Isn't Paris supposed to be the city of love? That's what it is, right? I don't remember. Anyway, welcome to Paris. Guess where I am. I'm leaning against a guardrail intended to keep me from falling into the Seine. You know what's really funny? We've been here for half a day almost, and I still haven't seen one steel girder or rivet of the Eiffel Tower. I thought you were supposed to be able to see it from anywhere in the entire city. Movies have lied to me again.

Although, I'm inclined to think the Eiffel Tower isn't all that important. Emiri Kimidori is standing right beside me, and she's plenty spectacular in my book. Of course, the rest of the group is here. Mr. Tameru led us here, then left. He said someone would be here to pick us up soon. Haruhi and Yuki seem content to wait, but Ryoko and Emiri have made it clear that they are not content.

"Did you guys ever see the movie Armageddon? You know, with Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis. You ever seen it?"

Haruhi eyed Ryoko, possibly trying to figure out what the heck she had just said. "That was one of those asteroid movies, right? I believe it was full of complete and utter inaccuracies to the point of being ridiculous. Why?"

Ryoko shuffled uneasily as she looked out over the river. "Because a section of the asteroid, in that movie, totally wiped Paris off the map."

Yuki shrugged and leaned back against the rail. "Yeah, well, have you seen the end of The Happening?"

Ryoko looked up. "Why? What happened?" She looked genuinely worried.

Yuki just smiled and looked away. "I think I'll let you imagine."

Haruhi narrowed her eyes at Ryoko. "You're worried that something like that might happen while we're here, aren't you?"

Before Ryoko could answer, a limousine stopped on the side of the road behind us. The door opened and an older man with a mustache stepped out. He smiled kindly at the sight of us. Well, probably more at Haruhi.

"Miss Suzumiya, it's nice to see you again. And Miss Nagato as well."

I could almost feel Yuki cringe at being called that. I wonder if she's going to explode again any time soon. I should probably start keeping an eye out for escape routes just in case.

Haruhi seemed to be getting quicker at recognizing people. She had this guy already figured out. "You're... Arakawa?"

He nodded, smiling. "Indeed, I am." He opened a door into the back of the limo. "Our friend Koizumi is waiting for us. Shall we get going?"

Haruhi nodded and got in without a second thought, and Arakawa looked at the rest of us. Ryoko just shrugged and followed Haruhi, and I tugged on Emiri's hand and guided her in. Yuki got in last and sat down beside Emiri. Haruhi and Ryoko had seated themselves at the other end of the limo, right next to someone I had forgotten to expect.

"How nice to see you all again, nyoro!"

Haruhi squealed with joy and hugged the young woman. "Tsuruya!"

I should take a moment to note that her hair is back to being green. Now I'm going to be wondering for forever what her natural color is and why the heck she had it red at all. If I were the type of person to be plagued to the point of sleep-deprivation by this sort of thing, I would be in for one disaster of a life after this. Thankfully, I am of a temperament that tends to be able to let these things go.

Back to Tsuruya. She smiled and warmly greeted everyone. "It really is good to see all of you again, nyoro."

Emiri smiled back. "Feels like I saw you just yesterday."

Tsuruya pulled her face into a somewhat serious look, something I don't remember ever seeing. She looked to Haruhi. "Oh yeah, that reminds me. Um... technically, because I got married my name is no longer Tsuruya, but you can continue to call me that because... well... it could be confusing otherwise."

Haruhi took it in stride. "Yeah, and with your given name being so ridiculous to pronounce, I can see where the line is to be drawn."

Say what? She has a first name? Do tell. I didn't say anything in the limo, seeing how I'm really not supposed to be a part of all this. It was actually sort of embarrassing, sitting in there with people I never really knew very well. Out of everyone here, Emiri is the only one I talked to on a regular basis at any point in my life. That's because, as the president of the computer club, I had to bring any of our concerns to the student body council and Emiri happened to be the council's secretary or something.

Back on topic, Haruhi's just realized that Tsuruya's married. Quick on the pickup, are we? Haruhi jumped up and down. "So who did you marry? Is it someone from here?"

She smiled innocently. "No. No, he's not French. Just wait and see. You'll meet him eventually. We should be at our destination soon."

Sure enough, quicker than you could recite Shakespeare's complete works, we arrived at a rather nondescript building. Arakawa opened the door and Tsuruya led us into the building. The inside proved to be just as nondescript as the outside right up until she led us down the stairs and into the basement.

We found ourselves in a small room with two doors and nothing else. The door behind us was wooden and normal. The door in front of us was large, heavy, and quite old-looking. It had a keypad under the handle, which Tsuruya tapped some code into. The door responded with a heavy click, probably unlocking.

When she opened the door, I realized I was looking into the Paris underground. The tunnels were narrow and dark, making me not particularly want to be here. Haruhi had also clued in to what this was, but she looked quite excited. Ryoko and Yuki looked neutral, and Emiri was just confused.

Emiri leaned over to me and whispered in my ear. "Why do I feel a cold draft if we're in the basement?"

Haruhi answered for me, which was a bit annoying. "These tunnels are famous. I read that there's a whole section where the walls are made completely out of Human skeletons! It's the perfect place for a hideout!"

Tsuruya just grinned. "Let's get going. We don't want him waiting forever." She grabbed Haruhi's hand. "Make a chain, people. Don't want you getting lost down here. People have died that way."

Haruhi looked behind her and selected Yuki's hand. Yuki just took Ryoko's hand, and then Ryoko took my hand entirely without my consent. I just held onto Emiri. The very last thing I want is for Emiri to get lost in the Paris underground.

Now that we were all linked, we started on a winding route through the dark tunnels. I sincerely hope Tsuruya knows where she's going, or we're all going to die. I can't even imagine what Koizumi's doing in this place. If it's his type of haunt, then maybe we should be on our way, don't you think?

As it turns out, apparently Tsuruya knows exactly what she's doing, seeing as we ended up at a fairly large room with working electric lights. There were a few doors at the back of the room and along the sides, making me wonder if they have permission to have this set up down here. It also has me wondering if what they do down here is even legal.

One of the doors near the back opened and a man wearing a suit and tie walked out. I'd say he smiled, but he was already doing that when I first spotted him. I will say that he's a little creepy. That much was easy to tell right away.

What was probably the most notable thing about him was when Tsuruya ran up and kissed him, then took his hand and turned to face us. The looked of surprise on Haruhi's face was quite obviously what Tsuruya was aiming for, and I commend her on setting that up.

Haruhi practically blurted it out. "You married Koizumi?" She proceeded to squeal with delight, then run over and hug the green-haired grinner with all her strength.

Koizumi, if that's really who it was, just continued to smirk. "I'm glad to see you too, Miss Suzumiya."

Haruhi let go of… Miss Koizumi? Oh wait, she said we could just keep calling her Tsuruya. Haruhi let go of her and turned on… Itsuki Koizumi. Names are getting too confusing around here. She jumped on him and hugged him. That's what happened.

Still grinning, Tsuruya tapped Haruhi on the shoulder. "He's still my husband."

Haruhi jumped back. "Right. Sorry."

Tsuruya took her place, wrapping her arms around the man. Looking at them now, with his smile and her grin, I think they're perfect for each other. I just hope they have the collective sanity to... actually, considering where we are, I don't think they do, so I'll just stop there.

Koizumi kept right on smiling, but I probably don't need to keep telling you that. "If you'll just follow us, Miss Suzumiya, we can sit down and catch up." He looked at the rest of us. "Please come along."

Gently prying himself out of Tsuruya's arms, he took her hand and led the way back into the room he had come out of. Haruhi followed right behind him, with Yuki trailing behind her. I looked down to Emiri, who was still clinging to me, hoping she would give me some sort of indication as to whether or not we should follow him.

Ryoko nudged my free arm. "We should go see what he wants to talk about."

By the time we started moving, everyone else had already entered the room. It was far better than you would think. Other than the complete lack of windows, you'd almost think we were in the rich part of town. That being, of course, somewhere sunlight can actually reach.

Koizumi was sitting back on a small couch, his green-haired grinning wife seated beside him. Haruhi had selected a big cushy chair on the other side of the room so that she could face them straight on. Yuki had selected a smaller chair that was tucked into the back corner. Other than what was already being used there were a few other chairs alongside were Haruhi was sitting, and a larger couch along the back wall.

Ryoko pranced across the room and jumped onto the couch. She made to lie down, but stopped and sat up when she noticed me and Emiri. I figured we might as well, so I guided Emiri through the room and sat down on the couch. She sat down between me and Ryoko and leaned slightly in my direction.

Haruhi was fidgeting, unable to sit still. She wanted the conversation to start, but didn't seem to know what to say. Something must have hit her as unusual, as she suddenly blurted out a question. "What are Arakawa and the Tameru brothers doing here?"

Koizumi sat up, folding his hands. "Ah, yes, that. They work for me as members of my organization."

Haruhi nodded in a display of partial understanding. "Okay... what do you do? Your organization, that is."

I'll let you just guess the facial expression he gave. "That, Miss Suzumiya, is in fact thanks to you. We investigate paranormal activities."

Okay, so we were told he was going to explain everything to Haruhi. Yuki is on the edge of her seat right now, as is Emiri. Ryoko seems almost as interested as Haruhi, who happens to look like she's about to explode from excitement. So far, he hasn't actually said anything risky... I think. I'm still new to this.

"You... you've been continuing the work of the SOS Brigade?" She actually looked like she was about to break down. Should it have taken this long for me to realize how much her brigade meant to her?

Koizumi just nodded. "Essentially, yes. We've had more success in some areas than the brigade managed, although technically the brigade achieved far greater things..."

"Did you find aliens? Or time travelers? Or espers?"

Tsuruya responded before Koizumi could speak. "I think it would be better to just show her, wouldn't it?"

Koizumi glanced at her, then stood up. "Well, we might as well get a move on. Miss Suzumiya, I believe we have something you would like to see." He moved back over to the door. "It'll just take a moment."

We all stood up and followed him out of the room, pretty much in the same order as we had entered. He crossed the larger room to another door and opened it, ushering us in. Inside was something that look for all intents and purposes like a checkpoint at a prison or an airport. There was a large metal arch, almost like a door frame, that I guessed was a metal detector. There was another door beyond the gate, and that was no doubt our destination. I was getting a bit suspicious about what he had back there.

Koizumi stepped through the gate, and a light lining the inside on it flashed red. He beckoned Tsuruya to follow next. When she stepped through, it flashed green. He explained what the device's purpose was. "In our world, there are many different types of people. The technology we use here identifies which type a person is."

Haruhi nodded, again probably not fully understanding what he meant. She stepped through, and the light flashed yellow. Yuki went next, and it flashed a clean white. The same white light flashed when Ryoko stepped through, then again for Emiri. When I stepped through, the green light flashed again. I guess that means myself and Tsuruya are the only normal Humans here. Good to know.

I looked back to everyone else to see Tsuruya looking at me strangely. Maybe she was expecting me to be an alien or a demon or something. I mean, I gather that the white light was for aliens, and the red one would be for espers. The yellow light is probably because Haruhi has whatever powers she has.

Koizumi opened the next door. "I'll explain it further later, but for now..."

In the next room we found several doors lining the back wall. They were all made of metal, with a small window at about eye level, and they looked pretty thick. There were eight of them, and two of them had lights over the doors; one red and one blue. I wonder what these colors mean...

Koizumi led us to the door with the red light overhead. He held his hand a few inches off the door's surface. "Okay, this door is really hot. You can look in, but I'd advise against touching the door."

Haruhi stepped up to the door and peered in. I can only imagine what she saw that made her gasp. She turned to Koizumi. "Who is that?"

Koizumi shook his head sadly. "That is Kyouko Tachibana. She is an esper, and a strong one at that. The reason she's in there is because she has been misusing her abilities. She's shown no sign of changing her direction, so we have no choice but to hold her here."

Haruhi looked back through the little window. "So she's a real esper?"

He nodded. "Oh yes. And she's not the only one. We have a time traveler as well, by the way."

Haruhi glanced back to Koizumi, then looked at the other lit door. "...And you keep them in here because... they're bad?" Koizumi nodded again. Haruhi was starting to look disappointed. "I was hoping... I didn't want them to be bad. I wanted to be friends with them."

Koizumi glanced over to Tsuruya, who just grinned back and nodded. He looked back to Haruhi and held his hand out to her. "Well, that's another thing. I think we can help you with that."

Something that defies my descriptive abilities appeared floating above the palm of his hand. If I had to guess, I'd call it a ball of energy. Haruhi looked stunned at the sight of the thing. Her eyes flicked between Koizumi's face and the object floating above Koizumi's hand, unable to formulate a response in her mind.

Koizumi just smiled. You probably knew that, but it's what he did. "Because I too am an esper, Miss Suzumiya, and I know that I can be your friend."

Haruhi was silent. It looked for a moment like she thought it might be a prank, but the glowing orb of energy snuffed that thought pretty quick. Was it that she hadn't thought of how she would react if she finally met an esper, or was it that she was entirely unprepared for it to be someone she already knew?

"And I can assure you that there are others who would also quite like to be your friend. Espers... time travelers... aliens... even a slider or two."

Haruhi finally found some words. "W-wha... uh... sliders?"

Tsuruya answered. "Well, there's only two we know of, and they're not really from parallel universes. They're actually from our universe, but they have traveled to other ones."

Koizumi held up his hands, letting the orb vanish. "But don't worry. They're plenty of fun anyway. The time travelers are really from the future and the aliens are really from out of this world, but the espers and sliders are from right here."

Tsuruya jumped over to him and bumped his arm. "Here, in this case meaning Earth. They're not from Paris."

He nodded in agreement. "Right. I mean, the population of espers is pretty well evened out across the globe so there are a few native to France, but..." He smirked. "Ah, shall we return to the lounge? It's a far better place to be having such a discussion."

On our way back, I noticed Haruhi was watching Koizumi intently. I wonder if she thinks this is a recent development. How does Koizumi plan on handling her if she realizes he's been an esper the entire time and never told her. I mean, she could surprise us all and take it gracefully, but I don't know who would want to take that risk.

Once we were all seated back in the lounge, Haruhi started letting out the questions she had been building up. "Koizumi... when did this happen? Have you always been an esper? How did you do that thing with the... thing?"

He chuckled, and yes that word is still ridiculous. "Well, I've had my powers for years." I applaud his vagueness. "However, it's only been over the course of the past decade or so that I've gotten powerful enough for my powers to manifest in normal space."

Haruhi was leaning forward, eager to gather all the information she could. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, was it not? "So you can go into alternate dimensions or something?"

"We call them closed spaces. Inside them, our powers would be able to take physical form. In the closed spaces there were... well, some very interesting creatures. Unfortunately, they were quite dangerous. Left to themselves, these creatures would eventually cause the destruction of our world. Possibly even the end of the universe. Naturally, we used our powers to destroy them."

Tsuruya bounced around for a moment. "Koizumi took me to see them once, nyoro. They're, like, giant blue glowing monsters that stomp around and crash stuff! You'd really like it, Haru-nyan!"

Haru-nyan?

Haruhi sat back, as if stunned again. "Wait... glowing blue giants?"

Koizumi nodded. "Yes. As a matter of fact, the closed spaces that they appear in are the result of certain very powerful subconsciousnesses. You could say, someone with a lot of power let their mind wander."

"But..." Something was bothering Haruhi. Anyone could tell that from the expression on her face. "But I thought that was just a dream..."

Tsuruya looked to Koizumi, as if she hadn't expected that. He just kept smiling. "Ah, yes, that. That brings me to my next point, Miss Suzumiya. You have seen them. You have been in a closed space before. Both you and Kyon, in fact, at the same time."

She looked up at him. "That was real?" He nodded again. She looked back down, brushing her fingers across her lips. "Then that means he... he really..."

He what? What does that mean he did? Wait, no, I don't want to know what you do with guys when you're alone together in closed spaces. I don't even know what closed spaces actually are yet, and Koizumi's explanation didn't do anything to clear that up. Heck, I'm still at a loss as to what an esper really does.

Ryoko, seated on the other side of Emiri from me, sighed. "Well, I guess there's no harm in it." Emiri and Yuki both turned to her, and I suspect they already knew what she was going to do. She looked over to Haruhi, who eventually managed to return her gaze. Ryoko added to the copious amounts of smiling going on in the room. "Haruhi, I think you should know that myself and Nagato aren't normal Human beings either. We are what you would refer to as... aliens."

Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. Here it is at long last. The moment of truth. Literally.