Planes aren't my favorite thing in the world, and I generally avoid getting in them. The thought of flying at insane speeds thousands of meters above the surface of the ocean in a metal tube is sort of unappealing to me. I'm sure plenty of people have the same problem, which doesn't comfort me in the least.

So here I am, sitting at an altitude my species probably wasn't supposed to reach, going faster than I have in my entire life, all because I decided to accompany Haruhi Suzumiya in the search for her missing brigade. For some reason I can't explain, I felt compelled to help her. After she had left the diner, I headed home and changed the message on my answering machine. It now told anyone who called that I would be away for a couple of days. Honestly, I don't know when I'll be back.

After that, I went to the nearest international airport and found the next plane to Canada. I knew that's where Haruhi would be, and I eventually found her. Needless to say, she was shocked to see me again, but I explained my intentions and she accepted the company. She was thankful enough to buy me a ticket, so at least I wouldn't be traveling in terror on my own money.

The phase where I was gripping the arms of my chair in fear had passed, and I was sitting next to Haruhi near the back of the plane. She was engrossed in the in-flight movie, which was a very poor choice involving a hundreds of poisonous snakes aboard an airplane, while I was trying to get some sleep and hopefully settle my stomach. After about ten minutes Haruhi seemed to have gotten bored with the movie, and to my surprise, she turned to me.

"What do you think Kimidori will look like after all this time?"

The question caught me off guard, probably more than it should have, but I managed to answer rather simply. "Probably about twelve years older." Okay, maybe it was a tad snarky, and it definitely looked like Haruhi thought it was.

She frowned a little, but continued. "You think she'll have dyed her hair? I hear most people in Canada have normal hair colors. If she dyed her hair to fit in, we might never find her."

I remember that Emiri Kimidori's hair used to be a pale green, but I always thought it was just dyed that way. Haruhi's treating it like that was her natural color, which seems just a bit preposterous. Before I could answer either way, she continued her line of thought.

"Although, I guess green roots would look a little off." So she does think that was Kimidori's natural hair color. I'll have to ask her in person when we find her. Haruhi, of course, hadn't stopped there. "Gee, I wonder if we'll run into Asakura by any chance..."

I couldn't let that one slip by without further explanation. "Asakura? What do you mean?"

She looked at me like I should have known who that was. "Ryoko Asakura! She was at our school until she moved to Canada. She was really only there for a week or two before she left, and it seemed a little sudden. Don't you think it looked like she was expecting to stay there for longer?"

Oh, yes, I remember her now. Ryoko Asakura... way out of my league. To be fair, "my league" is closer to hers now than it was then, but I'm sure she's grown up a lot too... and now I'm imagining what she might be like now. Perfect. I'm in the middle of a conversation and I can't stop thinking about a hotty I haven't seen in, well, I guess fifteen years. Where was I... Oh, right, I was going to reply to Haruhi.

"Yeah, she probably still looks good."

Wait... what? That's not what I meant to say. I looked over to Haruhi, expecting a glare, only to see that she was holding back laughter. Why did I expect a glare? It's not like Haruhi has anything to be jealous of. I started trying to think of something to deflect the humiliation from that statement, stuff like "I mean, if you're into that kind of thing" or "That's not to say you don't look good", but I quickly realized that I shouldn't try digging my grave deeper so long as no one else has noticed that it's actually a grave.

I decided to wait for Haruhi's response, which she eventually gave once the laughter had subsided. "Hey, are you married?"

Again, I wasn't expecting this, but also again, there's really no problem with answering. And this is Haruhi Suzumiya we're talking about, so I should stop being surprised by things she does. I guess I just thought she would have grown up a bit more.

I shrugged and smiled. "Yeah, uh... no."

She grinned, though it was slightly disconcerting. "I bet I can get you hooked up with Kimidori when we get there. I hope she's not married. That way, she's fair game!"

Why would I... where did this come from? I gotta clear this up immediately. "How about you let me work out my own romantic relationships. If you really want to set something up for Kimidori, ask her out yourself." I bet that was a bad choice of words.

She looked at me with an evil grin. "I bet you'd like that, wouldn't you? Maybe you could come along and-"

I interrupted before she could finish and I found out where that thought was going. "I knew that was a bad idea to say the moment I said it, so let's forget it happened, shall we?"

She looked disappointed, but I think I could tell she was faking it. She folded her arms and looked away from me. I figured she would start talking again when she felt like it, so I decided to see what was happening with the movie. As soon as I glanced up, I saw the image of a Boa Constrictor swallowing a guy whole. Two problems with this. First: I'm still on a plane. I didn't need that. Second: the Boa Constrictor is not a poisonous species. I don't really know much about snakes, but I'm sure most people know that much. That shouldn't be a problem, except that the movie is about poisonous snakes. The whole point is that they're poisonous. You can't just... ugh, forget it.

Okay, I got something, here we go. "So what about you? Are you married?"

She turned to me, one eyebrow raised suspiciously. "Why?"

"Well, you asked me, so I figured I'd ask you."

She just stared at me this time. She was going to answer, she just wanted to make sure I knew she was still in charge of the expedition. Apparently, asking her a question challenges her authority. She may some control issues. We'll work through it.

She sighed and gave up. "No, I'm not married either. Never really had time for a romantic relationship since high school."

As I recall, she actively avoided it in high school so it's her own fault. I was about to ask further questions on the subject when the seat belt light came on. We're there already? The movie's not even done. Not that I cared about the movie, but how many people are going to be wondering how it ends for the rest of their lives? I know I don't want to be thinking about that movie for that long.

So I went through the whole gripping my seat for dear life thing again as we landed. The whole trip from Tokyo to Toronto took around an hour and a half. It took me the same amount of time to get from our hometown to the international airport in Tokyo. What can I say, air travel has come a long way in the past ten years.

Haruhi watched out the window, her mouth wide open in awe. I couldn't quite see at the same angle, but I gather it was the unbelievable amounts of snow. I mean, we get snow in Japan, but never once is it anything like this. Maybe further North, I guess, but I haven't traveled that far...

Then I caught a glimpse of it. Now I knew what Haruhi was looking at, and now I believe the Canadians have good reason to be proud of it. I've read about it before, but seeing it myself is beyond amazing. A quick glance told me that everyone else on this side of the plane was looking at it too. I tried, and failed, to see the top, but the massive structure vanished into the clouds above us. I could even see the CN Tower standing in front of it, giving me something to compare it to.

"The Toronto Space Elevator..."

...

It took me a moment to realize Haruhi had spoken. I slowly nodded. "Yeah..."

She grinned like a madwoman. "We can't be far off from first contact now."

Why, thank you, Haruhi. That kind of remark usually kills the mood. I'll grant that it didn't work this time, but that's just because this thing is way too immense for even you to ruin. I'd be surprised if there's anywhere in the city where you couldn't see it... Gee, the CN Tower looks really outdated now.

Haruhi's bright smile didn't fade. "Yuki was always really smart. I wonder if they got her to help build that thing. Maybe she designed it or something." She turned to me. "I read that the base of the structure is larger than the SkyDome. Do you think that's true?"

I shook my head, preferring to stay skeptical about claims that ridiculous. "I suppose it's possible, but I'd rather find out for sure before I go telling everyone like it's a fact."

Of course, this is Haruhi. She didn't let it stop at that. "They say the ones in Moscow and Rio De Janeiro are even bigger at the base, but this one is the tallest so far. I guess that's to be expected, seeing as this one was started first. The one in Moscow is supposed to be close though."

I wonder if she still remembers why we came to this country. "So, should we just go to Russia now?"

She frowned, but obviously realized it was a joke. "Maybe... but we have to get the brigade back together first. I wouldn't want them missing out on something like tha-"

She was cut off as the plane touched down on the runway. The cabin jostled a little, causing certain features on Haruhi to bounce up and down humorously. ...Her hair. I mean her hair.

For the next few minutes, we just went through the motions. We grabbed what little luggage we had brought from the overhead storage compartments and proceeded to shuffle towards the exit. I hadn't really done this before, and it didn't look like Haruhi had either, but we managed to get through by simply following everyone else's example. Before we knew it, we were standing outside the terminal, staring up at the space elevator.

After a few moments, Haruhi began walking. She ignored all the taxis, dragging her carry-on behind her. I had no other reason to be here, so I just followed her. She was a few steps ahead of me, so I couldn't tell, but it seemed her good mood from earlier had suddenly dropped off. I don't blame her. She's trying to find one person in a city of millions. I suppose it would be alright to remind her about the phone number.

"Hey, maybe you should call her to find out where she lives."

She turned and stared at me like she had completely forgotten that phones were a thing. She suddenly began looking around frantically. When she spotted a public phone, she rushed over and started fiddling with it. I walked over just in time to hear her swear at the unfortunate machine.

She looked up at me. "You wouldn't happen to have any Canadian money, would you? It takes three quarters, and I don't even know what the exchange rate is."

Oh, yes, that's right, different countries have different currencies. Should have seen that one coming. Lucky for you, Suzumiya, I managed to deal with that while we were at the airport. You may be stuck with yen, but I now have Canadian dollars. I am, however, a little annoyed that the numbers I can associate to my wallet are a lot smaller. Something about Canadian money being worth a bit more...

I reached into my pocket and pulled out three shiny silvery coins and handed them to her. It's only fair. She did pay for my plane ticket. She smiled warmly, warmer than I ever got from her in high school, and dropped the coins into the phone. I stepped away while she started dialing the number, and that's when I heard a voice from somewhere behind me.

I turned to see we were standing out front of an auto shop. The garage was open and I could see someone working on a car inside. She was a woman about my age, with long dark hair that shined almost blue in the light from the garage. She had her head stuck into the front of a car that she was working on, and she called to someone on the other side of a door that lead to an office or something.

"Emiri, come help me with this!"

...Wait...

Another woman, about the same age, walked through the door. I blame Haruhi for these thoughts being in my head, but this woman was beautiful, and there was no way it wasn't Emiri Kimidori. I'd recognize the pale green hair and that soft smile anywhere.

What am I thinking?

The first woman called rather loudly, seeing as (I'm still assuming it's Kimidori) was right beside her. "Rev the motor a few times so I can see if it's working right!"

Haruhi's voice came from behind me, strained and aggravated. "She's not home! Now what am I supposed to do?"

I turned back to her, pointing over my shoulder at the auto shop. "I think I might have found her. And to answer your earlier question, I guess she didn't change her hair color."

I looked back just in time to see Kimidori get into the car. The other woman called again. "Okay, I'm ready! Start 'er up!"

Haruhi started walking towards them, though she looked somewhat in shock, so I followed her once again. When we were standing just outside the garage, the car motor started up and...

She started screaming. The woman with her head under the hood started screaming in terror. Kimidori obviously heard her, as she turned the motor off again and started trying to get out.

The voice coming from the front of the car started yelling at her to find some scissors. I believe her exact words were along the lines of "Emiri, get some scissors quick! My hair's caught and the engine is burning my face off!" with a few extra expletives I don't care to repeat.

Noticing how slowly Kimidori was moving, Haruhi snapped into action and began searching for a pair of scissors. She managed to locate some fairly quickly and rushed over to help. The woman grabbed the scissors and started hacking away at her hair with them until she could pull her head out. She immediately dropped the scissors and ran through the back door, her hand on her cheek.

I felt Kimidori bump into me, and was surprised when she didn't look up. Instead, she reached up with her hands and felt at my face. I looked over to Haruhi, who had just noticed us and was trying hard to not laugh.

When Kimidori spoke, I swear it was like the voice of an angel. "I remember you."

All evidence pointed to it, yes, but at this point we still didn't know for certain that this actually was who we were looking for. This is where one asks for her by name.

"You are Emiri Kimidori?"

She nodded, her eyes keeping level with my shoulder. "That is my name. Who are you?"

"I am a friend you knew in high school." Truth be told, I never really talked to her much when we were in school together. In fact, I probably interacted with Haruhi more, but I was definitely better friends with Kimidori. "I came here with Haruhi Suzumiya."

Kimidori stepped away from me and started walking towards the back door, albeit slowly and wobbly. I heard her speak to me even as Haruhi jumped out of the green-haired woman's path. "Haruhi is here? Where is she?"

I guess she's harder to recognize than I am. "You just walked past her."

Kimidori froze. Then, just when I was about to ask if everything was alright, she started running to the back door and... ran face first into the wall beside the door. This might sound a little stupid, or maybe even insensitive, but I think something might be wrong with her.

She stumbled backward and rubbed her face where she had hit. She yelped a few times until the door opened again, revealing the other woman. Seeing her up close, I could now see that the garage light wasn't responsible for the blue coloration of her hair. It seemed just natural... like Kimidori's green.

She pried Kimidori's hands away from her face and tutted her sternly. "You shouldn't be running, Emiri. You keep hurting yourself that way."

Kimidori just shook her head. "Haruhi's here. She's finally here, Miss Asakura."

Dead silence.

Well, okay, as much as you can get that in a city as big as Toronto. Even so, the silence seemed suddenly oppressive. It was like there had been a sonic bang in the room and we hadn't yet recovered... or something like that.

Ryoko Asakura, I recognized her now, slowly looked up at Haruhi. Her face was a mixture of shock and... never mind, it was just shock. After what seemed like ten minutes, she finally forced a small smile that wrinkled the bandages she had recently applied to her left cheek. She briefly glanced at me, but she focused on Haruhi.

"It's nice to see you again, Haruhi. I was beginning to think you had forgotten about us."

Haruhi didn't respond. She just stood there and stared. Maybe I should say something... or I could use this opportunity to say what Kimidori and Asakura were wearing so you can better visualize the scene. First, let me remind you that it's Winter and that there's snow covering most of the ground outside. Now that we've got that understood it makes infinitely more sense that they were both wearing sweaters. Kimidori's sweater was black, and she wore a faded white coat over it. Needless to say, she made those clothes look stunning.

Asakura's sweater was bright red and had the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. It was also covered in dark stains that I assumed were oil or grease. I could go on about how Asakura looked, but I'd like to go back to Kimidori if you don't mind. I just noticed something about her eyes. They're still bright green, with a illustrious gleam to them, but something is different. I would have written it off as simply not remembering her too well, but I'm sure I would have remembered something like this. Her eyes were dead.

"She's blind?"

Kimidori flinched at the words. The other two turned to me, one shocked and the other worried. It took me a while to fully realize I had said that out loud, but I guess it was a bit obvious. She ran straight into a wall, and she was even bumping into things when she walked slowly. Furthermore, she had run right past Haruhi and she put her hands on my face before she recognized me...

Wait a second. How did she recognize me that way? She never did that while we were at school together. She wasn't blind then, so she wouldn't have. Maybe she's just really smart and could remember what my face looked like, and managed to match that up to what my face felt like. It's a bit of a stretch, but I don't see that it's impossible.

Asakura broke the awkward silence. "You noticed, then. It is unfortunate that this happened so soon after meeting. I had hoped you would get to see Nagato first."

Haruhi brightened up. "You know where Yuki lives?"

Asakura sighed and nodded. "Sort of... but, Haruhi... she's very... different from what you remember. We... well, we all are, but she's changed the most."

Haruhi looked hopeful. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was on the verge of exploding. She hopped up and down. "Where is she? Can you take us there?"

Asakura shrugged, looking to me for help. I have no idea what she expects from me, so all I can do is wait for her to answer. Asakura finally gave in. "Yes, I can take you to her. She... she's at the graveyard."

All the color drained from Haruhi's face.