Among other things that looked strange in this world, Tsukasa thought that the numbers now floating above everyone's heads would have looked even stranger had this been real life.

Shortly after that first battle had been finished, these floating circles with the number "1" in the center had appeared above the three others, right above their heads. It kind of matched how things had looked on the device, with the dark-red color scheme. Since then, they'd continued into the main part of the city, and seen plenty of crowds. Everyone had a number. Mostly they had "5," but a few people had smaller numbers. Five was the highest, from there it only went downwards. She saw a few people with "0."

Tsukasa didn't mention it to anyone else. Kyon didn't say anything and he usually had some sort of a remark on anything that was weird... She didn't want to sound strange by pointing it out, so she just remained silent.

And Dante had said that these demons were different from the ones he was used to - the ones that she had seen before, the ones that Konata had saved her life from - and that he didn't think this was her own universe... They were in some different Tokyo. It was less chaotic, to be sure. There wasn't the constant barrage of attacks, although it seemed like people were always on edge, and numerous mentions of demons could be heard in the conversations as they passed by. A group of four teenagers was gathered in front of an electronics store, all of them holding devices like the one Tsukasa had found.

"So where do we go?" Kyon said finally, after a long period of silence. "I mean, we can't leave the city or they'll shoot us. We have no idea how to get back to any of our home universes. This whole situation was hopeless from the beginning."

"What we need is a plan," Kamina said, scratching his chin and smiling thoughtfully.

"Funny thing to hear you say that. Your last plan was 'rush in and kill all the demon bastards,' and look how that turned out. We nearly died," Dante said. "So what's your new plan? Find another bunch and charge in? And you don't have to answer that, by the way."

"Can we just... sit down for a minute?" Tsukasa said, working up the courage to say something, anything at all.

"I second that. Let's just stop in one of these restaurants here..." Kyon's voice trailed off, as he realized all the buildings had been looted. "Figures... That one over there doesn't look too bad. Let's stop and come up with a plan."

Makino's might have been an expensive, upper-class restaurant in a past life, probably no more than two or three days ago. The same couldn't be said for it now, with the smashed tables and missing front doors. Some broken glass laid underneath an open space where a window had been. They took a table towards the back, and Tsukasa nearly collapsed once she sat down.

"Come to think of it, you remembered to bring food, didn't you?" Kyon said, looking across the table at Kamina. "With that weird magic thing that you people have." Tsukasa remembered what he was talking about, how Konata had been storing her weapons and stuff by pulling them out of thin air.

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Food... It seems I overlooked something," he said finally.

Dante scoffed. "You're the only one who was with these Eclipse people and knows how to do that stuff. You seriously forgot it?"

"This isn't happening..." Kyon said. "Look, you two... Just stay here, alright? I'll go check the kitchen. Nobody's there, so they shouldn't mind..." It looked like it had been sacked already, but it was worth a shot. His stomach growled.

Tsukasa picked her head up. "I'll go, too..." As if her energy had already been renewed, she stood up quickly and followed him.

"Good..." he muttered. "I really need a break from those two. Hopefully they won't kill each other." Meaning that in the most literal sense.

While still not orderly by any standards, the stainless steel of the kitchen was less dirty than the dining area. There were a variety of utensils hanging from the ceiling above the sinks and preparation areas. A few of the cupboard doors had been left hanging open, revealing only empty shelves. Tsukasa opened one of the others and found some curry powder, vegetable oil, a few other perishables left untaken. In spite of the mess, it reminded her of...

"You know... I wanted to work at a restaurant like this someday..." she said quietly. "I was even supposed to go to the culinary school in Kobe, before... all the stuff back home happened."

"Really? You're a cook?" Kyon didn't take his eyes off the shelves he was searching, and headed over to check the walk-in freezer.

"I'm not anything too special... Maybe I could make something, though..."

"By all means, take as much time as you need. They can wait." He added, "So what about that thing you found? Let me take a look at it."

"Oh... sure." Tsukasa wasn't at all hesitant to take it out of her pocket and hand it over to him. After looking at the outer surface for a moment, he opened it up and began searching through the various screens and files. She went back to hunting for ingredients - with what was left, maybe she could make curry... That was something she'd made often enough to memorize the steps.

She'd have to take whatever vegetables were still available. In the huge refrigerator, there was still an onion left, some garlic... Tsukasa had pushed the past few hours out of her mind completely, and didn't even spare a thought about the demons.

"You've got email on here, it looks like," Kyon said, and she was unfortunately reminded of that device she had let him take a look at. "And... Hm. This is pretty much a complete user's manual."

"Oh... That's good..." she said idly. She turned on the stove, an industrial model that she wasn't used to. This was like what she'd use if she became a real chef, wasn't it? Maybe she still could. Konata would figure out how to get them all home safely.

"I hate to even suggest this, but..." Kyon looked up at her. "There's a Demon Auction on here, and... maybe we should use it."

"Huh?" Tsukasa stopped for a moment, letting the beef sizzle in the pan for a while. "Like... we'd buy more demons? No, I don't think - "

"You've only got one in here, and I don't think that will be enough. If they're really going to listen to your orders... Look, I have no idea who to trust," Kyon said in exasperation. "It might be in both our best interests if you figure out how to control them."

Dante didn't have any loyalty to the team, and Kamina... He was a friend of Konata, but his ideas usually seemed impossible. The last ones Tsukasa wanted to put her faith in were the demons, but... Would they really obey her if they came out of that...?

"And you've also got this Cathedral of Shadows app, or whatever it is..." Kyon was eying the screen with a slightly perplexed expression. "You fuse two demons into a more powerful form."

"What?"

"I don't know. Honestly I'm a little hesitant to try something like that... We'll look at it if the time comes."

He didn't say anything for a while, so Tsukasa returned to preparing the curry. She'd mixed up the sauce and was stirring it into the rest of the ingredients on the stove. How much time had gone by? No word from the others outside, so maybe that was a good thing. Or, like Kyon had said... Maybe they really had killed each other... No, she shouldn't think of something like that. She was only scaring herself.

Finally Kyon spoke again. "I think I understand this... Maybe not..."

"What is it now?" Tsukasa said. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"This device - it says it's called a COMP, which is short for something, I forget - anyway, there's this thing called a Harmonizer. For a certain area around it, regular people are on the same wavelength as the demons, and so the attacks work. That's what happened when you activated this the first time."

"Then that means... We need to use that whenever we have to fight?"

"Seems so." He went back to reading more of the emails. A few minutes later, he made a face. "This... That's just morbid, is this for real?"

"Huh?"

"I suppose you're the user registered with this COMP, so... You haven't seen..." Kyon tried to think of how to say it. "Apparently, whoever is using one of these will be able to see how many days a person has left to live. There's supposed to be a number displayed over their heads, I guess just in midair or something... You haven't seen something like that, have you?"

Tsukasa said nothing. In the shock, she might have added a bit too much salt to the curry, but that didn't matter. Her attention was focused on the number "1" suspended in the air a few inches above Kyon... The same number that had been over Kamina and Dante as well. She hadn't seen one for herself, but...

"You okay...?"

"It's... it's nothing..." Tsukasa replied quickly. No, she didn't want to admit it. It had to be a mistake, right...?

Chapter 26

The Nature of My Game

"Oh... oh God..." Junpei was groaning and clutched his stomach. "You guys... You didn't eat your hamburgers yet, did you?"

"Uh, no..." Konata said. She stopped and turned around. "You okay?"

"I think I'm gonna die..."

"Hey, we should probably stop for the night," Konata called ahead to the others. The sun was setting, turning the sky from orange to purple, which would finally become black. No lights out here in the desert, so they wouldn't be able to see anything once it did. And the blistering heat was quickly dropping to what felt like freezing.

"Wait... I think I see a building up ahead." Jason squinted, trying to see, then turned around and said, "Yeah. Can you make it a bit further?"

"Seriously? More people...?" Junpei said, then grimaced. "That's good, but... I might have to... crawl the rest of the way there..."

It turned out that wasn't necessary. He complained all the way there, but managed to carry himself the entire distance to the waystation just before the sun vanished behind the mountains completely. Konata made a mental note not to eat the hamburgers. They'd brought other food, but had decided to save it for... times like this, come to think of it. Hopefully they had enough to last until they reached the next source of food. Edible food.

There was not one building, but two. An old house and a stable, both constructed out of rapidly decomposing wood. If the wind ever started blowing they'd probably collapse on top of one another. They were surrounded by a shoddy wooden-post fence. Junpei attempted to lean against one of the posts for support, but fell backward as it snapped off under the slightest pressure.

"It's something, at least," Koizumi commented. "I suppose it's better than resting out in the open."

"I'll check the buildings. We might not want to sleep in there," Jason said. "Konata, you brought food, right? Sounds like the hamburgers weren't any good - " Junpei let out another groan, this time sounding like a bad actor - "so try something else."

"Right." She shivered, and decided the first thing to do would be to build a fire. Some spot away from these highly-flammable buildings, probably. Konata chose the location about thirty meters away, near an old water pump.

She picked up the fencepost that Junpei had broken, and also dragged the two-meter-long crossbeams over with it. Taking out a European-style steel sword, she cut the crossbeams in half, piled up the wood, and stood a few feet back. Gathering up the energy, she shot a burst of flame into the stack, and the flames danced up, giving a much-needed orange glow to the thick blackness of the night.

"Whoa. You pulled that off pretty fast," Junpei said.

"Yeah, we had to set up campfires like this just about every night back when I was in the war..." Konata said. "It's much easier when I'm allowed to use magic like that. It takes so much longer without it."

"You were in a war?" Junpei said. He sat down on the ground, near the fire, and she joined him.

"That was my assignment before I went to Gekkokan with you, actually..." she said. "I'm not sure if you've ever played Fire Emblem, but that's what it was."

"I've heard of it, never played it," he replied. "So it was like medieval stuff?"

"Pretty much." The helmet she had worn back then appeared in her hands, and she turned it upside down, examining the shape of it. Walking over to the pump, which actually worked once you applied some force, she filled it up like a bowl and brought it back.

"Hmm..." He thought for a moment. "It's weird, I actually haven't thought much about school. They're probably worried about us. Well, I guess they'd expect the two of us to be cutting, but Jason would have them worried. He was always a pretty good student."

Konata chuckled. "You're right about that. He has to work hard since he hasn't gone to school since... what would it be now, almost seven years? Not counting when he went to Ryoo with me."

Now she had slipped the visor down and looped it over the sword, letting her hold it out over the fire to boil it. An old trick one of the knights had shown her, a way to use old armor while out in a camp.

"That long? Because of this... Eclipse thing?" Junpei said. He was watching her idly. "By the way, is that... sanitary?"

"It can't be as bad as whatever you just ate," she replied. "I haven't even used this helmet in a long time."

Junpei just gave a shrug. "So you were going to recruit me for Eclipse. They told you to do that?"

"Yeah, specific orders, actually. But I was going to recommend you keep living your normal life, instead of going out full-time. I guess I've always regretted leaving my world behind..." Konata sighed. Sitting around a fire like this did bring back memories of that first full-time assignment, which of course was laced with memories of her death. She wondered if her friends really did comprehend what she'd done.

"Hey, we found something." Jason's voice snapped her out of it. He was carrying something with him, a small hardcover book, and handed it down to her.

"Junpei, take this for a second," she said, and handed the handle of the sword over to him. Junpei reacted with surprise, nearly dropping it at first but then holding it steady.

She reached up and took the book from Jason. Haruhi's image was on the cover, and she recognized it as the first volume of the light novel series. The binding was creased from use. Konata opened it up, and something small fluttered to the ground and laid in the dust. She picked it up to see it in the fire light. A tarot card, one she recognized because it was her Persona's arcana. The Star.

"You found this in the house?"

"There wasn't much of anything in there except a few pieces of furniture... and this." Koizumi appeared out of the dark, following behind Jason. "So this is the novel you mentioned. The one about us. I'd like to take a look at it, if you don't mind."

"Not a problem," Konata said, and handed it to him.

"It seems to confirm what we were told about the man in black. There's definitely somebody in this world who has an interest in Haruhi," Jason said. "And by the looks of it, they might not be too far away."

"Should we be getting a head start?" Konata asked. She was eager to confront whoever it was, get all of this to come to an end...

"With as dark as it gets here, I wouldn't think he'd be on the move. It can't hurt to rest for a while."

The sound of the crackling logs was joined by the bubbling water. Konata slipped on a leather gauntlet on one arm as a sort of oven mitt, taking the makeshift pot off the fire carefully. She then took out four of the instant ramen cups she had packed, materializing each one out of thin air. It was a process that fascinated Junpei, but she found it routine.

"You want one?" she asked him. "I've got plenty."

"Nah... Still not feeling too good."

"Suit yourself." She opened the lids of three of them and carefully poured the water in. "There. Just like home, isn't it?"

"Uh... yeah."

The three cups she filled with water were sitting on a patch of ground that Konata had judged level enough, steam rising out from under the lids. The aroma of the powdered seasoning drifted into the air, mixing with the smoke from the fire for an oddly nostalgic effect.

Konata looked up after a few moments, already bored of waiting for the noodles to cool. "Hey, since you're not going to be able to use your Persona outside of the Dark Hour... Want to practice some swordplay with me?"

"Here? Now?" Junpei said. He glanced around. Koizumi was absorbed in reading the novel, understandably intrigued by what it revealed. Jason was simply sitting across the fire from them and watching them silently. "It's kind of dark, isn't it?"

"Sure, but..." Konata picked up the sword she had been using over the fire, and another similar weapon appeared in her other hand. She handed the first one over to him. "Let's go for a little bit. You've really got some catching up to do."

He smiled sheepishly. "I've seen you fight. I'm not that far behind - "

"Back when we fought the Shadows? You wouldn't believe how much I was holding back then. Come on, I'll teach you how to fight for real." That determined grin was on her face. For a while, she was Emiri again, carefree, only absorbed in her own passions.

"These are kind of sharp... what if we hit each other?" Junpei said, turning it over in his hand.

"Don't worry. I won't."

"What if I hit you, though?"

"Aren't you confident," Konata laughed. "Ready?"

He was barely prepared to block the first strike. They practiced for several minutes, Junpei barely able to keep up with her, and constantly reminded that those abilities probably weren't human.

Suzumiya Haruhi had created espers as part of her vision for what she wanted the world to be. Although she had no idea they existed, there were a number of them in her local area, including Koizumi Itsuki. When Haruhi created closed space, and one of those giant creatures with it, the only way to defeat it and prevent the destruction of the world was for espers to team up against it and attack it with pure energy.

Or at least that was what Miyuki could glean from Nagato's explanation. And it made her somewhat self-conscious about when she herself would give complicated explanations, was she that hard to follow?

Outside of the closed space, everything appeared normal, and the classes had just been released for the lunch break. Still, that gray world was still expanding unseen, and it seemed there was nothing they could do about it. It was a little unclear just what exactly would happen once the universe was consumed, but it didn't sound good.

"Excuse me... I don't think I recognize you."

Miyuki was suddenly brought back to reality. The speaker had been a young... boy, it turned out. The only boy in the school which she could have been sure was all-female. He spoke with a hint of a foreign accent, but it was nearly undetectable, and his language was flawless.

"Um, no..." Miyuki said. "We're just visiting, I'm actually a high school student... Or, um, I suppose I've graduated now. It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Takara Miyuki."

She couldn't tell how old he was. Anime was actually proving to be somewhat confusing to her. He looked like he could be the same age as the students here, who were now arriving to fill the courtyard, carrying their boxed lunches. As a matter of fact, Nagato didn't seem out of place, but she was only a few years older than junior high... And when Miyuki had seen her own reflection back in that last world, she had looked rather young as well. So confusing.

"Yes, it's nice to meet you as well. I'm Negi Springfield. I'm a teacher here."

"You're - ?" Miyuki started. She tried to work through it in her mind. If he was a teacher, then he must be a lot older than he looked. It would be rather rude to ask, though. "I didn't realize... Oh, and we completely forgot to check in at the principal's office. I'm terribly sorry, we should have done that earlier - "

Negi's expression changed. "You don't know about me... It's fine, I actually thought you were... No, I'm certain of it."

"Certain of what?" Miyuki asked.

Nagato was impossible to read, but stood there observing the two of them. If she could tell anything about Negi, she didn't show it. There was something strange about having a teacher here who looked so young. It was difficult to determine how he would look in real life, Konata had said that only visitors from Eclipse had this happen to their vision...

"I was teaching in my classroom earlier today, and I happened to look out a window and I saw the two of you in the front plaza... Appearing out of thin air," Negi explained, adding the last part hesitantly. "You're mages, aren't you? Which association?"

"Um..." They had appeared out of thin air? Back when they had come through the door - No, that had been somewhere else, before the day started. This had been when they exited the closed space. The plaza had been empty, she hadn't even considered someone might see through a window just by chance. "No, I think you have us mistaken... What do you mean by association?"

"Huh?" Negi said, surprised. "I was sure I saw you... So you're regular humans. Never mind, then, if I use a memory charm, maybe - "

"You're capable of using magic." Both Miyuki and Negi turned their attention to Nagato, who had broken her silence.

"N-no, never mind that. Regular humans aren't supposed to know about - "

"If you are a mage..." Suddenly Miyuki realized what this meant. Would it work? She felt guilty dragging him in like this, he was only a kid. She thought he was, at least.

"Are you capable of using energy-based attacks?" Nagato asked flatly.

Negi glanced from Nagato, back to Miyuki, unsure of how to proceed. "I... suppose so... What's this about? Why do you need to know this?" He was quiet for just a few seconds, then finally said, "You are mages, aren't you? Are you trying to challenge me? We're at the school, can't we at least let this - "

"No, we're not mages, but... There's this..." Miyuki didn't know how to explain it to him. "Nagato, would you mind telling him about what you found?"

"Mages do not exist in the world I come from. I have no data to make an accurate prediction with."

"Er... I really don't know what's going on... What's this all about? I'm supposed to go back to teaching soon," Negi said.

"A second dimensional layer has been added to this universe. If allowed to expand, it will overtake this entire world," Nagato said. "You may be capable of slowing or stopping the process."

Everything stopped for a moment, and nobody spoke. The sound of the school bell could be heard, and Negi turned for a second, considering going back to his classroom. He closed his eyes for a moment in thought, then looked back at them.

"What do I need to do?"

She had been planning to go to law school.

Decker Guns & Ammo. Kagami had been wandering the streets of this town for hours now in the freezing cold, looking for anyone else, but not seeing even the slightest hint of life. Now she had found this store, with the door locked, and what she was planning was crazy.

Sheets of plywood had been put up in the front windows, and at some point somebody had spray-painted the words "BANGO SKANK" across it in blue. She swung the axe at it, the words splintering apart. It felt like the blade was about to break off, but it got through.

Breaking and entering. There was one illegal act. She began to count them.

Once she was in, Kagami could only see dark shapes on the walls that, on closer inspection, turned out to be hunting rifles, shotguns, all different sorts. Pretty heavy stuff. The air was thick and dusty.

Back a few blocks ago, she had been sure something had crawled away from her and hidden itself underneath a van parked by the side of the road.

Possession of a gun was against the law in Japan, and if this was America, like she thought it might be, didn't you still need a license or something? That made it two laws broken. International criminal status, as well.

Stealing one of these would make it three, but if Mr. Decker wasn't here to tend the shop, it's not like she could have paid him even if she wanted to. Kagami went around the counter, looking in all the drawers beneath the cash register. She found a flashlight in one, and had to smack it a few times after flicking the switch, but it shone brightly enough to let her look around.

With the light, she could find a map in one of the drawers, and also a faded red duffel bag that read "NOTHING BUT STRIKES AT MID-TOWN LANES" in big letters on one side. Apparently it had been from a bowling alley somewhere.

Her phone rang in her pocket. She'd forgotten she was even carrying it. Kagami searched frantically for it, then pulled it out and answered it quickly. "Hello?"

"You know, you should probably clean up in here once in a while..." It was literally the last voice she had expected to hear. It wasn't every day you heard your own voice answer the phone.

"See those?" Now she could hear Konata, not muffled in the background but rather clear, as if she were speaking right into the phone as well.

"Yeah. That's kind of what I was talking about," the Kagami on the other end of the phone said. Wait, she remembered this...

"No, that's not what I meant. Those are all unfinished games. RPGs, visual novels, all with tons of hours of gameplay. And before all of those are finished, you can bet that there'll be even more games released that I just can't let slip by. So, you see, Kagami, I simply don't have any time to clean up my room."

"Really? What about all the time you don't spend on homework?"

This had been so long ago. In fact... it was the day before Konata had died. Or whatever had really happened to her. Those had been good times, even if she had been an annoying, immature otaku.

In the background, Kagami could hear the music from one of Konata's games, and the sound effects of clanging swords and battle cries. "Durandal? What's that?" A third voice, Yutaka. She sounded pleasantly curious, and Kagami realized how much of that optimism she had lost after it had happened...

"Let's see..." Konata's voice paused for a moment. "Two handed sword, it's got some good power... Once wielded by the knight Roland. Interesting."

"See what it does." Hearing Tsukasa was almost too much to bear... Where was she now? Even though she was hearing it all now, Kagami had to remind herself this was all over. She could probably never hope to just sit around with her friends again, just passing the time and living a normal life.

"Hm... I do like the larger swords. They're kind of hard to carry around, but if you can swing it you can do pretty significant damage. Most people just use the smaller, lighter blades just cause they're easier... or even guns, but those are kind of cheap. They just don't take the same level of skill and practice that a sword does."

Kagami spoke into the receiver, remembering exactly what she had said to Konata that day. "You're... talking about a game, right?" Her voice shook.

"Of course I'm not, Kagamin. This is real life, don't you remember? You're the valiant knight, on a quest to save the fair maiden from the tower. You'll need a weapon, right? And I don't think that axe is going to get you far. You nearly broke it just trying to break into one little store! And it's hardly befitting a warrior of your caliber."

"Huh? Konata... is that really you?" Kagami was sure this hadn't been part of the original conversation.

"Didn't I tell you to stay with your group? Honestly, Kagamin, do I need to do everything for you?"

"Listen, you. I was always the one helping you out. You owe me for all that work I did for you. Come on, you're supposed to have godlike powers, aren't you? Why did you send me here, of all places?"

"You really weren't listening, were you? I've got no control over this! Who knows what will happen next!" Konata almost sounded playful, like she really didn't care. "Keep it going, Kagamin, I like where you're taking thi - " Konata's voice was drowned out by static, which amplified and grew into a high-pitched ring of technical interference. Kagami jerked the phone away from her ear, still hearing the sound echoing in her ears, even as the screen went black and the phone died.

What had that been about...? She put it behind her for now, focusing on what was in front of her.

Did it really matter if guns were "cheap"? Actually, if she was stealing them, that did make them cheap, didn't it? Yeah, great. She had her selection from the whole store. They were mounted up behind the counter - rifles, shotguns. All too big, she could never fire a thing like that. Handguns were in a glass case by the counter.

Behind the counter, there were two set apart from the others. Revolvers, with polished wood grips. She walked around to get a closer look, and noticed a note laid under one.

Roland -

Finished the maintenance and cleaning you requested. Sorry I couldn't be here in person, had business out of town. Always a pleasure working with you. Give my regards to Jake and Eddie.

- Charlie

So if she took these, that would be breaking another law - stealing, personal property rather than merchandise - as well as Japanese laws on handgun possession. She couldn't forget that one, it had been a key factor when Konata had been murdered... God, had that really happened?

The gun was unexpectedly heavy. Kagami turned it over a few times in her hands, looking closely at it. She flipped open the revolving chamber, and saw it wasn't loaded. Who was she kidding? She didn't know how to use one of these. What kind of ammo did it even take?

Back in that hospital, something had definitely been in there with her. It hadn't been human. Even if she hadn't seen it, she knew that. She needed protection.

Ammo was stored in cabinets along the back wall. She knew enough to eliminate the shotgun shells... and the rifle bullets as well. The 9mm turned out to be too small. She selected a black-and-gold box of .45 handgun ammo, and tried slipping one of the shiny bronze bullets into one of the six chambers on the revolver. It worked. So... she'd take all the boxes they had, while they were at it. Fifty cartridges in each one, the box said.

Kagami shoveled the ammo into the duffel bag, realizing how bad this would look if anyone found her with two handguns and a generous stockpile of ammunition... It looked like she was planning a massacre. She reminded herself it was purely self-defense. Ask questions first, shoot later.

She decided to load up both of the guns, which would give her twelve shots. With any luck, that was all she would need at any given occasion, and she doubted she could reload with enough speed to use any more. Even now, with no pressure, she fumbled with the bullets trying to load them in.

Something rustled behind her, the floor creaked. Kagami felt her heart racing, one of those things... whatever they had been... it was here. But she was ready this time. She spun around, raising one of the guns in her left hand to point it directly at -

"N-no! Don't shoot! P-please!"