Once again, the world had turned gray and empty.

"That was..." Negi searched for words. He was visibly shaken at the change, but starting to compose himself. At least until he noticed the Celestial tearing apart the city in the distance. "What is that?"

"A data-based lifeform identified as a Celestial, created by Suzumiya Haruhi," Nagato reported.

"That's... It's the thing we thought you might be able to get rid of..." Miyuki said, trying to clarify.

"It's huge! Why didn't you tell me that?"

"There is very little time left. Can you engage it in battle?" Nagato said.

"Um..." Negi stuttered. "I think so."

Nagato started off, leading them past the stairs heading back up to the plaza and into the city. Negi and Miyuki followed, although Nagato remained silent. Their pace quickened, the footsteps echoing in the vacant city. Had any of them been familiar with it, they might have seen how similar this gray emptiness was to a certain snow-covered town, several worlds away.

Miyuki wasn't quite sure why she was headed towards the gigantic creature with the others. Negi was carrying his magic staff, Nagato could make things happen just by... willing it, somehow, but Miyuki? She was completely unarmed, and no special powers to speak of. She had blindly followed them forward, not truly considering where they were going, and now it was too late to turn back.

It loomed ahead of them, smashing through a building with one of its misshapen arms. Negi stopped running, gradually coming to a stop.

"Wait, I think I can hit it from here..." he said. The sight of him, a small child standing there defiantly (or trying his best to seem as such) was truly strange. But, given the circumstances, it was difficult not to believe in magic. He began some sort of chant. "Ras tel Ma Scir Magister..."

Energy seemed to be flowing into him, enough to make the Celestial turn towards them and stare at them... Or at least it would be, if it had a face. An arm raised in a gesture of anger.

"Unus Fulgor Concidens Noctem, in Mea Manu Ens Inimicum Edat! Fulguratio Albicans!" Negi recited it perfectly, not missing a single syllable. And the strangest thing was that Miyuki understood it perfectly, despite her limited knowledge of Latin. She knew a few mottos for schools or organizations, and also a couple words that were roots for English words, but she could perfectly hear this entire spell as "A stream of light to cut through the night, spring forth from my hand and throttle my enemy! White Lightning!"

As Negi had apparently commanded, a blinding flash of light shot from him towards the Celestial, striking it directly in the chest. The afterimage of the bolt burned itself onto her eyes for a few seconds after the initial flash, but once she could see clearly again, Miyuki could tell...

"It appears to be unaffected," Nagato said. The Celestial had flinched, but was still in one piece. It advanced slowly towards them.

"Wh-what? Um..." Negi thought for a moment, a determined frown on his face as he thought of other spells to use. "What form of magic creates something like this, anyway? It seems really advanced..."

"The being is created through a form of data manipulation that has no equal in this particular universe," Nagato said. There was the frightening idea that nothing Negi could do would work, but he raised the staff defiantly again.

"Sagitta Magica Series Lucis!" A number of beams of light appeared in a circular pattern in front of him, all bursting forward down the city street and twisting around one another like snakes. They all converged on themselves around the shoulder, slicing off the creature's arm.

"I-it worked?" Miyuki said. In spite of the success, she took one step back apprehensively.

"But it's still moving..." Negi said.

"The Celestial has been weakened. Several more strikes will be necessary to defeat it." Nagato showed no joy or satisfaction after Negi's assault, just stood at his side and reported everything neutrally.

"Alright..." Negi said, and raised the staff again, repeating the same spell.

He spoke with even greater confidence, launching another barrage and guiding it towards the remaining upper third of its body. That section also appeared to be sliced off and faded into nothing, including the head and the one remaining arm. He let out a sound of confusion when it simply stumbled back and kept on forward, just a pair of legs, then recited the spell a third time. The tendrils of magic surrounded all that was left, constricting it... and it was gone.

Negi was breathing heavily, still clutching his staff in front of him. "Th-that's it?"

Nagato nodded silently.

The gray world still held up around them, and Miyuki was about to ask what to do next when a crack appeared in the sky. Reality itself seemed to be splitting apart, piece by piece, until it finally shattered...

But it had not been reality. They were returned to the vibrant, colorful, and rather populous world they had started in, getting some strange looks and startled gasps from passerby.

"All detectable traces of Suzumiya's involvement in this world have vanished. It is unlikely that she was ever here personally." Miyuki looked at Nagato, not entirely comprehending what that would entail.

Negi glanced around, self-conscious of all the attention they were getting but also shaken from the fight and the dissolution of the closed space. "So that... It wasn't any ordinary magic, not even just an advanced spell... Who exactly are you?"

Chapter 27

Shadows in my Mind

Kagami's finger had stopped just short of pulling the trigger. The beam of the flashlight revealed Mikuru, cowering in fear, legs trembling. Kagami came to realize that she had very nearly shot her directly in the head.

"Mikuru...? Oh my God, I'm sorry..." Kagami said finally.

"C-can you... put the gun down?"

She'd still been holding it up in front of her. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that... I didn't think you were..." What had she been expecting? "I... don't know."

Glancing up, Mikuru saw the revolver now hanging down at Kagami's side, barrel to the floor, and stood up slowly. "Where did you go? I got lost... And you guys weren't there anymore... They're not with you?"

"No... I think we all got separated." Besides the two of them in the gun shop, Rei and Joshua were still out there somewhere, most likely still in the town. The four of them - no more, no less. Konata wasn't here.

"I thought I heard you talking to someone, so I figured it was... Who were you talking to, Kagami-san?" Mikuru said, her eyes wide.

"No one," Kagami said. That was the truth. Nobody had called her. "You're okay, though, right? You're not hurt?"

"Uh... no, I'm fine," Mikuru replied. "But... how are we supposed to get out of here?"

Kagami remembered she had found a map in one of the drawers. That had been shortly before she had been interrupted by - what, exactly? She dug around in the red duffel bag a bit, and found it underneath all the ammunition. She spread it out on the glass counter, and held the flashlight up to it. "Here, let's find out where we are, at least," she said.

Most of it was taken up by a large blue splotch labeled as "Toluca Lake." The town itself was split into two parts, north and south, with the lake in the middle and a long road stretching around the west side. Up in the corner the words Silent Hill were printed, the name of the town. It was oddly familiar... Was that from a movie or something? That could be the case, she reminded herself. The girl she was stuck here with was a fictional character from a book, after all.

"Wait, there's where I started..." Kagami said. Brookhaven Hospital was in the lower left corner of the map, but since she had escaped (no, she had left, there had been nothing to escape from) she had wandered around aimlessly a bit.

A memory flashed in her mind, a street sign that had said Bachman. The other street's name eluded her for the moment. Now she remembered the coffee shop, the traffic lights blinking on and off sporadically, and the last time she had seen any other human beings. It seemed like such a long time ago. Kagami scanned the southern half of the town. They were somewhere in that region... "Hey, do you see anything that says Bachman on here?" Kagami asked, not looking up.

"Bachman...? Um..." Mikuru squinted. "Oh! There it is!" Her finger landed on the upper half, the district north of the lake. Kagami hadn't even been looking there.

"All the way across the lake, then..." Kagami sighed, and nearly couldn't stand to look at the map anymore. There was no good news to be found. She recovered herself. "We really ended up a long way away, then..."

"Huh?"

"Bachman Road is where we started out. I... can't really say why, but I figure that's where we're supposed to go. Maybe the others will end up there, too." Kagami returned to the map, and saw some symbols scratched around Neely Street with a ballpoint pen. The handwriting was scrunched up in order to fit, but upon closer inspection, it read "Decker." There was a circle drawn on the side of the road marking the location.

"We're on Neely Street then... If we just follow this, and take Nathan Avenue around back to the other side of town..." She let out a sigh. "Why does it have to be so far?"

"We're going to walk there?" Mikuru said.

"Apparently. It's the only - "

Kagami stopped. The sound was slowly fading in, a high-pitched, slightly metallic wail that she had heard once before. The view of the street outside the window was starting to darken.

Mikuru recognized it as well, and grabbed onto Kagami's arm. Usually that kind of personal space invasion would have bothered her, but for the time being it seemed like a good idea. She quickly grabbed the map, not bothering to fold it, and shoved it down into the duffel bag. Both guns were in there. With her free hand, she took one of them out and held it at the ready, pointing up towards the ceiling.

The sound continued to blare out, rising and falling at least ten times it seemed like before it finally stopped.

"Nothing happened..." Kagami breathed.

Everything was silent again, and Mikuru was still standing next to her, loosening her grip but still not completely letting go of Kagami's right arm. Returning the gun to the bag for the time being, she removed the flashlight instead. She could hear Mikuru whimpering softly.

"Come on... Let's hurry up and get out of here." Kagami gently pulled herself away, and Mikuru followed close behind.

The street outside had changed. It was darker, but also less foggy, so the combination actually made it just a bit easier to see than it had been before. It had warmed up considerably. In fact, it seemed too warm for snow to be falling still. Examining a flake that fell on her hand, Kagami realized they were ashes, leaving faint gray smears if she touched them.

"We'll just follow the map - " Kagami pulled out the creased and wrinkled map, and tried to determine which direction would lead them towards Nathan Avenue. "It's... over there, to the left." She pointed, and started heading off that way, which was the only signal Mikuru would accept to move forward as well. It was a miracle she had gotten anywhere on her own.

They continued past some more store fronts, a Chinese place called Lucky Jade (boarded up and abandoned - no surprise there), and although it sounded crazy, Kagami could swear that the paint was peeling off those signs even as she watched. Yes, it was - she saw a big red sliver fall off a letter "J," and more started coming off the "A" with no apparent cause.

"Kagami-san... What do we do now?" Mikuru sounded concerned.

"There's nothing wrong, we'll just - " Kagami's attention snapped back to the road in front of her, and she saw what had Mikuru so worried.

A huge chasm was in the road ahead, at least fifty meters across and inestimably deep. Water pipes could be seen jutting out of the edge from underground, and the pavement itself hang out past the foundation. It looked like something had exploded.

"Uh..." Kagami was at a loss, something that was becoming familiar to her. "No, this is still okay, we'll just..." She consulted the map again. "Did you see a sign for Katz Street? We could go around there, it should be nearby."

The sounds of heavy breathing and flesh hitting the asphalt could be heard.

Tsukasa should have felt good about how the curry turned out, and getting to sit and relax for a while, but those numbers... She couldn't convince herself that they were wrong. It seemed absolute.

At first when they returned to the main dining area, only Kamina had been left at the table, half-asleep with boredom. After a few minutes, Dante had returned from a walk. He hadn't wanted to stay there with someone who was, in Dante's own words, "a total headcase."

"Tsukasa? I thought you'd be starving," Kyon said. He was nearly finished with his plate. "This is great. You've really got talent."

She looked up. "Huh? Oh... thanks..." Even as she looked at him, the number "1" suddenly rolled down to "0." She gasped.

"What's wrong with you?" Dante said.

"It's... um..." Tsukasa couldn't hold it in any longer. She tensed up, squinting, and let it all out in one breath. "W-we're all going to die in less than a day!"

They stared at her.

"Wait... you mean those death clock things?" Kyon said finally. Tsukasa nodded, her eyes still squeezed shut.

"Eh?" Kamina said. "I never heard about this."

"You're sure? It only says one day?" Kyon said, ignoring him.

"N-no - I mean, it did for a while, but - " Tsukasa could barely speak. "It's down to zero... We don't even have a full day!"

"I've gotta say, I'm impressed we even have that long." Dante leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms behind his head. "How do you know that, exactly?"

"The thing she found yesterday - the COMP, or whatever... It shows the user how long a person has left to live, as long as it's under seven days," Kyon said, recalling the basics of the instructions. He shook his head. "I don't even know what to do now."

"Did I ever tell any of you..." Kamina's voice was low and even, his arms folded across his chest calmly. "I was supposed to die years ago. It's thanks to Eclipse that I got an advance warning. This is just like that. And, just like before, I'm going to cheat destiny." His voice rose in intensity as he continued. "Because there's no way some filthy demons can destroy the fearless leader of our Brigade! And I'd suggest you do the same!"

They stared at him, and even Tsukasa picked her head up to see.

"I'm sorry... what?" Kyon said in a tired voice.

"Maybe I'd trust that kind of a speech coming from anyone but you," Dante said. "You're the one who already nearly got us killed."

"We may not know what's coming, but we know when. In about twenty-four hours, something's going to happen to us. And we won't let it," Kamina said. "That's all there is to it."

Outside on the street, a group of people started yelling and arguing. No distinct voices could be heard, it was all complete chaos. Some bystanders tried to make their way around, or simply went back the way they came. It seemed so dangerous out there, and they couldn't even see any demons. Tsukasa turned around to watch nervously, feeling secure at this distance.

Kyon was the first to speak. "Alright... At least it's better than just sitting around waiting for it to come. What do you suggest we do until then?"

"We prepare ourselves," Kamina said.

"You mean..." Tsukasa started to say. "You mean I should use that auction thing...?"

Kyon nodded. "It couldn't hurt to look through it. Let's see what we find."

Hesitantly, Tsukasa pulled the COMP back out from her pocket, where she had felt its rectangular shape against her like a constant omen of things to come. It booted up with the now-familiar dark red color motif on the screen, and she chose the icon for Auction.

Dante had stood up now, and moved over behind her, watching what came up on the screen. With both him and Kyon watching her, she felt nervous. Each demon on the list had a picture of what it would look like, and just about all of them were forms she wouldn't care to see in real life. She could hardly make it through even the cheesiest horror movies, even the most fake of special effects could be enough to keep her awake all night. She desperately wished that Kagami could be here.

The prices were listed in some currency she didn't recognize, and the symbol was not for yen by any stretch of the imagination. However, it said she already had 2395 of... whatever money it was, and that was enough for a few demons by the looks of it. She took a deep breath.

After making it through about five pages of listings, she found one - its name was Heqet, she noticed - and decided to try for that one. Something about it reminded her less of a monster and more of... Keroro Gunsou, as strange as it was.

She was successful on that one, the first of several auctions, until all the money was used up.

After wandering through the desert for so many hours, it came as a shock to Konata to start to see plant life, eventually growing into an entire forest overgrown with ancient willow trees and Spanish moss. The intense heat faded into a pleasant, almost tropical air.

They had talked to stave off the boredom that came from the sameness of the scenery. After endless desert, the scenery had changed to endless forests, which were pretty to look at for a while but quickly grew stale. Konata was used to the feeling, it was that way with countless adventure RPGs. Junpei asked her about previous assignments she had taken, and all the iconic anime characters she knew on a first-name basis. Koizumi wanted to know more about the Haruhi franchise that existed in her world and others, what it revealed about himself and his fellow Brigade members... and he also showed interest in the cafe Konata had worked at, seeing it as something of a curiosity.

Estimating by the position of the sun through the trees, it seemed like maybe late afternoon when they finally came to the base of the mountains.

"Whoa..." Konata said, looking up. There was a waterfall coming down into the river at their side, and a sheer cliff face all the way across. A rockslide had occurred in one spot, and looking up to the top of the pile, she could have sworn that somewhere about twenty feet above them... "Wait, did anyone else just see that?"

"See what?" Junpei said.

"I thought I saw... Someone in a dark cloak was up there, and they went into..." She looked closer at where the figure had been for only a split second. It had been a brief flash of black, the edge of a cloak. "There's a cave up there. We need to go inside."

"You're sure about that?" Jason said. His eyes were directed towards the cave, but apparently nobody but Konata had seen anything move up there. It was possible it had been a bird or something, but she was convinced otherwise. "Hey, wait up."

She had already started climbing. Jason looked back at the others, shrugged, and followed after her.

It was utterly dark inside the cave, and so it was impossible to see if anyone was in there, black cloak or not. A light trickle of water could be heard within, but that was all.

"Konata..." Junpei tried to catch his breath after the climb. "You're sure we're supposed to go in there?"

She drew her sword, not one of the boring steel ones, but Laevateinn. It was useful in situations like this. Konata stepped forward into the opening, now able to see the walls somewhat clearly in the flickering orange glare. A much brighter light came on from behind her, and she turned to see Jason with a flashlight. She gave him a look.

"I thought I'd come prepared. There's a reason these were invented, you know," he said. The yellow circle of the beam moved over the featureless walls, finding nothing.

"Sure..." Konata said, but decided to keep her sword out anyway.

There was no path in here, just the walls to guide you along the tunnel. It branched at one point, splitting into two separate corridors, and Konata examined the ground for several minutes looking for any trace of the man in black. She couldn't have imagined him. It had only been the briefest glimpse, but it definitely had not been a bird, or even an animal. Besides, there was no sign of life in the cave. She took the leftmost path on a hunch.

The lack of light made the passage of time impossible to tell. They couldn't even depend on the light of the sky to discern the time of day, and the cell phones all reported no service. According to Konata's now-useless Talisman (which she still carried, on the off chance it would function again), it was 7:19 on October 22. The last time she had checked it had been when they had first arrived here, and she couldn't remember what it had said then. All she knew for sure was that this was their second day.

Her dad must know everything by now. About Eclipse, and about her. If Konata had ended up here, someone else had gone home, and she was actually glad it hadn't been her. She could handle dark caves and mysterious, shadowy figures just fine. Of course, whoever hadn't ended up in Saitama could be anywhere. With any luck, they were all safe, at the very least.

Junpei let out a yell as he tripped over something. Jason directed the flashlight in his direction, where he was pulling himself to his feet. "I'm fine... What is this, anyway?"

"Looks like a railroad... Maybe this is an old mine shaft," Koizumi suggested.

The rails were old and rusty, but seemed to be of a modern-style construction. There were no crossbars connecting them, wooden or otherwise. The stone floor seemed to even out as if it had been paved.

"I don't know..." Konata said, but they gave her a good feeling. If she wanted to find something at the end of the tracks, and if she expected to... Then she would. "We'll follow them."

They went along the tracks for a few more minutes before coming across a steel platform on wheels. There was a double-ended handle on top that would seesaw back and forth, probably a handcar... Konata climbed up on top, and tried pushing down on one end.

"Good, push again!" it responded.

"Did that thing just talk?" Junpei said.

"I think so..." Konata muttered, testing it again.

"Good, push again!" The recording was annoyingly cheerful, and the car barely moved at all. Inspection of the wheels revealed they had rusted onto the tracks long ago. Even if it had moved, Konata doubted she could stand to hear that voice every time they pumped it down.

"It doesn't work. Leave it here," Jason said.

"You didn't have to tell me," Konata said, jumping down from the platform. She could see all three of their faces in the combined light from her sword and Jason's flashlight, but all around them was blackness. "We'll keep going, then?"

Leaving the handcar behind them, they continued into the darkness, still not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel.

"Hey, you guys hear something?" Junpei said.

"Such as?" Koizumi inquired. They all fell silent, listening for anything in the distance. All that could be heard was the trickle of water from the river back behind them. That sound had always been in the background, and had in fact grown quieter since it had diverted away from them. What else was there to hear?

"For fun and relaxation, Nozz-A-La is the #1 choice all around the world!" Konata spun around at the sound of the voice, and realized it probably came from the voice box on the car. An advertisement?

"Konata, we're still in the same world, right? The one with Tull, and that old house we stayed at? You're sure you didn't cross us over at some point?" Junpei asked.

It was a crazy idea, but who knew? "I think we are, yeah," she said.

"Hmm... I could have sworn I heard something else. Not the advertisement, but - "

There was a very faint scratching noise. Junpei fell silent. As they listened, other noises could be heard. Sniffling, grunting. Something moving back there.

"I don't think we're alone," Jason said. "Let's hurry. Stick together."

Konata took out a sword, one of the Japanese-styled katanas that Junpei often used back in Tartarus, and handed it to him. "Just in case," she said, and she could see his wide-eyed expression in the faint light.

She seemed to be leading, scanning the few meters she could see in front of her for any sign of movement. All kinds of images flashed in her mind of possible creatures that could live in a place like this. She'd seen a few similar situations in her time. The darkness didn't lend itself well to development of visual senses, so they'd rely on sound and vibration, most likely. The noise they made stumbling around in the dark, talking to one another, all those things were likely to draw them in. But the fire and the flashlight were just as likely to scare them off.

A faint, sickening smell was here now as well.

"Whoa! Something just touched me!" Junpei cried out suddenly.

Konata quickly turned around, and in the sweep of her blade she could see a faint glimpse of a disfigured, greenish-grey face. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

"Hang on, I think they're moving in," she said.

Jason was searching with his flashlight at the same time, moving it at a moderate speed across the spacious cavern they had entered. Quick enough to search the entire area, slow enough to catch something... A twisted, moist-looking leg scurrying off in the distance, for instance. Konata saw it at the same time he did, and was distracted enough that she wasn't expecting the hand to come down on her shoulder.

Spinning around, she saw the face - the eyes were starving, delirious with excitement at finding a visitor. It moved towards her, and she stabbed at it with her blade. It went down easily.

"Keep your guards up. And keep moving," she said.

The light they cast seemed so weak, they were in the center of this huge open darkness that could go on for eternity, and more of those things were out there, snarling. In a tight circle, all facing outwards, they moved in the direction that seemed like it was forward. Was it? If they kept moving, they were bound to find something. A way out, at best. At worst, a wall.

She heard Junpei yell out and strike at something that groaned as it died. Jason was armed with a shotgun now, and blasted at something that momentarily lit up a wider area around them. For just a moment, the flash revealed nothing but more empty space around them, and the glint of more eyes in the darkness.

And there was an even brighter flash. Magic, maybe, but Konata hadn't been the one to cast it. Jason seemed likely.

"That's interesting..." She heard Koizumi's voice. "I suppose I have you to thank for this, Konata." Suddenly she realized what it had been.

Still keeping their tightly-knit group, they ran as quick as they could without splitting apart. The creatures were restless now, maybe even seeking revenge. They leapt forward even more recklessly, being met with either fire, steel, energy blast. Their numbers, like the cavern itself, seemed infinite.

Konata moved her hand to the left in a sweeping gesture, casting hot orange flames all across the ranks of mutated freaks. The smell of them burning was even worse than their usual stench, but still preferable to being torn apart and eaten.

"Looks like there's a passage up ahead. Keep going!" she heard Jason say, directly behind her.

She turned around, and saw it in his flashlight beam. She also saw the faint outlines of Junpei's baseball cap to her left, and saw a flash as Koizumi shot another sphere of energy towards the mutants. All four of them made a dash for the exit.

Faint violet light could be seen ahead. Finally, a way out of the caves. "Hurry up, we're just about there!" Konata called back.

It grew in intensity as they approached, and the legions following on their heels squealed in pain, apparently repelled by the greater degree of light offered by the outside world.

Ahead of them, though... It was so dark she almost missed it, but there was a wide chasm between them and that weak pinpoint of violet sky that could be seen now. The tracks continued, making a bridge across, feebly supported on a tangle of rusted steel girders.

"Think we can make it?" Konata said.

"It's our only choice, isn't it?" Koizumi replied.

She did her best to visualize them all successfully crossing the gap. It would be so easy to stumble as you tried to balance yourself on the beams stretching across, and even after all the effort of traversing the caves and surviving those things would be lost. Where did it even end?

Jason was the first one to go, and nobody wanted the group to separate, so against any better judgement they all filed along the slim path.

Where was the bottom of this? You couldn't even see where the base of those supports was anchored. It was dizzying. And somehow, Konata didn't think that falling would truly kill you. This chasm simply stretched over... what? If you fell, you went to another world. There are other worlds than these, after all.

"Everyone still here?" Jason called. "There's solid ground just ahead. Looks like we made it."

Stepping onto the solid rock was relieving. Konata realized she had been holding her breath, and let it out in a deep sigh... And also heard the others do the same, as they stepped off the tracks. The exit was just ahead.

"It was fascinating what you did back there, Konata," Koizumi said conversationally. "I only had access to a very small degree of my total power, and it didn't nearly compare to what I'm able to do in a closed space. But it was just enough to suit our needs. Do you know how you did it?"

"I wish I did. You can't use them anymore?" she replied.

"It doesn't seem so. Maybe if we're ever in danger again," he suggested.

She was the first one out, and stared for a long time at the comparatively bright, starry night sky, just taking in the light of the moon after all the dark chaos she had just escaped. This was what she wanted to get away from now, she was done living this high-adrenaline, dangerous lifestyle. At the current moment, all she wanted was to stand out here where it was calm, and not do anything... although going to Animate and browsing through the books and DVDS also entered her mind as a rather appealing idea.

After a deep breath, Konata looked down at where they were. She was mildly surprised to see a sturdy wooden door before her, standing up without a frame, hinges attached to nothing at all. And she also noticed the black-cloaked figure on the ground.

"That's... It can't be the guy you were talking about, can it?" She hadn't even realized Junpei was right behind her.

All that was left of the man in black was his cloak and some old bones. Konata had enough experience to tell apart freshly-cleaned bones from those that had been rotting a while, and if she had to guess, this one had been dead for at least a decade. A full deck of tarot cards were scattered on the ground, most face down, but she noticed a few that faced her. The Magician, the Hermit, the Tower. Actually, it wasn't a full deck, since she had a suspicion that he had left behind the Star card somewhere.

"This doesn't make any sense... I'm sure I saw someone go in there right before we did." She stared down at the corpse.

"At any rate, we have our way forward. Just like you made before," Jason said. "It doesn't look like he left us anything, so we'll keep going."

"Seriously? All this time... it was a false trail..." Konata said. "I'm getting so tired of this."

"If you really want us to find Haruhi and be finished with this... Then let's see where you've got us going to next," Koizumi said, and stepped over to the door. "Any volunteers for going first?"

As she had done before, Konata was the first to enter.