“We’re screwed.”

Haruhi gave a rather frank assessment of our current situation as she walked ahead of me.

“Can’t see a thing.”

You want to know where we are? We went to a remote island during summer vacation. Now guess where Haruhi would want to go over winter vacation.

“That’s odd.”

I could hear Koizumi’s voice from his position at the end of our group.

“My sense of distance tells me that we should have reached the foot of the mountain a while ago.”

Here’s a hint. We’re in a cold and white place.

“I’m freezing…brr.”

The howling wind made it difficult to catch her words. I looked behind me to confirm that the girl in skiwear was waddling along like a duckling. I gave her a nod of encouragement before turning back to the front.

“…”

I got the feeling that Nagato’s strides were growing heavier as she led the way. White crystal snow was sticking to our ski boots so that more accumulated with every step taken. Where would such a phenomenon occur?

This is too much effort. I’ll just give you the answer.

An expanse of white as far as the eye can see with icy snow in every direction.

Yes, we were clearly on a snowy mountain.

We’d arrived at a ski lodge in the middle of a blizzard, and now we were stranded on this snowy mountain—that would be the most accurate description of our current situation.

Now then. Who arranged for this scenario? For once, I was hoping that this whole mess was scripted. Otherwise the five of us would simply freeze to death and our frozen corpses wouldn’t be discovered until spring, when the snow melted.

Koizumi, deal with this.

“Easier said than done.”

Koizumi looked down at his compass.

“We should be going in the right direction. Nagato’s navigation is impeccable. Yet we’ve been unable to find our way off this mountain after trudging through the snow for hours. Completely unthinkable under normal circumstances, wouldn’t you say?”

So what’s going on here? We’re never getting out of this?

“I am positive that unnatural forces are at work here. There was no way to predict this happening. Nagato doesn’t know the cause either. After all, we only know that this was entirely unexpected.”

I can figure that out for myself. If we can’t find our way back with Nagato in the lead, something’s definitely wrong.

Again? Did Haruhi have another one of her worthless ideas?

“That is not a certainty at the moment. I have a hunch that Suzumiya would never desire the occurrence of such a phenomenon.”

How can you be so sure?

“After all, Suzumiya was looking forward to a murder mystery drama playing out at the mountain lodge. I had everything planned out to accommodate her expectations.”

There was a “murder game” planned for this winter ski trip, as a follow-up to the one the preceding summer. The previous attempt had been more along the lines of a prank that failed, while this time we were simply playing detective with everyone knowing beforehand that the crime was staged. In fact, the cast from the first take had made a reappearance, with Arakawa the butler, Mori the maid, and the Tamaru brothers acting in the same roles as before.

“You have a point…”

I mean, Haruhi was dying to identify the killer and reveal her brilliant deduction, so she wouldn’t subconsciously wish for something to happen that night that would prevent us from returning to the lodge.

On top of that, Tsuruya and my sister, who served as temporary extras on occasion, along with Shamisen, were waiting for us to return.

Truth be told, the lodge we were staying at belonged to the Tsuruya family. That bright and cheerful young lady offered to provide lodging on the condition that she could tag along. Shamisen was needed as a prop for the scheme Koizumi had cooked up, and my sister attached herself to my luggage. The pair of girls plus one animal weren’t part of the motley crew stranded out here. Shamisen was probably curled up in front of the fireplace while Tsuruya was keeping my skiing-impaired sister company building snowmen. That was the last I had seen of them.

The three of them were essentially junior SOS Brigade members, as far as Haruhi was concerned. There was no reason for any of us to be against the idea of seeing them again, and that went double for Haruhi.

So why? Why weren’t we able to return to the heated lodge that was serving as the SOS Brigade winter vacation site?

If Nagato’s powers weren’t enough to get us to our destination, what was going on here?

“We ran into a hurricane last summer, and now we have a blizzard…”

Was there some kind of rule that stated that we were required to encounter logic-defying phenomena every time our school had an extended period of vacation?

I was feeling a mix of doubt and unease as I recalled our past adventures.

“Why did things turn out this way?”

That would be the cue to switch to flashback mode.

………

……

… 

It was more or less inevitable that we would go on a trip during winter vacation. I mean, we wouldn’t have been any less surprised by its happening if we had somehow been able to see the future.

After all, it had been loudly announced on the ferry ride back from the remote island murder tour (hurricane included), which had started on the first day of summer vacation. By whom? Who else but Haruhi. The rest of us had no choice but to accept her declaration, while Koizumi was named the tour guide.

I’d been hoping that Haruhi might find something else more interesting by the time winter came around, but our brigade chief apparently had an excellent memory when it came to having fun.

“Counting down to the new year in a blizzard.”

Haruhi distributed a number of stapled papers before grinning at us the way a kidnapper would at a child.

“We’ll be going to a snow lodge this winter, just as planned. Part two of our magical mystery tour!”

This was taking place in the clubroom on the twenty-fourth, right after the closing ceremony. A bubbling ceramic pot sat atop the portable gas stove that was sitting on the long table as we tossed an assortment of ingredients into the pot to serve as our lunch.

Haruhi was adding meat, fish, and vegetables in the wrong order while Asahina the maid, with a scarf around her head, was using a pair of long chopsticks to dish out the food after letting it drain a bit. The rest of the SOS Brigade, Nagato, Koizumi, and I, simply ate, and we were joined by a special guest today.

“Whoa, good stuff! What is this? Munch…is Harls a chef prodigy? Chomp…whew. The broth is exquisite. Slurp.”

It was Tsuruya. The owner of that cheerful voice was in a virtual eating contest with Nagato the silent connoisseur as she exclaimed with glee at intervals while using her chopsticks to rapidly scoop food from the pot to her plate.

“A hot pot really hits the spot when it’s winter! And it was a riot to see Kyon in that reindeer getup. Man, this day has been a blast!”

You were the only person to appreciate that act, Tsuruya. Haruhi and Koizumi were smirking at me the entire time, while Asahina had covered her face halfway through and started to shake with mirth. Nagato was clearly wondering where the humor was, an exceedingly logical response. Honestly, the experience was so nerve-racking that I was dripping cold sweat the entire time. I clearly lacked the necessary talent for making people laugh. Not that I ever had any intention to become an entertainer, but whatever.

Tsuruya wasn’t here as part of the hot pot spectacle or to chaperone Asahina. As for why she was our special guest today…

“So about that snowstorm lodge.”

Haruhi had upgraded the modifier from “snow” to “snowstorm.”

“Rejoice, Kyon. Guess what? Tsuruya is letting us use her vacation home for free. I hear that the location’s fantastic. Can’t wait to see it! Here, chow down.”

Haruhi tossed a chunk of pork onto Tsuruya’s plate and dropped a piece of fish that had finished cooking onto her own plate.

“I usually go with my family.”

Tsuruya threw the chunk of pork into her mouth and swallowed it whole.

“But this year the ’rents are in Europe on a business trip. They’ll be finished in three days and the whole family will be going to Switzerland to ski afterward! So I’ll take you guys to the vacation home with me! Sounds like it’ll be a blast!”

Tsuruya must have heard Asahina mention Haruhi’s winter plans at some point and offered to provide lodging. Koizumi was probably standing by to jump at the first opportunity presented, so he wrote up a vacation plan and presented it to Haruhi, who jumped with joy like a cat receiving sashimi.

“I’ve got something here for Tsuruya!”

She withdrew a plain armband from her desk and labeled it HONORARY ADVISOR before handing it over. Right.

Speaking of Koizumi, he was smiling as he watched Haruhi, Nagato, and Tsuruya dig in like this was some kind of eating contest before he apparently noticed the look on my face.

“Please rest assured. There won’t be any surprises this time. Everyone will be aware that we are merely playing a game of detective. In fact, we will be using the same members as before.”

Arrangements had been made for Arakawa the butler, Mori the maid, and the Tamaru brothers to put on another show for us. I guess that works, but what do those people even do for a living? Are they desk jockeys at your “Agency” thing?

“They are all actors I happen to be acquainted with from a small troupe…Would that satisfy your curiosity?”

If Haruhi’s willing to accept that story, I’ll take it.

“Suzumiya does not concern herself with the details as long as she is having fun, though the provision of entertainment would be the greatest hurdle before us…My stomach begins to hurt when I worry if my script will be to her liking.”

Koizumi clutched at his stomach in an exaggerated gesture, but the smile on his face made it clear that he wasn’t even trying to act like he was in pain.

I believed myself to be a better human than Haruhi, so I couldn’t ignore reality the way she did and party away without a concern. I glanced around the room for something that might alleviate my worries before spotting Nagato and the blank look on her face. Your typical Nagato. The Nagato I was accustomed to was chomping away at the hot pot as if nothing had ever happened.

“…”

In any case, I thought.

For once, we should prevent the situation from deteriorating to a point where any strain would be placed on Nagato. No, we were obligated to do so. Though experience would tell us that we should be safe this time. Nagato hadn’t been required to perform any spectacular feats during our summer camp. I could only hope that this winter trip would be the same. Leave the hard work to Koizumi and his people.

As I considered this, I looked down at the documents before me.

According to the schedule on these sheets of paper, our departure was set for December thirtieth. The day before New Year’s Eve. The snowy mountain itself wasn’t that far away. A few hours of bumpy train riding would get us there on the same day.

In any case, once we arrived the rest of that day would be spent skiing, followed by a party (no alcohol allowed) that night. The arrangements for food preparation were similar to those on the summer island, as Arakawa the butler (who was more convincing than a real butler, despite being a fake) and Sonoh Mori (the fake maid) were in charge. The two Tamaru brothers would arrive the next morning, which would lead us to the prelude of our little detective game.

We would spend New Year’s Eve analyzing the case and deducing the trick behind it before assembling at midnight to present our individual theories concerning the “Poisoned Chocolate Incident,” with Koizumi playing the role of the mastermind who would reveal the solution in a nonchalant manner. And then we would all be filled with this sense of relief as we bid farewell to the old year and welcomed the new. Glad to see you!

At least, that was the plan.

I looked up to see Haruhi practically beaming at me. I’m no longer surprised by her ability to gloat before she’s actually accomplished anything.

“We’ll ring in the new year with a bang.”

Haruhi was in the process of snatching up a leek with her chopsticks.

“I’m sure that the new year will appreciate our efforts and make this year a good one. I guarantee it. I can sense that the upcoming year will be a turning point for the SOS Brigade.”

I don’t really care about your personifying years, but I doubt that your definition of a good year would be good for the rest of us.

“Really? I was thinking that the past year was a lot of fun and hoping that next year would be the same. You don’t agree? Oh, Mikuru. The broth in the hot pot’s boiling down, so add some more water.”

“Ah, right away.”

Asahina pranced over to the kettle.

“Oof.”

She heaved the heavy-looking kettle above the hot pot and carefully tipped it over.

As I watched her graceful movements, I reflected on everything that had happened in the past year, which made me hesitate for a moment. Haruhi had said that the past year was a lot of fun. If you were to ask me if I thought the past year was fun, my answer would be obvious.

After all, I’d started off as a kid who longed for the mysterious and unknown. I just wanted an experience that involved aliens or anything along those lines. It wouldn’t make sense for me to not be happy about my fantasies’ becoming reality. Still, I wouldn’t expect such events to continue regularly.

However, despite all that, this was how I felt on the inside.

Yeah, it was fun.

I could confidently say that now. It took a considerable amount of time for me to reach this point. But to be completely honest, I would have preferred a little more peace and quiet. Personally, a few more intervals of relaxation in the clubroom would have been nice.

“You say such weird things.”

Haruhi’s cheeks were stuffed with fish liver.

“We’ve been having a blast this whole time. You haven’t had enough fun yet? Then we should party hard before the year ends.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

She didn’t know about the ordeals I’d experienced and how I’d managed to survive them. I’d had to win a baseball game, end summer vacation, restore the distortions to reality that had come from the movie, go back and forth between past and present, and establish the fact that I will need to return to the past again in the future. The choice had been my own, so I couldn’t blame anybody else, but I was ridiculously busy this time of year for somebody who wasn’t planning on becoming a teacher.

Well, not that I could say any of this to Haruhi.

“We’ll have time to party after we get to that mountain lodge.”

I brushed aside Haruhi’s extended chopsticks as I plucked some cabbage from the hot pot. It wasn’t every day you got a chance to have some of Haruhi’s special hot pot. I needed to fill my stomach before the females of the group (excluding Asahina) with their voracious appetites devoured all the food. Didn’t know when I’d get another chance to enjoy such a feast.

“I guess.”

Haruhi was in a good humor as she heaped beef tripe onto her own plate.

“We need to light up the place with our partying. Got it? New Year’s Eve only happens once a year. Just think about it. We only get to experience a certain day of a certain year once in our lifetime. The same goes for today. Today will never come back once it’s gone. That’s why you’re obligated to live every day to the fullest so you have no regrets. I’m determined to make every single day of my life unforgettable.”

Haruhi’s idealistic sermon drew a quick response from the adjacent Tsuruya, who was sinking her teeth into some half-cooked chicken.

“Wow. Harls, you can remember everything that happened 365 days a year? Wowzers. Mikuru, give me some tea!”

“Ah, right away!”

Asahina held the teapot in one hand as she carefully poured green tea into the guest teacup Tsuruya was holding up, looking rather happy as she performed the task. Haruhi was having fun arbitrarily administering the hot pot, Koizumi had a rather elegant smile on his face as the steam emitted from the hot pot, and Nagato simply dug in without making a sound. Tsuruya, the honorary advisor, was here as a temporary brigade member, but for the most part this was your typical SOS Brigade atmosphere.

I now understood the true value of these brief moments we shared. Having chosen this world, I was more or less guaranteed to encounter more bizarre happenings that involved Haruhi. At the very least, I’d expect to run into a couple more of these before everything was said and done.

Besides, we haven’t come across any sliders yet.

“If you plan on making an appearance, just bring it.”

I accidentally said that out loud, but apparently nobody could hear me over the ruckus of Haruhi and Tsuruya fighting over mushrooms.

However, I have a feeling that Nagato’s eyelashes twitched ever so slightly.

I glanced over at the window to see that snow was trickling down slowly, as if against the sky’s will. Koizumi must have followed my gaze.

“Once you reach our destination, you’ll have enough snow to play with until you’re sick of it. Incidentally, do you prefer skiing or snowboarding? I happen to be in charge of arranging for the implements we will use.”

“Never snowboarded before.”

I tossed him a halfhearted reply as I looked away from the winter sky. Koizumi still had that neutral smile on his face, though it seemed a bit forced.

“Now then, are you staring at the falling snow or thinking of a certain girl whose name happens to mean ‘snow’ in another language…”

It was clear that there was nothing to gain from exchanging glances with Koizumi. I shrugged and joined the battle for mushrooms.

We got away with the forbidden gas stove without being discovered by any teachers or tattletale students, though it was possible they noticed and chose to ignore us. Either way, we ate until we were stuffed, cleaned up the pot, utensils, and trash, and left the clubroom. By the time we exited the school building the light snow had stopped.

After bidding farewell to Tsuruya, who had to attend a party at her home, the SOS Brigade members headed to the bakery. Once we picked up the extra-large cake Haruhi had ordered, we set off to Nagato’s apartment.

Not because we felt bad about Nagato spending Christmas Eve all by herself, but because Nagato, who lived alone, had offered the ideal place for eating cake and going wild. I couldn’t be sure if Koizumi, tasked with bringing Twister, or I, carrying the cake box, got the better deal, but Haruhi was clearly in a joyous mood as she skipped ahead of our little group. Her cheer had apparently spread to Asahina, whom Haruhi would swing around from time to time, and Nagato, who silently shuffled along.

It seemed that we wouldn’t have to worry about a blizzard of Santa Clauses instead of snow. Haruhi certainly appeared to be satisfied as she enjoyed this very ordinary Christmas Eve. She was in the same mental state as my sister. Just for today though, probably.

I shouldn’t need to explain the reason I was feeling so tolerant this time of year. Haruhi could suddenly propose that we go Santa hunting and roam the night streets, and I would simply join her with a mocking smile on my face.

It was undeniably true that every one of us appeared to be having fun as we played the various games Koizumi had brought to Nagato’s soundproof room. Two laptops were hooked up for a <The Day of Sagittarius 3> tournament that was dominated by Nagato. I found myself jostling with Haruhi in a game of Twister. It was such a crazy night that we were on the verge of inviting in random couples who happened to be passing by—

And that was essentially how our Christmas Eve went.

The period between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve flew by so fast that I had to wonder if Haruhi was pushing time along. During that time we did a massive cleanup of the clubroom and I received a puzzling phone call from a former middle school classmate that resulted in my going to watch a football game. When all was said and done, the new year was knocking on our door.

A new year, huh? I wonder what’s going to happen. Personally, I need to do something about my grades or I’ll be in serious trouble.

My mother wasn’t being very subtle about her desire to send me to a cram school, so this would be the perfect opportunity to use my participation on a healthy sports team or in an official club of some sort as an excuse, but since I was a member of an unofficial and incomprehensible association that basically lounged around—at least, that was how it looked to other people—I could understand why someone would question the presence of a student with poor grades but planned on going to college.

For some reason Haruhi had ridiculously good grades, and based on the finals we just took Koizumi would also be considered smart. Asahina was also a diligent student, though it was possible that she was interested in studying ancient practices. And I shouldn’t need to say anything about Nagato’s grades.

“Well, I’ll deal with it later.”

First, I needed to make sure this winter trip was a success. That would be my only focus for now. I could do my studying in the next year. Since our mountain lodge countdown party had to start in this one.

And so, on that note—

“Off we go!”

Haruhi was yelling at the top of her lungs.

“Yahoo!”

Tsuruya was just as hyper.

“The weather at our destination is ideal for skiing at the moment.”

Koizumi delivered an update on the forecast.

“So we’re going skiing? As in the skiing where you glide on snow?”

Asahina lifted her chin, which was tightly secured by a scarf.

“…”

Nagato stood perfectly still with a small bag in one hand.

“Yay!”

My sister was jumping around.

We were in front of the station early this morning. We would be taking a train from here and switching to a connecting train before reaching the snowy mountain that was our destination at a little past noon. Which was fine, but why was my sister here when she wasn’t supposed to be…?

“Who cares? Can’t do anything about her tagging along. The easiest solution would be to bring her with us. She probably won’t get in our way.”

Haruhi hunched down and smiled at my sister.

“If it were somebody I didn’t care about, I’d just chase them away, but your sister’s a sweet girl, unlike you, so I’m perfectly fine with this. She also helped us out with the movie, and Shamisen will have someone to play with this way.”

Yes, our family calico cat was a member of this trip. I shall refer you to the SOS Brigade’s travel planner for an explanation.

“We will need a cat for the gimmick used in this particular mystery.”

Something along the lines of The Cat Who…, I’m guessing.

Koizumi had taken a seat on his own luggage.

“A random cat would have sufficed, but Shamisen did an admirable job of acting when we were filming the movie. I was hoping for an encore performance.”

The present Shamisen is just your typical domesticated cat that can’t speak. You probably shouldn’t expect much from him. I looked over at Haruhi, whose nose was practically touching my sister’s.

“And as a result, she spotted me leaving.”

Our departure was early in the morning and I had already told my mother to keep mum about the trip, so I wasn’t very worried at the time. Since I figured that my sister didn’t realize I was going on a trip with Haruhi and everybody else. But a surprising pitfall awaited me. I was in my room, stowing the slumbering Shamisen in a cat carrier, when my sister walked in for some inexplicable reason. She must have gone to the bathroom and, being half-asleep, stumbled into my room by mistake on her way back.

Things took off from there. My sister’s eyes suddenly opened wide.

“Where are you taking Shami? Why are you dressed like that? Why are you packing?”

Wow, she’s annoying. And after my eleven-year-old sister threw a fit that was exponentially worse than the one last summer, she latched onto my bag with both arms and legs like an oddly colored shellfish adhered to a rock.

“We can manage to accommodate another person,” Koizumi said with a smile. “One additional child isn’t going to put us over budget. I would agree with Suzumiya. There is no point in sending her home after she’s come all the way out here.”

My sister had finished jostling with Haruhi and proceeded to bury her face in Asahina’s ample bosom and hug Nagato’s perfectly still legs and shake, before she finally started squealing with laughter as Tsuruya swung her around.

Good thing I have a sister. If she were my brother, I’d have to take her to the back alley this very second.

My sister didn’t slow down at all as she spent the duration of the express train ride to the snowy mountain jumping around us with glee and wasting energy. If she’s too hyper now, she’ll be tired out by the time we reach our destination, which means that I’ll have to carry my sleeping sister once again, not that I would be able to accomplish anything by telling her this. Haruhi and Tsuruya were just as excited as she was and even the normally reserved Asahina seemed to be uncharacteristically enthusiastic about this trip. And Nagato of all people had given up on reading the paperback that she soon stuffed back into her bag, and she stared at my sister in silence.

I had my cheek against the window as I watched the scenery race by. Koizumi sat in the aisle seat next to me while Haruhi and the other girls sat in the seats before us. They turned the front row around so they would be facing one another and the five of them were now playing Uno. Don’t make too much noise. You’ll disturb the other passengers.

Koizumi and I were the odd ones out, left to play two-person old maid, but we soon gave up because it was too pointless. Why should a couple of guys have to entertain each other in this situation?

It would be more constructive to satiate my mental palate by fantasizing about how Asahina will look in ski gear. And then I proceeded to consider how I might manipulate the situation so the two of us could hit the ski slopes alone.

“Meow.”

There was a sound coming from the pet carrier as a whisker poked through an opening.

After the movie mess was over with, Shamisen transformed into a cat that was so well-behaved you had to question if he actually was a former stray. He would sit and wait for us to bring him food, and he didn’t pester us to play with him constantly. I would say that sleep was his top priority. He’d actually been asleep the whole time since I put him in this pet carrier, but the laziest of cats would still grow bored eventually. He was scratching at the door to signal that sentiment. Naturally I couldn’t let him out while we were still on the train.

“Hang in there a little longer.”

I directed those words toward the carrier at my feet.

“I’ll give you something to munch on once we’re there.”

“Meow.”

That was all it took for him to understand, apparently, as Shamisen once again fell quiet. Koizumi seemed to be impressed.

“I was considerably disturbed when he first started talking, but this cat was clearly the correct choice. And no, I don’t mean that a male calico is particularly lucky. I’m referring to how he’s an understanding and disciplined cat.”

Haruhi was the one who randomly selected him from a swarm of stray cats. And since that managed to result in an extremely rare case, I was tempted to tell her to go buy a lottery ticket. It might help pay for SOS Brigade expenses. I was starting to have second thoughts about mooching off the literary club budget.

“A lottery ticket? Knowing Suzumiya, that would almost certainly complicate matters. Do you realize what could happen if she acquired a million dollars?”

I’d rather not think about it, but I can definitely see her buying a secondhand fighter jet from the American military. I could live with her possessing a single-seat aircraft, but if she managed to get her hands on a two-seater, well, it was pretty obvious who would get stuck in the back.

Or she might splurge on publicity. You’d be sitting back watching some prime-time show when the message THIS SHOW WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SOS BRIGADE would pop up on the screen. I felt a shiver run down my spine when I pictured a commercial that featured us airing on national television right when families typically gathered around the TV. Nothing good could ever happen with Haruhi in a producer position. That was more apparent than the concept of a kindergartner’s failing at the stock market.

“It is entirely possible that she would decide on a course of action that benefits humanity as a whole. Such as setting up a grant for inventions or funding research.”

Koizumi offered what sounded to be a desperately optimistic point of view. Either way, it was never a good idea to gamble. After all, the stakes were too high here. High enough to make those risk-management people hesitate. Unless the reward made the risk worthwhile.

“Just have her buy one of those convenience store ice-cream bars that give you a chance for a second one free. That’ll be enough.”

I returned to enjoying the scenery as Koizumi leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. We would probably be busy upon arrival at our destination, so it would be prudent to preserve my strength right now.

The landscape outside the window grew increasingly rural, and more snow appeared every time we passed through a tunnel. As I watched the scenery fly by, I eventually fell sound asleep.

And so the train ride ended and we gathered up our belongings and headed out of the station to find a two-colored sight, a clear blue sky and pristine white snow, along with a familiar-looking twosome who were greeting us in a ridiculously formal fashion.

“Welcome. We have been awaiting your arrival.”

The most impressive butler I’d ever seen bowed deeply.

“You must be tired after the long trip. Please avail yourselves of our hospitality.”

The suspiciously ageless and beautiful maid was also here.

“Hello, and thank you for your efforts.”

Koizumi immediately walked up to stand next to them.

“I believe this would be the first meeting for Tsuruya. Here we have Arakawa and Mori, two acquaintances whom I asked to look after us for the duration of this trip.”

They looked exactly the same as on that remote island last summer. The gray-haired Arakawa in a three-piece suit and Mori in a very plain apron dress that made it clear she was a maid.

“I am Arakawa.”

“I am Mori.”

They both bowed their heads at exactly the same time.

Did they refrain from wearing coats in this bitter cold as part of the performance, or were they so absorbed in their roles that a sense of professionalism kicked in?

Tsuruya was waving a heavy-looking bag around.

“Heya! Hi there. I shouldn’t have anything to worry about if you come recommended by Koizumi. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Feel free to use this lodge as you like!”

“Many thanks.”

Arakawa took another courteous bow before lifting his face and revealing a dignified smile.

“I am pleased to see that everybody is doing well.”

“My apologies for the inconvenience last summer.”

Mori smiled gently as she spoke, and her smile grew softer when she saw my sister.

“My, what an adorable little guest.”

The uninvited guest, my sister, returned to form faster than dried seaweed in boiling water as she gave a little cheer and leaped into Mori’s skirt.

Haruhi had a wide smile on her face as she took a step onto the snow.

“Long time no see. I’m expecting this winter trip to be a blast. We were interrupted by that hurricane last summer so I wasn’t able to fully enjoy myself, but I plan on compensating for that during this winter excursion.”

Then she turned to us cheerfully, as though she had just queened a pawn.

“Now, everybody. We’re going to go all out having fun here! Scrub away all the grime that’s built up over the past year so we can be fresh to go when the new year comes around. You aren’t allowed to bring any regrets into the next year. Got it?!”

We each responded in our own fashion. Tsuruya pumped her fist in the air as she attempted some semblance of a war cry, Asahina nodded nervously while tensing up, Koizumi was still smiling, Nagato didn’t say a word, and my sister was still clinging to Mori.

And I was doing my best to avoid looking at Haruhi and her blindingly brilliant smile.

Nobody would expect a storm when there wasn’t a single cloud in the beautiful blue sky.

At this point in time.

We piled into a couple of off-road trucks for the trek to the Tsuruya family vacation home. Arakawa and Mori were driving, which allowed me to deduce that Mori was at least old enough to obtain a driver’s license. This information was actually helpful when you consider that I’d been wondering if she was our age. Not that any ulterior motives were involved here. We already had a hard-working maid in Asahina, so I didn’t feel any particular attachment to Mori. That last part was especially important.

Our journey by automobile through the endless expanse of white didn’t last very long. After fifteen minutes or so our big trucks came to a stop in front of a building that resembled a bed-and-breakfast type of lodge.

“The place certainly has atmosphere.”

Haruhi was the first to hop out of the truck and onto the snow as she expressed her satisfaction.

“This particular vacation home is actually our smallest, though,” Tsuruya remarked. “But I really love the place! It’s a lot more comfortable this way.”

Considering it was located near the train station, with a ski resort within walking distance, I would expect this place to be high-rent. Plus, Tsuruya probably wasn’t joking when she said that it was the smallest of her family’s vacation homes, given that she considered the sprawling Japanese mansion she called home to be the status quo. From a more pedestrian standpoint, this vacation home was just as big as the huge villa on the remote island we had visited the previous summer. How much evil had the Tsuruya family committed to be able to freely build such fancy houses all over the place?

“Welcome, everybody.”

Arakawa the butler was showing us in. He and Mori had received from Tsuruya, along with the keys to the house, permission to come here one day before us, meaning that they had been preparing for our arrival since the previous day. This was largely thanks to Koizumi’s being thorough in his planning and also thanks to Tsuruya’s and her family’s being so open-minded and generous.

As I gratefully entered the entirely wooden building that would certainly be fully booked every season if the Tsuruya family decided to transform their winter vacation home into a public lodge, I had a sudden premonition.

I didn’t really understand what it was. Still, I could clearly feel that vague premonition pass through my mind.

“Hmm…?”

I looked around the interior of the vacation home and was impressed by what I saw.

Haruhi was all smiles as she lavished praise on Tsuruya, and Tsuruya was laughing heartily in return. Koizumi was in a discussion with Arakawa and Mori. My sister had immediately taken Shamisen out of his pet carrier to hold in her arms, and Asahina was setting her belongings on the floor with a sigh of relief while Nagato merely stared at some indiscernible spot in the air.

Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary.

We would spend the next few days on a spree of merrymaking disguised as a club foray before returning to our original location to enjoy everyday life…

Or so it should have gone.

The forthcoming murder would only be an act, not real. Haruhi was already aware of this fact, so we wouldn’t need to worry about her going through emotional turmoil. Nagato and Asahina wouldn’t have a role to play in this circus, and Koizumi would never have a chance to use his abnormal powers—

You could even say that this event was completely rigged. Nothing like a shady murder where nobody could guess what might happen. We wouldn’t have to worry about anything out of the ordinary happening, like running into a cave cricket when checking on a person cooped up in his room.

Still, what was this feeling? This unsettling sensation that was like a ghost or some kind of apparition passing through my body. Yes, it reminded me of that odd, gnawing sensation I experienced when I hadn’t yet realized that the second half of summer was in an endless loop. But I wouldn’t consider this to be déjà vu…

“No use.”

The sensation evaded my reach the way a slimy fish would slip out of my grasp.

“Must be my imagination.”

I shook my head and picked up my stuff as I began to ascend the staircase and make my way to the room I had been assigned. The interior wasn’t particularly fancy, but I wasn’t exactly an expert at appraisal. I’m guessing that if I asked how much this simple-looking banister cost to install, I would almost certainly be informed of a material and personnel cost that would make my jaw drop.

I soon reached the second-floor hallway where the bedrooms were.

“Say, Kyon.”

Tsuruya walked over with a smile on her face.

“Mind sharing a room with your sister? Truth be told, there were barely enough rooms for everybody. The attic room I used when I was a child is open, but she’d probably feel lonely if we stuck her up there, yeah?”

“I don’t mind sharing a room with her.”

Haruhi came butting in.

“I just checked our rooms and the beds are huge. You could fit three people side by side with plenty of room to spare. And it would be safer with two girls sharing a room instead, right?”

I don’t see why you think that it would be dangerous for me to share a room with my sister. Sharing a room with Asahina would probably test my mental and spiritual fortitude, but sharing a room with my sister would be the same as sharing a room with Shamisen, as far as I was concerned.

“Well, how about it?”

Haruhi’s question was directed at my sister, who had Shamisen clinging to one shoulder. My sister giggled and blurted out an answer that completely disregarded our previous exchange.

“I wanna sleep in Mikuru’s room.”

And so my sister was able to slip into Asahina’s room, which left me to take care of Shamisen in my room. I might as well dump this cat on someone while I’m at it.

“I will have to refuse. Unlike yours, my nerves aren’t strong enough to bear the strain of spending time with a talking cat.”

Koizumi refused my generous offer, which led to Nagato staring at the calico for thirty seconds or so.

“No.”

And with that curt response she turned her back on me.

Well, I could probably just let him wander around the building. Shamisen didn’t seem to pay any heed to the fact that he was in a strange house as he jumped onto my bed the way he did at home and promptly dozed off, despite having slept for most of the train ride. I was tempted to lie down next to him, but our schedule didn’t allow for any breaks, as we had been ordered by Haruhi to assemble downstairs before we even had a chance to settle in.

“Now, let’s go! Skiing!”

I had a feeling that she was moving a little too fast, but we apparently didn’t have a second to waste if we were to light up the place as Haruhi demanded. And the addition of Tsuruya, a regular bundle of energy who could possibly top Haruhi when it came to hyperactivity, only served to double the effect.

Koizumi had rented the skiwear and skis somewhere. I found it odd how he’d managed to take our measurements without our knowing about it. There was even a full set for my sister, who had joined in at the last second, that was a perfect fit. I could picture agents from the “Agency” (black suits and black sunglasses) sneaking into North High and my sister’s grade school and shuffling through student medical records in the nurse’s office. Hmm, I should ask them for Asahina’s measurements later. Not that I would be able to do anything with them, but still, I was curious.

“It’s been forever since I skied,” Haruhi said. “The last time was during an event for kids when I was in grade school. It never snows where we live. Can’t have winter without snow.”

A view that could only come from someone who lived in an area without regular snow. I’m willing to bet that there are plenty of people out there who could live without seeing another snowflake ever again. I would even draw the conclusion that Kenshin Uesugi from the Warring States period would fall into that category.

We marched along in our clumsy boots, carrying our skis, before finally reaching a rather impressive-looking ski slope. Like Haruhi, I hadn’t skied in a long time. Not since middle school, I think. Pretty sure that this was my sister’s first time and it was apparently Asahina’s as well. I was almost positive that Nagato had never skied before, but I was pretty confident that she would be skiing like a pro the second we hit the slopes.

As we rode the lift, I could see skiwear flashing in every color. I was wondering why there weren’t very many people around when Tsuruya elaborated on the reason.

“This place isn’t that famous. Just a quiet place to ski for the people who know about it. After all, this was our private ski resort until ten years ago.”

But it was open to the public now, according to Tsuruya’s explanation, which was completely free of scorn. I guess that there are actually people in this world with charisma, character, money, and pedigree. People so perfect that you can’t do a thing about them.

Once we got off the lift, Haruhi put her skis on and turned to me.

“What are you going to do, Kyon? I’d prefer to head on over to the expert course, but I’m not sure if everybody knows how to ski. Do you?”

“Give us some time to practice.”

I managed to successfully attach the skis to my boots, but my sister and Asahina were tripping over themselves every twelve inches as we watched.

“We need to teach them the basics or else they’ll have trouble getting back on a ski lift, let alone attacking the expert course.”

Asahina, already covered in snow, looked as though she had been born to be dressed in skiwear. Sometimes I find myself wondering if there is a single article of clothing in this world that wouldn’t look good on her.

“In that case I’ll coach Mikuru through the motions while Harls, you take charge of the little sister! Kyon and everybody else can just ski around!”

Couldn’t ask for a better plan. It would take me a while to get the hang of skiing again. I glanced to my side real quick.

“…”

Nagato, stone-faced and with a firm grip on her poles, had already zoomed off without a hitch.

In the end my sister failed to learn anything. Wasn’t there something wrong with how Haruhi was teaching her?

“Line up your legs and push off hard with the poles like oomph and then off you go zoom and whoosh to accelerate and once you need to stop, just go roar. That should do the trick.”

It didn’t. If life were so simple, we would have developed cars that were perfectly environmentally friendly by now. Unfortunately, my sister was only able to extend the distance between tumbles from about a foot to a yard. Still, she seemed to be enjoying herself as she tumbled around all over the place and gleefully gobbled down snow, so I guess it really didn’t matter if she didn’t learn how to ski as long as she managed to entertain herself. And stop eating that stuff or you’ll end up with a stomachache.

Meanwhile, either Asahina had natural talent for skiing or Tsuruya was a brilliant instructor, since Asahina was able to master the art after thirty minutes.

“Whoa, whoa! This is fun. Wow, it’s amazing.”

A description of Asahina as she skied with a smile on her face against the white backdrop would probably drag, so I’ll try to summarize. It was like watching the descendant of a stylish snow woman suddenly appear in the modern world. An artistic masterpiece that was satisfying enough for me to make a U-turn and head home this very second. I would need to take a picture first, though.

Haruhi continued to direct sideways glances at Koizumi and me as we trained on our own, while she stared pensively at my sister, who was failing to make any progress at all. The look on her face clearly said that she was in a hurry to run up to the top of the mountain and race down, but she couldn’t take this fifth grader along for the ride.

Tsuruya must have been thinking the same thing.

“Harls, you guys can go ahead and ride the lift to the top!”

Tsuruya was helping up my sister, who was cheerfully waving her arms around after falling on her face again.

“I’ll take responsibility for looking after this girl! We can make a snowman if she likes! Sledding would also work! We can probably borrow one somewhere!”

“Are you sure?”

Haruhi watched as Tsuruya and my sister jostled with each other.

“Thanks. Sorry about this.”

“It’s no biggie! Well, little sister! Do you want a skiing lesson, a snowman session, or a sled ride?”

“Snowman!”

My sister gave her answer in a loud voice as Tsuruya laughed and began to remove her skis.

“Okay, snowman it is. We’re going to make a huge one. A huge one!”

The two of them immediately began to make a snowman while Asahina watched enviously.

“A snowman, huh? Ah, I might want to join them…”

“No.”

Haruhi swiftly placed a firm lock on Asahina’s arm before smiling at her.

“Our destination is the peak. We can all race. The first person to reach the foot of the slope will be granted the title General Winter. Let’s all try our best.”

I had a feeling that she wouldn’t let us stop until she won. That I could live with, but the idea of heading straight for the peak of the slope was a little scary. We should take this step by step.

Haruhi just snorted.

“Pathetic. It’s more fun to face these challenges head-on.”

And yet she actually decided to go with my idea, for once. First we would try the intermediate course, and save the main event, the expert course, for the very end.

“Let’s get on the lift. Yuki! We’re going now! Come back!”

Nagato had been gliding in wide arcs around us, but as soon as she heard Haruhi’s voice she turned back and made a perfect stop right next to me, shaving off a layer of snow in the process.

“We’ll be racing one another, okay? I got enough free lift passes for everybody, so we can go until the sun sets…no! We can keep going after the sun sets. Come now, everybody follow me.”

Don’t need you ordering us through every single action we take. And if I were to request permission to join the snowman team, I would probably be denied. Koizumi aside, if I left Nagato and Asahina alone with Haruhi when she went on a rampage, we’d instantly go from blizzard to ice age. There needed to be an objective supervisor around at all times. Not that I would claim to be a particularly objective person. Well, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was saying, and Koizumi would probably have an easy time picking apart my reasoning, so I gave up on that line of thought. After all, I stopped caring about that crap a long time ago.

All the members were safely here in one piece, the snow was nice and powdery so there weren’t any complaints in that department,

and the sky was clear and blue as far as the eye could see. Our brigade chief extended one arm with a smile that was as sunny as said sky.

“These lifts only seat two each. To be fair, we’ll use rock, paper, scissors to decide.”

Now then.

Nothing significant happened after that point. Leaving Tsuruya and my sister behind, the official SOS Brigade members took the lift up the slopes and enjoyed the experience of skiing without incident. The snowman was closer to completion every time we reached the bottom of the slope, and Tsuruya and my sister were joking around with each other like they were the same age while they placed a bucket on the snowman’s head and added eyes and a nose. They were certainly enjoying themselves. In fact, they even started working on a second snowman, which would be my most recent memory of them.

And perhaps, my last memory of them.

I’m not sure how many times we raced down that slope.

After safely making our way to the bottom, we discovered that out of nowhere…I mean, we literally had no idea where it came from, but all of a sudden, we were in the middle of a blizzard. Whiteout conditions. Couldn’t see anything beyond a yard or so.

The howling winds sent the snow pounding against our bodies. The pain from that relentless barrage was actually worse than the bitter cold. I could feel my exposed face begin to freeze and I was forced to keep my face down when I tried to breathe. This was one crazy blizzard.

And it came without any warning.

Haruhi had been in the lead when she came to a stop and Nagato, close behind, also came to a sudden halt. By the time Asahina and I, who were skiing along at a leisurely pace, and Koizumi, bringing up the rear, caught up to them—

The blizzard was already here.

As if it had been summoned by someone.

… 

……

………

That concludes my flashback. I hope that you now understand why we’re trudging around this snowy mountain.

After all, we couldn’t see a thing out here. There might be a cliff a few yards ahead that we could walk straight off without knowing. There shouldn’t be any cliffs around here, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see one pop up in a place where nothing was on the map. I had no intention of trying large-hill ski jumping without a ramp. I guess that my example of cliffs was a little exaggerated, but there was a realistic chance of one of us crashing into a snow-covered tree that was impossible to see and breaking a nose or something.

“Where are we right now?”

Times like this are when we can depend on Nagato. I was reluctant to rely on her, but our lives were on the line here. Yet we were still lost after hours of following Nagato’s exact navigation, as I mentioned in the beginning.

“That’s odd.”

Haruhi’s muttering was beginning to carry a tone of suspicion.

“What’s going on here? It makes no sense that we haven’t seen a single person yet. How long have we been walking around?”

Her gaze was directed at Nagato, who led the way. She was questioning if Nagato had gone the wrong way. The only logical conclusion that could be drawn in this situation. We were walking through a ski resort, not some unexplored wilderness. If we continued to walk in a direction that took us down the slope, we would inevitably reach the bottom, or else something was clearly wrong.

“I guess we don’t really have a choice, so let’s build an igloo and take shelter. Until the blizzard dies down.”

“Wait.”

I stopped Haruhi as I struggled through the whipping snow to reach Nagato’s side.

“What’s going on?”

The girl with no expression on her face slowly looked up at me, her short hair frozen stiff.

“An indeterminate phenomenon.”

Her voice was soft. Her black eyes were staring at me earnestly.

“If the spatial coordinates I have identified for our position are correct, we have already passed the starting point.”

What the hell? Wouldn’t that mean that we should have spotted some sign of civilization by now? I mean, we haven’t even spotted any lift cables or a lodge of any kind.

“The situation has transcended my capacity for spatial perception.”

I sucked in a deep breath when I heard Nagato’s calm voice. I could feel crystals of snow evaporate as they touched the tip of my tongue, along with any words I could have said.

A situation that’s beyond Nagato’s abilities?

Was this what that vague premonition had been hinting at?

“Who’s responsible this time?”

“…”

Nagato fell silent, as if deep in thought, while she stared at the frenzied dance of snowflakes without batting an eye.

None of us had brought a watch or cell phone when we hit the slopes, so we didn’t even know the current time. I think that we left the Tsuruya family vacation home around 3 pm. And it’d been a few hours since then. The cloudy sky was still illuminated by a faint glimmer of light. Still, the thick clouds and howling blizzard prevented us from determining how high the sun was in the sky. After all, the lighting was about as dim as that of a cave with luminous moss, and a strange rusty taste seeped out from my wisdom teeth, followed by a slight pain.

A wall of snow blocked us in every direction and we were blanketed by a canopy of gray.

This scene seemed a little too similar to another experience.

Don’t tell me that—

“Ah!”

Haruhi yelled at the top of her lungs right next to my ears, which scared me so much that my heart almost shattered my rib cage and jumped out of my chest.

“Hey, don’t scare me like that. Stop screaming in my ear.”

“Kyon, look over there.”

Haruhi pointed, her finger standing firm against the wind—

And there was a faint light in the distance.

“What?”

I squinted. The blustering snow made it seem like the light was flickering, but that wasn’t the case. The glow was about as dim as a firefly’s after mating.

“It’s coming from a window.”

Haruhi’s voice was filled with excitement.

“There’s a building over there. We can ask them for shelter. Or else we’re going to freeze to death at this rate.”

Her prediction would soon become reality if we didn’t do something. But a building? Out here in the middle of nowhere?

“This way! Mikuru, Koizumi. Follow my lead.”

Haruhi was like a human plow as she clawed open a path before us. The cold, anxiety, and fatigue must have gotten to Asahina, as her body was visibly shaking while Koizumi shielded her and the two of them trailed after Haruhi. As Koizumi passed me, he whispered something to me that sent a chill through my heart.

“The light is clearly artificial. However, it wasn’t there a moment ago. I am sure of this, as I have been paying close attention to our surroundings.”

“…”

Nagato and I remained silent as we watched Haruhi use her skis to kick away snow and open a path.

“Hurry, hurry! Kyon, Yuki! Don’t fall behind!”

There was no other option. I would rather gamble on a slim chance for survival than freeze to death and show up in the news a hundred years later. It didn’t matter if this was a trap, since we really didn’t have a choice at this point.

I steered Nagato before me as we set off on the path through the snow that Haruhi had made.

As we approached the light, its identity became clear. I was forced to grudgingly admit that Haruhi’s superhuman vision was worthy of praise. The light was plainly coming from the window of a building.

“It’s a mansion. And a huge one to boot…”

Haruhi paused for a moment as she looked straight up at the structure and gave us her impression before she set off again.

I also looked up at the towering building as my mood darkened. The mansion stood against the white snow and gray sky like a silhouette. I wasn’t about to solely attribute the ominous aura I felt to its outward appearance. And the building was more castle than mansion, considering the spires (whose purpose was unknown) that protruded from the roof, and the inadequate lighting, or what would be considered dark décor in general. And this structure was in the middle of some snowy mountains. If this wasn’t suspect, you would have to round up every dictionary in the country and rewrite the definition of that word.

A blizzard on a snowy mountain. Where we were stranded. When we happened to spot a faint light as we had completely lost our sense of direction. And then we arrived at an odd-looking mansion of Western make—

With so many conditions met, the next step would be the arrival of the suspicious-looking owner of this mansion, or perhaps some kind of grotesque monster? So, is this story going to be mystery or horror?

“Excuse me!”

Haruhi was already yelling at the entrance. There wasn’t an intercom or door knocker to speak of. Haruhi was beating on the rustic door with her fist.

“Is anybody home?!”

I looked up at the mansion again from my position behind Haruhi as she pounded away.

In any case, this situation, setting, and stage felt a little too convenient for my tastes. I could tell that this wasn’t Koizumi’s doing. Though it would certainly be great if the door were to open and reveal Arakawa and Mori bowing deeply…But that obviously wasn’t going to happen after Nagato had attested that the circumstances were beyond her own capabilities. I doubt that Koizumi could ever upstage Nagato, and even if Nagato happened to be in on the prank, she would never lie to me.

Haruhi continued to shriek in an ear-piercing voice that held its own against the howling blizzard.

“We’re lost! Could you let us rest for a bit?! We’re going to die if we have to keep standing out here in the snow!”

I looked back to make sure that everybody was here. Nagato was staring at Haruhi’s back, doing her typical bisque-doll impression. Asahina was hugging herself with a terrified look on her face. Koizumi had dropped his usual smile as he stood with his arms crossed, his head cocked, and an expression on his face like he had just eaten something bitter. He was about as indecisive as Hamlet as he visibly wondered if we should open the door or not.

Haruhi was starting to make enough noise to be considered guilty of disturbing the peace, at least in my neighborhood. Despite that, there had been no response from the inside.

“Nobody’s home?”

Haruhi removed her gloves and breathed warm air onto her hands with a bitter expression on her face.

“I thought there’d be somebody around, since the lights are on…What do we do, Kyon?”

It’d be rather difficult for me to give you an immediate answer to that question. The job of rushing headlong into an obvious trap belonged to your typical emotional and hotheaded superhero.

“We just need a place to shelter us from the snow and wind…Is there a shed or something nearby?”

However, Haruhi disregarded my suggestion to search the vicinity. I watched as she put her gloves back on and grabbed the doorknob that was covered by snow and ice. From the side, it almost looked like she was praying as she exhaled. And with a serious look on her face, Haruhi slowly turned the doorknob.

I probably should have stopped her. Or at the very least I should have asked for Nagato’s advice before making a decision. But it was too late now—

It almost felt like the mansion was opening its gaping maw.

As the door opened.

Artificial light fell across our faces.

“It wasn’t locked. You’d think that somebody would answer the door if they’re home.”

Haruhi set her skis and poles against the wall before stomping in ahead of the rest of us.

“Hello?! Anybody home?! We’re coming in!”

Beggars can’t be choosers. We followed our brigade chief ’s lead. Koizumi was the last one in as he shut the door, and we were finally able to bid a temporary farewell to the biting cold and deafening wind that had plagued us for the past few hours. A momentary sigh of relief.

“Whew…”

Asahina plunked herself down on the floor.

“Hey, nobody around?!”

As I listened to Haruhi’s ear-piercing voice, I could feel the light and warmth seep into my bones. The same feeling you would get when sinking into a warm bath after standing outside in the middle of winter. The snow on my head and skiwear was melting and dripping water onto the floor. The heat was definitely on.

But there was no sign of human life. By now some aggravated person should have come storming in to kick Haruhi out, but nobody was responding.

“This better not be a haunted house.”

I muttered to myself as I looked around the interior of the mansion. The entrance led directly into a large room. The best comparison I can make is to the lobby of a fancy hotel. The atrium-shaped ceiling was awfully high up there, with an awfully massive chandelier that provided flickering light. The floor was covered by a carpet of deep crimson. The structure may have appeared to be some kind of bizarre castle from the outside, but the interior was pretty modern. The middle of the room was occupied by an extensive staircase that connected to the second floor. All we needed was a checkroom to complete this phony hotel experience.

“I’m going to take a look around.”

Haruhi was already sick of waiting for the mansion owner, who had yet to appear. She squirmed out of her soggy skiwear in a way that could only be described as “molting” and kicked off her ski boots.

“I doubt that anyone will blame us for coming in without permission, since this is an emergency, but I wouldn’t want them to make a fuss about it later. I’ll go see if anybody’s here. You guys can wait here.”

That was the brigade chief we know and love. Haruhi was behaving exactly the way a leader should as she took off running in her socks.

“Wait.”

I was the one who stopped her.

“I’m coming with you. If I let you go by yourself, I won’t be able to stop worrying about the chance of you doing something rude or insulting.”

I removed my skiwear and boots in a rush, and my body instantly felt lighter as I seemingly shed the fatigue from walking around the mountains in the middle of a blizzard along with those outer garments. I handed the bulky clothing to the person who was conveniently standing nearby.

“Koizumi, I’m trusting you to take care of Asahina and Nagato.”

The esper freak who had failed to be of any use in getting off this snowy mountain shot me a crooked smile and nodded. I took one last glance at Asahina, who was looking up at me with worried eyes, and Nagato, who stood perfectly still in silence.

“Let’s go. The place is so big that it’s possible they couldn’t hear you in the back.”

“Don’t order me around. In these situations, you only need one person in a leadership role! Now do as I say.”

Haruhi’s competitive nature was on full display here as she grabbed my wrist and turned to the three brigade members on standby.

“We’ll be right back. Koizumi, you need to look after the other two.”

“Roger that.”

Koizumi was back to his usual smile as he replied to Haruhi and gave me a slight nod.

I’m pretty sure that he was thinking the same thing I was.

We could search every nook and cranny of this mansion without finding a single person.

I just had a hunch somehow.

Haruhi chose to search the next floor first. Once we ascended the large staircase by the entrance, we arrived at a long hallway that stretched into the distance to right and left and was littered with more wooden doors than I could count. I tried opening one of the doors, and it swung open readily to reveal a Western-style bedroom.

There were more stairs at both ends of the hallway, and Haruhi and I headed up another flight. I let Haruhi lead the way.

“That way. Now this way.”

Haruhi used one hand to point the direction while using her other hand to pull me along by my wrist. I had the urge to cover my ears every time we reached a new floor and Haruhi yelled out, “Anybody home?!” but I wasn’t allowed to do that either. All I could do was follow her orders and tag along.

There were so many doors that we could only manage to open a few at random. As we confirmed that they all led to similar-looking bedrooms, we arrived at the fourth floor. I wasn’t sure if the hallways of the mansion were supposed to be lit at night, but every floor was brightly illuminated.

I was in the process of eyeballing the doors and deciding which to open next when Haruhi broke the silence.

“This reminds me of last summer. When we went outside to check on the boat.”

… Right, something like this happened back then. I vaguely recalled Haruhi dragging me through a downpour the same way she was dragging me around right now.

As I rewound the sepia-colored film that composed my memory, Haruhi came to an abrupt halt and so did I, as she was still clutching my wrist.

“You know.”

Haruhi began to speak in a subdued tone.

“I forget when this started, but it kind of just happened…I decided to take a different path from most people. Ah, I don’t mean a literal path that you walk on. I’m talking about a path in the sense of what direction I want to go. As in a career path or way of life.”

“Uh-huh,” I responded in a noncommittal tone. What’s your point?

“My point is that I have been purposely avoiding any path that the general public would follow. I mean, it wouldn’t be any fun to go with the flow and do what everybody else does. I don’t get why anyone would voluntarily choose to lead a boring life. That was when I realized. If I went against the norm from the very beginning, I might end up having a lot more fun.”

Your typical rebellious spirit would blindly shun anything mainstream and support the obscure, regardless of the benefit or lack thereof. Personally, I more or less felt inclined to subscribe to that particular creed, so I could see where Haruhi was coming from. Still, I have a feeling that you take things to such extremes that concepts like “mainstream” no longer apply.

Haruhi chuckled in a creepy tone.

“Well, none of that really matters.”

What? Don’t ask me for my opinion if you aren’t going to listen. Do you understand the predicament we’re in? We don’t have time to joke around and take it easy.

“Anyway, there’s something that’s been bugging me.”

“What is it now?”

My reply carried a tinge of irritation.

“Did something happen between you and Yuki?”

…

Haruhi wasn’t looking at me. She stared down the hallway before us.

I waited a beat before responding.

“…What are you talking about? Nothing happened.”

“Liar. You’ve been paying extra attention to Yuki since Christmas Eve. Every time I check, you’re looking Yuki’s way.”

Haruhi was still looking down the hallway.

“It’s not because you hit your head, is it? Or what? You better not have any funny ideas involving Yuki.”

I wasn’t aware of the fact that I had been constantly staring at Nagato. At most, I’d been staring at her sixty percent of the time, with Asahina occupying the other forty percent…except this wasn’t the time to be saying that.

“Well…”

I could only manage to stammer a feeble reply. As Haruhi had noticed, I’d been trying to be more considerate of Nagato since the disappearance mess, so I felt uncomfortable about denying my concern flat out. Still, I never expected Haruhi to notice, so I didn’t have an appropriate answer ready for her, but I couldn’t tell her the truth either.

“Spit it out.”

Haruhi was being deliberate in enunciating her words.

“Yuki’s been acting weird too. She doesn’t look different, but I can tell. You must have done something to Yuki.”

She’d gone from warning me about having any funny ideas to accusing me of already doing something in the space of two to three sentences. It was entirely possible that if I left her alone, she would reach the conclusion that something had actually happened between Nagato and me by the time we made it back to where Koizumi and the girls were waiting. Though something actually had happened, which made it difficult for me to simply deny her allegation outright.

“Ah. You see…”

“I won’t let you smooth-talk your way out of this. Disgusting.”

“You’ve got it wrong. Neither of us has done anything to be ashamed of. Uh…The truth is…”

Haruhi was looking at me like I was an archery target.

“The truth is?”

As Haruhi stared me down, I finally came up with something to say.

“Nagato has this problem she’s dealing with. Yeah, that’s it. She asked me for advice a while back.”

It’s pretty hard to think and talk at the same time. Especially when you’re making up an entire story.

“Truth be told, her problem hasn’t been solved yet. I guess that…basically…it’s something Nagato needs to deal with herself. I can only listen and try to help her figure out what she wants to do. Nagato doesn’t have a solution yet, so I’m still a little concerned. Which is probably why I keep looking in her direction.”

“What kind of problem? And why would she ask you for help? She could have come to me instead.”

Haruhi still sounded suspicious.

“I doubt that Yuki would rely on you more than Koizumi or me.”

“She probably would have taken anyone that wasn’t you.”

Haruhi’s eyebrows narrowed, but I used my free hand to stop her. My mind was finally becoming clear.

“Here’s a basic rundown. Do you know why Nagato’s living alone?”

“Family issues, right? I don’t know any details, since I find it disgusting to pry into someone else’s private matters.”

“There’s been some change in her family situation. Depending on how everything turns out, Nagato might not be living alone anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“Simply put, she’ll be moving. Out of that apartment to a faraway place…to live with relatives perhaps. Naturally, she’ll have to switch schools. Transfer out, if you will. They might time it so she’s in a different high school next spring when we all become second-years…”

“Really?”

Haruhi’s expression softened. I’ve got this.

“Yeah, but Nagato doesn’t want to transfer schools, regardless of how it goes with her family. She wants to stay at North High until graduation.”

“So that’s been on her mind…”

Haruhi lowered her head for a moment before looking back up at me, an expression of rage on her face.

“All the more reason to come to me, then. Yuki is an important brigade member. I’m not going to let her run off without a word.”

Those words were all I needed to hear.

“If she had gone to you, you would have made everything more complicated. Knowing you, you’d probably march off to the home of Nagato’s relatives and start a protest against her transferring.”

“Probably.”

“Nagato is determined to settle this herself. She’s a little unsure at the moment, but her heart lies in the clubroom. It’s just that she’s been brooding over this by herself for so long that it’s been an emotional strain on her. She probably wanted to talk to somebody else about it. This was when I was in the hospital, so Nagato told me everything when she came to visit by herself. I just happened to be there at the time when nobody else was. That’s all it was.”

“I see…”

Haruhi sighed softly.

“Yuki, huh...I didn’t realize she was having problems. Looked like she was having fun to me. Before winter vacation started, I was walking through the hallway when I ran into some of the computer society underlings saluting her. And she didn’t seem to mind...”

I tried to picture Nagato with a pleased look on her face, but I couldn’t so I just shook my head to clear my thoughts. Haruhi suddenly lifted her face.

“But, mmm, well, yeah. I guess that sounds like the Yuki I know.”

I was able to breathe a sigh of relief as she apparently bought my story. I found it odd that she could attribute any part of this made-up scenario to typical Nagato behavior, but it seemed that my tale-spinning matched Haruhi’s impression of Nagato. I tried to wrap things up.

“Everything I just said is off the record. You definitely can’t tell Nagato. Don’t worry. She’ll still be reading quietly in the clubroom when the new school year starts.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“But.”

The wrist caught in Haruhi’s iron grip was starting to feel very warm as I continued.

“If, on the off chance that Nagato ends up deciding to transfer schools or is taken away against her will, you’re free to go on a rampage. If it comes to that, I’ll back you every step of the way.”

Haruhi blinked a couple of times before staring up at me in a daze. And then she flashed me an absolutely dazzling smile.

“Of course!”

Haruhi and I made our way back to the entrance lobby on the first floor, where we were treated to three idiosyncratic greetings by the members, who had removed their skiwear while waiting for us.

For some reason, Asahina was on the verge of tears.

“Kyon, Suzumiya…I’m so glad that you’re back…”

“Mikuru, why are you crying? I said that we’d be right back.”

Haruhi patted Asahina’s hair in good humor, but the expression on Koizumi’s face ruined the moment. What’s with the eye contact? You’re not going to grab my heart with looks that don’t make any sense at all.

The last member, Nagato, just stood there in a haze and stared at Haruhi with her black eyes. She seemed to be even more out of it than usual, but I just assumed that an alien-made organic life-form would be hard-pressed to carry out the task of plowing a path through the snow like one of those Russell snowplows. This assumption also took into account the fact that Nagato wasn’t perfect. I was fully aware of that now.

“Do you have a moment?”

Koizumi casually walked over to me and whispered in my ear.

“I would like to keep this a secret from Suzumiya.”

When you put it that way, I don’t have any choice but to listen.

“A rough estimate will do. How much time would you say has passed since you and Suzumiya left us?”

“Hasn’t even been half an hour.”

During that time, I had to listen to Haruhi’s little speech and make up a story to tell her, but it didn’t feel that long to me.

“I was expecting you to say that.”

I couldn’t tell if Koizumi was satisfied or disturbed by my response.

“For those of us who were left behind, three hours have passed since you and Suzumiya set off on your search.”

Nagato was the one who kept track of time, according to Koizumi.

“Since you were taking so long to return.”

He brushed aside his bangs, now dry, before flashing me a nihilistic smile.

“So I came up with a little experiment. I requested Nagato to move to a slightly removed location that was out of sight. We synchronized our count first, and then I asked her to return after ten minutes.”

Nagato apparently complied without complaint. She walked down a hallway to the side of the entrance before eventually turning the corner and vanishing from sight—

“However, Nagato returned before I could count to two hundred. I found this puzzling, as less than three minutes had passed in my mind. However, Nagato asserted that she had positively counted to ten minutes.”

Nagato was obviously correct. You must have nodded off or counted wrong.

“Asahina was also counting in a soft voice and our counts were very close.”

Well then…I still think that Nagato would be the one who’s right, though.

“I have no intention of questioning the accuracy of Nagato’s count. It shouldn’t be possible for her to make simple arithmetic mistakes.”

So we’re in the realm of what else could it be?

“The flow of time varies within this mansion depending on your location…or your sense of time becomes distorted here. Either explanation is valid. It’s possible that both apply.”

Koizumi glanced over at Haruhi, who was in the process of roughing up Asahina before turning back to me.

“It would be best to move together as a group. Or else our sense of time will become increasingly distorted. That is not all. If the temporal deviation is limited to the interior of this building, we can still cope. However, what if the distortion began before we were seemingly lured into this place? How did you feel about the sudden blizzard and our inability to reach the bottom of the slope? If we were to assume that we had already slipped into a different dimension at that point…”

I looked at Asahina, whose hair had been disheveled by Haruhi, before turning to Nagato. Her hair, which had been turned into a mess by the blizzard, was now dry and restored to its original state. Her skin was a warmer white than the snow.

I whispered my reply to Koizumi.

“Knowing you, you probably already discussed this with Nagato and Asahina. Did they say anything?”

“Asahina didn’t even know where to begin.”

I can see that. I was referring more to the other girl.

Koizumi lowered his voice another notch.

“She didn’t respond. When I asked her to participate in my experiment, she walked off without saying a word. And she was silent after she returned. When I asked if ten minutes had actually passed, she just nodded. She didn’t express herself in any other way.”

Nagato was staring at the red carpet. Her lack of expression was nothing new, but was it just my imagination or was she spacing out more than usual?

I moved to express my concern to Nagato.

“Kyon, what are you doing? We need to report to everyone.”

Haruhi interrupted me with a glare before continuing in a voice that made it sound like she was bragging about a big catch.

“We went through the whole place and every room from the second floor up was a bedroom. I was hoping to find a telephone somewhere…”

“Yeah, there weren’t any,” I chimed in. “And there weren’t any TVs or radios. No phone jacks or wireless devices either.”

“I see.”

Koizumi stroked his chin with his fingertips.

“In other words, we have no means of communicating with or receiving information from the outside world.”

“Not in any room that’s on the second floor or up.”

Haruhi’s smile didn’t show the slightest hint of anxiety.

“I hope there’s something on the first floor. There should be, right? Considering how big this mansion is, there’s probably a special room just for communication purposes. So let’s go find it!” Haruhi exclaimed as she pumped one fist in the air like a banner and dragged the gloomy Asahina with her.

Koizumi and I followed her lead, with Nagato trailing a few steps behind.

We soon reached the dining hall. An area furnished with antique decorations that was as fancy, spacious, and flashy as what you’d find in a three-star restaurant, not that I’ve ever been in one. The dining table was covered by a white tablecloth and golden candelabras. I looked up at the ceiling to find a fancy chandelier coldly looking down at the SOS Brigade members.

“There really isn’t anybody around.”

Haruhi spoke as she lifted a steaming teacup to her mouth.

“I wonder what happened to the people here. The lights and heating were all left on. What a waste of electricity. And there isn’t a communications room or anything. What’s going on here?”

The hot milk tea Haruhi was currently sipping had been borrowed without permission from the kitchen at the back of this restaurant-like dining hall, along with cups and a kettle. While Asahina was waiting for the water to boil, she and Haruhi had checked the various cabinets to find neatly stacked tableware that was sparkling clean as though it had just been washed and dried. The extremely large refrigerator was stocked with plenty of food. All things considered, I found it difficult to believe that the mansion had been abandoned for an extended period. It was almost like the inhabitants of the mansion had all packed up and left the second before we arrived. No, that explanation was also questionable. If that were the case, there would still be traces of human life.

“It’s like the Mary Celeste.”

Haruhi probably meant that as a joke, but I wasn’t laughing.

The five of us had searched the first floor together. We walked single file through the hallways, checking every door we came across to scrounge around for useful items. We also discovered a laundry room with a giant dryer, a karaoke room with brand-new machines, a bath that was as big as the ones you would find in public bathhouses, and a recreation room equipped with a pool table, Ping-Pong table, and automated mah-jongg table…

I could only hope that these rooms hadn’t popped out of nowhere in the past twenty-four hours.

“There is another possible explanation.”

Koizumi set his cup on the saucer and picked up one of the shining candelabras as if he were playing with it. For a moment I almost thought that he was going to swipe it, but he soon placed it back on the table after a thorough appraisal.

“The inhabitants of this mansion went on a long trip before the blizzard hit and the bad weather is inhibiting their return.”

He smiled thinly at Haruhi.

“In that case, they will return once the blizzard dies down. Hopefully, they will forgive us for coming in without permission.”

“I’m sure they will. We didn’t have a choice. Ah, maybe this mansion is set up to be an emergency shelter for skiers who get lost? That would explain why it’s empty.”

“I don’t think you can have an emergency shelter without a phone or radio.”

My voice was fatigued. That was the only thing I had learned after the five of us walked around the entire first floor. Not only had we failed to find any means of communication or source of outside news, there wasn’t a single clock in the building.

Even worse, I was starting to get the feeling that this mansion ignored a lot of building and fire codes.

“Who would build such a large and inconvenient emergency shelter?”

“The federal or municipal government? It’s probably funded by tax money. In that case, I don’t need to feel bad about drinking this tea. I pay taxes so I have a right to use these facilities…. Right, I’m feeling hungry so let’s make something. Give me a hand, Mikuru.”

Once Haruhi made up her mind, she ignored everybody else. She swiftly took Asahina’s hand.

“Huh? Ah, y-yes!”

Asahina gave us a worried look as she was dragged to the kitchen. I felt bad for her, but I was concerned about the flow-of-time issue Koizumi was talking about, so I needed Haruhi to make herself scarce.

“Nagato.”

I turned to the girl with short hair, who was staring at her empty ceramic cup.

“What’s up with this mansion? Where are we?”

Nagato remained frozen in position. After thirty seconds or so, she finally opened her mouth.

“This space is putting strain on me.”

That remark came out of nowhere.

I don’t get it. What does she mean? Can’t Nagato contact her creator or patron or whatever and get them to deal with this? This is an abnormal situation. Shouldn’t they lend us a hand every now and then?

Nagato finally turned to look my way, but there was no expression on her face.

“My link to the Data Overmind has been cut off. Cause cannot be determined.”

Her voice was so faint that it took me a few minutes to digest what she said. Once I had collected my thoughts, I posed another question.

“…Since when?”

“Since six hours and thirteen minutes ago by my internal clock.”

That number didn’t mean much when I’d lost my sense of time.

“Since the moment we were caught in the blizzard.”

Her black eyes were calm as always. But my heart was unable to stay calm at this point.

“Why didn’t you tell us, then?”

I wasn’t trying to blame her. Her quiet nature was proof that she was behaving normally. Something that can’t be changed and absolutely must not be changed.

“Which means that we aren’t in the real world right now? It’s not just this mansion…the snowy mountain area we were walking through that entire time was part of this alternate space that somebody created?”

Nagato was silent for a few moments before responding.

“I do not know.”

She lowered her head in a gesture that somehow felt lonely. The sight reminded me of the Nagato from a while back. Made my heart jump for a second. Still, I didn’t expect to run into a non-Haruhi-related phenomenon that Nagato couldn’t comprehend.

I looked up at the ceiling as I directed my next question to the other SOS Brigade member here.

“What about you? Got anything to say?”

“You can’t possibly expect me to understand an anomaly that baffles Nagato.”

The deputy brigade chief directed a meaningful glance at Nagato as he straightened his posture.

“All I know is that we aren’t in closed space this time. This area was not created by Suzumiya’s subconscious.”

You sure about that?

“Yes. I happen to be a specialist when it comes to Suzumiya’s mental activity. I can tell when she alters reality. Suzumiya has done nothing of the sort this time. She did not desire this situation. I can guarantee that she is in no way responsible for our current predicament. I’m willing to bet on it. I’ll double any wager you make.”

“Who’s responsible then?”

A slight chill ran down my back. Maybe it was the blizzard, but when I looked out the dining hall window, all I could see was gray. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of those pale <Celestials> pop out.

Koizumi apparently took his cue from Nagato as he shrugged in silence. He didn’t seem very worried, but that may have been an act. He probably didn’t want to let us see him with a grim look on his face.

“Sorry about the wait!”

That was when Haruhi and Asahina walked over carrying a large platter of sandwiches.

According to my internal clock, Haruhi and Asahina had only been gone for a few minutes. We’d only been waiting for five minutes or so at most. However, I asked Haruhi in passing to learn that it’d taken them at least half an hour to prepare the food, which made sense when you looked at the stack of sandwiches they had made. Thin slices of bread that had been toasted individually, seasoned ham and lettuce, chopped-up hard-boiled eggs with mayonnaise. The prep work would have taken much longer than five minutes by itself. And it would have taken a considerable amount of time to prepare so many sandwiches, even if they had used every shortcut in the book. The sandwiches were delicious, but I digress. I’d had the opportunity to experience Haruhi’s cooking skills in the form of the Christmas hot pot, but seriously, was there anything she couldn’t do? If I’d gone to the same grade school as her, ethics would have been the only subject where I would have had a chance at beating her…

I poked myself in the head.

This wasn’t the time to let my mind wander. I needed to focus on our current situation right now.

Asahina seemed rather anxious about the sandwiches she had made, as she would stop breathing every time I reached for another one before sighing in relief or tensing up. The former reaction meant I was grabbing one of Haruhi’s and the latter reaction meant I was grabbing one of Asahina’s. Very easy to understand.

She still didn’t know. I haven’t told Koizumi either. And I couldn’t let Haruhi find out.

Nagato and I were the only ones who knew that I still had a task to perform.

That’s right—

I still needed to go back in time and save the world.

I figured there was no rush, so I was planning on putting it off till next year. Was it a mistake to relax and enjoy the end of this year, considering that I still needed to tell Asahina everything and work out a plan? What if we never got out of this mansion…?

No, wait.

That wouldn’t make sense. Nagato, Asahina, and I were guaranteed to travel back in time to the middle of December. Or you wouldn’t be able to explain the three figures I saw. Which meant that we would successfully make our way back to normal space? If so, I could finally have some peace of mind.

“Come on, eat up.”

Haruhi was stuffing her mouth with sandwiches and gulping down tea.

“There’s plenty more left. We can even make more, if you want. The pantry is loaded with food.”

Koizumi smiled and winced as he took a bite of his ham cutlet sandwich.

“They’re delicious. Absolutely scrumptious. As good as the ones you would find in a restaurant.”

His exaggerated compliments were directed at Haruhi, but he wasn’t my concern right now. Neither was Asahina, who was barely eating anything because of her guilt about using the kitchen and pantry without permission.

“…”

It was Nagato.

Typically she wouldn’t be nibbling away at her food.

The alien-made organic android’s hands and mouth were moving at half-speed, as if she had lost her robust appetite.

The light meal was eventually devoured, mostly thanks to Haruhi and my willpower.

“Time to take a bath.”

Haruhi made a rather insolent suggestion, but nobody objected. And, by nature, she took the absence of dissent to mean approval.

“We passed that huge bath earlier. There weren’t separate ones for each gender so we’ll have to take turns, of course. As the brigade chief, I cannot tolerate any inappropriate conduct. Everybody okay with ladies first?”

It probably didn’t help that I didn’t have any better ideas myself, but I had to appreciate having Haruhi here to rattle off orders every step of the way in situations like this one. That by itself was enough to help provide a distraction. Since I wasn’t getting anywhere by sitting around and thinking, moving my body around mechanically might help stimulate the brain and spark some kind of inspiration. Time to trust my brainpower.

“But first, we should decide on room arrangements. Any preferences? They’re all the same, though.”

According to Koizumi’s theory, it would be best for us to stay in the same room, but that suggestion would probably bring a Frog Jump uppercut flying into my face, so I resisted making it.

“We should all take rooms that are next to one another. Just find five rooms that are next to or across from one another.”

As soon as I finished that serious spiel, Haruhi stood up from her seat.

“Well, let’s find some rooms on the second floor, then.”

Haruhi made a dashing figure as she marched off with the rest of us following her. On the way we picked up the skiwear we had left by the entrance and threw everything into the dryer in the laundry room before we went upstairs.

Haruhi chose to commandeer the five rooms that were closest to the stairs so we would be prepared to jump out if anybody returned to the mansion. Koizumi and I were next to each other while Nagato, Haruhi, and Asahina were across the hallway. Haruhi’s room was directly across from mine.

As I had noticed when Haruhi and I were walking around the mansion, the bedrooms were literally just that, a bed and not much else in terms of furniture. Those super-cheap business hotels had more furnishings than these bedrooms. Aside from the antique dressing table, there was just a bed and some curtains. The windows were completely sealed shut and on closer inspection turned out to be double-paned. They must have provided some soundproofing effect, as the terrible weather continued outside but I couldn’t hear the howling wind or blowing snow. It was actually kind of creepy.

There was nothing to unpack, so once we finished assigning rooms we assembled in the red-carpeted hallway.

Haruhi’s smile was unnecessarily suggestive.

“Understand, Kyon?”

Understand what?

“That should be obvious. You aren’t allowed to do what the typical adolescent boy would do in this situation. I absolutely hate stereotypes!”

So what am I supposed to do?

“Like I’m saying…”

Haruhi tugged on the arms of the two female brigade members as she leaned into the hair framing Nagato’s tranquil face before yelling at me.

“No peeking!”

I watched as the three girls walked away, with Haruhi making all the noise, before slipping out of my own room. There was complete silence in the hallways of the mansion, in contrast to the howling of the blizzard outside. The air was warm. However, I felt anything but comfortable. It was hard to appreciate warmth that only served to chill my heart.

I tiptoed my way over to the room next door and knocked softly.

“What is it?”

Koizumi stuck out his head and greeted me with a warm smile as he opened his mouth to speak. I placed a finger on my lips and he closed his mouth with a knowing look as I quietly slid into his room. I would have preferred to sneak into Asahina’s room, but I didn’t have time to play around right now.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Oh?”

Koizumi sat down on the bed and motioned for me to join him.

“What might that be? I’m very curious. Is this something you don’t want the other three members to hear about?”

“I don’t care if Nagato hears about this.”

I shouldn’t need to explain what I’m about to say.

The entire course of events from the disappearance of Haruhi to the moment I woke up in a hospital bed. Ryoko Asakura’s return, my second trip through time to the Tanabata three years before, the SOS Brigade members with completely different backgrounds, the adult version of Asahina, and how I was supposed to restore the world in the near future—

“This will be a long story.”

I sat down next to Koizumi and began to talk.

Koizumi was an excellent listener, giving appropriate responses at intervals and paying close attention to the very end.

I only covered the major points, so it didn’t take as long as I’d expected. There were a few places where I wanted to go into further detail, but my focus was on making my explanation simple and sweeping.

Koizumi willingly listened until the very end.

“I see.”

He didn’t seem particularly excited as he brushed his fingers against his mouth.

“If what you say is true, I can only say that I find it fascinating.”

Is “fascinating” how you talk to people?

“No, I truly feel that way. In fact, I have my own suspicions. Your anecdote would serve to reinforce those suspicions.”

I probably didn’t have a very amused look on my face. What kind of suspicions are we talking about?

“There is a possibility of decay.”

What are you talking about?

“Suzumiya’s power. As well as Nagato’s ability to manipulate data.”

What are you trying to say? I looked at Koizumi. He still had that innocent smile on his face.

“I mentioned before Christmas that Suzumiya has been creating closed space at a less frequent pace. And accordingly, it feels that Nagato…how should I put this, her alien aura? That atmosphere about her. It has been weakening.”

“…Heh.”

“Suzumiya’s behavior is gradually approaching that of an ordinary young girl. On top of that, Nagato is seemingly distancing herself from her position as a terminal for the Data Overmind—at least, that is how it appears to me.”

Koizumi looked straight at me.

“As far as I am concerned, these changes are more than I could ever have hoped for. If Suzumiya can accept her current reality and abandon her desire to change the world, my job will more or less be done. And it would be a big help if Nagato were to become an ordinary girl in high school. As for Asahina…well, I suppose we can cope with her being a time traveler.”

Koizumi continued with his monologue as if I weren’t there.

“You must travel back to the past in order to restore yourself and the world. Because you already witnessed the future versions of you, Nagato, and Asahina at that point in the past—I believe?”

Got that right.

“However, we are currently stranded in the middle of a blizzard on this mountain inside this dubious mansion that someone prepared for us. Circumstances beyond Nagato’s comprehension. You could say that we have been trapped inside an alternate space. If the current situation doesn’t change, you won’t be able to return to the past, so it would be safe to assume that you, Nagato, and Asahina will need to return to our original space at the very least. No, your return is inevitable at this point…”

Wouldn’t make sense otherwise. That was probably why I wasn’t as nervous as I should have been. I definitely heard my own voice back then. I had yet to return to the past, which meant that I would be making a journey in the near future. In that case, it wouldn’t be possible for me to stay in this mansion forever, as it had already been determined that I would have to leave eventually. As Asahina (Big) once said, “Or you wouldn’t be here right now, would you?”

“I see.”

Koizumi repeated himself as he smiled at me.

“However, I have a different theory to offer. A rather pessimistic theory, if you will. Put simply, this hypothesis assumes that it won’t matter if none of us ever return to our original space.”

Stop trying to act smart and just spit it out.

“Well then,” Koizumi began as he lowered his voice cautiously.

“It is possible that we are not the originals but mere copies in an alternate world.”

He paused to let me absorb his words, but they made no sense at all.

“Let me try to make this easier to understand. For instance, if our minds were scanned and copied into a digital space, what would happen? Our minds and nothing else were transported to a virtual space.”

“Copies?”

“Yes. This isn’t limited to our minds. Anything is possible if we’re dealing with power on the level of the Data Overmind. In other words, we who have wandered into this alternate space are not the originals but faithful copies that were created at a certain point. The originals are…well, they may be partying at Tsuruya’s vacation home as we speak.”

Hold on. Am I having trouble understanding your reasoning because I’m unlearned?

“That shouldn’t be the case, but I will try to use a more relevant example. Let us pretend that you are playing a computer game. A fantasy RPG. When you’re about to venture into a cave with no idea what may be inside, you save first to be safe, naturally. Even if your entire party is wiped out, you can reload from that save point. As long as the copied data exists, the originals may be kept in a safe place while all risk is delegated to the copies. If anything goes wrong, you simply reset. What would happen if that applied to our current situation?”

Koizumi had a resigned look on his face, but his smile was still intact.

“In other words, we are copies, mere guinea pigs, that have been placed in this simulated space constructed by some unknown character. A place created for the sole purpose of observing our reaction to these circumstances.”

“Koizumi…”

As I spoke, I was suddenly hit by a violent sense of déjà vu. The same incoherent intrusion by a fragment of memory I had experienced last summer during that endless August. What is this? A memory I have no recollection of is screaming in a corner of my mind. To remember.

I spoke hesitantly.

“Has anything like this happened before?”

“Do I recall being stranded on a snowy mountain before? No, I do not.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

It had nothing to do with being on a snowy mountain. I could vaguely recall being trapped in a different dimension…for some odd reason. In a very surreal place…

“You mean during the cave cricket extermination? We were certainly in an alternate space at the time.”

“Not that either.”

I racked my brain for an answer. All I could come up with was an image of Koizumi dressed in odd clothing along with Haruhi, Nagato, Asahina, and me.

Yeah, Koizumi. For some reason, I have this feeling that you were holding a harp. All of us were in archaic dress and focused on some task…

“You couldn’t be referring to memories from a past life? I would expect you to be the last person to suggest such an idea.”

If humans could actually remember past lives, we would all get along a lot better. Except that’s just an excuse used by the people who have a problem with the present.

“You are absolutely correct.”

Damn it. I can’t remember. My mind is telling me that I have no such memories of alternate space. However, deep down, my senses are saying otherwise.

What was it? I could only think of fragmented keywords such as “king,” “pirates,” “spaceships,” and “gunfights.” What did this mean? My memory was telling me that nothing like that ever happened. There was a piece of the puzzle deep down in my heart that just didn’t fit. But I wasn’t able to identify it.

Koizumi must have seen the frustrated look on my face as he continued in a composed voice.

“If we are in a space that cannot be deciphered by Nagato and causes her strain, we should be able to deduce the identity of the party or parties responsible for our mountain ordeal, the blizzard, and this mansion as well.”

I didn’t say a word.

“An entity with as much power as Nagato, or more.”

Who would that be?

“I don’t know. However, if I were the one responsible, I would have dealt with Nagato first. Unlike Asahina and me, who are virtually powerless alone, Nagato is directly connected to the Data Overmind.”

Since it seemed more godlike than Haruhi. Though I wasn’t entirely sure if the Data Overmind was one or many. But Nagato had already confessed that her link with her boss had been severed.

“It’s possible that we are dealing with a creature that wields more power than Nagato’s creator. Though that would effectively eliminate us from the picture…”

The handsome freak apparently thought of something, as he broke off in the middle of his sentence and crossed his arms.

“So you know Ryoko Asakura?”

I’d almost forgotten about her, but certain events this month have ensured that I will never forget her.

“What if the radical faction, a minority within the Data Overmind, succeeded in achieving a coup d’état? They may as well be gods from our perspective. It would be very simple to trap us in a different dimension once Nagato had been isolated.”

I remembered. The affable and cheerful class representative. The edge of the sharp knife. I had been attacked by Asakura twice and saved by Nagato both times.

“Whatever the case, there is no change in the outcome. We will spend all eternity in this mansion, unable to escape.”

Like the mythical Dragon Palace?

“A very apt metaphor. We have received a warm reception, one might say. Every possible need has been provided for. A warm and spacious mansion with a stocked refrigerator, a large bath with hot water, comfortable bedrooms…Everything besides a means of escape from the mansion itself.”

Pretty pointless then. I hadn’t given up on my life to the point where I would want to idle away in this unknown space forever. It was too early to end my high school experience, before a year had passed. And there were other people I wanted to see again who weren’t here with us. Taniguchi and Kunikida would be included among them, and it’d be pretty sad if I never saw my family or Shamisen again. Besides, I hated winter. No offense to the people who live in Iceland, but I could spend the rest of my life surrounded by snow and ice and never get used to it. You can call me the man who loves summer heat and cicada sounds.

“I am relieved to hear you say that.”

Koizumi sighed with an exaggerated gesture.

“If Suzumiya notices this abnormal situation and unleashes her power, nobody can guess what the outcome will be. That may actually be the goal of the person or persons who set this up. Since there have barely been any developments to speak of as of late, they are attempting to stimulate her into a reaction of some sort. A very common tactic. If we are mere copies that have been detached from the originals and placed in a simulated space, there is no need to hold back. You wouldn’t feel bad about making a game character suffer, would you?”

When you put it that way, I can’t deny that I’m guilty of committing a similar offense in the past. However, game characters are merely data, while we exist as flesh and blood.

“First, we must escape this place. We would be safer stranded in the real world than trapped in this alternate space. I’m sure that we’ll find a way. No, we absolutely have to find a way. Any existence that seeks to trap Suzumiya and the rest of us in here is clearly an enemy. And not an enemy of the “Agency” or Data Overmind, but an enemy of the SOS Brigade.”

Whatever. I’m willing to take anybody who agrees with me.

After that, I began to think long and hard, and I was joined by Koizumi, who placed his hand on his chin in a pose of contemplation.

Eventually—

A soft knock shattered the silence between Koizumi and me. I stood up stiffly as though my body had been glued to the bed and opened the door.

“Um…The bath is free now. Please take your turn.”

Asahina, fresh out of the bath, was flushed in the face in a rather sweet and innocent display of sensuality. A strand of damp hair clung to her cheek almost provocatively while her exposed legs, extending from the long T-shirt she wore, were absolutely captivating. If I had been in a normal state of mind, I would have immediately swept her off her feet and taken her off to the corner of my room.

“Where are Haruhi and Nagato?”

I looked down the hallway as I spoke, and Asahina giggled.

“They’re drinking juice in the dining hall.”

She must have sensed my penetrating gaze, as she tugged on the hem of her T-shirt in a fluster.

“Ah, you’ll find a change of clothes outside the bath. That’s where I got this shirt. There were also bath towels and other stuff like shampoo…”

It was impossible to describe how lovely she looked as she timidly spoke.

I turned back to Koizumi and gave him a look to stop him in his tracks before quickly moving into the hallway and closing the door behind me.

“Asahina, I have a question for you.”

“Yes?”

She looked up at me all goggle-eyed as she cocked her head uncertainly.

“How do you feel about this mansion? I find it incredibly unnatural, but I’d like to know your opinion.”

Asahina batted her long and beautiful eyelashes.

“Well, Suzumiya thinks that this might be…um, foreshadowing? For the mystery game Koizumi prepared. At least, that’s what she said…when we were taking a bath.”

I was fine with Haruhi jumping to her own conclusions, but I needed Asahina to stay alert.

“How would you explain the irregular flow of time? You witnessed Koizumi’s experiment, right?”

“Yes. But that was part of the gimmick…? Wasn’t it?”

I pressed one hand against my forehead as I tried to suppress a sigh. I had no idea how Koizumi could possibly pull that off, and even if this was just a trick to fool us, it wouldn’t be fair of him to hide that fact from Haruhi. Besides, doesn’t Asahina specialize in issues related to time?

I decided to go for it.

“Asahina, could you try to contact the future? Right now, right here.”

“Huh?”

The baby-faced upperclassman looked at me in surprise.

“I can’t talk to you about that. Hee hee hee. It’s classified information—”

She burst into laughter, but I wasn’t joking around or trying to be funny.

However, Asahina continued to giggle.

“Come on. Go take your bath before Suzumiya gets mad. Hee hee hee.”

And with that, the petite upperclassman turned and flitted toward the staircase like a butterfly fluttering around a field of flowers in spring, turning back once to send me an awkward wink before disappearing down the stairs.

No good. I can’t count on Asahina. That only leaves…

“Damn.”

I stared at the carpet and sighed.

I didn’t want to put any more strain on her. And yet, she was the only one capable of doing something about our current predicament. Koizumi was all talk and conjecture, and if somebody rubbed Haruhi the wrong way she might blow up on us. I still had an ace up my sleeve, sure, but after hearing Koizumi’s spiel, I wasn’t about to carelessly put it into play. That might be the goal of whoever it was who drove us into this situation.

“What am I supposed to do…?”

I was hoping that a bath might help my circulation and provide the inspiration I needed for a brilliant idea, but I was fully aware of the limitations of my brain and its inability to produce an idea that would improve our situation. It was kind of pathetic how I didn’t even feel disappointed by the obvious result.

As Asahina said, there were bath towels and a change of clothes outside the bath. Neatly folded T-shirts of every size and jersey pants hanging from the rack. I chose a set of clothes at random before joining Koizumi in heading to the dining hall.

The three girls who had gone before us were setting bottles of juice on the table.

“That was a long bath. What were you doing?”

I’m pretty sure that I barely took longer than a crow would to bathe.

Haruhi handed me some orange juice, which I drank as I glanced between Nagato and the window. Haruhi was in a much better mood after warming up her body as she chugged her bottle of juice with a grin on her face. Asahina was smiling like she didn’t realize the predicament we were in. Nagato looked even smaller than usual, but that may have just been an effect of her damp hair hanging down.

Anyway, what time was it? I looked out the window, but all I could see was snow flying around. Still, it wasn’t very bright outside. But the fact that it wasn’t completely dark only added to the creepy atmosphere.

It seemed that Haruhi had also lost her sense of time—

“Let’s go play around in the rec room?”

—As she was suggesting that we seek entertainment.

“Karaoke’s fine, but it’s been a while since I’ve played mah-jongg. Bets will be pegged to the scoring and anything goes as far as rules are concerned. But I want to focus on building good hands so none of that bonus stuff is allowed. Double points for thirteen orphans and four concealed triplets, okay?”

I had no intention of getting picky about the rules, but I shook my head slowly. Right now we didn’t have time for karaoke or mah-jongg. We needed to brainstorm.

“Let’s get some sleep for now. We’ll have plenty of time to party later on. I’m pretty tired.”

We’d been trudging around with our skis for hours, half covered in snow. Haruhi would be the only one whose muscles weren’t fatigued after that excursion.

“That’s true…”

Haruhi looked around at each individual face to gauge everyone’s opinion.

“Well, I guess it’s okay. Let’s rest a bit. But when we wake up, we’re going to party hard.”

Her eyes were shining bright enough for two or three spiral nebulas.

Once we withdrew to our respective rooms, I plopped down on the bed and held a little conference in my head. However, these situations are when a person’s incompetence tends to be exposed, and I was unable to produce a single useful plan. The minutes ticked by as I lay on the bed in total silence, hoping that someone would say something, and I must have dozed off at some point, for I heard a voice.

“Kyon.”

Someone suddenly called my name, which made me jump up.

I hadn’t heard the door open or the sound of footsteps or rustling clothes that would be associated with someone’s entering the room. I hadn’t even sensed that there was another person there. Which meant that I was already surprised to begin with when I looked at the shadow standing in the middle of the room and doubled over in shock.

“Asahina?”

The only light in the room came from the window, curtains drawn aside, which was tinted by the snow. However, despite the dim lighting, it would have been impossible for me to be mistaken. It was Asahina, the SOS Brigade mascot who graced the clubroom with her presence like an adorable little fairy.

“Kyon…”

Asahina repeated herself as she smiled at me and hesitantly walked over to me. I sat back down on the bed in a hurry as she took a seat next to me with her legs exposed. There was something out of place that I couldn’t put my finger on, and then I noticed that she wasn’t wearing the same clothes as when she’d said good night in the hallway. She was no longer dressed in a long T-shirt. But she was still barely dressed.

Asahina was looking up at me, wearing only a white shirt, in a scene that could have come straight out of somebody’s fantasy. From an extremely close position.

“Say…”

Her lovely childlike face was contorted in a look of supplication.

“May I sleep here?”

A question that almost made my lungs jump out of my mouth. (This is weird.)

Her misty eyes looked straight at my face and her cheeks were flushed. Asahina slowly leaned against my arm. (What is this?)

“I’m afraid of being in a room by myself. I can’t fall asleep…If I’m by your side, I should be able to rest comfortably…”

I could feel her body heat through the flimsy shirt. It was so hot that I almost thought I was on fire. Something soft pressed against me. Asahina was hugging my arm as her face drew near.

“May I? Okay?”

A rhetorical question. No male or female could ever possibly refuse such a request when it came from Asahina. So it’s okay. I mean, this bed is too big for one person…(Hold on.)

She giggled and released my arm with a smile as she began to unbutton her shirt, which was already half-open to begin with, deliberately exposing soft curves that made my head spin. The same cleavage I had seen when I accidentally opened the door while Haruhi was putting Asahina into a bunny outfit, in the photographs that were slumbering in a hidden folder on the hard drive of our computer. (Wake up. You’ve got it wrong.)

Only two buttons remained fastened on her white shirt…no, make that one. This was more erotic than if she’d been completely naked. Since we were dealing with a quality model here. After all, this was Asahina. (Hey.)

Asahina looked up at me with upturned eyes as she flashed a shy and seductive smile. Her fingers lingered on the last button. I should avert my eyes. (Look closer.)

Her shirt was essentially split down the middle to reveal pale skin that rose and fell with each breath. A scene that was just as artistic as Venus on a shell (You’re doing it wrong.) with one side of her glistening bosom (That’s more like it.) adorned by a star-shaped…

I suddenly sucked in a deep breath.

“Grr…!”

I jumped away from the bed like a loaded spring.

“No!”

Take a closer look. How did I not notice? The method of verifying Asahina’s identity that I knew best. I used it just the other day. If I checked a certain spot on Asahina’s body, I would know.

“Who are you?”

—This Asahina didn’t have a mole on her left breast.

The half-naked girl looked up at me in distress.

“Why? Are you rejecting me?”

What if this was the real Asahina? (I already said that you’re wrong.) Would I still have been able to keep a firm grip on my libido? No, forget that. That wasn’t the issue here. Asahina would never sneak into my room to seduce me. She didn’t need to.

“You aren’t Asahina.”

I slowly inched backward as I stared at the tears welling up in those gorgeous eyes. Something’s wrong with me. Does it really matter if she’s Asahina or not when I’m making her look so sad? (Stop that.)

“Enough of that.”

I managed to get the words out of my mouth.

“Who are you? The person who made this mansion? Are you an alien or a slider? Why are you doing this?”

“…Kyon-kun.”

This Asahina’s voice was oozing with sorrow. She looked down and bit her lip before taking action.

“!”

Her shirt fluttered in the air as she raced for the door like the wind. She paused for a moment in the doorway and turned to me with teary eyes before dashing out into the hallway. The door slammed shut with a surprisingly loud sound that woke me up as I remembered that the door had been locked from the inside. It should have been impossible for anybody to get in without a spare key.

“Please wait!”

I yelled out in a polite voice as I ran over to the door and threw it open.

Bam. Another loud sound. I certainly used a considerable amount of force, but opening a single door shouldn’t produce that much noise—

“Huh? You…”

Haruhi’s face was right in front of mine. Haruhi, in the room across the hall, had opened her own door at the same time and stuck her head out as she stared at me with her jaw dropped.

“Kyon, weren’t you in my room a second ago…or I guess not.”

Haruhi and I weren’t the only ones sticking our heads out in the hallway.

“Um.”

Asahina, wearing a T-shirt, was to Haruhi’s right as she stuck her puzzled face through a half-open door. On the opposite side—

“…”

—was Nagato’s slim figure. I also looked to my side.

“Well, well.”

Koizumi was scratching his nose as he gave me an odd look and smiled awkwardly.

That explained the loud sound at least. The five of us had opened our doors at virtually the same time. A quintet in unison, if you will.

“What’s up with everybody?”

Haruhi was the first to recover and glare at me.

“Why did everybody come out of their room at the same time?”

I was chasing a fake Asahina—or so I was going to say when I realized that Haruhi had said something rather odd.

“What about you? Were you going to the bathroom or something?”

Surprisingly enough, Haruhi looked down at the floor and bit her lip before she finally responded.

“I had a weird dream. A dream where you snuck into my room. You were talking and, um, acting completely out of character so I knew that something was wrong…Yeah, I punched you in the face and you ran away…Huh? It was just a dream…right? But something doesn’t seem quite right.”

If that had just been a dream, it would mean you’re still dreaming at this very moment. I watched as Haruhi’s brow creased and Koizumi walked over to me.

“I had a similar experience.”

He stared at my face.

“You also appeared in my room. At least, someone who matched you perfectly in outward appearance. However, the person who resembled you was behaving in a rather uncomfortable manner…Well, let’s just say that he did some things I would never expect you to do, yes?”

I was getting scared for no real reason. I looked away from Koizumi’s smirking face and focused my attention on Asahina. The real one. I could tell instantly. How could I have been fooled by that phony? Behavior, general aura, you name it. This was how Asahina was supposed to be.

I’m not sure how Asahina interpreted my gaze, as she suddenly blushed. I was about to ask if I had also shown up in her room.

“Suzumiya came to me.”

She twisted her fingers together.

“Um, a Suzumiya that was kind of strange…I’m not sure how to say this, but she almost seemed like an imposter…”

It was an imposter. That was clear, but what was going on here exactly? Each of us had a fake member show up in our room? Asahina in my room, me in Haruhi and Koizumi’s room, Haruhi in Asahina’s room…

“Nagato,” I said before asking, “who came to your room?”

Nagato, dressed only in a T-shirt like Asahina, silently looked up at me with a seemingly numb expression on her face.

“You.”

She responded in a barely audible voice before slowly closing her eyes.

And then—

“…Yuki?!”

—Haruhi exclaimed in the background as I witnessed an unbelievable sight.

Nagato, the one and only Yuki Nagato, collapsed in a heap as if an invisible hand had pushed her down.

“What’s wrong, Yuki? Hey…”

Every one of us was left dumbstruck, with the exception of Haruhi, who immediately ran over to support Nagato’s small frame.

“Whoa…She’s burning up. Yuki, you okay? Hey, Yuki!”

Nagato’s eyes were still shut and her head was limp. Her expressionless face suggested that she was asleep. However, I had a gut feeling that Nagato wasn’t simply slumbering away.

Haruhi put her arm around Nagato’s shoulder as she started to bark out orders with a stern look on her face.

“Koizumi, carry Yuki to her bed. Kyon, go find some ice bags. There should be some around there somewhere. Mikuru, go wet a few towels.”

Asahina, Koizumi, and I stood there gaping for a moment before Haruhi yelled at us again.

“Hurry!”

Once I saw Koizumi lift up the unconscious Nagato, I quickly headed down the stairs. Ice bags, huh? Where am I supposed to look…

That particular line of thought was probably a sign that I hadn’t recovered from the shock of seeing Nagato collapse. I still couldn’t believe what had happened. As a result, I could no longer be bothered to care about the mystery surrounding the fake Asahina in my room or the phonies that had appeared in the other rooms. Do whatever you want. It’s got nothing to do with me.

“Balls.”

We were seriously in trouble. Damn, I’d been hoping to let Nagato enjoy a normal and peaceful life for a while, but this would be the exact opposite.

As I wandered around without any idea of where to find any ice bags, I somehow ended up in the kitchen. In my house, we kept the cooling sheets in the fridge instead of the first-aid box. Was that the case in this mansion?

“Wait.”

I froze as I was about to grab the handle of the large refrigerator. I visualized an ice bag and concentrated as hard as I could.

Then I opened the fridge.

“…Knew it.”

A blue ice bag rested on top of a head of cabbage.

How considerate of them. A very convenient mechanism. But it was having the opposite effect—that of strengthening my resolve.

That we couldn’t stay here another second.

I left the dining hall with the chilly ice bag in my hand when I saw Koizumi standing by the entrance to the mansion. He was staring at the door, but I wasn’t sure why. Did Haruhi order him to gather snow or something?

I walked over to offer a few words of candid advice, but Koizumi noticed me and spoke first.

“Perfect timing. Could you take a look at this?”

He pointed at the door.

I saved my own remarks for later and looked in the direction he was pointing to discover something so strange that I was left speechless.

“What is this?”

Those were the only words I could manage.

“I didn’t notice this here earlier.”

“Yes, it wasn’t here before. I was the last person to enter the mansion. I checked the door when I shut it and this wasn’t there at the time.”

An object that was difficult to describe had been attached to the inside of the front door of the mansion. I guess the closest comparison would be something along the lines of a console or panel.

A shiny metal plate—or I guess that “panel” would be the most appropriate word here—around twenty inches long on each side was affixed to the wooden door, sporting symbols and numbers that made my head hurt.

I sucked it up and focused my eyes. First, at the very top:

x – y = (D – 1) – z

And then a little below that:

x = □, y = □, z = □

   

The boxes were actually indentations, as if we were supposed to place something in them. I stared at the three holes in bewilderment.

“The pieces are over there.”

Koizumi pointed at the floor, where there was a wooden box with an assortment of numbered blocks inside. On closer look, there were three sets of blocks numbered 0 through 9. I picked one up. It was shaped like a mah-jongg tile and was about the same weight. However, the difference was that the surfaces of these tiles were engraved with Arabic numerals.

Blocks for the ten different digits with three of each, all stored in the flat wooden box.

“The numbers that correspond to the solution for this equation,” Koizumi said as he picked up a block and examined it, “should be placed in the open spaces, I presume.”

I looked back at the formula again. My head began to hurt. Math was one of the many subjects that gave me considerable trouble.

“Koizumi, do you know the answer?”

“I believe that I have seen a similar problem before, but I’ll need more information before I can try to solve it. If the goal is to simply make both sides of the equation equal, there are a multitude of possible combinations. But if this puzzle only has one correct solution, we will need additional conditions before we can settle on an answer.”

I turned my attention to the letter in the equation that didn’t quite fit.

“What’s with the D? It looks like we aren’t required to solve for it.”

“And it’s the only letter that’s uppercase.”

Koizumi toyed with a number 0 tile as he lowered his voice.

“This formula…I have a feeling that I recognize it. It’s on the tip of my tongue…What was it? I’m pretty sure that I saw this recently.”

He stood in place with his brow creased. That’s unusual. You rarely ever see Koizumi with a serious look on his face, deep in thought.

“So, is this supposed to mean something?”

I returned the tile in my hand to the box.

“I can see that a math problem suddenly popped up on the inside of the door, but why does it matter?”

“Yes.”

Koizumi seemed to snap out of it.

“It’s the key. The door has been locked. There is no way to open it from the inside. I spent some time fiddling with the doorknob to no avail.”

“What?”

“You’ll understand once you give it a try. As you can see, there is no keyhole or lock on the inside.”

I gave it a try. The door wouldn’t open.

“Who locked the door and how? If this is an automatic lock, we should be able to open the door from the inside.”

“More proof that common sense does not apply in this space.”

Koizumi went back to his mindless smile.

“I do not know who is responsible, but someone is trying to trap us in here. The windows have all been sealed shut and the door at the entrance is locked tight…”

“So, what about the formula on the panel? A quiz for killing time?”

“If I’m not mistaken, this formula is the key to opening the door.”

Koizumi sounded rather calm.

“Our only means of escape, provided to us by Nagato.”

Koizumi paid no heed to the rush of nostalgia I was experiencing after recent memories had resurfaced as he continued to rattle away.

“You could call this a war of data. A form of limited conflict, if you will. Someone has trapped us within this alternate space. Nagato has countered by providing us with a means of escape. I assume that this formula would be the result. If we solve this equation, we will be able to return to our original dimension. If we fail, we’ll be stuck here. Simple as that.”

Koizumi rapped on the door.

“We have no way of knowing the basic details of this war. As this is a war of data between elemental entities, it is beyond our understanding. However, their struggle is manifested through such practical measures. This panel would be one such example.”

A math problem didn’t seem to fit in with this bizarre mansion.

“This is no coincidence. Each of us experienced a rather peculiar dream, which was immediately followed by Nagato’s collapse and the appearance of this panel on the door…This sequence of events did not occur by accident. They must be related somehow.”

If Koizumi was worried in any way, he was doing a good job of hiding it.

“I am positive that this is the key to our escape. Most likely courtesy of Nagato.”

I checked to see if it said COPYRIGHT © BY YUKI NAGATO on the panel anywhere. It didn’t.

“This is merely conjecture, but I believe that Nagato’s power is limited in this space. Now that her link with the Data Overmind has been severed, she can only rely on her innate abilities. That would explain the haphazard means of escape.”

You’re making a lot of sense for mere conjecture.

“Yes, I suppose. The ‘Agency’ has made contact with other interfaces aside from Nagato, so I happen to have access to certain information.”

I was interested in hearing about these other aliens, but there wasn’t time for that right now. We needed to deal with this weird puzzle first. I was looking between the symbols on the panel and the numbered blocks in the wooden box when I remembered something Nagato had said in her flat voice.

“This space is putting strain on me.”

I didn’t know the identity of the person who had led us into this mansion in the middle of a blizzard, but I wasn’t going to forgive whoever was responsible for Nagato’s getting a fever and passing out. I wasn’t about to go along with that little puke’s plans. I was ready to do whatever it took to get out of this place and back to Tsuruya’s vacation home. Accompanied by every single SOS Brigade member, no exceptions.

Nagato had done her job. I couldn’t see or hear her handiwork, but I was certain that she’d been fighting this invisible “enemy” from the second we stepped into this alternate space. That was probably why she looked more out of it than usual. As a result, she was able to create this small opening as she collapsed. Now it was our turn to open the door.

“Let’s bust out of this joint.”

Koizumi responded to my proclamation with an easy smile.

“Of course, that was the plan. This place may be comfortable, but I wouldn’t want to stay here forever. Utopia and dystopia are merely two sides of the same coin.”

“Koizumi.”

My voice was so serious that I surprised myself.

“Can you use your ESP to open a hole? The situation’s looking bad. With Nagato the way she is now, you’re the only one who can do something about this.”

“You are overestimating my abilities.”

Koizumi was still smiling, despite our current predicament.

“I do not recall ever saying that I am an omnipotent esper. My powers only come into play under certain conditions. You should be aware of that fact by—”

I didn’t bother listening to the rest of his sentence. I grabbed Koizumi by the collar and pulled him over to me.

“I didn’t ask for your excuses.”

I glared at Koizumi and that cynical smile of his.

“Don’t you specialize in alternate space? Asahina can’t be depended on, and Haruhi’s out of the question. There must be something you can do, like with the cave cricket. Or is your ‘Agency’ made up of a bunch of useless losers?”

I would also be a useless loser in this case. There was nothing I could do. I couldn’t even keep my cool, which probably placed me below Koizumi. The only idea I could come up with was to beat the crap out of Koizumi, and then have him beat the crap out of me. Since I wouldn’t be able to beat the crap out of myself without holding back.

“What are you doing?”

A sharp, irritated voice stabbed into my back.

“Kyon, what’s going on with those ice bags? You were taking forever so I came down to check on you and what? You’re sparring with Koizumi? What are you trying to do?”

Haruhi was standing at full height with her hands on her hips. The look on her face reminded me of an old man in my neighborhood who managed to catch a chronic persimmon thief red-handed.

“Could you be more considerate of Yuki? There isn’t any time for you to play around!”

If Haruhi was interpreting this exchange between Koizumi and me as “playing around,” her mind was clearly elsewhere. I released my grip on Koizumi and picked up the ice bag from the spot on the floor where it had fallen while I wasn’t paying attention.

Haruhi quickly took the bag from me.

“What is this?”

Her gaze shifted to the odd equation on the door. Koizumi straightened his collar as he replied.

“Indeed, the two of us were wondering the same thing. Do you have any ideas?”

“Isn’t that Euler?”

I was thrown off by Haruhi’s instant response. Koizumi continued.

“You mean Leonhard Euler? The mathematician?”

“I don’t know his first name.”

Koizumi looked back at the puzzle panel on the door for a few seconds.

“I see.”

He snapped for dramatic effect.

“Euler’s polyhedron theorem. This must be a variation of that. Suzumiya, I am amazed that you were able to recognize this.”

“I might be wrong. But the D is probably where you put the number of dimensions. I’m guessing.”

Let’s not worry about whether you’re right or wrong. I have a much more obvious question that needs to be answered first. Who is Euler and what did he do? What is a polyhedron theorem? Did we learn about this in math? Though I was hesitant to ask all of these questions, since I was always half-asleep during math class.

“No, this usually doesn’t come up in high school math courses. However, I’m sure that you’ve heard of the Seven Bridges of Königsberg.”

That I know. That was one of the puzzles math teacher Yoshizaki mentioned during class. You have two islands connected to the mainland by a number of bridges and you have to cross all of them once and only once? I remember that there isn’t a solution.

“Yes.” Koizumi nodded. “The problem was originally formed on a flat plane, but Euler proved that it also applied to a three-dimensional plane. He formed a number of famous theorems, and this is one of them.”

Koizumi explained.

“His theorem states that when you look at a convex polyhedron and take the number of vertices plus the number of faces minus the number of edges, you will always end up with two.”

“…”

Koizumi must have recognized my desire to abandon anything related to math as he smiled wryly and slid one arm behind his back.

“Then I shall use a simple diagram to explain.”

He took out a black felt-tip pen. Where’d that come from? Had he been carrying that around on him? Or did he use the same method I had used to obtain the ice bag?

Koizumi knelt down on the floor and began to cheerfully draw on the red carpet. Neither Haruhi nor I even moved to stop him.

In this mansion drawing on the furniture, floors, or walls was clearly not a problem.

Eventually, he produced a picture of a dice-like cube.

“I’m sure that you can see this is a regular hexahedron. There are a total of eight vertices. It has six faces, as the name would tell you. And there are twelve edges. Eight plus six minus twelve equals two…yes?”

Koizumi must have felt that wasn’t enough, as he drew a new diagram.

“Now we have a square pyramid. Count and you’ll find there are five vertices, five faces, and eight edges. Five plus five minus eight will also yield an answer of two. You could apply this formula to any polyhedron up to a hectohedron with a hundred faces and the answer will always be two. This would be Euler’s polyhedron theorem.”

“I see. I understand now. But why did Haruhi mention the number of dimensions?”

“That is also quite simple. This polyhedron theorem is not limited to three-dimensional objects, as it can also apply to two-dimensional planes. However, in that case vertices plus faces minus edges will consistently yield an answer of one. This form of the theorem can be applied to the Seven Bridges of Königsberg.”

A new doodle appeared on the carpet.

“As you can see, this is a pentagram. A star that can be drawn in one stroke.”

I did the counting myself this time. There were one, two…ten vertices. It had…six faces. The number of edges would be the highest at, uh, a total of fifteen. Which would give you the equation ten plus six minus fifteen, and the answer was—one.

By the time I finished running those calculations in my head, Koizumi had finished drawing a fourth diagram. This one looked like a failed attempt at the Big Dipper.

“The theorem also applies to such irregular figures.”

I was starting to get sick of this, but I did the math anyway. Uh...seven vertices, one face, and seven edges? I see, you still get one.

Koizumi smiled brightly as he replaced the cap on the felt pen.

“In other words, the answer for a three-dimensional object will equal two and the answer for a two-dimensional plane will equal one. With that in mind, let us return to the formula before us.”

He used the pen to point to the panel on the door.

“X – y = (D – 1) – z. Let us assume that x refers to the number of vertices. We can then assume that y, the variable being subtracted, is the number of edges. The z, or number of faces, is more difficult to discern, as it was shifted to the right side of the equation and consequently had its sign reversed. As for the (D – 1), the difference should equal two for a polyhedron and one for a flat plane, which means that D would be three when dealing in three dimensions and two when dealing with two dimensions. Thus, the D refers to the number of dimensions. D for ‘Dimension.’ ”

I listened to him in silence and concentrated on thinking. Yeah, I think I more or less understand now. I see. So this is the theorem thing Herr Euler came up with.

“So?”

I posed this question.

“What’s the answer to this math quiz? Which numerical blocks do we use for x, y, and z?”

“Well.”

Back came Koizumi’s answer.

“I don’t know. Not without the original polyhedron or plane as a reference.”

There’s no point, then. Where are we supposed to find the original figure?

Koizumi merely shrugged, which only added to my irritation.

However, that was when something happened.

Haruhi, who had been staring at the equation with a look of concentration on her face, abruptly remembered something else she was supposed to do.

“Forget about this—anyway, Kyon!”

She suddenly yelled at me.

“You need to visit Yuki later.”

I was going to do that anyway, but why are you being so high and mighty about it?

“Because she called out your name while she was mumbling. Only once though.”

Nagato called out my name? Mumbling?

“What did she say exactly?”

“She just went, ‘Kyon.’ ”

Nagato had never called me by that name before. Hell, I can’t recall her ever calling me by my actual name or nickname or any sort of name for that matter. She always addressed me by a second-person pronoun…

I felt this irregular haze of emotion bunch up in my chest.

“No…”

Koizumi voiced an objection.

“Are you sure that she said the word ‘Kyon’? Is it possible that you misheard her?”

What’s with him? He’s going to complain about what Nagato says in her sleep?

However, Koizumi paid me no attention as he looked straight at Haruhi.

“Suzumiya, this is very important. Please try to remember.”

Koizumi’s tone was so intense that Haruhi appeared to be surprised as her eyes wandered upward while she thought hard.

“Yes. I didn’t hear her very clearly, so it might not have been ‘Kyon.’ And her voice was soft. She could have been saying ‘hyon’ or ‘jyon.’ But I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t ‘kyan’ or ‘kyun.’ ”

“I see.”

Koizumi looked pleased.

“You’re unsure about the first syllable, but you were able to catch the last part. Aha, I see. I’m sure that Nagato wasn’t trying to say ‘Kyon’ or any of those other sounds. She meant to say ‘yon,’ I believe.”

“‘Yon’?” I asked.

“Yes, as in the Japanese word for ‘four.’ ”

“What does ‘four’ have to do with…”

I stopped in the middle of my sentence and looked back up at the formula.

“Hey.”

Haruhi’s lips were puckered together in irritation.

“We don’t have time to waste on this little math quiz. You need to worry about Yuki. Honestly!”

She swung the ice bag around as her eyes narrowed angrily.

“You better come visit her later! Got it?!”

And with that loud cry, she turned and stomped back upstairs. Koizumi watched to make sure that she was out of sight before turning to me with a look of conviction on his face.

“We have been given the required conditions. Now, we can solve for x, y, and z.”

“Please think back to the phenomenon we experienced a short while ago. The imposters that Suzumiya dismissed as a dream but that I found to be somewhat realistic.”

The felt pen was in Koizumi’s hand again as he knelt down.

“Let us draw a diagram that shows which apparition visited each room.”

Koizumi started by drawing a dot on the red carpet and labeling it K.

“This represents you. Asahina was the one who visited your room, I believe.”

He drew a line straight up from that point and added another dot at the end, which he labeled MA.

“Suzumiya was the one to appear in Asahina’s room.”

He drew a line from the MA point that went down diagonally to the left, and labeled the new dot HS.

“You were the one who showed up in Suzumiya’s room.”

He drew a line connecting the hs point with the K point and formed a right triangle.

“And you also appeared in my room. Though I must say that the imposter behaved nothing like you. I seriously doubt you would ever do any of those things, even if you were to go insane.”

He drew a line that went down from the K point and added a dot that was labeled IK.

“Nagato mentioned that you were also the one in her room.”

I’d already realized what he was doing. He drew a line extending from the point that represented me and labeled the new dot YN before replacing the cap on his pen to signal that he was done.

“They were all related. The imposters that were neither dream nor reality were apparitions Nagato created.”

I looked carefully at Koizumi’s newest diagram.

A figure four that could be drawn in one stroke.

“We simply need to apply this figure to the formula on the door. A relationship chart that connects us to the fakes we saw. The figure is a flat plane, so D will automatically equal two.”

He continued before I had a chance to do the math in my head.

“For this figure, the number of vertices would be the number of members, so five. There is only one face, the triangle formed by you, Suzumiya, and Asahina. There are a total of five edges.”

Koizumi brushed aside a bang and smiled.

“X equals five, y equals five, z equals one. That would be the answer. Both sides happen to equal zero.”

There wasn’t any time to be impressed or offer praise.

I picked up the three corresponding numerical blocks. Now that we had established a solution, we needed to quickly apply it.

However, Koizumi apparently still had his doubts.

“I am afraid of the possibility that this is an erase program.”

I guess I might as well ask what he’s talking about.

“If we are mere copies that only exist within this simulation, there is no need for us to leave this alternate space. The originals already exist in the real world.”

Koizumi raised both arms in supplication.

“It is entirely possible that solving this equation will trigger a process that will delete our existences. In other words, we would be committing a form of suicide. Now, would you prefer to live here for an eternity in relative comfort with very little variety, or would you prefer to be deleted?”

I don’t like either option. I have no wish to live forever, but I’m also firmly against the idea of ending my life anytime soon. I am my own man. There is no substitute for me.

“I trust Nagato.”

My voice was surprisingly calm.

“I also trust you. I believe that your answer is the correct one. However, that trust is limited to your solution to this equation.”

“I see.”

I had to wonder if Koizumi had mastered the art of telepathy as he smiled gently and took a half step back.

“I shall leave the decision up to you. No matter what happens, I can follow you and Suzumiya. After all, it’s my job and my duty.”

Good thing that you seem to be enjoying yourself then. It’s hard to find a job that’s actually fun.

Koizumi’s smile became a little more serious.

“Assuming that we are able to return to ordinary space, I have a promise I would like to make.”

He almost sounded at peace.

“If a situation should ever arise where Nagato is in a great deal of trouble and that situation is beneficial to the ‘Agency,’ I will betray the ‘Agency’ one time and ally myself with you.”

Ally yourself with Nagato, not me.

“Under those circumstances, you would certainly be the first to back Nagato, so allying myself with you would be the equivalent of helping Nagato. Though my choice of wording may have been convoluted.”

One side of his mouth twitched.

“Personally, I consider Nagato to be an important fellow member. I will want to stand by Nagato’s side this one time should it be necessary. I may be a member of the ‘Agency,’ but I am first and foremost the deputy brigade chief of the SOS Brigade.”

Koizumi was giving me a rather patronizing look. A look that seemed to suggest that he was satisfied and abandoning his right to speak his mind, now that his turn was over. In that case, I won’t hesitate to do as I please.

Back in the middle of December—I’d been the only person left behind in a strange world, and after a considerable amount of running around, I’d managed to make my escape. The difference was that the rest of the SOS Brigade was here with me this time. No need for a Dragon Palace. We wouldn’t be the ones disappearing. This space would.

I placed the blocks into their appropriate slots without any hesitation.

Click. I heard a satisfying sound. The sound of something metallic being lifted.

I held my breath and grabbed the doorknob. Then I focused all my strength.

The door slowly began to move.

“——”

I’ve been through a number of experiences that left me making sounds that couldn’t be considered human speech. Whether it was from shock and disbelief or complete awe, there have been many times when I found myself thinking, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” I had figured that after being churned through space and time again and again, I would have developed a resistance—like how cockroaches become immune to bug spray.

But it appears that I’ll have to strike that idea.

As soon as the heavy door finished opening—

“——”

—I found myself in a situation where I couldn’t make any sound.

I couldn’t believe my own eyes. Why would my optic nerves send such images to my brain? Did something go wrong? My retinas or lenses had gone out of whack or something?

The blinding sunlight made me dizzy. Bright rays of sunshine shone above.

“—The hell…”

The skies were so clear that I almost sneezed. There wasn’t a single snowflake to be seen, let alone a howling blizzard. Blue skies stretched as far as the eye could see, without a speck of cloud in sight. There were only…

Lift cables obstructing the view. I could see a couple dressed in skiwear riding the clattering lift.

I staggered, as my legs felt heavier than they should.

There was snow. I was standing in snow. The sparkling white landscape only served to make me dizzier.

I sensed someone coming and looked up to see a figure glide right past me at breakneck speed.

“Wha?!”

I jumped reflexively and followed the figure with my eyes. It was a skier who had avoided me like I was an obstacle, wearing carving skis.

“This is…”

The ski slope. No doubt about it. A casual glance immediately revealed that there were skiers all around, enjoying themselves.

I looked around. The weight I felt on my shoulders belonged to the skis and poles I was carrying. I looked down at my feet to find that I was wearing ski boots. And I was dressed in the skiwear I had been allotted when leaving the Tsuruya vacation home.

I quickly turned to look behind me.

“Ah…?”

Asahina’s mouth was open like a baby carp’s as she blinked rapidly.

“Wow.”

Koizumi was looking up at the sky in amazement. Naturally, they were both dressed in their skiwear, not T-shirts.

The mansion was nowhere to be found. In fact, it no longer existed. We were in the middle of a little-known ski slope. No sign at all of any uncharted, suspicious-looking mansions.

…Which meant…

“Yuki?!”

I heard Haruhi’s voice come from up ahead as I turned my head and eyes in a rush.

Haruhi was holding up Yuki, who had apparently been lying on the snow.

“Are you okay? Yuki, is your fever…huh?”

Haruhi glanced around the way a pika would after exiting its burrow.

“That’s odd…We were inside the mansion a moment ago.”

Then she noticed me.

“Kyon, something about this feels weird…”

I didn’t answer as I dumped my skis and poles and knelt down next to Nagato. Haruhi and Nagato were wearing the same clothes as when they’d been dashing down the slopes.

“Nagato.”

My call was met by her short hair’s rustling ever so slightly as she slowly lifted her head.

“…”

Two big eyes on a face completely void of emotion looked up at me, same as always. Nagato’s face was covered with snow as her gaze fixated on my face for a bit.

“Yuki!”

Haruhi knocked me out of the way as she grabbed onto Nagato.

“I have no idea what’s going on. But…Yuki, are you awake? Do you still have a fever?”

“No.”

Nagato responded in a flat voice as she stood up on her own.

“I merely tripped.”

“Really? But you have a terrible fever…or so I thought, but huh?”

Haruhi placed a hand against Nagato’s forehead.

“You’re right. It’s gone. But.”

She looked around our surroundings.

“Huh? The blizzard…Mansion…No way. It couldn’t have been…a dream. What? Was it…a dream?”

Don’t ask me. I don’t provide reasonable answers. Not when you’re the one asking the questions.

I feigned ignorance as I heard voices calling in the distance.

“What’s up?”

I could see two figures waving their hands from the bottom of the slope.

“Mikuru! Harls!”

It was Tsuruya. Next to her were three snowmen of different sizes, and the other figure stood next to the medium-size one, which happened to be of similar height. Jumping up and down was my sister.

I was able to reestablish our current position.

The five of us were gathered a short distance from the lift station below the beginner’s course.

“Well, whatever.”

Haruhi apparently gave up on thinking about it.

“Yuki, I’ll carry you, so get on my back.”

“I am fine,” said Nagato.

“You’re not,” Haruhi objected. “I don’t really know what happened or why I’m so confused, but I’m not going to let you overexert yourself. You don’t have a fever, but I just have a feeling that you’re unwell. You need rest!”

Haruhi didn’t wait for an answer before hoisting Nagato on her back and running off toward Tsuruya and my sister, who were still waving at us. She was probably going faster than a brand-new snowplow. Haruhi was going so fast that if there were a piggyback 100-meter dash event in the Winter Olympics, she’d be guaranteed gold.

Afterward.

Tsuruya contacted Arakawa, who picked us up in his car.

Nagato, in protest against Haruhi’s treating her like a sick person, attempted to convince us that she was in good health, but the looks I gave her must have had some effect, as she eventually shut up and did as Haruhi said.

Nagato, Haruhi, Asahina, and my sister got in the car to return to the vacation home first, which left Koizumi, Tsuruya, and me to walk back on foot.

During that time, I engaged in conversation with Tsuruya.

“Say, I saw you guys walking down the slope and carrying your skis. What was up with that?”

Uh, there was a blizzard?

“Hmm? Oh, there were, like, ten minutes of heavy snowfall, I guess? But it wasn’t that bad. Just a quick flurry out of nowhere, yeah?”

It appeared that we had spent hours walking around in the snow and relaxing in the mansion while only a few minutes had passed for Tsuruya.

Tsuruya continued with a brisk pace and tone.

“When I saw the five of you just scooting your way down, I was like, why? And then Nagato, leading the way, took a tumble. She got right back up, though.”

Koizumi could only smile weakly as he kept his mouth shut. I did the same. So that was how we had appeared to an outside observer, in this case Tsuruya. And that was probably correct. We had been in some kind of dream or illusory world. This was reality, the original world.

After walking along in silence for a while, Tsuruya chuckled and moved her mouth next to my ear.

“Hey, Kyon. On a different note.”

What’s up, ma’am?

“I can tell from looking that Mikuru and Nagato aren’t exactly normal. And Harls wouldn’t be considered normal either!”

I stared at Tsuruya and discovered that the cheerful look on her face was genuine.

“You noticed?”

“Long, long time ago. But I don’t know what they actually do! But they’re doing some funny stuff behind the scenes, right? Ah, keep this a secret from Mikuru. She thinks that she’s acting like an ordinary person!”

She must have found the look on my face amusing, as she doubled over and laughed heartily.

“Yep! But you’re normal, Kyon. You and I are the same in that sense.”

And then she peered at my face.

“Welp! I’m not going to ask about Mikuru’s identity! Probably hard to answer! Doesn’t really matter. We’re still friends!”

… Haruhi, forget about the junior brigade member or honorary advisor stuff. Recruit Tsuruya as an official member. She’s probably more perceptive than I am and better at playing the role of an ordinary person.

Tsuruya whacked me on the shoulder repeatedly.

“Take care of Mikuru. If she’s ever troubled by something that she can’t talk to me about, help her out!”

Well…but of course.

“Still.”

Tsuruya’s eyes were shining.

“That movie you made for the cultural festival. Was that actually based on a true story?”

I wasn’t sure if Koizumi heard her, but I could see him shrugging off to the side.

When we arrived back at the vacation home, Haruhi had already forced Nagato into bed.

Her pale complexion was no longer dazed like it’d been in the mansion. She now had the same cool demeanor as when she was reading in the clubroom. I could even sense microscopic shifts in emotion. The Nagato we know and love.

Asahina and Haruhi were standing next to Nagato’s bed like enchanting nurses while my sister and Shamisen were also standing by. I guess that they were waiting for us to arrive, because Haruhi began to talk once we were all assembled.

“Say, Kyon. I have a feeling that I had this strangely realistic dream. We went to a mansion, took a bath, and made some hot sandwiches to eat.”

I was about to say that she’d been hallucinating, but Haruhi continued.

“Yuki said that she didn’t know anything, but Mikuru remembered the same things I did.”

I glanced over at Asahina. The lovely tea-serving maid looked down apologetically.

This is a problem. I was hoping to convince her that she’d been hallucinating or daydreaming, but I wasn’t going to come up with a reasonable explanation for why two people had the same daydream anytime soon.

I was trying to figure out how I might trick her when I was interrupted.

“Group hypnosis.”

Koizumi gave me an exaggerated look of exasperation as he cut in.

“In fact, I also vaguely remember something similar.”

“You’re saying that you were hypnotized? And I was too?” Haruhi asked.

“This was slightly different from artificial hypnotism, but yes. Knowing you, if a person were to announce that they were going to hypnotize you, you would become skeptical and the hypnosis would most likely fail.”

“You’re probably right.”

Haruhi appeared to be lost in thought for a moment.

“However, we spent a considerable amount of time walking through the blizzard at a fixed rhythm where we could only see white snow. Are you aware of a phenomenon known as highway hypnosis? If you drive along a straight highway for an extended period of time, the evenly spaced lights can place the driver in a state of hypnosis and lull him to sleep. People often fall asleep while riding the train, and that’s attributed to the rhythmic shaking of the cars. It’s the same reasoning as when you pat a baby on its back to induce sleep.”

“Really?”

The look on Haruhi’s face suggested that she’d never heard of that before, while Koizumi nodded solemnly.

“Really.”

His voice took on a persuasive tone.

“As we made our way through the blizzard, someone must have grumbled about wishing there was a mansion we could hide out in that provided all sorts of comforts…something along those lines. After all, we were enduring extreme conditions at the time that left us in a mental state that would be susceptible to such hallucinations. You’ve heard about people wandering through the desert and seeing mirages of oases, yes?”

Damn Koizumi. He’s laying it on real thick.

“Uh-huh…I guess. So you’re saying that we experienced something similar?”

Haruhi tilted her head and looked at me.

Apparently so. I nodded in an attempt to look convinced. Koizumi saw this as the perfect time to add the finishing touches.

“The sound of Nagato falling brought us back to our senses. I’m sure of it.”

“Now that you mention it…”

Haruhi tilted her head even farther before swinging it back.

“Well, you’re probably right. It wouldn’t make sense for them to build a weird mansion out there, and my memory’s becoming hazy. Like I was dreaming within a dream.”

Yes, it was a dream. A mansion that didn’t exist in reality. An unnecessary hallucination born of fatigue.

I was more worried about the other two members. The outsiders who weren’t members of the SOS Brigade. I looked at Tsuruya.

“Heh!”

Tsuruya winked at me and smiled. I interpreted the look on her face as meaning, “Well, we’ll just leave it at that.” Though I may have been reading too much into it. Tsuruya didn’t say another word as she flashed her trademark smile and refrained from any superfluous comments.

As for the other one, my sister, she was having sweet dreams from her position leaning into Asahina’s lap. Like a cat, she was obnoxious when awake, but rather adorable when asleep. Asahina didn’t seem to mind as she watched my sister’s face. From the looks of things, I would guess that Asahina and my sister didn’t hear the latter half of Koizumi’s explanation.

Shamisen was grooming himself on the floor as he looked up at me and meowed. It was almost like he was trying to comfort me.

And when all was said and done, we finally reached the first night of our winter trip.

Nagato was apparently dying to get out of bed, but Haruhi would make a fuss every time by pushing her back down and throwing the covers over her.

I had a thought. There wasn’t any need to force her to sleep. Even if she were to have fun dreams, they would still only be dreams. What mattered was that we were all here together right now. It didn’t matter how wonderful a dream was if it ended the moment you woke up. I had no interest in transient illusions. This I understood—

A number of issues had been set aside. Like the identity of that mansion or whether Haruhi truly believed Koizumi’s fib. Right now she was busy playing with Nagato so she didn’t really care, it seemed.

I headed outside for no real reason, maybe to escape Haruhi’s piercing voice. The night sky was filled with more stars than you’d ever see in the city and the reflected light made for a brilliant expanse of silver. Yet for some reason, I didn’t feel cold at all.

“But.”

Tomorrow would be the last day of the year. Koizumi’s detective show would unfold on New Year’s Eve, and Haruhi was planning on partying like crazy.

In that case, we might as well relax. I doubt that Nagato had been given many opportunities to kick back. I wasn’t sure how much sleep she usually got or if she even needed to sleep, but she might as well use this chance to get her fill. Throwing Shamisen onto her bed was also a brilliant idea. He could serve as a source of heat.

I looked across the endless field of snow as I talked to myself.

“Doesn’t look like we’ll have a blizzard tonight.”

I could only hope that if Nagato was capable of dreaming, she would be granted sweet dreams on this one night.

After all, I had absolutely no reason to wish otherwise.

I also took this opportunity to pray to the stars. It wasn’t Tanabata, and it wasn’t even New Year’s Eve for that matter, but I wasn’t specifically directing this prayer to Vega or Altair. Look at all the stars out there. I’m sure that my words will reach one of them.

“Make the new year a good one.”

I’m counting on you, whoever’s out there.