"7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Merry Christmas!"

Blast of frigid winter air. People singing. A huge crowd of people singing... something upbeat about Christmas and mistletoe. It had been dark up until the end of the countdown, when there was suddenly a bright flash of light. There was a tree - a huge one, a couple hundred feet tall. Tons of lights, on the tree and everything else. Skyscrapers all around some sort of plaza. And it was freezing. Hadn't it been spring a few seconds ago?

Kagami stepped into the middle of the huge crowd, disoriented by the change of scenery. At least people seemed to distracted by the celebration to notice she'd come out of nowhere. Things were no longer animated, this world was entirely three-dimensional and real, which would be good if she hadn't already adjusted to how Lucky Star looked.

"Yeah, it's always a little hard to get your bearings when you come through..." Rei said, as if reading her mind. "Did anyone notice us?"

A few people were staring at them now, but it was hard to cause much of an uproar. Everyone here had too much holiday cheer, apparently. Where the hell were they? The singing was in English, and the voices sounded American.

"Wha... What's going on?" Mikuru had been the last to appear. She had her arms wrapped around her and was shivering.

"And I was just getting used to having purple hair, too... Can't we just have a break?" she said. Nobody paid any attention.

"Hm. I don't suppose this is Japan again. Where are we?" Joshua was more concerned with the skyscrapers all around them. It was night, but most of the windows were dark. The brightest thing around was the tree in the middle...

"Wait a second..." It was a familiar voice. Kagami had heard it not too long ago, but this was definitely a different person (in a manner of speaking). "Kagami? Is that really you?"

She turned around, and saw the last thing she'd been expecting. Konata - not the blue-haired anime girl, but the real-life black-haired midget she was used to. And wearing a Santa Claus hat with the word "Merry" stitched across the front in green, to top it all off.

Kagami didn't say anything for a moment, so Konata continued. She was squinting at her, like she was trying to confirm if this really was who she thought it was. "That's you, isn't it? Man, I forgot what you looked like."

"Konata... Wait, you are the right Konata, aren't you?"

"Of course!" Konata grinned, but then her expression got strangely serious. "What do you mean by that? Never mind, you can tell me later. But wow... It's really been a long time since I've seen you like this. With your... regular hair color, and everything, I mean. You're like a different person."

The idea was a little scary. They'd been best friends, practically, Konata really couldn't remember how things were supposed to look? "Nice to see you too. Where are we, anyway?"

"Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. I've heard of this, actually, it's a really big Christmas thing they do every December - "

"Konata? There you - " Jason stepped out from the crowd, and noticed the others. "Kagami. And... looks like all of you made it safely."

"Everything went fine. I guess. Safety-wise, anyway," Joshua said. "We didn't find anything useful. How about you?"

Junpei spoke up, and although she didn't recognize the face, Kagami remembered him once she heard his voice. "Well... Kind of. We thought we had a lead at first, but it turned out to be nothing. I don't suppose you've heard anything about a man in black?"

Konata had an exhausted expression. "I gave up on that. He could be anyone. That won't get us anywhere."

"Strange. I was expecting you to find Haruhi right away," Kagami said. "But, anyway... Konata, I think we need to talk about some things. Alone, if that's okay."

"Fine... Sure. That'd be great. You want to go somewhere?" Konata turned to the others. "Let's meet up around here in... three hours, let's say?"

Jason nodded. "Sounds good. But be careful, we still don't know if things are... stable... in this world. But go ahead, I'll be seeing you, then."

Chapter 38

When The Year Is Leaving

They'd stopped at a coffee shop at a street corner, refreshingly bright and warm after the cold night outside. The tables fairly empty, and they took a seat near the window. It was amazing how many people were out on the streets, dressed in warm coats, seeming like the wind and snow didn't bother them.

The waitress came by to fill up their mugs. Konata had ordered a hot chocolate - she'd really gotten into the whole Christmas and winter thing after just arriving a couple hours ago. Kagami just wanted coffee - for the warmth as well as the caffeine.

"If there's anything else I can get you, just call, alright?"

"Sure. Thanks," Konata replied. Her English was flawless. Kagami remembered it now, that class a long time ago when Konata had suddenly been doing so much better with English. Yeah, there was no way somebody could master so much vocabulary and pronunciation without supernatural aid. How had she not seen this earlier?

"This is probably the last place I expected to end up..." Kagami said. She watched the steam coming up from the drinks as she waited for them to cool.

Konata had a newspaper spread out in front of her, and was skimming it over. "True... Hm. It's 1999, by the way."

"Really? Wow." Kagami glanced down at the paper, noticing a headline about the Y2K theories. She'd heard of it, how some people had thought it was going to be the end of the world or whatever, and she smiled a little. "We were about 10 years old then. Seems like a long time ago."

Konata folded up the paper and put it away. "So I really want to hear... What have you been doing? I don't suppose you found anything important..."

"Nope. Just a bunch of dead ends..." Then she remembered something. "Listen, Konata, you never called me, did you?"

"Called you? Like on the phone? No... But this sounds interesting, keep going." Konata leaned forward.

"Well, it wasn't too long after we separated. I got this phone call, and there were... a lot of people on the other end of the line. But then you started talking to me... Or someone was imitating your voice really well, probably," Kagami said. "I was in this town when it happened. Silent Hill, or something."

"You ended up there?" Konata said, her eyes suddenly huge. But not as huge as they had been, thank goodness. And not green. "I'm amazed you came out alive! And you're still sane, too."

"What's that supposed to mean...?" Kagami said. "How do you know about that place?"

"It's a video game. Didn't I..." Konata's voice trailed off, as she tried to remember. "No, I guess I never showed that one to you. But wow."

The snow was really coming down out there. It had been snowing in Silent Hill, too, but that had been completely different. When it was Christmas snow was different... It hardly ever snowed like this back home. It was like something you'd see in a movie, the way all the sidewalks were all white and the street signs were capped with some powder. Kind of nice, actually.

"And also, I ended up in Lucky Star for a while," Kagami said. Konata stared at her, but she cut her off before she could say anything. "It was the wrong one. There was... a lot wrong about it. Not bad, but it just wasn't the same."

"That must have been weird. I wish I could've seen it," Konata said.

"Of course you would..." Kagami took a sip of her coffee, and found it had cooled down enough. "I think we should regroup."

"Huh?"

"I don't know how exactly, but once we leave this world I want to be on a team with you. It's bad enough not knowing where Tsukasa and Miyuki are. Speaking of which, if we ever find them, they're coming with the two of us too."

"Sounds reasonable..." Konata nodded. "Yeah, good plan. You seem to be doing better with all of these different worlds, though. It's like I said. You get used to it after a while."

"Maybe," Kagami said. She wasn't about to get too used to it, but compared to the first time she'd been dropped into another world? Yeah, it got a lot easier since then. "I think I understand now, though... These are all real worlds, even if they're not the one we came from. What you were doing was pretty important. You must have helped a lot of people. I don't know if you're thinking about trying to continue, but..."

"No." Konata said it very plainly. "Once we all get home, I'm staying there. I never should have left in the first place."

Kagami stared at her, surprised at how firmly she insisted on it. It was unexpectedly mature. She didn't know how to respond, but she was glad. Although it might be difficult to make up for all that lost time. And the fact that Konata had already been... That's right. What were they supposed to do with Konata's grave, now, anyway? Not to mention everything else... Once you were dead, you weren't supposed to just come back and pick up where you left off.

"It's not going to be easy... These past few days, whenever I wake up and remember what's going on, how I'm in another world, and that you're still alive, I can't believe it. I don't even believe it now."

"I'll make it work somehow. It has to." Konata went back to the newspaper, and took a sip of her hot chocolate. Then she seemed to remember something. "Oh, right. I wanted to show this to you."

She glanced around to make sure nobody was watching, reached beneath the table, and Kagami saw a dim white flash from underneath as she summoned something in her hand. She brought it up, and Kagami saw what it was - a book. A manga, actually. Konata handed it to her, and she examined the cover. Lucky Star. And this one had her on the cover. The other two girls she didn't recognize at first. One had long orange hair with a large part towards the left side of her forehead, the other had messy short black hair and yellow eyes...

"Is that Misao and Ayano?" Kagami said. "And there I am..."

This was the manga Konata had been talking about. It seriously was about their lives, then. And if Misao and Ayano were on the cover, then they must be a pretty big focus too. Kagami wondered how many other people got to be characters in this. At first she didn't even want to open it and look inside, but it was too tempting.

Wait, did it say the writer's name was Yoshimizu Kagami?

"So am I supposed to be named after this mangaka or something?" she said.

"I dunno... That's actually a guy, by the way."

"What?"

"I guess he just likes his name or something. It's a good name." Konata didn't seem bothered by it, but it was just so weird. This author must think he made all of them up, but that wasn't true at all.

Dropping the conversation momentarily, Kagami forced herself to skim through a few pages. She didn't recognize the conversations at first. Had Konata ever asked her about why she wore twin ponytails? Thinking back, Kagami remembered it had started back in middle school when somebody had told her it looked cute. No, she'd never told anyone that story before. She'd just started wearing her hair like that and decided to stick with it. She'd never told Konata or anyone else why.

"This doesn't look like anything I remember saying," Kagami said, flipping through a few more pages. "I thought you said it was based on our lives."

"Yeah, well... This is a later volume, and most of this stuff happened in our third year..." Konata said. "I think I was gone before any of this actually happened."

"So it was meant to happen, but it didn't," Kagami replied.

"Pretty much."

Kagami could definitely see how they could have done some of the things from this manga. She wished their lives would've had a chance to happen this way. It was all so much simpler than what was going on now. It was no use anymore, all that was past. She closed the book and handed it back to Konata.

"That was a little awkward," she said.

"Most people don't like to see anything suggesting they're a fictional character," Konata said. "I'm fine with it, though. We've got such a huge fanbase, and the two of us are especially - wait, isn't that...?" She stood up quickly and ran outside. "I'll be right back! Don't let anyone touch my drink!"

A cold breeze blew in as the door swung shut behind her, and Konata disappeared somewhere into the crowd of people walking by. Kagami sat by herself, staring out the window and eventually seeing where Konata had gotten to. A puff of steam came out of her mouth each time she spoke, but from inside Kagami couldn't hear the words. She was talking to someone, it must've been whoever she'd recognized. Kagami leaned forward to see better - no, it couldn't be...

For the life of her, Kagami couldn't remember the names of the two men, one of them dressed all in red with a wide-brimmed hat and the other one in the blue business suit. But she did recognize Nagato, and she definitely couldn't mistake Miyuki. Konata was making a gesture towards the cafe, and it looked like Miyuki saw her sitting there. The two of them headed back inside together.

"Kagami-san! I'm so glad to see you again," Miyuki said. She took a seat across the table, next to Konata.

Kagami couldn't believe her eyes. "Miyuki?"

To judge by her expression, you wouldn't think that anything had happened to her. She still had her usual polite smile on her face. "This is quite an odd place to find both of you."

"We only just arrived a couple hours ago. So this makes three of us, now..." Konata was grinning. "We'll rearrange the teams so that all of us are together. From what I hear, Kagami's got amazing skill with handguns now, so we're pretty set as far as defensive power goes."

Kagami shifted uncomfortably, and mindlessly put one hand on her bag. "It's nothing much, it's just..."

"Really?" Miyuki seemed mildly surprised at the news, with a similar expression as if she'd been told that Kagami had received a good internship position. "I've become somewhat skilled with magic, myself..."

"Whoa. I guess it fits you, but that's still really surprising," Konata said. "How did that end up happening?"

"I met a boy who taught it to me. Negi Springfield." Miyuki smiled as she remembered him. He'd been such a nice boy. After that last skirmish, she had wished she could thank him for his help.

"Negi?" Konata said, her eyes wide. "You actually met him? And you formed a pact, I'm guessing... I wish I could've seen this!" She shook her head sadly.

"You've heard of him?"

"From one of your animes, probably," Kagami said, giving Konata a look.

"Kind of. I liked the manga better," she replied.

"But something bothered me about that world," Miyuki continued. She turned to Konata. "You know about how Suzumiya-san can create closed space, I'm sure. That's right, they said you could do that too... Oh, I'm sorry, I'm going off the subject!" She blushed, then continued. "But one of those spaces opened up in Negi's world even though Nagato-san said Suzumiya-san wasn't there."

"That is weird..." Konata said. "What happened?"

"Negi was able to stop it, thankfully... But we never found out how it happened."

They talked for a while more, and Miyuki ordered a tea when the waitress came back. Kagami finished her coffee and leaned back in her chair. She stared across the table at Konata. She didn't look like much, but the last few days were enough proof that there was more to her than anyone realized. Who knows, maybe she'd created closed space in a few other worlds. Who was to say that, once she learned about her power, it got even stronger?

At the same time, something about the Santa Claus hat and hot chocolate made Kagami wonder just how much of the old Konata was left. She wasn't completely different from the person she'd used to know. Right now, just hanging out at a cafe, it was just like old times... minus the fact that they were in America, and that one person was missing.

"So if the three of us are here, then where do you think Tsukasa is?" Kagami asked.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she's fine..." Konata said. "Actually, maybe she ended up going back home. I was trying to get a way back there when this all started, so maybe that's where she ended up."

"That's a good thought..." Kagami said. She wanted to believe that.

"So maybe she never ended up in any danger at all," Konata said. She leaned back in her chair and stared out the window. "That would make one thing I did right."

"That reminds me, did any of you meet other members of Eclipse?" Miyuki said. "We met one girl from the Organization in the last world we stopped in, and she was going to let me return home... But then it turned out they deactivated her... Talisman, if I remember right?" She looked to Konata for confirmation.

"Seriously? They don't cut people off very often. It's only for really serious issues. I don't know what's going on..."

"When we asked her about Suzumiya-san, she said she'd never heard of her before. But she did recognize us, since Eclipse wanted us to be killed..." Miyuki's voice had dropped to a whisper.

"They want to - ?" Kagami said. She thought of Tsukasa again. Tsukasa hadn't turned up yet. There really was no guarantee that she had ended up at home, or that she was safe, or even still alive.

"They already tried once, didn't they? I'm just glad we didn't run into any others..." Konata said. "I really am sorry that you guys got tied up in all this. But I'm going to set it all right again."

"I'm sure you can, Konata-san," Miyuki said. "Uh... Anyway, I haven't been here very long, but I'd like to see some more of the city as long as we're here."

"That sounds good," Kagami said. "I'm ready to go if you guys are."

Konata pulled out some American bills from her pocket, and left them on the table. They headed back out into the snow. The wind had died down, and the night was actually pretty enjoyable now.

Tsukasa shivered in the winter air. Since arriving in the latest world, it had been bitterly cold. It was Christmas here, and they were in New York City. They'd figured out that much by walking around. When they'd left the forest where they'd fought the bear, they had come out in the middle of some huge department store. Now they were out on the streets, and Tsukasa knew how this went. Everything would go fine for a while - the holiday atmosphere was so cheerful in this world, especially - and then something terrible would happen. It always did.

Really, there was nothing like Christmas to make you want to spend time at home with your family.

This could have been a fun place to go on a vacation, under normal circumstances. Miyuki went overseas sometimes, maybe she'd been here before. Tsukasa couldn't remember. There were all kinds of stores and restaurants of so many nationalities in just a few blocks of walking. She'd never even left Japan before. Well, technically... She supposed the last world might not have even had a Japan.

"The holidays really bring back memories..." Kyon said. "Not all good ones, but there were a few good years from back when I was a kid."

"If it's going to be this cold, we should find a place to stay that's actually halfway decent this time," Dante said. "I'm not staying in some city park overnight in this weather."

Kamina started arguing with him, and Tsukasa just tried to tune them out. No need to make this unpleasant already... It was still so peaceful out. Maybe this world would be okay. Still, she was thankful that all three of them were with her. Konata had really chosen some good people to take care of her through all of this. Konata...

Konata was standing right over there, down the street.

With Miyuki.

And with Kagami.

"Kagami?" Tsukasa ran forward and wrapped her arms around her sister in a tight hug.

"Tsukasa...?" Kagami said. "You're alright... I'm so glad to see you!"

"Things went well on our end, Konata," Kamina said, following up behind Tsukasa. "How's your search been going?"

"What do you mean, things went well?" Kyon said. "We nearly died - "

"That's everyone now, isn't it?" Konata said. "All of the teams ended up here. Um, Tsukasa, I'm sure you want to come with us for a while." Tsukasa nodded. "I thought so. We've got about an hour or so before we're supposed to meet up back in Rockefeller. It's over that way." She pointed.

"Everyone's here, then? Asahina..." Kyon turned to Kagami. "She was with you, right? Is she alright?"

Kagami nodded. "A little traumatized. Me too, I guess, but everyone's alright."

"Great... I can't wait to hear about this," Kyon said.

"We'll be reforming teams later, so maybe we'll put the two of you together, too," Konata said. "But this means that none of us ended up back home like I wanted..."

"How long have all of you been together?" Tsukasa said. "I thought we all went to different worlds."

"I only arrived less than an hour ago," Miyuki said. "It seems Konata brought us all to this world to meet one another again. We thought that you had made it back to our world."

"Anyway, there's still a bit of time left until we're supposed to go back," Konata said. "Tsukasa, want to come with us for a while? Just the four of us?"

Tsukasa smiled. She didn't need to say anything, it was obvious. She and Konata said some quick goodbyes to Kyon and Kamina, and Tsukasa muttered some thank-yous to the three of them.

They crossed the street and continued down Second Avenue, while the other three turned a corner in the other direction. Tsukasa couldn't help but notice the occasional number over someone in the crowd. Over an older person, or somebody who just looked tired and sick.

"That's really sad..." she said quietly as she watched one of them pass by.

"Huh? What is?" Kagami asked.

"Oh... It's n-nothing."

"It's good to have everyone back together for Christmas, don't you think?" Konata said. They'd been walking around together for an hour or so now. It felt like there was no hurry to get back.

"It was Christmas a couple months ago... It's supposed to be spring right now." Kagami shivered. "I couldn't wait for it to get warm again..."

Miyuki laughed. "I think this is great. I've always wanted to see what Christmas in New York is like..."

"Too bad none of us ever got dates any year, though. I thought that was a required part of the high school experience..." Konata said. "Of course, I thought that maybe I'd get one at Gekkokan. My other high school, I mean. You might not believe it, but I was pretty popular over there."

Kagami realized that she couldn't say that things didn't happen like they did in manga anymore. She used to try to convince Konata of that, and all that time, they'd really been... She must've sounded really stupid.

"But how do you know none of us got a date for Christmas? You've been dead for a year," Kagami said.

"Wait... you don't mean - ?" Konata stared at her in disbelief.

"No. I was just kidding."

"Of course, just go to the right universe, and guys would be all over us," Konata continued.

"Geez, I wonder if that's Yoshimizu-san's idea of a joke..." Kagami muttered.

"Yoshimizu-san...?" Tsukasa said.

One of the buildings had a digital time display up in lights. They still had about an hour until they were supposed to meet and get into their new teams. But whatever happened, the four of them were going to stay together for sure. It already seemed like everything was beginning to return to normal, just being all together like this.

"You know, I've actually been to America a few times. I don't usually see it as peaceful as this, since it's usually for work," Konata said. "Hey, Miyuki, haven't you visited over here before?"

"Yes, my family has come on short vacations. This would be my first time in New York, though," she replied. "But... You said this isn't our world."

"Nope. The year's wrong, and who knows what else might be different... Plus, I've already mentioned that our world won't look real."

"At least this version of America's still alive and healthy," Kagami said. "Not like Topeka was..."

"Topeka? You mean Kansas? I was there for a while..." Miyuki said. "There had been some kind of plague, it said so on the newspaper - "

"Wait, you mean the superflu? The same thing happened in the Topeka I went to, but..." Kagami's voice trailed off. "When did you end up there?"

Miyuki explained, to the best of her ability, the entire incident with Blaine the Mono. It was difficult to describe in terms that sounded sane or logical, but that whole ordeal hadn't been sane... Though Blaine had been all too logical. "And once we reached the end, we were in Topeka, like it had said on the map, but everyone there had been..."

"When we got there, it was the first place we saw in that world," Kagami said once Miyuki had finished. "We drove out, and that's when we got to the Calla... But once we were there, it didn't seem like America at all. And there were still people living there. They told me once that there were hundreds of villages all scattered around those plains. I actually think it might've been a completely different universe."

"I don't think Lud was part of that world, either, but we got there on the train. It was even marked on Blaine's map," Miyuki said.

"Um... Something I don't think I mentioned..." Konata said suddenly. "This whole superflu... It's the same thing that happened in Jason's world. It's the reason why he left his world and joined Eclipse in the first place."

"You don't think that you both went to his world... do you?" Tsukasa said.

"It's hard to say. Maybe that's happened in a lot of different worlds..." Konata said.

They had come to a street corner. A small park was on their side, surrounded by tall buildings. Some blue lights were strung around one of the trees, and as Konata walked under it, for just a second she looked like... But then it was gone, as quickly as it had come. They waited to cross the street, but they had no destination in mind.

"Huh..." Kagami stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" Miyuki asked, but Kagami put up a hand to signal her to be quiet.

"Listen to that... What song is that? It's weird, I feel like I've heard it somewhere."

They were quiet for a moment. There was music being played not far off from the park they had stopped in. There was a small fountain with a statue of a turtle. A couple people dressed in heavy winter coats were seated on benches around it even though it had been turned off in the cold weather. Tsukasa looked at each of the others, trying to figure out what they were supposed to be listening for.

"Isn't that Jingle Bells?" Konata said finally.

"No, not that one. It's like a choir or something. It's really pretty..." Kagami said, shaking her head. She turned towards a skyscraper across the street, staring up at the rows of glass windows. Only a few of them had lights on, most of it was just a dark grey.

The traffic came to a stop, and the walk signal turned on. Kagami was quick to cross the street and get to that building, whatever it was. There wasn't any music coming from inside. The song from down the street had changed to some other song that was just instrumental with no vocals.

Tsukasa followed after her. "I still don't hear anything..." She glanced up at the letters that named the place 2 Hammarskjöld Plaza.

Konata looked over to her left down Second Avenue, thinking maybe they should head back to meet up with the others, but instead they were going up the steps that led to the lobby.

"It's definitely coming from in here," Kagami said.

"Umm, onee-chan, I still don't know what you're talking about," Tsukasa said.

It was much warmer inside the building, and a few people were standing around inside. It looked impressive with its marble floors and high ceiling, at least three stories above them. The music from outside had faded out, and there weren't many holiday decorations in here, but something about the building was undeniably pleasant. Everyone had a look on their face like they knew it.

"It's getting so loud," Kagami said.

"Is it, now?" Konata said. "You know, you might be on to something, but I still don't hear anything."

"There is something unusual about this building, though. I can't seem to place it," Miyuki said.

Kagami kept on walking, not stopping until she reached the center. Someone had planted a small garden in the middle. There were velvet ropes around it, just a few square feet of plants. A few small palms, some ferns, and in the center, a single red rose. Kagami seemed to be staring into it.

"Hm. That's nice," Konata said, but Kagami didn't seem to notice her.

There was a brass plaque erected in front of the small dirt patch. Tsukasa noticed it first, instantly noticing what was strange about it.

GIVEN BY THE TET CORPORATION

IN HONOR OF

EDWARD CANTOR DEAN

AND

JOHN "JAKE" CHAMBERS

GOOD OVER EVIL, THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD

Miyuki read it too. "This... it's inscribed in Japanese? That's strange, I wonder why they would do that... They sound like English names."

Kagami just moved in closer to get a better look at the garden. It was that rose in the middle. The voices didn't make any sense, but they were coming from there. And maybe she could make out... were they saying her name? Something in the rose was moving, it looked like.

"I know it's just an office building, but... I kind of like it here..." Tsukasa said.

Then they were gone.