# Error in Calculation

## Chapter One: The First Day

### A 'Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi' fanfiction.

Disclaimer: The novel 'Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu'/'The Melancholy of Suzumiya
Haruhi' is the creation of Nagaru Tanigawa. No disrespect is intended by the
posting of this fanfiction, as I do not own the characters or settings
involved. I'm merely dabbling with another set of paints. ;)

Additionally, a character or two is borrowed from Higurashi, which is the
creation of Ryukishi07, but don't read too much into that.

* * *

The first day was exciting. She wondered what had happened, and if she could
get the Brigade together to sneak into the school and find out. But stupid
Kyon's phone went straight to voice-mail, and the student directory with his
home number was stuck in her desk at school. Mikuru's phone rang and rang and
rang, but no one answered. Koizumi's voice-mail said that something urgent had
come up, and he might not be able to return calls for a while.

Excitement gave way to frustration.

Haruhi wasn't sure what Yuki's phone number was, so she couldn't call her, and
she didn't have the numbers of anyone else at school. So a great opportunity
almost instantly turned into more boring sameness. "What a waste," she
grumbled, before further thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Waiting for her outside her home was a rotund man in a black short-sleeved
shirt with a red tie. His close-cropped white hair went smoothly up and back
in short spikes, and he flicked a cigarette into a small, lidded metal
ashtray, which closed with a loud snap, just as the door opened. Behind him
were two police officers in normal uniform, one looking around behind him, the
other watching the man in front.

"Hello," he said, when she couldn't find anything to say right away. "I'm
Oishi Kuraudo," he punctuated his introduction by showing her his badge, "with
the Nishinomiya central office. Are you Suzumiya Haruhi?"

"Yes," she managed, a thrill of excitement returning. "That's me. Did you want
to come in?"

"If you don't mind," he said agreeably. "Your parents aren't home?"

"Nope." She gestured him in, pointing to the couch in front of the television,
which currently was displaying news coverage of a still school gate. "So,
what's going on?"

"Ah, well," he said, motioning the officers to wait outside before he entered
and sat down. "Why don't you have a seat?"

She nodded, still dressed in her uniform, since she hadn't bothered changing
back when she was turned away at the gates. After she sat down, she looked at
him expectantly.

He produced a pad of notepaper from his side, and a pen, then consulted his
notes. "If it's alright with you, I'd like to ask a few questions. You don't
have to answer, of course-"

"No, that's fine!" she said quickly, shaking her head. "I'm glad to help. And
if my parents were home, they'd say I should answer your questions, anyway."

"Well, that should be fine, then," he said soberly. "Now, you have an
unofficial student association?"

"The SOS Brigade!" she countered, scowling. "That idiot Kyon was supposed to
turn in the paperwork! What, did he forget? Man, if he ever picks up his
phone...." Her voice fled, trailing off into nothing when she saw the
detective's pained expression.

"Suzumiya-san, I'd like to show you a few pictures, if you don't mind?"

She nodded warily.

He pulled a trio of photographs from a clip beneath the page he was writing
on. "Do you recognize any of these people?"

All three pictures were very standard, taken on the same day, during opening
ceremonies. There was her homeroom teacher, grinning like an idiot with his
practiced smile. There was the perverted stalker, trying what he undoubtedly
thought was a rakish grin. "Okabe-sensei, Taniguchi, and," she started, before
her voice seized up. There was her classmate and first club member, giving a
mild, polite smile, like he tolerated it, but didn't really care. "And Kyon,"
she finally forced out.

"'Kyon'," Oishi repeated, flipping the page back and scribbling another note.
"Could you tell me where you were yesterday, at five thirty in the evening?"
he asked, putting on a tiny, polite smile of his own.

"I was at the corner market, getting things for dinner," she said quietly,
tingles running up and down her spine, but no longer from excitement. "I
skipped the club meeting. I ... got into an argument with ... Kyon."

Oishi scribbled more notes down. "An argument? What about?"

"He was telling me stuff ... about me being stupid for ... wanting something
mysterious to happen. That I should calm down and find a boyfriend." She
blinked, staring at the table between herself and the detective. "I was
stupid."

"Well, that kind of thing happens from time-to-time," the detective muttered,
still taking notes. "Did Kyon have any enemies that you know of? Or any other
good friends? Maybe a girlfriend?"

"He ... had lunch with Taniguchi," she answered, flinching. "And Kunikida. I
don't think he had any enemies. Why would he? I mean...." She swallowed. A
small part of her mind noticed that he wrote down the second student's name,
but not the first. "He wasn't seeing anyone. Um, what happened to Kyon? Is he
okay?"

"I can't really say anything about that right now," Oishi said, shaking his
head. "Anyway, which market was this?"

She numbly told him the address. When he asked for her phone number, she gave
him that, too. More questions followed, which she answered in the same
distant, numb manner.

"Thank you, Suzumiya-san. If I have any more questions, I'll give you a call."

"How.... How long before I can find out?" she asked quietly.

Oishi rose to his feet and gave a very deep sigh. "I don't know," he said
softly. He looked away from her eyes. "Take care, Suzumiya-san."

She nodded, feeling remote, as though she was doing it from far away. She
walked him to the door, where he paused.

"Your school will be closed for the next day or two at the very least," he
said. "And from this point forward, I strongly suggest that you walk to school
with some friends." He hesitated a moment longer, then added, "I'm sorry."

She nodded again, wondering why her vision was blurry and wavering. He left,
and she closed the door, taking a seat at the couch and staring at the news
report without seeing it.

The next day was not going to be exciting at all.

* * *

She stood on the street corner and looked at the school. Law enforcement
officials had blocked the entrance, their vehicles parked in front of the gate
as they turned students away.

An internal notification warned her that standing and staring had a high
probability of being misconstrued, and would be attention-gathering behavior.
She abruptly turned on one foot and began walking back to the building she had
left earlier that day. Her face betrayed no expression as she communed with
her directive forces.

The consensus had been broken. The irregularities would be sorted out, but in
the meantime, verification and understanding would be prerequisites. If
factors failed to align, her objectives would not be met. Furthermore,
searching through references suggested that maintaining functional observation
distance with her subject would be socially acceptable.

That thought in mind, she changed course, turning away from the building she
had left that morning. It didn't take her long to reroute to the observation
subject's home. As she approached, she noted more local law enforcement, a
director of some sort exiting the building. He saw her, and she determined
that his gaze lingered on the crest on her uniform momentarily before he
approached and asked her for her identification values.

She answered his questions quietly.

Would she be more comfortable talking in his car? He had air conditioning.

Irrelevant.

The man made an offhand comment about taking the opportunity to at least smoke
and lit a cigarette. She watched the process curiously, not having directly
observed it before. After a few breaths, he showed her some visual
representations, and asked if she could identify them.

She could.

What was her relationship with Kyon?

They were both members of the same club.

Where was she yesterday, at five thirty?

Halfway down the hill to the train station.

Outside of the club, did Kyon have any other close friends?

She didn't know.

Did he have a girlfriend?

She didn't know.

Did he have any enemies?

She gave him the same answer.

After checking her name off a list, he asked for her phone number, which she
gave him. After that, he closed his notepad. Her references suggested that
this meant the interview was over, but she continued observing him anyway.

"Is Suzumiya-san your friend?"

She blinked at him, submitting several clarification queries. The lost
consensus was not able to route them in a time that her social monitor deemed
adequate for the situation. Their relationship was not accurately described in
those terms, but she nodded anyway, terminating the previously launched
queries.

"Did she like Kyon?"

She blinked again, not submitting any data, relying on internal analysis
alone. Suzumiya Haruhi was interested without question. Chemical triggers in
Suzumiya Haruhi's brain were present uniquely in proximity to him, according
to her observations. Her reference list suggested that her behavior thus far
did not agree with the chemical observations, however. She could only say she
was uncertain.

"Well, anyway ... looks like you and your friend are both in a bad state over
this. Why don't the two of you stick together for a while? It'll probably be
on an official bulletin later, but advice is for students to travel in
groups."

"Understood," she answered him. "I will watch Suzumiya Haruhi."

She approached the closed door to her observation subject's home. Airborne
particles conveyed a rich tapestry of information to her. She tagged and
recorded the unique scent of the detective, and the less unique profile of his
cigarettes. Suzumiya Haruhi's own scent tag was there, relaying hormonal
information. Her internal library matched the profile with the emotion of
sorrow.

She knocked quietly on the door.

"Y...yes?" Haruhi answered, body-language hints showing surprise. "Nagato?
What are you doing here?"

Her social monitor tried an automated query, but she killed the process before
it externalized. "Club meeting," she answered.

Haruhi's expression twisted to something the local library could not
adequately classify, before it shifted to show more generally recognized
characteristics. Eyes oriented down, lids narrowed, red-rimmed as though from
minor inflammation, jaw semi-slack, corners of the mouth turned down; sorrow
again. "Well, come in."

She stepped into Haruhi's living quarters, her eyes fixed on the observation
subject. Haruhi closed the door and took small steps towards the couch.
Discrepancy; Suzumiya Haruhi's movements were atypical of her standard
behavior.

An urgent warning came through her uplink from her faction, was processed,
replied to, and then discarded. Directing more process focus to her immediate
task, she accessed several databases simultaneously, changing many local
attribute and characteristic tags.

"What was that?" Haruhi asked, looking back over her shoulder, paused before
reaching the couch.

Her social monitor was still not processing adequately, but advised not
staring at Haruhi any longer. "Nothing of import," she answered, taking a seat
next to the observation subject and orienting her gaze towards the television
screen. Her internal reference still assigned a social-neutral value to
staring at the device in most situations. Likely, this would apply as well.

"Hey, Nagato, do you know what happened at school?"

An automated process she had spawned earlier reported in at the trigger
conditions; the consensus was still lost. Internal reference and logic systems
suggested multiple possible theories. "No."

"I ... think it involved Kyon."

She didn't consult any external sources, instead just giving a tiny nod, which
her social monitor suggested would be adequate.

"You, too, huh?"

She remained physically still, except to blink.

"Hey ... Nagato ... my parents are out of town this week. D...do you want to
stay over, since I can't get a hold of the rest of the SOS Brigade?"

She considered the logistics of the situation. Maintaining proximity to
Suzumiya Haruhi at all times was now a high priority. Even so, the current
location was only barely secure for her purposes, and wouldn't do for long
term. Still, the social monitor advised against insisting on a safer location
immediately. "Yes," she answered. "Tomorrow, come to my home."

"Yeah," Haruhi said, the modulations of her voice suggesting anxiety, and an
attempt to hide it. "That's fine. You didn't bring anything to change into,
did you?"

"I am fine."

"I'm sure I have some old pajamas that will fit you for tonight, at least."

She gave her minimal nod in response again.

* * *

Koizumi Itsuki sat at attention, sitting in an uncomfortable pipe chair before
a circular table. Seated directly across from him was the woman he typically
reported to, Sonou Mori. Dressed in somewhat rumpled business casual, she
flipped through a short stack of papers, then studied a laptop that hummed
quietly next to the papers. She flipped them back, rubbing at her temples with
one hand.

Her brown hair was matted, as though she had been up all night -- all of them
had, of course. Her light eyes were shadowed beneath a furrowed brow, and when
she finally broke the uncomfortable silence, all she said was, "Fuck."

Itsuki looked away, staring at the floor. The room had no windows.

"Okay," her voice called out again, resignation and exhaustion running through
it. "You still have a link to her mental state?"

"Yes," Itsuki said quietly. "She's upset. Apprehensive. Something happened
recently to stabilize her somewhat."

"The Tamaru brothers tell us that Nagato Yuki is with her presently," Mori
said with a sigh. "We can probably assume that whoever did this, they wanted
to see her reaction, not directly harm her."

"Do we think it was the integrated thought entity?" Itsuki asked, shifting his
shoulders uncomfortably. There was unattended closed space, but Mori had
insisted he speak with her. The others were dealing with closed space without
him, and even if they might be adequate, he didn't like being unable to help.

Mori's eyes flashed. "_I_ don't think it would be the integrated thought
entity," she said. "But I can hardly speak for everyone else."

"I apologize," he mumbled, unable to put on his fake smile.

One of the woman's eyebrows twitched, and she took a deep breath. "Sorry," she
said. "This is very stressful for all of us. Come with me, let's get a cup of
coffee." She snapped the lid of her laptop down, rising to her feet and
gesturing him to follow.

He dutifully trotted along at her side as she left through the dark room's
only door, into a windowless, empty hallway. Down the hallway to another door,
which opened to a small, windowless break-room. Mori muttered to herself
darkly as she poured two cups of coffee, adding cream and sugar to both
without asking him if he cared for it.

He nodded his thanks anyway when she offered him a cup, burning his tongue
with the first scalding sip.

"You're out," she said, shaking her head and marching back to the empty
conference room.

He followed, feeling robbed of choice, but nodding. That's all he really was,
anyway. A mindless yes-man.

"We've sent your double to Canada. Paperwork for your transfer will go
through...." She trailed off and made a vague gesture. "That wasn't my call."

The tiniest trickle of relief flowed through his mind. At least it wasn't just
Mori pulling the strings. "This is too much attention for us, and I think too
much stress for her," she sighed, rubbing at her eyes. "As you may or may not
know, we recently approached the Tsuruya family, hoping to ally ourselves with
a relatively influential household in the area."

It was news to him, but he did his job anyway: He nodded again.

"The head of the family, even after witnessing a demonstration of closed
space, said that it didn't concern them, and while it might amuse them on
occasion to assist us, they weren't interested in an alliance."

Itsuki blinked at that. The 'closed space' demonstration was typically the key
to gaining assistance ... it was the only real way to prove that the esper
powers were real, that the threat they faced wasn't imaginary. He had to do it
himself several times -- in point of fact, he remembered only two short years
ago, taking Mori's hand and showing her closed space himself. Never once had
he heard of someone witnessing it and then pleading indifference.

There was shock, denial -- which was fine. The goal wasn't to force people
into helping. But if they didn't want to believe, and rationalized it away, it
was a simple matter not to deal with that person again. Someone who witnessed,
evidently understood ... and just didn't care? What kind of person was the
head of the Tsuruya family?

"The Tsuruya family has ties with the yakuza," Mori continued, sipping her
coffee.

He raised his own to his lips and pretended to drink, nodding again. A few
yakuza families were in the Organization; they had well placed eyes-and-ears,
access to questionable resources that could be useful, and a sort of Japanese
social invisibility because of who they were.

"It's also theorized at this point because of the amount of money the
Organization deals with, that the national police are going to be involved.
There's too many suspicious circumstances for this to be overlooked."

Itsuki made a face, shaking his head. He only knew about Organization agents
who were relatively common, or branches they had a high level of infiltration
on. It was a reasonable guess they had no-one inside the National Police
Agency.

"And that makes you a likely suspect in this whole mess."

"Me?" Itsuki protested, nearly dropping his coffee cup. "But I didn't-- I was
here when it happened! With you!"

"I know that, but how does this look from the outside? Orders came down that
you had to be pulled out, because the attention that this brings onto us ...
is going to be too much for the Organization to remain hidden."

"At least I'm still somewhat valuable," he remarked with a bitter grumble. "I
should be glad I wasn't just killed and left by the wayside."

Mori's unsettling stare did not waver. "Yes, you should be glad," she agreed.
"I don't know how much time we have, but this could be causing a fracture at
the highest levels of our Organization. No telling who's going to be the
lizard's tail, and who will slither off to fight another day."

A loud crash echoed from upstairs, and Mori was out of her seat in an instant,
dashing to the door and throwing the bolt with a curse. "We don't have much
time," she continued quickly, turning. "Is there closed space here? In this
room?"

"Y...yes," he said, nodding, eyes wide as he leapt to his feet. "There's
closed space all over."

"Good," she said, relaxing slightly. "Now, you'll need to leave before they
get here, but what I want you to do--"

"I have a better idea," he overrode her, holding one hand towards her. His
mask may be part of his job, but he could get through this, somehow. The chips
were down, and it was time to be a man, not a puppet. "I'm not doing this
alone. If it's worth dying for, it's worth living for! Come with me right now;
this is the world we live in, not a 'B' movie."

Her eyes widened, conflicting emotions flickering across her face before it
smoothed into an amused, worn smile. "Well.... Fine. I ... didn't even think
of that. Alright, Koizumi-kun," she agreed, reaching out to take his hand as
heavy footsteps shuddered down the hallway towards them. "I'm putting my trust
in you."

He was aware of the heavy door behind Mori splintering as he pulled her
through that odd division of real space and the sealed reality of that other,
more alien space.

* * *

Bylaws prevented smoking in public buildings, much to Oishi's annoyance. So
after handing the accumulated reports to his under-staff, he stepped out onto
a balcony on the upper floors of the main administrative building, lighting a
cigarette and considering the investigation.

He was alone for less than a minute before the door opened, and he glanced
over his shoulder to see his chief secretary, Mizuno Aida, stepping out with a
short stack of papers, neatly clipped together. "Something new?" Oishi asked
around the brand in his lips.

"No, sir," Aida responded quietly. "I just thought you might want the
executive summary."

He snorted, sending twin streams of smoke from his nostrils. "Might as well.
We have until this evening to submit our reports to the brass. Alright, what
do we have?"

"We have a dead high school student, a lack of significant suspects, and a
murderer who was capable of covering their tracks."

"Eh, accuracy aside, could you rephrase that in a way that makes us look
competent? The mayor is going to be at the board I'm submitting this report
to, and I don't think he'll be pleased with that analysis."

Aida coughed politely. "Based on our current investigation, the only
fingerprints on the note belonged to the victim. There were no prints on the
knife. All blood so far has been matched to the victim. There were no traces
of DNA underneath his fingernails, and the incident happened after daily
cleaning duties, so any loose hairs on the floor would have been more
conspicuous, but we found none. The victim's body was still warm when SOCO
conducted their initial examinations, and barring an unusually elevated body
temperature before the murder, we're still reasonably sure that the assault
happened at around five thirty in the evening."

"Sounds about right," Oishi grumbled. "Taniguchi?"

"Well, you interviewed him yourself, sir," Aida said, shrugging. "As well as
our profiler and psychologist. His trauma seems genuine and he volunteered for
a polygraph, even though we don't have that equipment."

"I remember. Too many police dramas."

"Perhaps you are correct, sir. However, he is currently the only person known
to be in range of the classroom, and it's possible that his role as discovery
witness is feigned."

"Okabe's just as likely in those terms."

"Technically correct, sir. In either instance, we have not yet established a
motive."

Oishi ground his cigarette out and drew another from his pack, twirling it in
his fingers absently. "Aida, act as a sounding board for me. I work better
when I can voice my thoughts. Do you mind?"

"Of course not, sir. That's why I came out here."

Oishi snorted. "We've worked together too long. Anyway, that's what's
bothering me the most about this," he sighed. "Usually, in this type of case
it would be a revenge attack. But by all accounts, Student K -- the entire
school knows him by his nickname, even Okabe -- was generally unremarkable,
except that he kept a cool head and was genial to everyone. His academic
profile has nothing alarming or astoundingly interesting in it either.
Adequate grades, fairly average athletic scores. The most remarkable thing
about him was his association with a specific classmate."

"A murder with no motive?"

"No discernible motive to kill him directly, at any rate. I tried to interview
all the class 1-5 students personally." He broke off momentarily to stop
playing with the new cigarette, and lit it with a slow draw. "I also
encountered a student from a different class ... 1-6, I think, as I left
Suzumiya-san's house. So I'll be going through the other interview records
later. However, among those students I interviewed, I found only a few things
of note."

Aida inclined his head politely, adjusting his glasses and remaining silent.

After a quick puff, Oishi said, "First off, Kunikida, associate of Student K
and Student T. By his testimony, Student K had an interest in 'strange girls'.
Kunikida and Student K had gone to middle school together, and also attended
the same cram-school."

Aida nodded again. "Is he a suspect?"

"Potentially, but I still can't pin a motive on him directly. So, no more or
less than any other student."

After consulting briefly with his notes, Aida looked at Oishi expectantly.

"Secondly, Suzumiya Haruhi, who hosts what's an unrecognized club by the
school -- the 'SOS Brigade', according to a flier we have."

"'SOS'? If I'm not mistaken, isn't that English for the maritime help request
code?"

"Eh, her meaning was different. She took the English letters from the words
for ... well, it goes something like, 'save the world by overloading it with
fun, Suzumiya Haruhi's brigade'," Oishi said, frowning at the glowing tip of
his cigarette. "There's an original and several photocopies of her club flier
in the case files."

"I see."

"Continuing on, her disciplinary record stands out, at least from middle
school. Behavior issues, vandalism of the school on multiple occasions,
disregard for dress code. She's already gotten notices at her new school as
well -- improper dress and solicitation. Rumor says she's responsible for
blackmail, but no one is willing to step forward."

"Meaning...?"

"Eh ... at a cursory inspection, based on her records I would say she lacks
empathy."

"You would say, she's a psychopath?"

"Well. I can't make that determination, and our entire department would be
destroyed the instant I tried to pin that label on a minor." Oishi gave a
pointed stare at Aida.

Aida bowed his head. "Sorry."

"No, I put the evidence before you, and you drew a potentially reasonable
conclusion. Not one we can state, however. In any case, Suzumiya-san offered
an alibi, and the store she was supposed to be at during the time of the
murder is outside of reasonable travel range for the murder's timeframe. We
should have their security camera tapes in evidence later today."

"Conveniently timed. So she's a suspect?"

"Our best suspect at the moment," Oishi agreed. "But I don't want to say she's
a 'prime' suspect yet. Despite her disciplinary record, she has near perfect
grades and an impeccable athletic record."

"So she would be intelligent enough to plan it and capable of executing the
assault?"

"Restraining someone the size of Student K and brutalizing him? Physically,
perhaps. Emotionally ... I don't think she behaved in a manner consistent with
the image I gathered from her records."

"Oh?"

"Naturally, I couldn't reveal Student K's current state and role in the
investigation. But she became obviously and almost immediately despondent at
the implication that he was involved in a police investigation. And despite
procedure, there's little question what we're really asking about."

"So you don't think she did it?"

"I think the security camera footage will prove she wasn't at the school,"
Oishi clarified. "But I'm also certain she was involved. No one of the
students interviewed so far could say that Student K had a girlfriend, per se,
but almost all students that were aware of him associated him with Suzumiya-
san. Add in Kunikida's statement that Student K liked 'strange girls', well,
Suzumiya-san is a strange girl for certain."

Aida stared, narrowing his eyes. "You don't suppose Suzumiya-san's despondency
was an act?"

"It's entirely possible," Oishi admitted with a shrug, taking another deep
draw. "Moving on, class 1-6, Nagato Yuki. She's another member of the club
that Suzumiya Haruhi hosts. Actually, according to records, Nagato Yuki is the
only genuine member of the Literature Club, which is the room the SOS Brigade
uses, but she's considered a member from what we can gather. Flawless academic
record, perfectly average athletic record, no disciplinary records whatsoever.

"Her manner of speech betrays no emotion. If I were to apply one of those
forbidden labels that we cannot use to minors, it would most certainly be to
her over Suzumiya-san."

"Perhaps she has a motive? If Suzumiya Haruhi took over her club room, and she
wanted to extract some form of revenge...?"

Oishi grimaced and stubbed his cigarette out. "Possible motive, but I have a
hard time imagining her physically overpowering anyone. She's athletically
average, and very small in stature. If it was her, I would think she would
require accomplices."

"Suzumiya Haruhi and Nagato Yuki are our prime suspects, then?"

"I don't want to call either of them that, but Nagato-san seems more likely
than Suzumiya-san in motive, though it's the other way around in capability.
And while Nagato-san could have killed Student K for revenge on Suzumiya-san,
Nagato-san was on her way to visit her friend with the school closed. It's
possible she was there to gloat, but she seems far too intelligent to do that.
More likely, if either of them did it, they were co-conspirators."

"Hmm."

"My initial theory was that Nagato-san, just like Suzumiya-san, was distraught
over what had happened to their friend, and they were just looking out for one
another. Even so, also from 1-5, there was one other interview that stuck out
to me. Asakura Ryouko, class representative. She says she was just leaving
school at the time of the incident."

"As the class representative, did she have additional insight?"

"Unsurprisingly. What did strike me as odd was that she never stopped smiling
when I questioned her.... She had a cheerful demeanor the entire time. Of
course, she could just be slow to pick up hints, but given that every other
questioned student seemed to have a very good idea of what was going on, that
seems unlikely. But then we run into the evidence issue again ... and there's
nothing on her, and no discernible motive."

"Student K's parents?"

Oishi grimaced, hand reaching for a third cigarette before he stopped himself,
pulling a pen from his pocket and chewing on the cap thoughtfully instead.
"Terrible interview," he sighed. "First thing this morning. They gave an
extensive list of his middle-school friends, mentioned that he'd recently
joined a club, and denied he'd ever had any enemies -- or even gotten into a
fight at school. Which is consistent with his academic records. There was one
interesting side-note to the girlfriend question with his family...."

"Oh?"

"Eh. Student K's mother suspected that he was initially interested in Suzumiya
Haruhi, as her name had come up in casual conversation previously, but
recently the name of Asahina Mikuru had come up more often."

"Asahina-san is...?"

"Second year student. Also a member of the SOS Brigade -- she was involved in
Suzumiya-san's last scheme, and had gotten her first disciplinary mark for it.
No answer on her cell phone, and for whatever reason, no voice-mail. We cited
emergency purposes, and her apartment's landlord let us into her rooms.
Nothing out of the ordinary -- no signs of struggle or foul play. But no
Asahina-san, either."

"Her parents?"

"Disconnected number and invalid address," Oishi sighed, looking over the edge
of the balcony to the distant street below. "Asahina Mikuru, Asakura Ryouko,
and Nagato Yuki. Three high school students with unreachable parents,
evidently living on their own, all of them tied to fellow student and SOS
Brigade leader Suzumiya Haruhi."

"Are there any other club members?"

"Koizumi Itsuki, also unreachable, though his parents insist he's on an out-
of-country trip to Canada. The ticket registry puts him as leaving the country
for Canada late last night."

"That seems suspicious."

"It does ... but a suspicion is not evidence. We can prove he left the
country, and the ticket was bought less than an hour before the flight took
off. And well after the murder. The situation is consistent with fleeing the
scene of a crime, but in any case, Canada will extradite if more information
comes to light, and Interpol has him on a watch list. He's not escaping
anything, if he did it."

"The club members make the most likely suspects," Aida ventured. "But I can
see your hesitance to label any a prime suspect."

"Despite all that ... it was Asakura-san's behavior that I found the most
unsettling," Oishi murmured. "Something about her ... was just off. I felt
something similar from Nagato-san ... but I can't put 'strange feeling' into a
report."

"I see.... What do we report to the seniors at tonight's meeting, then?"

"We can keep most of our speculation to ourselves," Oishi sighed. "We're going
to be in trouble on this one; it's a given that the national police will be
involved, since an Interpol flag was raised. Pull phone records for the entire
club. Forget preparing for the meeting, I'll bull through it -- instead, I
want you to prepare a briefing for the national police who will be joining our
investigation ... or taking it over."

"Understood," Aida replied, bowing.

"Oh," Oishi said, as his assistant was reaching for the door handle, "don't
let me forget, Aida-chan ... thanks for hearing me out."

"I'm glad to be helpful, Kura-chan."

Oishi grunted in response, staring out at the glittering city lights.
Overhead, an out-of-season storm-front loomed ominously. "Lightning weather,"
he murmured.

* * *

END -- CHAPTER 1