little effort...

"Nothing's impossible, Kagamin. You're just too much of a realist."

There were so many flaws in that logic, Kagami just couldn't point them out... Instead she changed the subject. "Anyway, what do you say we go somewhere after school today and start off our break right away?"

"Sounds good. We should get everyone together."

Chapter 9

Restless is Causeless

As they left the school, there was the familiar chime of a new text message received. Konata took out her phone. It was probably just spam or something, but might as well check it anyway.

Warning - This message is to inform IZUMI KONATA that he/she has committed a Class II offense. Further infractions against the Eclipse Organization may result in a permanent termination of membership and loss of all related privileges. Have a nice day.

She read it several times over, not believing - not comprehending - what it said. What had she done wrong that they would consider cutting her off from the organization?

"What is it, Kona-chan?" Tsukasa looked over at the screen.

"Umm, n-nothing..." Konata stammered.

"Whoa, the letters are all jumbled up, is that... a virus or something?"

Of course. Tsukasa wouldn't even be able to read it, the language it was typed in looked like it didn't even exist on Earth. Thank God for small favors.

"I don't know. Maybe. It's probably just a processing error or something," Konata said, trying to shrug it off. But few things could impact you like a potential ban warning. It felt like she had been hit by a truck.

It seemed like just a form letter, it was always possible that someone had hit a wrong key somewhere and sent it out accidentally. But it did have her name in it - someone would have had to enter that, wouldn't they? But she hadn't done anything...

"Hey, let me see that," Jason said. She handed her phone to him. Maybe he knew what it was, he had more experience than she did, after all. After looking it over a few times, he finally said, "That's weird. You don't know what it's about, Konata?"

"No, of course not." He gave her a look, like he was telling her they'd discuss it later. Maybe he could clarify for her. Why did they have to make these warnings so vague, anyway?

What could she have done to get that message? It had her name in it, so it couldn't be a mistake... The one thing Konata had always been told was to never reveal the existence of the organization to any outsiders. But... She looked at her friends. They all still thought she was as normal as always... which was to say, not very normal at all, but they didn't suspect anything truly unnatural.

They stopped at a fast food place in the city. Konata thought she could just push it out of her mind for a while, forget about it and just enjoy being with her friends for now. It was summer vacation, she should relax.

After ordering their food, they took a table near the window and watched the people and cars pass them by. The fries, although somewhat soggy, were delicious.

"So what's everyone planning to do over the summer?" Jason asked.

"Well, we don't have much planned..." Tsukasa said. "I think I'll mostly just stay home and relax."

"Yeah, that sounds just like you. You'll be waking up at three in the afternoon or so, won't you?" Kagami said.

Tsukasa giggled. "Yeah..."

"My family is planning to take a trip overseas this summer. I'm looking forward to it," Miyuki said.

Everyone stared at her. "You mean... again?" Kagami said in disbelief. "Geez, I've never even left the country once in my life." She turned to Konata. "Hey, do you have any plans this summer?"

Konata had been staring out the window in silence, thinking about that text message. Turning back to everyone, she replied, "Huh? Oh... You know. The usual. I'll be playing all the games that I haven't gotten around to yet. And of course I'll come over to your house right before we go back so that I can get that homework done."

"Of course," Kagami said. "How foolish of me to think that you'd be doing anything else."

"Make sure you work hard on it, Kagamin! I'm counting on you!" Konata smiled. Kagami glared at her, but didn't say anything else.

Tsukasa spoke up. "Jason, are you doing anything this summer? I would think you'd have something planned, since you're in a different country and everything..."

Jason thought for a moment. "Well, I had considered taking a trip to Kyoto for a few days. It'd be a good chance to see some more of the country. I've only been in the Tokyo area, after all."

"That does sound interesting," Miyuki said. "Are you taking the train there?"

"That's what I thought I'd do," Jason replied. "That seems to be the quickest way."

Konata looked at him. "I didn't know you were planning to go anywhere! I've always wanted to visit Kyoto."

"I guess you could come if you want," Jason said. "I only have enough to pay for myself, so you'd have to come up with train and hotel money on your own."

Konata was ecstatic. "Awesome!"

"Hey, you're just going to get up and leave? Do you have permission to do that?" Kagami asked, her eyes wide in shock. "I mean, going off with a boy and everything..."

"What?" Jason said.

"Are you saying...? No, no, it's nothing like that," Konata said, waving her hand dismissively. "I just want to get out of town for a while, that's all. You could come too, if you want."

"No, that's fine. I think I'll just stay home and relax this summer," Kagami said. "Enjoy your vacation."

"Hey, Dad. You mind if I go over to Kyoto for a couple days?" Konata asked.

Sojiro looked over at her. "That's a surprise. I guess it would be okay. You're old enough to take care of yourself..." He wasn't entirely convinced of that fact. He still worried about his daughter. After all, with his wife gone, Konata was all he had left. Still, maybe it would be good to be more lenient.

"Thanks, Dad." She turned back to the game she was playing.

"You just be careful, okay?" He thought of something else. "Is anyone else going with you?"

"Um, no. I'll just be on my own. That's okay, right?" she asked.

"Hmm, maybe I should call Yui and see if she can take you," Sojiro mused.

"No, it's fine. Really. I'm sure she's busy, anyway," Konata said. "It's only for two days. I'll be fine on my own."

"I... I guess you're right. There are kids your age living on their own, aren't there?" He could tell she really wanted to go on this trip. It was a big city. He worried about her safety, being out there, but he also had trouble refusing his daughter anything she wanted. "And that's right, you were taking martial arts classes for a while. You can defend yourself, can't you?"

"Do you really think anyone's just going to attack me? Really, Dad, you need to lighten up a bit." She paused, then added, "You're probably just worried I'll run into somebody like you, is that it?"

"Something like that," he agreed.

"You're a bit too quick to admit it. Don't get arrested while I'm out, okay?" And she was entirely serious about that.

A few days later, Konata and Jason were on the train as it sped off towards Kyoto. The view out the windows was almost just a blur.

"So is there any special reason you wanted to go to Kyoto?" Konata asked.

"You mean like with business or something?" Jason looked over at her. "Does there need to be? I just wanted to see some more of your world, that's all. I hope I'm not letting you down or anything."

"No, that's alright. I've always wanted to visit Kyoto anyway. It is where our animation studio is, after all." She now thought of Kyoto Animation as "her" animation studio, even if the one in this world didn't actually produce Lucky Star. They did, however, produce Haruhi Suzumiya, which was enough reason on its own to go and stare at the building.

"But speaking of work, I've been wanting to hear more about that message you got a few days ago. I'm sure you know the one."

"Yeah..." Konata said. She was torn between wanting to know what it was about and the urge to just forget all about it. "But I really don't know what that was about. I didn't do anything. Don't you trust me?"

"Konata, that was a Class II offense. They don't hand those out for just anything. Class I would be outright betrayal of the organization, and if you ever get one of those, you're out, just like that. You're really sure you didn't do anything?"

"I'm sure."

"Let's think, you took a few missions without me before exams. Did you do anything while you were working on those?"

"I don't think so." Konata turned back towards the window for a moment, reviewing everything that had gone on during those missions. They were some basic combat operations, taking out some assigned targets, the usual deal. Really, there was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, she thought she had done a pretty good job. "I swear, I didn't do anything wrong!"

"What about that mission you took with Spike. When you took Kamina back to headquarters? I remember that one, you were late to class that day. Anything happen then?"

Konata continued to stare out the window. She hadn't wanted that to come up. He had told her not to take any side trips on that visit. She had completely disregarded that order.

She sighed. "Well, I did try to..."

"What did you do?" He sounded even more serious than before.

She didn't like where this was going. In her mind, Konata could still see the number lit up on the wall of the elevator, bright purple against the black. "I tried to go to floor 19 of the headquarters. It was - "

"Surveillance of Reality Warping Beings," he said.

"That's the one." How had he recognized it just from the number? He couldn't have all of those thousands of floors memorized, could he?

"What the hell were you thinking? That's one of the highest security areas in the entire base! Of course that's what this is about." He looked down, putting his hand to his forehead.

"Well, they didn't let me in anyway! I thought it would be fine, you know? I didn't even see the inside. The doors never opened." Konata was trying to stay calm, but it only seemed to be getting worse.

Still holding his head, he turned to her. "Still, they see that as an attempt to breach security. I can't believe you would do something like that..." Jason kept his voice down, aware of the other passengers.

Konata's head was tilted back in exhaustion, and she was staring at the ceiling. "That's... that's the division that does observation of Haruhi, isn't it? I just wanted to find out what I had to do to get involved with that."

"So that's what it was about... You had mentioned that before, hadn't you... If they want you in that division, they'll tell you," Jason told her. "Just like they chose you to join the organization in the first place. But don't get your hopes up. Like I said, that's just about the most exclusive branch of the entire group."

"I consider that my ultimate goal. Being a part of the actual world is the highest status a fan can achieve, after all. And most of them don't even know it's possible."

"Your ultimate goal, huh?" Jason was silent for a moment, thinking about something. "I wish I could help you with that. I don't have the authority."

They were both silent again. A voice announced that the train would soon arrive in Kyoto.

"Already? Great," Jason said, looking up. "Well, just put everything about work out of your head for these two days. Let's just enjoy the trip, alright?"

"Yeah," Konata agreed. "So what other things did we want to do?"

"Well, I'm sure that in addition to the Kyoto Animation building, you're also going to want to go to the Kyoto International Manga Museum, right?"

"Yeah! I almost forgot about that." He knew her too well, didn't he?

"And I'd like to see some of the shrines and historical sites. Maybe find some good restaurants... First we should find a hotel for the night. Separate rooms, of course, I realize that your dad probably still hates me." Jason smiled.

"He doesn't exactly hate you, he just would never trust you alone with me. He'd probably shoot you, actually. But he doesn't even know that I came here with you, so that's all fine."

"You didn't tell him?"

Konata was grinning in that way she had. "Well, it's just like all the other little trips we take, isn't it? But not even nearly as dangerous."

As the train pulled into the Kyoto station, they picked up their luggage and joined the swarming mob of tourists, trying to push their way through. The weather was great. Konata could already tell that this had been a great idea. It was less of a vacation, actually more of a pilgrimage... Other than Akihabara, this must be the greatest place on Earth anyone could live.

It was now just a week until they had to go back to school. What had started out as a pleasant, warm summer had quickly turned almost unbearably hot. A few days Konata hadn't even been able to get up and do anything, she had just laid around doing nothing. Which was a traditional summer pastime in itself.

Just like she had promised, Konata dropped by the Hiiragi residence during the last few days of the break. She had brought her homework - completely forgotten and untouched until she had picked it up that morning. Kagami answered the door when she arrived.

"Welcome!" she said. "So how was the trip?"

"It was amazing. Check this out," Konata said. She showed Kagami a picture on her phone of her and Jason standing in front of some office building.

"Huh? What's that...?" Kagami tried to see what the name on the sign was.

"You don't recognize the Kyoto Animation headquarters? It's the Holy Land for my people!"

"Oh, that's what it is?" Kagami didn't sound as impressed as Konata had hoped. "Interesting."

"We should really go there again sometime. I guess you can't really comprehend how awesome it is just from the picture. There's just something in the air that I can't describe." Konata had a faraway expression on her face. Snapping out of it, she remembered what she had come for. "So you got that homework done, I'm guessing?"

"Of course." Kagami let out an exasperated sigh. "At least Tsukasa tried to get it done on her own. I really can't imagine what you plan to do with your life. Are you planning to get into college this way, too?"

"Sure, why not?" Konata seemed unconcerned.

"I don't get you..."