An overhead light flickered to life, an old fluorescent tube that gave a yellowish glow to the cramped room.

The snowflakes melting in Kagami's hair suggested that she had just been outside seconds ago. She had enough faith in her own memory to know she had been, and also that the others had been there too.

What others?

"Uh... Mikuru? Joshua...?" They didn't answer, obviously because they weren't here.

Because they didn't exist, and it was crazy to think that they ever had.

She took a step backwards, almost running into something that made a metallic rattle at the contact. A hospital gurney, a very old one. Two others were also there in front of her, one tipped sideways against the wall. The walls were covered in ceramic tile, with some reddish... rust stains, they had to be. Most of the tile was chipped off, not so much from neglect as from intentional destruction, it seemed.

The lights flashed off, and for a split second she froze, not wanting to make even the slightest movement. They quickly faded back in. It was only the electricity. In a place like this, it was a miracle there was any at all... But where was this?

Kagami considered the possibility that this could be yet another alternate universe. She had somehow been dropped here, teleported or something, from that town with all the snow. The same thing had happened back home, when they had all ended up in the park. That time hadn't been so bad, really. Not like this.

She was paranoid, and there was no reason for it. Stay logical...

A way out. That was the most important thing right now. The windows had a metal grating over them, and she couldn't see out very well. It was the fog. Was she somewhere nearby where she had started from? Then... why was she alone?

Even Rei's annoying, cheerful attitude would be welcome right now.

On the opposite wall from the greyed-out windows was a steel door of about the same shade. Tentatively she moved towards it, feeling her foot kick aside a shard of porcelain on the floor, and, as ridiculous as it seemed, knocked on the door a few times. No response came, so she opened it, finding it was thankfully unlocked.

Light spilled out from this room, revealing a dingy grey hallway, a strip of wood paneling running horizontally about three feet off the floor. In terms of decorating, that paneling jutting out from the wall was all they had. The surface was peeling away at the bottom where it met ancient linoleum. And, all around the dim pool of light, just total darkness.

"Guys, come on... We were supposed to stick together, weren't we? Get over here..." Kagami called out, her voice fading out as she was not really anticipating a response at this point. "This is just bullshit..."

Whose fault was it that she was here, again?

The lights in the hall flickered on, in tandem with the lights in that room she had started out in, and she could very briefly see that it led for quite a distance in either direction. After that single moment, it all went dark.

She stepped forward, hands out in front, feeling for that wooden ridge that stuck out from the wall. All that mattered was getting out of here. Something was wrong with this. Following along the wall, she made her way down the hall to the left, probably going faster than she should have. The woodwork wasn't polished, she felt a few splinters sticking out. Getting a splinter seemed like the least of her worries, though...

But really, what could happen to her now? She had died in the earthquake back in Tokyo. They'd been right in the epicenter.

She felt the ridge come to an end, leaving the wall smooth. Feeling around, she found a doorknob, but shaking it back and forth, she felt it turn loosely in its socket, not letting her in. She continued on. A few meters later, there was a turn to the right, and she decided to take it.

Complete silence, except for her own footsteps and a low electrical buzz. The lights flashed on for another second, giving her time to register several more doors in front of her. Mostly all it did was make her eyes burn. These probably didn't lead anywhere except a dead end like where she had started.

She was never getting out.

Maybe it was wrong to blame this on Konata. Going out in the storm had been reckless, she'd been murdered, for God's sake, but it had been nearly a year ago, and in no way had to do with why Kagami was here now. If anything, it was actually Miyuki. She'd known about the seismic activity but had never said anything to them. Always so willing to share random tidbits of information, but never anything useful. But they were all stuck down here now, they'd all suffered the consequences.

Such a lonely place.

In total darkness it was easy to lose track of time. She could have been here for five minutes, maybe five hours. Maybe even longer. It had been dark so long she didn't even remember where she was. These long hallways, all the locked doors. Was it Ryoo? She was back in school?

"Anyone else here?" Kagami said, almost surprised at the sound of her own voice.

Somewhere behind her a door clanged open. On second thought, had it been from behind? It could have come from anywhere. Her mental image of the building was scrambled up. It was all a maze. Was she moving forward, or going back to where she had started? How far away had that sound been? She tried all the door handles she could find, stretching her arm out to feel the opposite wall to try the ones there. All of them either broken or locked. Searching for them all made her lose track of which way she had been heading in the first place.

The squealing noise that started from down the hall sounded human, then deteriorated into a coughing fit, like the person had fluid stuck in their throat and couldn't get it all out. She could only estimate it was maybe ten or fifteen meters away.

Kagami continued moving quickly, trying to determine how many pairs of footsteps she heard. They had an unsteady gait, like they were limping or something. The steps were slightly staggered with her own. There was at least one other person here.

Was it a good thing that she wasn't alone in here? She couldn't decide.

"Is... someone there?" she said.

No words responded, but whoever it was... if it was a person... was still behind her. It sounded like bare feet on the linoleum, slowly stumbling forward, just as blind as she was. But it didn't speak. Instead, it gave some sort of guttural howl.

Kagami needed to get out of here, she had to find Tsukasa and just go home, this wasn't where she was meant to be, there had to be a way out, if she just had some light, if someone was here with her, anyone at all, she didn't care, as long as someone human was in here with her that was all she needed, where had the others gone?

She had broken into a run, no longer caring that she couldn't see. She had no idea how far the hallway continued down, until her foot kicked something hard, and pain shot up her leg. She felt forward, feeling a wall in front of her. How fortunate that she hadn't smacked into it facefirst. A dead end. No, wait... a door handle... Probably locked. Kagami tried it. Surprisingly, this one worked.

And there was light behind it.

A stairwell, all brick and concrete, with industrial-looking metal handrails. She squinted, suddenly able to see again. Even this weak orange light was a shock for her. The back of the door she had entered from said she was on the second floor of... whatever this place was. So the ground floor would obviously be her way out.

Also on the wall was a red-bladed axe, hanging there with a sign that said "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY." Did right now count? Probably yes. She placed her hand on the smooth metal of the head, feeling the distressed, but still slightly glossy, painted surface. Then, placing both hands on the wooden handle, lifted it up and held it up in front of her. The weight of it made her feel safe. She'd take this with her.

One flight of stairs, leading to a landing, then another which led to the bottom. Beyond this doorway, it was still dark... but she wouldn't be blind like she had on the upper floor.

She could see a hallway similar to the one in the floor above, a room every couple of meters. If she got close she could read the plaques on each one. C4, C3, C2... C1. Across from that, Exam Room 2... No reason to go in there, just more empty rooms. The door next to that one was unlabeled. She tried it, but it was locked. The fire axe was still at her side, she raised it contemplatively... Then, gripping it with both hands, swung it at the door. It splintered at the first strike, but remained standing for five more blows. In desperation, she kicked it, and it fell forward.

Here was the entrance hall, she could see a front door and faint greyish-white light coming in from windows. And the front door.

She passed by some offices, but didn't have any interest in checking them out. It was a relief just to see again, but more than anything she wanted to be outside. The floor was checkered tile, a wooden bench was to her left, and a bulletin board was right next to the exit. It had a map of Brookhaven Hospital posted there... That would have been useful before, wouldn't it? She examined the second floor, and found it impossible to figure out exactly where she had been.

Kagami stepped outside, back into the thick grey fog covering the town like smoke.

Chapter 25

While Angels Sing In Endless Dark

The sun was bright out here. It certainly wasn't October in this new world like it had been in the other one, it was probably closer to late spring. Possibly June. All this change in season was disconcerting, to say the least. But Miyuki was glad to have ended up here, out of all the possible places. Konata had been right, there was nothing to be afraid of. This was a safe place, an institute of learning.

"Nagato-san, I'm not sure exactly how to say this..." Miyuki started. "But you were able to sense things, like when you met Konata-san, right? Do you... notice anything around here?"

"Certain students seem to be emitting irregular energy signatures," Nagato replied simply.

"So what exactly does that mean...?" Miyuki wondered aloud. She watched as the last of the students rushed inside the building, trying not to be late for class. Personally she was always very punctual, so she didn't know the feeling... although Konata-san probably would.

"Further observation will be necessary." Nagato started walking towards the front doors, which Miyuki took as a signal to follow.

"Perhaps we should find the principal..." Miyuki said. "I'm sure we're not supposed to be here without permission. We can just say we're visitors, I'm sure..."

Coming to accept the appearance of the world in two dimensions, Miyuki recognized this as just a regular school building. It was a private academy, by the looks of it. Much wealthier than Ryoo had been, that was for sure, but regardless...

But what had Nagato just said about "irregular energy signatures?" Alucard had noticed that one girl outside and said there was something about her... He had said they didn't need to concern themselves with her, but there was more than one person here like that? It was probably best not to be too worried about that. Miyuki was sure that if she just followed along, everything would turn out alright in the end and she'd be home before she knew it. The news about Konata had been a shock, but after some evaluation, she decided to have faith in her friend.

Voices were coming out of the classrooms, typical beginning-of-the-day lines about settling down, the topics to be covered in the day, introductions to lessons. Junior high school held some pleasant memories for Miyuki.

Nagato seemed to freeze, and Miyuki kept walking until she ran into her. "Oh, I'm sorry - " she said, backing up and pushing her glasses back into place.

"Something's arrived."

"Something...?" Miyuki couldn't tell if anything had changed. She heard the faint voice of a teacher calling out a name, then the student pulling out their chair to stand up and recite the answer. Other than that, it was fairly quiet and still.

What happened next was one of the most strange things Miyuki had seen yet. Nagato started speaking quickly, sounding less like a human and more like a recorded tape played in reverse at a high speed. As she finished the chant, everything went gray and silent. All the colors were drained out, except for the two of them.

"What is this?" Miyuki said. Her voice seemed to echo. Nobody was in the school anymore. Just minutes ago she had heard voices in the classrooms, where had all those people gone?

"Closed space has just formed in this area. The source appears to be Suzumiya Haruhi."

"So... That girl we're supposed to find... is here? In this universe?"

"Not necessarily."

"But according to that file... This is closed space, correct? It shouldn't form unless she's in this world, unless I misunderstood something..."

"This space was created through Suzumiya's will, but she herself cannot be detected. There is a possibility that she has somehow created this at random from a different universe. It would signify that her power is amplified in some manner."

It didn't make any sense, but Miyuki accepted it. Closed space was apparently some other plane or layer that existed inside a universe, and they were able to slip into it... Nagato seemed confident... if she seemed like she felt anything at all. They turned around and headed back to the front entrance, back into that plaza that felt even larger and emptier than anything else.

"Diameter seems to be at approximately ten kilometers..." Nagato reported. "Expansion will continue unimpeded until this world is consumed."

The sky was grey. Not cloudy, but just grey, like everything else. The silence really was eerie -

There was the sound of something crashing, massive destruction on a level Miyuki had only heard on one other occasion. When the tower had broken through the ground, back in her own universe, back when this entire situation had started. She turned to see what had caused it. There was a hazy blue figure standing over there in the city, swinging lanky arms at the buildings and watching them as they fell. Its body seemed like liquid, and the proportions of its humanoid features were all distorted.

"Is there something... we can do?" Miyuki said, watching it with rapt fascination and fear.

"I am unequipped to defeat Celestial Beings. Without an esper, there is nothing to be done."

That boy who had been the esper... Koizumi... he had gone with Konata. There was no way to reach him now. What logic did all of this function on? She wanted to think of a solution, but this wasn't an area she had any experience with. It was essentially a fantasy novel, and she knew enough about those to understand that the rules varied across the field.

If this was a different world than Nagato's, then maybe the rules could be bent. Things had to be available here that weren't in that other world... didn't they?

"What about... Is there any other way? Maybe one of the students, the ones with... powers, or..." Miyuki's mind was working, in ways she didn't completely understand. She took the ideas as they came to her.

"That is a possibility, although chances of success are low."

Nagato performed the chant again, and the closed space... No, it didn't disappear, they just left it. It was still there, but invisible, and the thing she had called a "Celestial Being" was still in that other layer. They had to remember it was there, because if this universe was "consumed" while they were still in it... What would happen?

Miyuki remembered reading somewhere a theory, claiming that sometimes thinking illogically would stimulate creativity and reveal working solutions... She hadn't been sure of that when she read it. Maybe that was all she could do for now.

Dante was scowling as he scanned the creatures before them.

"The hell are these things supposed to be?" he said.

Tsukasa actually agreed with him - these looked nothing like the demons that had been here before. First they had seen some sort of green, muscular thing that almost could have been human, carrying a cleaver in its hand. It gave a yell as it spotted them, and not long after more had appeared, some like the first, others with even more varied appearances. Blue devils carrying pitchforks. Red-haired fairies. A white cat wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, lounging in midair.

She was equally terrified of all of them.

"We can take them on," Kamina said, drawing his katana in front of him.

"'We?'" Kyon said. "Maybe if you and Dante can learn to agree on something for once, then the two of you can. What am I supposed to do?"

They stood in the middle of the street, the four of them surrounded by something like twenty creatures of varying size and shape. It had been Kamina's idea to make a stand here, partially influenced by all the routes being blocked off once they arrived, but he was still enthusiastic about it. A crazed grin had come over his face in anticipation of the battle. He had called it a struggle between humans and beasts, fueled by pure fighting spirit, just like where he had come from. Tsukasa wondered where someone like him had come from.

The green ogre approached from behind, swinging the knife at Dante, sticking the blade directly into his upper arm near the shoulder. Despite all the blood, it seemed like little more than a minor annoyance to him. He drew his sword and attempted to swing around, catching the demon on the back swing. It looked like he had made a solid strike that should have split it into two, but the creature didn't even flinch.

"The hell? It's not doing anything!" Dante yelled, dodging the counterattack.

"Perfect," Kyon said, inching back away from Dante at the same time that he was noticing even more demons coming from behind. There was nowhere to go. "As long as I'm still alive to say this, I just want to say I always knew this was a terrible idea."

Tsukasa's mind was working fast, pure self-preservation instinct. Which, regrettably, she had never used before, and so they were naturally blunt from disuse.

"We... need to get out of here..." It came out so quietly that she wasn't sure anyone had heard her.

"We're falling back? How could you suggest that? Who the hell do you think I am?" Kamina demanded angrily. He only looked back at her for a moment before returning to his futile attempts. The katana passed through the demons like they were made of air.

"Screw this, she's right. I'm not wasting my time," Dante said.

He didn't lower his guard as he backed up, keeping an eye on all the demons that were closing in. Kyon was the next to follow. Tsukasa gave a glance towards Kamina, then looked back at the rest of the group, and chose to have faith in the larger half. She moved in as close as she could to them.

"At least you seem to have some common sense," Kyon said. "Thanks for that, at least."

Dante gave a sharp, bitter laugh. "Whatever. As soon as we find a way out of this, I'm going back home. And if we leave him back there to be killed, that'll leave you two on your own. So good luck."

There was an alley to the side where they might be able to slip through, but dark shadows could be seen in it. Shapes that probably weren't human. Tsukasa didn't want to look at them, to even think about them... She lowered her head to the ground, and saw something strange.

Some sort of... two-screened device, like a Nintendo DS, like what Konata used to play all the time. No, it was different. The labels on the buttons didn't look familiar. And the screen was showing all kinds of weird text and colors, like someone had bashed it in and most of the pixels had gone dead.

"That's weird..." she said, forgetting about everything else for a while and picking it up to look at it, to see what the text had to say.

The screen seemed to turn off, then simply read -

Let's Survive.

The message quickly faded. How strange, was it supposed to do that? She'd almost forgotten about the demons for the moment, and was content to focus in on just this worn-out device off the ground that still seemed functional. That was when yet another appeared directly in front of her.

"Tsukasa! The hell'd you do?" Dante said, raising his sword defensively.

"Um... I... don't know..." she stuttered, staring at the thing in front of her.

Actually, this one was... kind of cute. It was very short, a little white bulgy body like a marshmallow and a blue cap covering its head with its huge grin. "Hee-humans, ho?" it said, visibly surprised.

"Is that thing... talking to us?" Kyon said. "This is ridiculous..."

"You-ho are the ridiculous one, hee-ho!" it said, its voice high-pitched and honestly very difficult to take seriously.

Without fail, Kamina had noticed what was going on from his position and charged forward, making a wide slash towards the demon which they all knew wouldn't -

It vanished, for a moment turning a monochromatic red and then fading away.

"Wait, what was different about that one?" Kyon said. He placed his face in his hands in frustration. "Someone please tell me when any of this makes sense..."

"Let's try the others," Dante said, starting to smile. He already had both handguns drawn, Ebony and Ivory, and started shooting in all directions. It would have seemed like his aiming was random... if he didn't hit most of them. The same thing happened to the other demons after they were hit a few times, they all faded out and disappeared. The street seemed empty.

"Looks like you found something, eh, Tsukasa?" Kamina said, before leaping into the fray himself.

She stared down at the device in her hands. She had honestly thought this was someone's game system... But it was somehow connected to the demons? They could be defeated now... No, this didn't play video games, they must be in one right now. It was like Konata had said, she had told them she'd been doing this for years...

Within about five minutes, they stood alone in the plaza. No bodies were left behind, they all just vanished when they were defeated. Tsukasa still held the device with two trembling hands.

A flash of red light in front of her, and the snowman appeared again.

"Plee-hee-sed to meet you, ho!" it said.

"You little shit," Dante said. "Give up already." He shot it in the head, but it still just grinned up at him.

"I'm on your side now, hee-ho! My name's Jack Frost!"

Tsukasa peeked out at it. "He's actually... kind of cute," she admitted. "Seems kinda hot for the little guy to be outside, though. Is he... really a demon?"

"A damn sorry excuse for one," Dante said. "Couldn't be more thrilled to have him join us."

The screens had turned back on, with some dead pixels adding dots of lime green to the dark-red color scheme of the menu. The heading said "Demon Summoning Program." Tsukasa realized with a shock that this device... It must somehow store them inside it. She didn't want to summon any more. That last horde had been enough for a lifetime. What to do with it?

She felt a strong hand on her shoulder, which made her jump. "This is the first step in our counterattack, then," Kamina said. "Nice work. Any idea how to work it?"

"Um... I don't know..." She tried using it like a DS, using the arrow keys and buttons (although, without the usual letters on them, she couldn't be sure what the functions of each one were). Navigating the system seemed simple enough, but Tsukasa found it difficult to even search a cell phone address book. Various prompts came up, mentioning things like "Cathedral of Shadows" and "Welcome to the Demon Auction!"

"You gonna be okay there?" Kyon said. He leaned in, watching her attempts to navigate.

Tsukasa bit her lip. "I think I..." She noticed an icon for "Team," and tried it out... One member was shown. Jack Frost, with a picture of the little guy beside it. She looked up and saw him wandering away, waving his arms out to the sides like a bird and bouncing as he walked. She hit a few more buttons, some more menus popped up that she quickly tried to exit, then finally managed to find a "Return" command. She watched as he wandered over towards a streetlight, then vanished in mid-step.

"Good. That got rid of him," Kyon said.

"Don't lose track of that thing, Tsukasa. We've gotta figure out how to use it." Kamina gave her a confident smile, which she nervously tried to return, but after all that had happened... She simply couldn't.

"Let's just take a break for now," Kyon said. "I'm getting a headache."

The chipped, borderline illegible white paint on the weatherbeaten sign simply read "Tull."

"As in 'Jethro?'" Jason said. Realizing the others didn't get the reference, he added, "Never mind."

For all appearances, they had stepped onto the set of a classic Western movie. One road cut straight down the middle, and partway down an intersection crossed through paralell to the main street. All the buildings looked old. Not only old-fashioned, but also run-down and neglected. And in total, there were probably only seven or eight structures in total, if you counted the boarded-up grocery and overgrown train station.

Not that there weren't people living here. A few were out on the street, eying the four newcomers suspiciously. The style of dress seemed to match the town - rustic, nineteenth-century clothing, making the four of them stand out even more. Konata remembered her past missions, how they had always known where they were going and, most importantly, how to fit in.

"So where the hell are we?" Junpei asked, voicing the question all of them wanted to ask. "Emir - I mean, Konata... Do you recognize anything about this place? You're the one who sent us here, right?"

"Never heard of it in my life..." Konata said. The place was isolated. After walking through the desert for hours, then finally coming up to some cornfields and plant life, this was the only place they had seen. And the population couldn't possibly be even a hundred people. "It seems... a little depressing, actually."

People seemed to look at her in particular with disapproval in their eyes, and quickly turn away and go about their business. None of them were welcome here, but something about Konata really set them off.

"If I had to take a guess, it looks like we'd be in Arizona or something, at least a hundred years ago," Jason said. "But..."

He pointed to one of the front porches, up to the slanted overhang shading the door from the sun. Electric lights were set into the wooden ceiling, shut off until nightfall.

"Interesting..." Koizumi remarked. "It seems anachronistic."

"More likely, this universe has just developed in a completely different way than ours did. All four of us come from different worlds, but for the most part they're similar. This world... I'm not even sure if the United States, or Japan, for that matter, exist. It could have a completely different geography," Jason said.

"Hmm... I was hoping we'd be somewhere more like Fullmetal or something. With the desert and everything..." Konata said. "But I guess I'd be able to tell if it was. I just wish I knew what this place was..."

The distinct sound of a ragtime piano started up. The source seemed to be a structure with the word "Sheb's" posted above the entrance. Something about the tune was familiar. The singer's voice was unintelligible, buried under the chatter of the patrons.

"I think I've heard that somewhere..." Junpei said. He waited a bit longer. "Yeah, I'm almost sure I have. The place seems packed. Should we check it out?"

"Why not?" Jason said, shrugging. "It's as good a place to start as any."

Entering Sheb's revealed it to be a dirty bar-and-grill style place, mostly full of semi-conscious drunkards. Konata had a memory flash of one of the early training missions, the one where she had first encountered Kamina and Joshua in a place like this. That one had been more medieval than Western.

Back then, she had been just starting out with fighting, and regardless of an abnormal level of skill or not, those two had been great at helping her out. Kagami and Tsukasa were going to be just fine with them... right?

"Oh man... Real hamburgers. I've gotta be dreaming," Junpei said. Sure enough, that seemed to be the fare here on many of the tables. No condiments or buns, but when you were this hungry, it didn't matter.

They took an empty table towards the back, near the piano player. Up close, you could hear that he wasn't a professional by any standards, except maybe those of this small burg. And possibly just as drunk as his fans.

"And any time you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain, don't carry the world upon your shoulders..." he sang. A few more voices joined in, recognizing the old favorite. "For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool by making his world a little colder..."

"That's... really bizarre," Jason said.

"What is?" Koizumi said.

"That song... Junpei was right, it is familiar. The Beatles sang it. They would have recorded in about... the sixties, seventies, sometime around then."

"But this world shouldn't have popular music. We haven't seen any radios or things like that."

"Who knows? It's definitely Hey Jude, though," Jason said.

A waitress was making the rounds, handing out food and serving beer to the other tables. She made a sideways glance towards their table, like she was trying to avoid them, but Konata flagged her down. She couldn't ignore the obvious signal, so she sighed and headed over.

"You ain't from around here..." An odd way to greet customers, to be sure. "An' I don't expect you came from Princetown, either."

"Just passing through," Konata said quickly, before anyone else could speak. The unwelcome feeling was really getting to her, she didn't want to stay here long.

"Actually, we're... looking for someone, I figure we might as well ask you." Koizumi reached in his pocket, looking for the photo Konata had suggested he bring. A recent picture of Haruhi, in case she had come here. He dug around for a while, not finding it.

"You. Why're you dressed like a boy?" the waitress asked Konata.

"Dressed like..." Now she noticed it, all the women here wore long dresses. None of them wore pants, not even short skirts, even with how hot it was. Everyone had been staring at her simply because she was wearing jeans. She couldn't think of a response. "Well, uh... Like I said, we're just passing through."

"Here it is," Koizumi said finally. He laid the picture down on the table. It was a shot of Haruhi and Mikuru, during the filming of the movie. Koizumi laid a finger on it to point out Haruhi, and said, "This girl. Suzumiya Haruhi. Does she... look familiar, or anything?"

"A fottergraf... Don't see many of those. Never seen one like that, with the color. You really ain't from around here." The waitress was staring at it, her face unreadable. "You say her name is... Suzumiya Haruhi... Yeah, heard of her."

"Seriously?" Konata said, suddenly perking up. "Where? From who? If someone knows what happened to her, we need to - "

The waitress was shifting uncomfortably. "You'd actually go off in search of the man in black. You'd have to be crazy to do such a thing."

"Who exactly is that?" Jason asked. "This 'man in black.'"

"I... can't say. Comes through here every now and again. Strange things happen when he do."

"Look, lady, these two here, they're professionals. And I know all of us have seen enough strange things, so I don't think one guy's gonna be a problem," Junpei said. "Just tell us where to go."

"And what exactly did he say about Suzumiya-san?" Koizumi added.

"He was looking for her. He was headin' to wherever it is she come from, off into the south, and nobody ever saw him since then, say thankee. But that girl you're looking for ain't never been here." Her eyes were wide with fear, like she expected the man in black to appear at any moment and... do what, exactly? Why was he so frightening? "Now, you gonna order something or what? I don't have any more to say."

"That's quite enough. Thank you," Jason said.

They ordered four hamburgers, but nothing to drink - regardless of whether a legal drinking age existed here, it did back home, and Sheb's had nothing to offer but beer. They discussed the only lead they had, that a man in black, whose very mention seemed to strike fear into the people here, had mentioned Haruhi, and then fled into the desert for parts unknown. Admittedly, it was very little information to kick off a pursuit with. The waitress came back with the meat - no buns, as was the style here - and left without another word. They took the food to go.

The chorus still repeated as they walked out the door, fading into the background as the distance increased. The town was so quiet that you could hear it practically anywhere within its limits.

"Na, na nah, na nana naaaaaa... Na nana naaaaaaaa... Hey, Jude..."