The Sky Canopy Dominion. What is it? If you ask Emiri, apparently, it's entirely fictitious. It was imagined up to be a fake rival to the Data Integration Thought Entity. Who made it up, and why? The Data Integration Thought Entity made it up. Emiri was in charge of keeping everyone from knowing it didn't exist, and as such she is the one who named it.

This is what Emiri was explaining to me as we walked to meet Kuyou Suou. We didn't tell Yuki, Haruhi, or Asakura where we were going because, according to Emiri, they wouldn't understand. It seems that they had all been convinced that Kuyou was someone else, an alien created by a separate entity. Emiri took some fairly drastic steps to ensure they forgot who she was.

Well, of course, Haruhi just thinks Kuyou was a Human. Yuki and Asakura, however, had their memories altered. They remembered their fourth team member, but their memory of her was disassociated with the name Kuyou Suou. A remarkable trick on Emiri's part, if you ask me, considering she managed to get permission from the Data Integration Thought Entity to alter her teammates' memories.

Although, it makes me wonder if she ever changed my memories.

We met her halfway between the auto shop and wherever she lived, and I discovered that she either couldn't or simply didn't talk. She used sign language, which I couldn't understand in the slightest. She put her hands in Emiri's when she signed whatever she was saying, so I figured Emiri could understand that by feeling it.

Whatever they said to each other, Emiri managed to communicate to Kuyou a plan that she would reveal to me later. We went our separate ways, and the next morning saw Haruhi, Yuki, Asakura, Emiri, and myself getting on a plane destined for Paris. What the others didn't know was that Kuyou had also boarded the plane. She was sitting five rows directly behind Asakura, and no one was the wiser.

Now I'm sitting on a plane again, gripping my seat for dear life again. The worst part of them all is that the data interface girls all seem to be panicking too. I've got one on either side of me, finger nails digging into both my arms. Haruhi's sitting across the isle from us and is enjoying every moment far too much. Right beside her is Yuki, and the poor girl has turned pale as… snow.

Asakura has latched onto everything she can in every way she can, and is whimpering in sheer terror as the plane takes off. Emiri has her arms wrapped tightly around me and her face pressed firmly into my side. A quick glance behind us, and I can tell by the way her eyes were widening that Kuyou is at least as scared as me.

Not that I doubt any of them have been on a plane before. Emiri said they took a plane when they all moved to Canada, but I don't think she realized that they didn't have a problem then because they were still data interfaces. They're just Human girls now, and air travel seems to have caught them by surprise. This really doesn't help me get over my fear of flying, knowing that they are aware of pretty much everything that could go wrong.

Beside me, Asakura grumbled unhappily as the in-flight movie started. She turned to me. "Are they doing this on purpose?"

I managed to look at her, seeing as we had finally leveled off and the trip was smoother from here. "Doing what?"

She motioned to the movie. I didn't recognize it, and seeing this she elaborated. "Die Hard 2. Terrorists take over an airport. Airplanes explode a lot."

She said that in Japanese, which was probably a good idea. Most of the people on the plane probably wouldn't understand what she said. She was just being careful. I'm sure you can understand not wanting to be heard saying "terrorist" on a commercial flight.

Emiri caught it, though, and looked up at me. She really does look like she can see me sometimes, but I know she can't. When she spoke, I realized she was talking to Asakura. "They're playing that on an airplane? Why would they do that?"

Asakura suddenly grinned mischievously at me, then addressed Emiri. "Don't you worry, Emiri. You just snuggle with your man, you hear? You don't have to watch the movie."

Emiri leaned further into me with her face reddening. I patted her head gently and glanced over at the offending party. "Asakura, don't tease her."

She frowned in response. "I was serious when I asked you to just call me by my first name. You've done it for everyone else, so why not me?"

Where do I start? "Yuki's new last name feels weird. I'm pretty sure Haruhi threatened me into it. As for Emiri..." I looked down at the woman in question. She pressed her face into my side even harder. I looked back up to Asakura. "I think it's safe to say we're on a legitimate first name basis."

Asakura shook her head. "...you." She started that comment with a word that I'll leave up to your imagination.

I wasn't planning on responding to her anyway, but I was distracted by Emiri nudging me with her face. Asakura can sit and wait. I've got a green-haired beauty to take care of. ...What is she doing?

Seriously, she's rubbing her face against my ribs. I can't possibly imagine the point to this or what could be going through her head right now. It's awkward, somewhat embarrassing, and it's starting to get me excited in all the wrong ways. Stop it. Stop it, it's starting to tickle.

She must have noticed my discomfort, as she pulled away and sat back against her chair. She brushed her bangs out of her face and blushed. "Sorry..."

No your not. You were enjoying that. I was about to tell her I was fine with her acting like that, because it's so darn cute, when I thought of something else. I turned back to the blunette on my other side. "Hey, Asakura..." She just repeated her last words again. I ignored it and asked my question. "Are you sure you should be flying in your condition?"

She shot me a glare that could have launched me out the window of the plane. "Don't say another word about it. You don't know anything about it, so just leave it alone."

"I'm serious, Asakura. Will you really be alright?"

She looked like she was about to throttle me, but Haruhi interrupted just in time. "Ryoko, are you pregnant?"

Asakura turned to look at Haruhi, and I can only imagine what her face looked like. I know Yuki was trying desperately to hold it in, and I could hear a muffled giggle from Emiri. Asakura was trying her best not to scream at Haruhi, just barely succeeding.

"I am not pregnant!"

I heard Emiri whisper over to her. "People are starting to stare, Ryoko."

She shot back. "No one's staring."

Emiri nodded. "I am."

Sure enough, when we looked, Emiri was staring straight at Asakura. She can't see anything, but she really looks like she can sometimes. Her stare can even be described as downright unsettling, and I pity Asakura for being on the receiving end. Emiri just smiled kindly, making it even creepier.

Asakura just shrugged. "Whatever. I'm not pregnant, so just leave it alone."

This is going to catch up to you eventually, Asakura. I don't know what's wrong, but I do know you're not going to be able to ignore it forever. For now, I'll respect your wishes and shut up, but we are going to deal with this one way or another.

Time passed, and Emiri fell asleep on my shoulder. Looking over, I saw that Yuki and Haruhi had nodded off and were leaning into each other. Asakura also fell asleep, after spending the better part of an hour trying to open a packet of peanuts. I found myself debating whether or not to risk waking Asakura by shoving her off my shoulder.

Eventually, I gave up and just tried to get some rest for myself. I woke up when the plane landed on the runway, and someone's head landed in my lap. I'll give you a hint; it wasn't Emiri. No, Emiri's head landed on top of Asakura's with a solid knocking sound. Asakura woke up, followed closely by Emiri, and the former started panicking and trying to get out from under the latter. A lesser man would probably be enjoying himself, but I hurried to help both of them up. All three of us were thoroughly embarrassed, and Asakura was rubbing the back of her head and rattling off more swear words than I know.

A quick glance told me that something similar had happened to Yuki and Haruhi, but only the lavender-haired woman was embarrassed. I checked over my shoulder to see that Kuyou had... apparently not moved at all since I last looked. Is she still having those glitches Emiri mentioned? Would something like that have come with her when she was changed into a Human?

Over the course of the next hour, we found ourselves wandering around the airport terminal. Haruhi was leading us around aimlessly, with Yuki and Asakura following close behind her. I brought up the rear, holding hands with Emiri so that she wouldn't get left behind. Every now and again, I would check behind us and spot Kuyou trailing us from a distance.

Eventually, we stopped in front of some sort of food vendor. Haruhi wanted something, of course, but had to go and exchange our Canadian money for French money. I imagine we'll have to exchange back when we return to Canada or Japan or wherever this adventure ends. ...Moscow. It'll probably end in Moscow, and that's probably going to be my fault.

Anyway, we were lucky enough to find a food court place that had something we could all enjoy. Most of us got ice cream cones, with the exception of Yuki, who got a very large soda drink. By the time we were all seated, Haruhi had finished off her cone and was holding her head in pain. A moment later, Emiri joined her in cold sugary misery. I felt sorry for her, but she looked incredibly cute like that. I have a harder time feeling sorry for Haruhi.

Yuki got up and wandered off after finishing her drink, and Haruhi wobbled off to follow her. They'll stick together, I'm sure. I wasn't going to worry about those two. I was far more likely to worry about Emiri, who was also getting up. She looked like she had gotten over the brain freeze, but she also looked like she was planning to go off on her own.

She smiled. "You two stay here. I've got something I need to do."

Asakura started to object. "We should come with y-"

Emiri shoved Asakura's ice cream cone into the blunette's mouth, effectively silencing her. "You should stay here. I won't be too long." She winked at me, then turned and walked away with her red-tipped cane guiding her.

It occurred to me that she was probably going to meet up with Kuyou, so I let her go. Asakura was too busy dealing with the brain-freeze Emiri had forced on her to bother following her. So now it's just me and Asakura. I waited for her to finish her ice cream before trying to start a conversation. When she finally did away with the treat, we fell into a rather uncomfortable silence.

After a minute or two, she realized how awkward the situation was and tried to talk, but as luck would have it I did the same thing at the same time. Once we'd sorted out the false start, I let her go first.

She leaned back against her chair and crossed her arms casually. "You, uh... you seem to be getting along with Emiri pretty well."

On a hunch, I checked to make sure Emiri wasn't standing behind me. She wasn't, so I decided to answer, albeit somewhat vaguely. "That's one way of putting it."

She frowned. "Fine then... How about this? It's rude."

The subject just changed, I believe. Now I just have to figure out what she changed it to. "What's rude?"

She just huffed and turned away. "Calling me by my last name when I've asked you repeatedly to call me by my first name. It's getting to the point where it's actually quite insulting. I wish you would stop."

I don't see it, but okay. However, nothing comes without a price. You'll thank me later. "Alright, but under one condition." This caught her attention. "You have to tell me what's wrong with you. No lies and no sidestepping it. You've got to tell someone, and it might as well be me."

She let out a low growl, but gave in moments later. She slowly lowered her arms onto the table, resting her chin on them and sighing in defeat. "You can't tell Yuki or anyone else... but mostly Yuki." She stopped there, waiting for me to agree to her terms of non-disclosure.

"Okay, but why her in particular?"

"I'll explain. First things first, though. I, um... I told you before that I was... sick. I also said it wasn't contagious... that's... that's because I have cancer."

I'm sorry, what? "You... what? What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "Emiri and Yuki haven't noticed it, but the Data Integration Thought Entity did something to us before it left. It was a sort of countermeasure, in case Haruhi came looking for Yuki again. Fearing that Haruhi would still possess the ability to create a wave of data powerful enough to destroy it, the entity left a hidden program designed to ensure that Haruhi would always be able to find Yuki. This involved keeping Yuki in perfect health."

I held up my hand, asking her to pause. "That's definitely interesting, but I'm pretty sure you just said something about having cancer..."

She nodded. "And I'm getting to that. Yuki spends a lot of her time working with up close mechanics. Most of her free time, she's in her room watching TV or playing video games, and she's usually got headphones on whether she's working or not. It's gone on for years, and her eyes and ears haven't suffered at all."

I wish I could say I knew where this was going, but I'm almost completely in the dark. "I'm not sure what this has to do with... the pressing matter at hand."

She lowered her voice. "She doesn't realize it, and neither does Emiri, but the damage to Yuki's eyes was transferred directly to Emiri. I didn't know where the damage to her ears could have gone until I found out that our... other friend... was still alive. I'd be willing to bet she's near deaf."

Wait, let me get this straight. "You're telling me that the Data Integration Thought Entity is keeping Yuki in perfect health at the expense of everyone else?"

"Exactly." She snapped her fingers. "Don't even hint to Yuki that you know this, but I know she also smokes whenever she thinks I'm not looking. It hasn't ever effected her because it all goes straight to me." She rested her head back on top of her arms, her voice taking on a tone of genuine sadness. "She doesn't even realize that she's killing me... or rather, she already has."

This is a lot to take in, as you may have guessed. I... think I ran my fingers through my hair about then. I don't know, I was sort of preoccupied. I was trying to get over the fact that I was sitting across from a woman who had just revealed that she was actively dying. Something is just wrong about that situation.

I know I rubbed my eyes with my hands. "So... then why is it Yuki can't know?"

"If she finds out about the program causing this, she'll be able to delete it. If she deletes it, everything will go back to her. She will die."

"Right." Okay, that makes some sort of sense. I'm sure it does... somehow. "How... how long do you have, then?"

She shrugged. "My doctor told me last Spring that I had until around December. Every day after that is a... gift from God, I suppose."

I couldn't help but thinking that was a strange thing to say. "What kind of gift from God is that supposed to be? More time spent in pain, wondering when it's actually going to happen. That's not a gift. It's torture."

"No, that's not true." In the crowded terminal, I barely heard her. It was like this was the most sacred of secrets, and she was about to impart the last of her knowledge. "I lived long enough to see you and Haruhi. I got to know Yuki and Emiri would be taken care of. Not a day goes by that I regret taking this for Yuki. Even if it was my choice, I would gladly do this for her. I'd die a thousand slow painful deaths without a second thought if it would achieve what I have already done, because... the longer I last... the longer Emiri has."

My mind froze at the implications. "Wh... what are you saying?"

She gazed directly into my eyes and it felt like she was staring into my soul. "I'm saying that when I do die, this could transfer onto Emiri. She wouldn't be in immediate risk. I'll still be absorbing it right up until the end, and then it would take time to build up before it threatened her." She looked away. "Now, I don't know that this is what will happen. It might start effecting our other member, or it could just stop working and start killing Yuki. For all I know, it could all transfer to me even after I'm dead. The point is that I don't want to risk anyone."

It feels like she's about to give me some sort of mission. Let me guess. "You want me to stop her from keeping on smoking."

"Yes. When I die, then you need to explain everything to Yuki. It has to be you because the only other person who would understand it is Emiri, and she would rather pay the price for Yuki's mistakes then let Yuki pay for them. Emiri would risk her own life to keep Haruhi happy. You, on the other hand, wouldn't. The thing is that you can't tell Yuki before I die. If you do, she'll delete the program and take my place... and I will live... and she will die. I can't live with that."

Before I could offer any sort of advice or even consolation, Haruhi and Yuki rejoined us. Their appearance didn't bode well, as Haruhi was hiding something behind her back and Yuki was failing to hold back a grin. I can only imagine what horrible thing they had gotten.

Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long. Haruhi's face cracked into a grin and she pulled out a small blue basket filled with streamers in one hand, and a pink one in the other hand. "We didn't know if it was a boy or a girl, so we just got both."

Sure enough, the pink basket said 'It's a Girl' on the side, and the blue one said 'It's a Boy'. Asak- ...Ryoko's face was the picture of pure horror. "What the- " No, I'm not repeating her words exactly. It's for your own benefit. " -is this?"

Haruhi never dropped the grin. "It's for your baby!" Yuki finally burst out laughing, forcing her to take a seat beside Ryoko.

Ryoko rolled her eyes. "Where did you even find those?"

Haruhi pointed off in some direction I don't plan on investigating. "There's a store over that way that just had everything."

Ryoko took the pink basket and inspected it. "You mean it has everything cheap and useless, right? This cost less than my ice cream."

Emiri appeared over my shoulder. "Are we going to leave the airport? We need to find a hotel or something. When Koizumi called, did he say he'd arrange for a place we could stay?"

I had to scrounge my mind to remember what Koizumi actually said. Not really, but almost. "No, I think he just said he'd contact us as soon as we arrived here."

Haruhi glanced around and shrugged. "Well, we're here. Now what?"

"Perhaps I could point you in the right direction, Miss Suzumiya."

We all looked to the newcomer. I didn't recognize him, and judging by their reactions, no one else did either. He looked like a middle-aged man wearing a formal suit and tie. His dark hair was cropped fairly short, but still managed to look shaggy. He smiled disarmingly at Haruhi and held his hand out to her.

"Keiichi Tamaru, Miss Suzumiya. Perhaps you remember me."

After a moment of contemplation, Haruhi smiled and shook the man's hand. "Oh, yes! I remember. You and your brother owned that island we stayed at."

He laughed. "That was years ago! I'm surprised you remember. I regret that we don't have any mystery set up this time..."

She shrugged. "That's okay. We're on a mission to reunite the SOS Brigade."

"So I've heard." He pointed toward a nearby exit sign. "Koizumi is waiting for us. Shall we go?"

Mr. Tamaru led the way, with Haruhi dragging Yuki right behind him. Standing up, I looped my arm around Emiri's and guided her along with the rest. Ryoko took up the rear, casually slipping the colorful baskets into a garbage bin as she walked. When I turned my focus back to where I was going, however, I couldn't help but notice a small packet of something hidden away in Yuki's coat pocket.