Disclaimer: The characters of the Haruhi Suzumiya series are created by Tanigawa Nagaru. This fan fiction starts from the middle of book #9 (The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya), shortly before the split into separate branches, and is congruent with branch alpha. Events described in books up to and including #9 are assumed to be known by the reader. The story consists of seven installments, followed by a short omake. You are kindly invited to figure out the resolution before Kyon does. The conclusion was written first so I'm not going to cheat and change the script in the middle of the story.

It is very important to notice that in addition to a normal mystery story this work is an attempt at a serious treatise on a philosophical question raised by the original series. As such, it contains elements that are significantly darker than anything found in the books. This is particularly true for the first four chapters. I must point out that everything is still canon compatible in the sense that the story starts and ends at certain points of the original story without diverging permanently, and established rules of the Haruhi universe are strictly followed. Furthermore, I must also pre-emptively declare that the resolution will not be "Kyon wakes up and it was all a dream".

Prologue

This is where you enter the story, and also where I exit.

As you can see, it is a sterile and rather bland hotel room and that is all there is to it. On the other side of the window sprawls a nameless city that might not even be real, for any particular definition of the word "real". Anyway, it doesn't really matter since I've lost the ability to tell the difference between dreams and reality, if there ever was one to begin with.

It is early morning in what might be the middle of August if this is the same place as it was yesterday, but of the year I don't have the slightest idea. It's a moment of calm before the sunrise and the weather is fair, stubbornly unwilling to pay due respect to the fact that this is the end of the world. End of a world, in any case.

I can tell you how I ended up in here but I'm having trouble trying to decide where to start. Like Russian dolls that fit inside each other until you lose count on which one is the original, or a maze with walls that stealthily move behind your back, recent events have played with my sanity as if it was a pawn in a cruel game until it lost any relevance to the greater scheme of things and I found myself marooned in this godforsaken place. I'm only saying this because it is a fact, and not to garner your pity since I am beyond pity and salvation.

A start. Let me see ...

I am thinking of a galaxy. A swirling disc of billions of stars, planets and even stranger objects against a background of black velvet.

Although it cannot be seen directly we know that at the center of the Milky Way lies a supermassive black hole like an eldritch abomination in its lair. For untold aeons it has feasted on entire solar systems that were unfortunate enough to fall into its clutches until it gradually grew lazy, complacent in its unrivaled might that bends even space and time to its bidding. Although it may appear dormant to the undiscerning eye, any traveler foolish enough to wander too close will find out that escaping the omnivorous monster is as impossible as defying the laws of physics. And there it lies, totally indifferent to the transient joys and sorrows of tiny speckles of dust locked into a slow dance around it.

I bet that you expect me to make some remotely amusing remark on Haruhi next. Oh, I am sure that she would be absolutely thrilled about the idea of an entire galaxy orbiting around her, and the "bending of space and time" part might be up for grabs as well. However, I'm definitely drawing a line between that and words like "supermassive" or "eldritch abomination" and I don't think that I even have to explain why. Shame on anybody who thinks otherwise.

No, that was not at all the reason for why I decided to mention this obscure astronomical fact. I'm sure that Nagato could explain the issue more accurately and eloquently but please bear with me just a bit longer since this is rather pertinent to my current predicament and I am running out of time.

What I actually wanted to talk about is the event horizon. That is the point of no return beyond which even light will be sucked into the incomprehensible depths of the singularity.

The frightful thing about the event horizon is that it is completely inconspicuous for a black hole as big as the one in the center of the Milky Way. One might expect to find some kind of a cosmic maelstrom in a place where space and time are getting torn asunder but there is none to warn you in advance. Passing silently like a ship in the night, at one moment you have a future, opportunities, things to look forward to, and the next moment you have lost them all and you didn't even notice when it happened. You may still be going through the motions out of old habits but you are already dead to the world and the only path forward leads deeper into the abyss.

Or, at least that's what scientists say. When you think about it, it appears rather unlikely that anybody would actually have seen it and then returned to tell what it looks like.

However, that is where I am now. A twilight zone between life and death. I am wearing a formal attire which at least looks proper for a burial, sitting in this nondescript hotel room with bleak light creeping through the curtains to remind that somewhere outside there is a world that doesn't need me anymore, indeed, doesn't want to have me back. I would wish to say that the feeling is mutual but feelings escape me. I cannot even whip myself into a convincing bout of self-pity, not that it would help me in any way.

I've played my last card and the game is over. Did I win or lose? Even if I admitted that my side got ruthlessly beleaguered like a minor feudal lord under the wrath of the entire army of the shogun, the question sounds oddly inconsequential. Could I have avoided this by doing things in a different way? As I just told, the answer is no, at least past a certain point. Despite of the imminence and certainty of the end my mind is peculiarly calm and I have only one remaining question in mind.

When did it begin?

The first extraordinary thing that I can recall happened on Saturday. Now you must understand that when I say "Saturday" it means a particular Saturday in April of my second year of high school before the walls of reality were kicked down. It might have been just a few days ago when seen from my own perspective but I don't have any way to find out how the current time relates to the past as measured by an outside observer. Something like that is how the theory of relativity goes and I'll leave it to the scientists to figure out.

I was on my way to the first SOS field trip of the new school year. As per the brigade charter, the purpose of the outing was to find aliens, espers and time travelers and promptly enough, I walked into Sasaki, a middle school acquaintance of mine, and two of her new friends. As fate would have it one of them, Kuyou Suou, was revealed to be an interface of an alien faction rival to Nagato's. Considering that they openly admitted that the nameless time traveling bastard whom I had met previously was also associated with them, it doesn't require master level deduction skills to see that the other of Sasaki's new friends, Kyouko Tachibana who had earlier tried to kidnap Asahina-san, was an esper and thus a rival of Koizumi. I'm still not quite sure where Sasaki herself fits in that picture but I fear that her situation is not much better than mine. Hanging around in the presence of powers that are beyond comprehension is an inherently dangerous pastime as I have noticed too many times.

I would like to believe that all of it was just a coincidence. This was the second time I had met Sasaki after I had started at North High and Koizumi claimed that it had an adverse effect on Haruhi's mental state. What could I do, it wasn't as if I was actively trying to run into Sasaki. If anything it felt like she and her friends were the ones intent on crashing the party at the most unfortunate moment.

However, they left as soon as the other members of the SOS brigade arrived and the rest of the day including the field trip was completely ordinary and uneventful, exactly the way I like them.

Nothing of importance happened on Sunday either but in retrospect I cannot be so sure. I spent the whole day lounging around the house without meeting other brigade members or anybody else outside my family, completely oblivious to the impending doom. Could the transition have happened by then already? I'm trying to remember any apparent signs but if there were any they were too subtle for me to pick up.

On several occasions I have mentioned my desire to live a normal life, a commendable goal too often stymied by that whirlwind of a girl, Haruhi Suzumiya. However, considering what was going to happen the next day one could indeed say that my life back then was as close to normal as anyone could wish. I should have made a better effort at enjoying those final moments of calm but such is the human nature that we don't realize the value of ordinary things until they are taken away from us.

I read a couple of books and played games until it was time to go to bed.

And then came Monday morning.

The Shadow of Haruhi Suzumiya

The alarm clock went off, announcing that a new day was about to begin. After punching the clock I instinctively extended my hand to push Shamisen out of my way but the cat didn't seem to occupy its usual sleeping place on my pillow. That should probably have made me suspicious but at the moment I didn't have two thoughts about it. Cats come and go as they want and that is just as well.

I felt refreshed after spending a whole day unburdened by any pointless exercises and went downstairs to the dining room. My little sister was there already, as noisy and lively as usual, and the familiar routines of the breakfast soothed my mind and made me believe that this would be another enjoyable day, full of the fragrant atmosphere of late spring and completely devoid of any unpleasant surprises.

Nothing could have been further from the truth.

On a cursory glance it indeed looked like it was going to be a fine day. The air was already warm this early in the morning but there was hardly any breeze and I felt sweaty after climbing up the hill to North High. I arrived at class 2-5 and noticed that the seat behind mine was still vacant. Maybe Haruhi had again gone through the field trip locations a second time on her own to check whether we missed anything and was thus feeling tired this morning? That would probably also mean that she was in a bad mood after failing to find anything, as usual. If one wanted to find something extraordinary then we were always looking for it in all the wrong places, and that was on purpose, too. I think that if anybody ever coined a new word for the meaning "doing pointless things" then the entry in the dictionary should have the faces of the members of the SOS brigade printed next to it.

Well, I can't say that I really care how that girl spends her seemingly boundless energy as long as it happens on her own time.

I had just taken out my books when I sensed that somebody sat down on Haruhi's seat. I didn't have to turn and take a look to know that it wasn't Haruhi because I can recognize her walking style from miles away just by hearing it. Nobody else stomps their feet like a drill sergeant wanting to punish the ground on every step. The presence behind me felt much more reserved and polite. And then ...

"Good morning, Kyon!"

I could literally feel the hair at the back of my neck stand up. I knew that voice all too well and it had no right to be heard in this class, out of all possible places. I turned around so fast that my books dropped on the floor.

Sasaki! What are you doing here?

The girl to whom I spoke was momentarily taken aback by my sudden outburst but then she smiled and picked up the books for me.

"What do you mean by what I am doing here? This is a high school, so presumably I am here to study just like you are."

That was not what I meant. Why are you in this class, sitting on Haruhi's seat?

"Who is this Haruhi you are talking about? This was my seat when I left on Friday evening and therefore I fully expect it to still be my seat this morning as well."

No, that was simply not possible. A terrible feeling of deja vu back from last December was taking hold of my mind. It just couldn't happen twice like that.

I turned around again to confirm my deepest fears. Taniguchi! Tell me that the seat behind me belongs to Haruhi!

The insufferable idiot looked at me as if I was some tentacled deep sea creature that had just appeared out of nowhere. To his credit I must admit that I was quickly getting into an uncharacteristic frenzy, and for a very good reason if I may add.

"Haruhi who?" was everything that he managed to say.

Are you saying that you don't remember Haruhi Suzumiya? That Haruhi Suzumiya from your middle school?

"Huh, what do you know about my middle school classmates? Anyway, as far as I remember there wasn't anybody by that name in my school. Are you feeling all right?"

If this was a conspiracy then Taniguchi had suddenly acquired acting skills of Shakespearean levels. So it had to be true, somebody had messed with the reality again and done an even more thorough job than the last time, going as far as rewriting the memories of a person like Taniguchi all the way back to the middle school.

Sasaki craned her head into my field of vision and gave me a wry smile.

"Kyon! Is there something that I don't know?"

Her voice was full of mock jealousy as if she was teasing me. Before I had a chance to reply Okabe-sensei arrived to start the day.

Needless to say, I couldn't concentrate on the topic of the lesson. My mind was ricocheting between possible explanations. I was already certain that if I asked to see the class roster I wouldn't find Haruhi's name on it. If anything, the harrowing experience from last December had prepared me for something like this and I felt more angry than desperate. Who was behind it this time? Although to the uninitiated eye Haruhi would appear to be the primary suspect, it didn't make any sense that she would replace herself with Sasaki. No, I couldn't see that happening.

As I had witnessed on several occasions, data entities had the power to alter reality as well. Was one of the factions behind Nagato responsible for this? I fervently hoped to find Nagato soon enough to ask her about it but if their past actions were anything to go by then it didn't appear to be very likely either. Besides, if it was them then shouldn't the girl sitting behind me be Asakura again? That was a train of thought that I didn't even want to contemplate.

The unknown factor was this new entity that Nagato called the Macrospatial Quantum Cosmic Existence. This weekend it had finally manifested itself in the form of a humanoid interface that went by the name Kuyou Suou. Or possibly Suou Kuyou. The interface was so crude compared to Nagato that it was almost unintelligible. It was likely that they had already trapped the whole SOS brigade once into an alternate reality during that Snow Mountain incident so this kind of a trick would be right up their alley. What was it that they were trying to accomplish by putting Sasaki in the same class with me?

When the bell rang I bolted up and headed out of the class with a vigor that would have made even Haruhi take notice. That everybody in the class did exactly that did not really register on my radar at the moment. Please excuse me but I was not in a mood to show my most polite facade to this fake reality.

Koizumi's class was the one closest to mine and my hopes went up as I rushed through the corridor and saw the class sign. At least this time the whole class hadn't been spirited away. However, Koizumi himself wasn't anywhere to be seen. A quick chat with one of the students confirmed it - there wasn't anybody by that name in the class.

Things were looking bad but as I said, it wasn't the first time something like this had happened so I felt determined to see through all my options.

During the morning breaks I went systematically through all the classes with people that I knew to be related to Haruhi in one way or another but couldn't find any of them, not even Tsuruya or Kimidori-san. It was as if somebody had gone through the school with a giant eraser and carefully removed every trace of Haruhi's existence. Well, except for me, which didn't sound good if it meant that I was again about to bear the brunt of the attack.

My absence from the class during the breaks also allowed me to avoid confronting Sasaki until I could think things through. If she was associated with the alien faction that had done this then shouldn't I stay away from her at any cost? What if each member of the SOS brigade had been trapped into a separate false reality with only their antagonist counterpart in it so that the brigade couldn't co-operate to break out of the prison? What could I do in such a case, try to convince Sasaki to switch sides? Did she even know anything about this?

And then came lunch break and the time to check my last trump card. I run all the way to the old shack and stopped in front of the door that was by now almost as familiar as the one of my own room, except that this time it wasn't. The sign by the door read "Photography club". Could I have made a mistake? There was only one way to make sure so I opened the door.

It was the SOS club room but there weren't any familiar items left other than the old table and chairs. There were photos pinned on the walls and some miscellaneous equipment that looked like leftovers from a bygone era. Most importantly, there weren't any books left. Even more than her evident absence, the lack of books convinced me that I wouldn't find Nagato here no matter how many times I checked. I went through the items in the suddenly inhospitable room but couldn't find anything that looked like a message from her. A sound defeat.

For the first time I felt my determination starting to falter. I had checked my locker, I had checked the club room, I had checked all the classes I could think of. What should I do next?

Well, it was kind of obvious if you think about it for a second. In this puzzle, which piece didn't belong to the set? There had to be some clue if you looked closely enough.

On the next break, instead of leaving the class as fast as I could I took a deep breath and waited for the clatter of chairs to die down before turning around to face that extraneous factor. There were things we had to discuss through.

Sasaki appeared to be rather amused.

"So, you're done with running around like a rabbit? Was that some game I haven't heard about?"

If this was indeed a game then I would really like to learn which kind of a game your new friends are playing.

"My new friends?"

Yes, those that you introduced to me when we met the last time.

"On Friday? What are you talking about? I don't remember introducing anybody to you."

No, that was on Saturday when we met by the station.

"Are you trying to pull my leg, Kyon? We most definitely did not meet each other on Saturday because I was helping my mother with house chores and never went anywhere near the station."

And the names Kyouko Tachibana and Kuyou Suou don't mean anything to you?

"Another girl whose name I haven't heard before and what was that last one, some foreign transfer student? What are you into, Kyon? I'm starting to feel intrigued about this!"

How well did I know Sasaki? Well enough to know that the incredulous smile on her face was genuine. She was thus just another pawn in this evil game which meant that it might be possible to get her on our side.

Where should I start? There's something extraordinary going on but I am not quite sure what it is and who's behind it, and I don't know if I want to explain it all here in the class.

"Then it can probably wait until the end of the day? You can do all the explaining that you want while we walk down to your house."

My house?

"Did you forget that there will be a math quiz tomorrow or doesn't your family like to have me visiting them any more so that we could study together?"

We have such an arrangement?

"I'm worried about you, Kyon. Are you sure that you haven't hit your head or something if you act weird, have delusions and can't remember ordinary things?"

This was worse than I had thought. So far I had only concentrated on what was missing from my own perspective but now I realized that the change hadn't just removed some things from the reality, it had added others that I should be aware of but I wasn't. The immediate future had just become a minefield through which I would have to navigate to the best of my ability. The last thing that I wanted was to heedlessly run into a knife-wielding Asakura or whatever murderous entity planted here with the express purpose to kill me.

So, not only was Sasaki at the same high school as me in this reality, we were also studying together to the extent that she would come and visit our house before exams. Was there something else I should know about it? Finding that out would have to wait until I had had a chance to explain the situation.

Well, it indeed looks like I have a lot of explaining to do ...

"It's a deal, then. I can hardly wait to hear what it is!"

Sasaki gave me a bright smile. It was a good thing that she had always been willing to consider any idea, no matter how extraordinary. Now the only thing left was to grasp at the few leftover straws that I had neglected until now. I went to speak with Taniguchi and Kunikida. They had been helping the SOS brigade on occasion so if they were still here it meant that they hadn't been considered important enough to be completely removed. Maybe there was still something that the perpetrator had neglected.

"Have you been bitten by a bug and caught a brain fever? Don't come too close to me, it may be contagious!"

Taniguchi put up a mock act with exaggerated gestures. I couldn't find it funny in this situation.

"I must say that I found it peculiar as well. Is there something wrong?"

Kunikida looked like his normal self but without doubt his memories had been changed as well.

Well, something is indeed wrong but I'm not sure what it is this time. Are you both sure that you have never heard about Haruhi Suzumiya?

"That name doesn't remind me of anybody. How is she related to this?"

What about the SOS brigade, then?

"Is that some army stuff? You are indeed saying and doing weird things today, Kyon. Isn't it a good thing then that she doesn't mind, eh?"

Kunikida nodded in Sasaki's general direction. What are you trying to say?

"Nothing at all. Everybody knows how well you two work together, all the way from the middle school."

"I wouldn't mind finding such an understanding girl either, although to be honest she's a bit too weird to my tastes. No offense meant, Kyon. Actually, I would settle for any grade A girl who was understanding enough to accept a guy as handsome as me!"

Regardless of which reality it was it looked like Taniguchi couldn't concentrate on anything else than girls.

Well, if that is the way it is, then there's nothing that I can say about it at the moment. I'll let you know if I decide to come to my senses later on.

So, it was a futile attempt after all but I hadn't had high expectations, either. Whoever was behind this had been really diligent in weaving the trap.

Eventually the day was over. If I had been asked about anything that was discussed at the class during the day I would have drawn a blank. The only thing in my mind was this fake reality and I wasn't still an inch closer to finding any means to getting out of it.

Sasaki joined me as I walked out of the classroom and politely waited until we got past the school gates.

"I'm bursting at seams with curiosity, Kyon. So what is it that has happened?"

Well, where should I start? Would you believe if I said that this reality didn't exist yesterday?

"Are you talking about Last Thursdayism? It's just an invented argument to refute a logical fallacy. There's nothing to be believed because it is impossible to disprove it and thus it's a completely pointless issue."

I know that I can't prove it to you but in any case that is what has happened.

I went on to give Sasaki a short description of the events that had happened in my reality since the end of the middle school, including the SOS brigade and its members, the alternate reality incident of last December and finally the appearance of opposing factions centered around Sasaki. As the story progressed her expression changed from a smile to astonishment to open incredulity. When I stopped she shook her head in disbelief.

"I can't believe a word of what you are saying because all of that is clearly impossible. It is like something ripped directly from a cheap fantasy novel! Are you really serious about this?"

I've never been more serious.

"Well then, how do you know that your memories are real and those of everybody else are fake? Shouldn't it be the other way around? If everybody else agrees with each other but you don't, then isn't the simplest explanation that it is you whose memories are fake?"

This is the second time this has happened so unfortunately I'm familiar with it. Besides, I was there on Saturday and saw you.

"And I was with my mom on Saturday and didn't see you. I can't see why your memories would be more real than mine."

I just know it. That's the only way I can explain it.

"I hadn't realized that you are a solipsist!"

I am a what?

"A solipsist is a person who denies that anything outside his own mind is real."

I never claimed such a thing.

"But you did! If you say that you are the only person who can remember how the world actually looks like, and that this whole world as it is right now is just an illusion, then the only real thing in the world is your mind."

This is complicated. You should talk this through with Koizumi or Nagato. I'm sure that they would be able to give you a satisfactory explanation.

"And if you are a solipsist, then you are indirectly claiming that your mind is powerful enough to produce an entire world with all the things in it, including all the people, cultures, science and inventions, all the foreign languages, famous works of art and what have you."

That sounds like something Haruhi might do.

"Then why can't you find any of your friends from that other reality? Do they even exist in this one?"

I don't know. Maybe they are just somewhere else and can't remember that this is not the real world?

"Which leads us back to solipsism. Why were only your memories left intact if those other people had such powers, especially that alien interface that sounded almost omnipotent according to your description?"

I don't have any answers to that. It's something that I'm trying to figure out.

"Anyway, did I get this right? If you find whatever it is that you are seeking, then everything reverts to the reality that you described and all this ... "

She made a sweeping gesture with her hand.

" ... never happened. We never walked down the street together. I wasn't even in the same high school as you. My whole life since the middle school vanishes in an instant, isn't that right?"

Well, if you put it that way ...

"Then why don't you rob a bank?"

What?

"Or take off your clothes and dance naked on the street? If it is not real, then you can do whatever you want and there won't be consequences to worry about."

Why should I do that? I don't have any urge to do such silly things!

"Well, then it would appear to be the case that you do find this reality real enough to act conscientiously. Or at least it means that right now you want to walk with me to your house instead of trying to find a way to make me disappear. That makes me glad!"

She gave me a charming smile. I had to admit that she had a point. Why should she help me with something that from her own perspective was as good as the end of the world?

When we arrived at home, my little sister was excited to see that I had company.

"Yay! Sasaki-oneechan is here. Can you do my homework with me again? Pretty please!"

Why are you calling her a big sister but never me your big brother?

"I guess that we could gather around the living room table again and do all the homework together. Would that be agreeable with you?"

I couldn't really care less about the homework on a normal day and this was even more pointless. Whatever. Then I remembered something that I should ask from my sister.

Have you seen Shamisen today?

"Shamisen? Do you play a shamisen?"

No, I mean Shami, our cat. My sister's eyes went wide open.

"Are we going to get a cat? I'd love to have a cat. Is it a surprise, Kyon? Tell me, tell me!"

Sorry, my bad. If we don't have a cat then I'm not going to produce one out of my back pocket.

"Mean Kyon is teasing me!"

Who was petty enough to make a cat disappear? Could it have something to do with the data entities Nagato had transferred into Shami from those sick dogs? Maybe they were some kind of scouts for the hostile alien faction?

Well, there wasn't much I could do at the moment other than start studying with Sasaki and my little sister. I didn't have any idea where to go looking for clues so they might just as well appear while I was doing whatever I was supposed to do. That even made sense. If Nagato had left me a clue she would put it in a place I was bound to check sooner or later anyway.

To be quite honest, I wasn't feeling really desperate. I had survived dangerous excursions into alternate realities where the perpetrator wanted to kill me on the spot, and this latest incident looked positively benign in comparison, at least so far. My confidence in Nagato's ability to provide crucial clues for solving a problem was solid as a rock.

Nagato-san, I have seen that behind the slight frame you are powerful and imposing like a battleship among puny fishing boats. You are my ultimate line of defense!

Yes, it was just a matter of time until I would find her message and from there on I could somehow wing it like before. That is what I believed with all my heart and kept playing along in this phony show.

And then it got worse. Much worse.

We had just finished the math exercises and Sasaki was collecting her books when the doorbell rang. I must say that it is a very human ability to quickly adjust to abnormal things until they start to look completely normal. In a situation where nothing was as it should have been I still managed to find it surprising that somebody would come and visit us so late in the evening.

I happened to be the one closest to the front door. As I opened it the illusion that I was still at least nominally in control of the situation shattered like a kakiemon vase dropped on the floor. My mind went blank as it tried to interpret the signals that my eyes were transmitting.

The girl standing under the porch light was wearing a stylish red vest over a white dress. It felt like time was slowing to a standstill and I was acutely aware of every little detail in the scene as if they were seen through a magnifying glass but the brain refused to believe their meaning. The darkening cityscape, moths circling around the lamp, intricate folds and ribbons on the dress of the girl standing in front of me, the warm smile on her lips, dark eyes twinkling as if entire galaxies were hiding inside them.

"Sorry for the disturbance. I just wanted to drop by and say hi."

Haruhi's voice was so jovial and unassuming that it sounded completely out of character. I tried to say something, anything, but the emergency rewiring effort inside my head was still proceeding at full force and I realized that I was just standing there with my mouth open like an idiot.

"Who is it?"

Sasaki appeared from behind my back and before I could react, she wrapped her arm around my waist and said something unforgivable.

"Oh, you must be Suzumiya-san. My boyfriend has been talking about you the whole day."

As long as I live I won't be able to forget the indescribable expression that froze on Haruhi's face on that moment and the fact that I was so pitifully unable to avert any of this fills me with shame. Please forgive me.

The world was suddenly overwhelmed by a gnashing noise that sounded like a giant glass cutter was drawn across the sky, severing it in the process. Or maybe that noise could only be heard inside my head because at the same time it was also dead silent.

Author's Notes

Thank you for reading this story. There are six more chapters left and it can only get more mysterious from here!

Out of all the characters in the series, Sasaki's personality is closest to my own which made it rather easy to write this part. Unfortunately, that's the last time we'll be seeing her in this story.

This chapter as a whole could be seen as an extended prologue with a rearrangement of many familiar elements from the original series but from here on we change course to uncharted waters. Stay tuned for a change of pace and ... gratuitous fan service? Talk about a mood whiplash! Also, when Kyon says that it gets worse you better believe him. It most definitely does.

A more extensive set of notes will be found at the end of the last chapter once we get there.