May 21st.

It was looking to be another warm and sunny day, according to the weather report on TV. By that night, though, there would be some rain and a chance of storms. Consider it some generic scene setting, Konata thought with some grim humor.

It was Sunday afternoon, and Konata had spent that day at home, just enjoying the time with her dad and Yutaka. Yui had come over to visit earlier, before she had to go on patrol for the day. Konata had already accepted what was going to happen today, and had had plenty of time to come to terms with it. She only regretted that nobody else could have the same chance. Although as the actual time came closer, she could feel her heart pounding and she could hardly sit still…

She was watching the clock, waiting until there was just enough time to get herself to Akihabara to go to work. She was waiting until the very last minute, and she would probably come in late. It seemed like that happened often enough. The manager might dock her pay if she did it again. Not that it would matter.

They were all gathered around the TV, watching some anime that had started a few weeks ago. Konata couldn't even keep track of what the plot was. Did anyone notice how different she was acting? If they did, neither her dad nor Yutaka showed it.

"Oh, it's that late already?" Konata, glancing up at the clock, tried to sound like she hadn't noticed until just then. "I guess I should be heading to work, then."

"Huh? That's right! You probably should have left a few minutes earlier, Oniichan," Yutaka said.

"You've gotta go already?" Sojiro said. "Okay, then. I guess we'll see you later. Be careful out there."

Did you have to put it like that...? Konata hesitated for just a moment. "Um... yeah. I will. I'll see you later."

As she moved towards the front door, ready to leave, she stopped. For a moment she wondered if she should say something else to them. She considered it for just a few seconds, but couldn't think of anything. She stepped outside.

Chapter 15

In The Line of Fire, Someone Must Have Known

Konata was paying special attention to her route to work that day. It was the same way she went every day, and it was important that she didn't stray from her routine too much. Anything close to home probably wasn't a good idea...

She took the train into the city.

If she was taking the train now, and she had decided to pull this off somewhere in the city... Konata realized it might be a while before she ever rode a train again. Such a basic part of her daily life that she'd be leaving behind. That began to put it all into perspective.

Konata continued on, walking through the crowded streets of Akihabara. She was beginning to see all these people as potential witnesses. It was weird. Maybe this part of town wasn't quite right... She'd see what it was like after dark once she left work. No need to worry about it until then.

But... There was every reason to be worrying about it, wasn't there?

Pull yourself together, she thought to herself as she went up the stairway to the cafe. People will notice if you're acting strange, especially after what happens. You have to act like nothing's wrong.

Easier said than done. What was there that she could focus on instead? Anything she thought of came back to the simple fact that she was leaving everything and everyone behind, and as she got closer to that crucial moment of action, it weighed even heavier than before on her.

"Hey, Konata-chan!" She looked up. Patricia Martin, that new exchange student from Yutaka's class. She was dressed in a pink waitress outfit, wearing a nametag that read "Mikuru."

"Patty-san. Hey," Konata said.

Patricia frowned. "Something wrong? You don't seem like yourself," she said.

"Nothing. Just a little exhausted, I lost track of time," Konata said. She tried to cheer herself up. Have some fun, after all, they were supposed to be entertainers. "So, you ready to go? Sunday's usually our busiest afternoon."

"Of course! You go ahead and get changed, I'll cover for you for a few minutes."

Konata went into the employees-only area in the back. First she put on her uniform - the basic sailor uniform for North High students.

If she ever wanted to wear this kind of uniform for real - to really go to school there, with characters thought by most people to be only fictional... That was what she was doing this for. It was the only way to achieve that dream, really.

Next she put on her red brigade leader sash, slipping it over her left arm. Finally she tied her yellow hair ribbon. Time to get into character - remember not to have any interest in the customers, they're all boring, ordinary humans.

How very, very true. Maybe work today would be easy.

The next several hours were just a regular shift of work. Konata, in her perfect imitation of Haruhi, yelled at her customers for being so boring and taking too long to order. She made a few threats of the death penalty. She kept an eye on Patricia, who kept just about all details about the menu "classified." That was what you got at this place, either Konata being rude or Patricia not telling you exactly what they were going to mix into your drink ("it's classified"). That girl who usually dressed as Yuki wasn't here today.

And, of course, they got up on stage to do their Hare Hare dance. Once Konata had completely perfected her imitation of Haruhi's voice, she had started singing live. It hadn't been easy, it had taken some serious conditioning - but she had the same voice actress, so it had to be possible. And the result was absolutely flawless.

"Konata-chan, you're so good at that," Patricia remarked after the show finished. "I heard the manager might give you a payraise for doing the live singing. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah... I guess so," Konata said. "Let's see, I just got my last paycheck the last time I came in to work... So I guess I can just get changed and leave."

"Okay. Good work today. When are you coming in next?"

You'll find out soon enough... Konata thought. "I thought maybe I'd come in next weekend. I don't have anything planned."

"Sounds good. I'll see you then!"

And Patricia, I'm really sorry if you have to go through a lot of police questioning, seeing as you're going to be the last one to see me alive... But you'll be okay, won't you?

After getting changed back into her regular clothes, hanging the cosplay outfit back up in the closet, Konata left the cafe at closing time. As she stepped out into the street, the sky had already begun to darken and some distant rumbling of thunder could be heard, although it hadn't started to rain yet. The streets were a bit less crowded as a result.

"Seriously? Is a thunderstorm really necessary?" Konata muttered.

She knew what she had to do next. As soon as she found some out-of-the-way location to carry it out, she was going to do it. But she was getting nervous. She found herself wanting to put it off as long as possible.

Maybe the storm would be helpful, if it was clearing out the streets. In fact, now it was looking like the perfect crime. Konata shuddered. This was a part she really wasn't looking forward to, but it was necessary. Standard procedure, Jason had told her. Just something to get out of the way, to tie up the loose ends.

She looked around and saw the familiar sign for Gamers. Might as well say goodbye to her favorite store, just look around one last time. Take in all the sights, sounds, and smells.

The interior of the store was quiet today, except for the sound of the rain outside. Even as she wandered around inside the store, it had picked up in intensity. There were only a few other people looking around. It was getting late, so most people were headed home. Konata found the manga section, and began looking through one of them at random.

For a girl like Konata, healthy, young, not into much trouble (or so it seemed), there were only a few methods in which she could leave this world forever. Just disappearing and never coming back wasn't a good option - they would be searching for her for months, more likely years, convinced she was still out there somewhere. Whatever she did, she had to leave them some kind of closure. It wasn't easy on anyone, but eventually they'd move on... Konata kept telling herself that. They would move on, and so would she.

"Hey, it's really starting to come down out there." She looked up to see some guys by the front doors, looking out at the downpour that had just developed.

"Should we wait in here a while longer, you think?" another one of them said. "It's a bit of a hike to get back to the train station. It can't keep up like this much longer."

"You're right. Looks like most people aren't trying to walk through it." Some distant thunder could be heard now, just a low rumble.

Konata was just peeking out over the top of the book she had, pretending to read but actually watching the guys by the door and the streets outside. That was true, the sidewalks were almost empty now except for a few people sprinting for cover.

She put the book back on the shelf and went towards the door. "Seriously, it's just water," she said, looking at the group of boys. She pulled the hood of her jacket up and walked out.

There was an especially loud crash of thunder, followed by lightning that for a split second made the view out the window seem like daylight. Yutaka jumped at the sudden noise.

"Oniichan's still out there... Wasn't she supposed to come home by now?" she said.

"I wouldn't blame her if she wanted to wait for it to clear up," Sojiro replied, glancing at the window. "It can't go on like this much longer. But maybe I should call her, just to make sure."

It was times like this that Sojiro was glad that Konata had started to get into the habit of carrying her phone around. She hadn't always done that, and he used to find himself trying to call her only to hear the ringtone coming from her bedroom in response to his attempt.

But for some reason, he was feeling worried about something. There wasn't any reason to, it was just a storm. Konata was tough, something like this wouldn't bother her. She'd be home as soon as it slowed down. In fact, it was probably best that she wasn't trying to make it home in the middle of this.

Sojiro dialed his daughter's cell phone number, and listened to the ring on the other end of the line. Just give her some time to find it and answer...

She didn't. It went straight to voice mail. He didn't feel a need to leave a message, she was going to be home soon anyway. He kept reminding himself of that. Why did he need to? Why did it feel like there was a chance that...?

Konata saw her home number on the caller ID, the screen getting wet from the rain. Probably her dad, by this time she was late coming home and the storm was really picking up. If she answered, this would be her last chance to say anything to him.

What would she say? That she was on her way home, since that was obviously what he was calling about? That could only make it worse once she didn't show up. The best choice right now was to let it ring. She put it away for now, at least until she had to use it to travel. Out of her home world, for the last time.

She could do this.

"She... didn't pick up," Sojiro said.

Yutaka was frowning, and looking downwards. "But that doesn't mean anything, right?" she said, and then looked up at him. "Oniichan's alright. She has to be."

"Yeah..." His voice was quiet, and he certainly didn't sound as confident as he wanted to. "What time did her shift end? It was what, two hours ago, give or take a few? She'll be home any second now. Maybe she was on the train, and that's why she couldn't answer."

Of course, that had to be it. Konata was on her way back at this very moment. There was no reason to have this creeping sensation of dread, that something wasn't how it was supposed to be... There was no reason to worry. Once Konata came home, he'd have to remind her to call home if she was going to be late again.

It was silent except for the thoughts running around his head, so he turned on the TV to drown them out for a while. And Konata would be coming through the door any minute now. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

Finally, Konata had found the perfect spot. This alleyway was empty, nobody was around to see what she was about to do. It would seem like she had just tried to take a shortcut through here to get back to the train station quicker. And, with the weather being as it was, it seemed like a good enough excuse.

With nobody around, nobody was there to see her standing there, a gun in her hand, her hands turning it over and over as she leaned against the wall to collect her thoughts. This was a pretty drastic action she was about to take.

Jason had told her that it wasn't too late to change her mind. Even now, nobody here was expecting her to do this, and the Organization would understand if she decided not to go through with it. Wouldn't they? And standing here, about to end her old life forever, backing out didn't sound like such a bad idea at all.

She was thinking of her friends. Kagami, Tsukasa, Miyuki... How would they find out about this? Would they hear about it tonight, or would it be when they came to school tomorrow and Konata wasn't there...?

Her dad. He had already lost his wife. Sure, he seemed so goofy and cheerful, but there had always been a part of him that had never let go of that. Was she really going to make his life worse? Thinking of it that way, it just seemed so selfish to leave him behind alone...

True, he had Yutaka staying with him now. Not that she would take this much better. Living together for the past couple of months, Konata had really gotten close to her cousin. Yutaka looked up to her. To just leave like this...

But then again, Konata knew that this was what was best for her. She had no plans for college, or a regular job outside of Eclipse. This was what she was good at, and it gave her this feeling that she was accepted... Kagami always told her that devoting her whole life to anime and games was a waste, but what did she know? She'd never been outside of this world. She had no idea what the possibilities were.

You could even say that this was going to be even more painful for her than it was for anyone else. But in spite of that, she'd go through with it...

Konata stood there for some time, still holding the gun, staring at it. Just a common 9mm handgun. The fact that it was common was important. Konata usually preferred more powerful, specialized weapons, but those would seem suspicious, and most of the ones she used were nonexistent in this world.

The one thing that was for sure - she had to die. Well, it had to appear that she had, at least. It was standard Eclipse procedure, leaving no question to everyone who knew her that she was gone and never coming back.

Hadn't she once been worried about this whole deal sending her to an early grave? Looking back, it had nearly happened once, back on that very first mission... She had been so concerned about what would happen to everyone at home if that happened, and now look what she was doing.

There had been a number of options considered for how she was going to die. At first she had thought it could just look like some accident, but there were surprisingly few ways to do that. Even if she had staged some fatal accident, wouldn't it look suspicious?

Eventually she had settled on this - a random murder, no witnesses. It was easy, if a little brutal.

Konata sighed. This was taking too long, and it wasn't getting any easier. Might as well just get it done with. She put the signal into the Talisman, and in a few minutes the doppelganger appeared in front of her.

It looked just like her - the same blue hair (black, to other observers), and on close inspection, the same outfit. Good. It was all set. The thing was a little creepy, though. It was a perfect clone of herself, created with magic to look just like her, for the sole purpose of being found dead to allow her to leave this world. It wasn't conscious, but it was still just barely alive. The green eyes stared dully ahead.

Konata inspected it for a few moments. It interested her. She took everything out of her pockets - her wallet, a pencil, some extra points cards for a store - and replaced them in her clone's pockets. As it stood there, unmoving, its gaze was starting to really freak her out.

Stepping back, and circling around behind it, she raised the gun, pointing squarely at the back of its head (my head, she thought for a moment, then shook it off). Now it really was her last chance to turn around. Get rid of this thing, put the gun away, she could be back on the train within minutes and go back home...

Instead, she pulled the trigger.

The doppelganger fell to the ground, facedown in a puddle that had formed. Konata winced as she fired, despite having fired a gun countless times before. Her breathing had become strained and heavy. It didn't even bother her that it was kind of like she was shooting herself. Mostly it was just the simple finality of it. But there was no time to stand around. If anyone had recognized the sound of a gunshot, they'd be back here in a matter of minutes. And this would certainly be a strange sight.

Konata lowered the gun and looked down on the scene. They'd find this corpse back here, and upon observation (even lab tests and autopsy) it would be identified as her body. As a final touch, she left the fake cell phone by the body's hand. She'd be taking the real one with her, of course. She glanced at the head, it had fallen facedown. The bullet had left a gaping hole in the back of its skull, the hair was matted with blood and fell all around it...

After looking at the gruesome sight for a bit too long, she didn't waste any time warping out of her home universe. For the last time.

The rain on the windows slowed down, and within an hour it had stopped completely. The last thunderclap had been about three hours ago, and after that everything quieted down, both outside and in.

Four hours ago, Sojiro had called the police to file a missing person report. Konata wasn't answering any calls, and she still hadn't come home. This wasn't like her. They had told him that police had already been sent out, and were searching Akihabara and surrounding districts.

That had been four hours ago... Four hours, still nothing back. It was 2 in the morning and Konata was missing. He was still trying to convince himself everything was fine, but with each minute that seemed more and more unlikely.

"Yutaka..." he said, looking across the table at her. "Don't you think you should go to bed? You've got school tomorrow..."

"I know that..." Yutaka replied. She was staring down at the phone lying on the table, lying there dead and silent. "I can't sleep, though. I'm too worried."

"I know how you feel." Sojiro was feeling exhausted himself, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep even if he tried. "But... Konata's alright, I just know it. They'll find her."

They fell silent again for the next fifteen minutes or so, although it felt more like hours. There was still no response from the police. If anything was found, he had said he wanted to be called as soon as possible. So this just meant they had nothing.

It was then that they finally received the call, but any sign of hope or relief vanished when they heard Yui's voice on the other end, barely understandable through tears.

"U-Uncle Sojiro... They... found her."

For some strange reason, all Sojiro could think of right now was his wife.

Nobody questioned had heard the gunshot, or at least anyone who had was unfamiliar with the sound and thought it was another crack of thunder. Until the forensic investigations were complete, it couldn't be said when exactly the Izumi girl had been killed. Estimates placed the murder around 9 PM.

She had been found by another officer on the force, a little after 2 PM. She had been shot once in the back of the head, and appeared to have been killed instantly. A few inches from her hand was her cell phone, which had been dropped on the ground and no longer worked. The alleyway had been blocked off. The red police lights reflected on the wet ground.

Although Yui had been part of the search party, and also the one to call Konata's father, she didn't have the strength to come to the scene and see it for herself. Instead, she had gone back to her uncle's house, where they tried to come to terms with what had happened.

Other investigators were examining the scene, but no luck. The rain had stopped, but there still wasn't much evidence to go on. The wound seemed to be a basic 9 mm handgun. That was all they had to narrow it down, and plans to investigate illegal possession of firearms was being discussed. There was no apparent motivation to kill the girl, who seemed normal enough, with no real enemies. The body had been left where it fell, and no money or possessions had been taken. The lack of motivation made it only more disturbing.

By the next morning news of Izumi Konata's sudden and unexpected murder would become public.