# Kyon: Big Damn Hero

## Gearing Up Arc V

### Chapter Twenty Three: Undercover Work

Disclaimer: The novel series of Suzumiya Haruhi that began with '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. TVtropes(dot)org is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Share Alike 3.0 Unported License (and it's possible that this fic technically
is, too; seems fair to me). Additional characters are borrowed from Higurashi,
which is the creation of Ryukishi07.

Notes: Count the tropes! Save, collect, trade for swell prizes!

* * *

"Chapter Five: So, You Got Away"

"Are you sure? I mean, really, really, _really_ sure? It could just be the
calm before the storm, as they say. Check, double-check, check again, and
then, once you're done, don't get overconfident or cocky."

"Clearing the Event Horizon: How Close is Too Close?" -- Tadamichi Kyousuke

* * *

Yuki knew where Jun was, but not how to get to him. After she enabled what she
termed a 'stealth field' and hugging tightly onto one of Kyon's arms, the pair
of them strolled into the police building, unobserved and silent. It took a
few tries to figure out where the holding cells actually were, and there was a
tense minute walking around a thick cluster of suited detectives deep in
conversation with other folks in suits, who Kyon _guessed_ were NPA agents. He
didn't really want to find out, but their conversations seemed centered around
finding out how Yamane, Watanabe, and Ryuguu had gotten the guns.

Fortunately, each of the three was in their own small cells, spaced far enough
apart they could only communicate with one-another in easily overheard shouts.
Out of sight of the police officers, Kyon stopped before Yamane's cell. The
boy was laying on his cot, with his head as far away from the cell door as
possible.

"Can they hear us?" Kyon whispered into Yuki's ear.

She slowly turned her face toward him and shook her head.

Still whispering, he asked, "So ... do you have what you need?"

Yuki's eyes lowered, and she shook her head again, answering at her usual
volume, "Speculatively, the pattern corruption is either dormant or otherwise
concealed. If Yamane Jun becomes aware of your presence, the corrupted data
should be revealed."

Kyon grimaced, glancing down the halls of the quiet holding area before
sighing. "Okay," he agreed. "I really, really hope we don't get caught." Yuki
released his arm, seeming hesitant, and Kyon guessed he was no longer
'stealthed'. Squaring his shoulders, he glanced at the girl. He could still
see her, at least.

Rather than call or or yell, he rapped one knuckle on the bar of the cell,
resulting in a very subdued metallic ring. Yamane shifted in his cot, then
rolled onto his back slowly and sat up, staring at Kyon blearily. After a
moment of fumbling, he produced his spectacles, slipping them on and shooting
Kyon a disgusted, hateful sneer. "You," he hissed. "Come to gloat?"

Shaking his head in response, Kyon considered facing his attacker for the
first time. He'd been stabbed once, and he'd never wanted to see the being
that had done that to him. He wasn't exactly eager to see Jun, either, but Jun
was a normal person, not some being beyond mortal comprehension with abilities
so advanced they might as well be magic.

"This isn't about revenge," Kyon answered softly, mindful of being overheard.
"Truthfully, as far as I understand it, this is about you being influenced by
someone -- something, really. You were the one who decided to start taking
pictures and selling them -- what prompted you to do that?"

"It _is_ about revenge!" Jun snapped.

"Shut up!" Ryuguu yelled from out of sight, a few cells over. "Look what
that's cost us already!"

Kyon spread his hands in a shrug, before pocketing them in the greatcoat. His
armor had been activated the moment that he and Yuki had set out, and he'd
forgotten the black paint-like coating across his skin, leaving only his face
seeming clear. "He's got a point," Kyon remarked, still keeping his voice low.
"But, come on. Seriously. This started because of you; why did you do it?"

"Me!?" Jun gasped, indignant. "Are you _serious_!? You banished my Tenshi! You
_defiled_ her! It's only because of _you_ that she had to leave!"

"Y...you," Kyon began cautiously, frowning. "You were harboring this grudge
for almost an entire year before you chose to act on it?"

"I'm not _like_ you," Jun spat. "I can't overpower; I have to out _think_."

Kyon rubbed his chin. "You have something from her?" he surmised. Yuki had
said there was a source; it was most likely a physical thing. A note, maybe a
book.... He didn't think it would be one of Ryouko's knives, or else Jun might
have tried to stab him with it. Then again, maybe it was a file on Jun's
computer...?

"Do you _really_ think that I--" Jun began before suddenly jolting, pressing
one palm to his forehead. "I.... What.... I feel her drifting away from
me...." He started, flinging himself forward so suddenly against the bars of
his cell that Kyon reflexively extended an arm before Yuki protectively.
"Don't!" he howled, suddenly shrieking. "Don't take her away from me! Thief!
Defiler! You ruin _everything_!"

Yuki seized Kyon's arm and pulled him down the hall; he followed without
resistance as Jun reached through the bars, unable to touch either of them.
They passed another cell, where Ryuguu was starting to scream back at Jun to
shut up, and then another cell where Watanabe sat on the floor with a dour
expression, cards arrayed before him for a game of solitaire. "I have
identified the source," Yuki announced, as the group of police and NPA agents
stormed into the hall, unable to see the pair of them.

"What is it?" Kyon breathed when Yuki stopped, still clinging to him.

"An item of apparel belonging to Asakura Ryouko," she responded. "Most likely
in Yamane Jun's place of residence. We should go there now."

"Okay," he agreed, closing his eyes and bracing for the teleport.

* * *

After reaching Tsuruya's home, Mikuru took Kanae to the taller girl's room and
they changed from their uniforms into casual kimono. Mikuru didn't mind
wearing the outfits ever since Haruhi had introduced her to them. They were
actually Tsuruya's preferred clothing, around the house -- and they were
fairly easy to adjust to various sizes, so Kanae could wear one of Tsuruya's
older robes with no problem.

They were mostly all the same blue with green patterned diamonds on the
sleeves, and dressing up managed to cheer Kanae a little, even if she didn't
smile. But not long after they had settled in, comfortably nestled in the
ludicrously over sized couch before the equally over sized television in the
family room, Tsuruya had to excuse herself to attend some 'family business'.

It wasn't the first time Mikuru had stayed in Tsuruya's home without her, but
doing so while _also_ looking after Kanae was a bit new. She didn't have much
of a rapport with the slider, and had resolved that this time, she was going
to stand up and be useful for the brigade. Keeping half an eye on the other
girl, she rifled through Tsuruya's anime collection until she found salvation.

Salvation was a strange girl with a magical girl outfit, a giant quill in one
hand, and two different colored eyes. Was that what had inspired Haruhi to
make her wear the colored contact lens for her movie? There was a stack of
boxes covering several seasons, but Mikuru remembered that Kanae was a fan of
the show, too.

"Oh, Kanae-chan, is this show good?" she asked, holding the box up and turning
it toward the slider.

Kanae blinked, seeming to only just then come aware of her surroundings.
"Y...yeah," she allowed, frowning. "But ... recent things, they always change,
so I have a bit of a hard time following the plot, really."

Something else the slider was unhappy about.... Mikuru brightened, realizing
that this was an opportunity. "Well, that's going to change!" she said
decisively, putting the first disc in. Kanae looked at her, confused. "You're
staying with us until you leave because you want to, not because ... strange
people are chasing you. So we can watch this version of," she double-checked
the title, "Magical Pretty Soldier: Trope-Tan, right?"

The slider gave a reluctant nod. "I suppose," she allowed, as Mikuru wrestled
with the remote to skip a needless array of advertisements for other shows,
and finally got to the main menu. "I mean.... I'd _like_ to think that...."

"Then have faith in Kyon-kun," Mikuru said resolutely. She hit 'play all', and
blinked at the upbeat, peppy intro music. "So, like Suzumiya-san said, trust
in your friends, right?"

"B...but ... I can't do anything to _help_ Sempai!" Kanae protested, shaking
her head. "I'm not really even good at sliding, and that's my only power!"

Mikuru sat on the couch next to Kanae, and put one arm around the other girl
comfortingly. "Well, worry about that _later_," she insisted. "If you really
want to do something for Kyon-sem-" She giggled, realizing she had slipped
into Kanae's term of address. "Kyon-kun, I mean. If you want to help him, then
trust him! And then, if you think that's not enough, maybe at some point, take
a break from learning how to slide better, and learn something else!"

"I did," Kanae mumbled, bowing her head. "I didn't learn martial arts, like
Sempai.... But I learned how to escape from being grabbed, and run better,
because...."

Mikuru stifled a sigh and gave her warmest smile to the slider. "Then hope you
don't need to use that, and for _now_, just relax and trust in Kyon-kun."

Kanae gave a doubtful nod, straightening as the opening sequence ended, and
the scene of a typical anime schoolgirl waking up and being late for school
began. "I don't think I've seen this one," Kanae murmured, watching the
schoolgirl hurriedly run down the street, a piece of toast in her mouth as she
tripped over a spotted brown and white dog. Kanae's eyes widened and a tiny
spark of excitement came into her eyes. "Oh! It's Tropey! They usually end up
putting him on a bus in later seasons!"

"A bus?" Mikuru wondered, as 'Tropey' began to explain Magical Pretty Soldier
Trope-tan's destiny.

"You're the chosen one!" Tropey barked on-screen.

"Yeah," Kanae explained, "see, the bus is a one-way connection between Neo-
Tropeyo and the next higher plane of existence, where all of Trope-tan's
powers come from." Mikuru nodded her understanding, as Kanae let herself be
distracted by the anime. Even though it was fairly interesting, and
exceedingly well drawn ... she couldn't help but think she had seen it -- or
something _very_ like it at some point before. Why did it feel so familiar...?

Still, she was confident that spending some time near Kyon would help settle
Kanae, and being teleported away for the nightly lessons would be less
calming. Nodding thoughtfully as Trope-tan completed her first transformation
sequence in an explosion of film reels, novel pages, and manga covers, Mikuru
resolved to call Yuki and ask her to change locations for the nightly lesson
as soon as Tsuruya returned from whatever work she was doing. That would let
Kanae see Kyon _and_ remain in a hopefully comforting environment.

* * *

It was either much easier than previous transitions, or Kyon was becoming
_far_ too used to the effect.

He found himself standing on the street near an unfamiliar row of houses. The
block of homes were nearly identical two-story affairs, laid out with more
thought to conserve space than his own home, but each building had its own
single-story cement wall and a steel gate leading to the doorway proper. The
space between the wall and the house was minuscule, making the back yard of
his parents' home seem spacious in the extreme.

The neighborhood looked decent, and Kyon tried not to be judgmental, but
couldn't help but think it suggested that Yamane's family was less well-off
than his own. He shook his head to dismiss the thought as unworthy, turning
his attention to Yuki, still clinging to his arm.

"You can tell where the item is?" he asked. "And what it is?"

She shook her head, pointing at the nearest doorway. "That is Yamane Jun's
registered address. Most likely, the item is located among his personal
effects."

"How did you know his address if you can't tell where the thing we're looking
for is?"

Slowly turning her gaze to him, she blinked. "Yamane Jun's place of residence
was listed in the student directory," she replied.

Kyon felt himself smiling softly in spite of everything. With so much access
to unusual powers, he'd overlooked the most obvious method. "Right," he said.
"Good thinking to check that. Now we just need to figure out how to get
inside." The illumination spilling out of the ground floor windows suggested
that someone was home, but there was no way he wanted to deal with talking to
the parents of the boy who had shot him, if he could help it.

Yuki released his arm and stared at a window on the upper floor briefly.
Without any further warning, she leaped, hopping as though weightless to the
wall surrounding the house, then again, to the top of the roof. She flipped
off the edge, dangling from the peaked slope one-handed as her other hand
pressed against the glass of the window before it silently slid open. With an
effortless swing, she slipped into the room, then turned around, looking at
him expectantly.

Mentally gauging the distance, Kyon deduced that his chances of mimicking her
were abysmal, at best. Still.... Hoping the very nice coat wouldn't interfere
with his movements, he dashed into motion, not even trying to leap to the top
of the wall. Instead, he threw himself at it in a shorter jump, thinking to
grab the edge and vault onto it. The process was not _quite_ as smooth as he'd
hoped, and he ended up scrambling to get there.

Still, to his credit, he did make it, and he was moderately proud of getting
it on his first attempt. However, leaping the distance from the wall to the
window was going to be a much more difficult trick. Crouched low on the wall,
suddenly self-conscious of how he would look if anyone happened to see him, he
scurried around the corner, to where the barrier was closer to the slope of
the roof.

It was more roundabout, but once he passed the yard he had callously labeled
'tiny', yet far too large for him to leap across, he steeled himself and
leaped at the side of the house, just barely grabbing the edge of the rooftop.
Thanks to the training that Yuki had instilled into him, he found he was able
to pull himself onto the roof in a minute. Trying his best to be quiet, he
worked his way to the part of the rooftop that Yuki had used to swing into the
room.

Suddenly realizing he was climbing across the peaked roof of a two-story house
in the dead of night, he wanted to smack himself. Why was he doing something
this insane?

His view of the shadowy ground below was broken when Yuki leaned out the open
window and gazed up at him.

That was right, he reminded himself, carefully lowering his body, not nearly
as stylishly or smoothly as Yuki had. She withdrew into the room, allowing him
to swing in after her. He landed at her side, and she took a moment to study
him before gesturing, saying, "I have dampened sound in this room. We will not
be heard from outside."

"Great," he managed, his heart slightly unsteady from the alarming action. "Is
it safe to turn on the light?"

She nodded in response, so he fumbled for the switch, squinting as his eyes
adjusted to the sudden brightness.

Jun's room wasn't quite the den of iniquity that Kyon had been expecting.
Instead, it was clean -- immaculate, even. Every single object was placed just
so, from the neatly made bed, to the laptop at the desk. A pad of paper was
perfectly square with the edges of the desk and laptop, and pencils and pens
were lined up in an orderly array of descending length, ending with an eraser.

Yuki scanned the room visually, then went to the laptop and flipped it open,
tapping at keys hesitantly. Judging that Yuki could handle the laptop without
his help, he checked the room again. Bed, desk, closet, a dresser, a single
chair, no carpet, no posters, no pictures.... If if weren't for the fact that
Yuki seemed absorbed in checking the computer, he'd wonder if they got the
wrong room.

He ran a hand over the top of the dresser, frowning at the realization that it
was very like his own, then turned his attention to the bed. Yuki tapped at
keys on the laptop while he checked beneath the pillow -- nothing. The
mattress had nothing beneath it, either. There were a handful of boxes beneath
the bed, filled with personal possessions -- old report cards, old cameras ...
there was too much dust on them for whatever they were looking for to have
been in them recently.

Sliding the boxes back into place, he looked over Yuki's shoulder, where she
was busily scanning through files. "Anything?" he asked.

She shook her head in negation, closing the laptop and turning the closet. It
opened to reveal more boxes, clothes hanging as they should be, and a few
shelves, covered with more camera parts. Kyon made a face, leaning against the
dresser again before something occurred to him. "Wait," he said slowly, as
Yuki froze, reaching for the first box in the closet.

After a moment to pull out the lowest drawer of the dresser, he peered inside
to look beneath it, and grimaced. "Oh, uh ... wow," he managed. "I'm pretty
sure I found it."

Yuki moved to his side to look inside the dresser with him, blinking at a pair
of slightly faded blue gym shorts. The inner waistband was visible, and
evidently Asakura Ryouko had written her name there at some point in permanent
marker.

"And _this_ ... is what got me shot," Kyon sighed, shaking his head. "Amazing.
So, what do we do now? Burn it?"

After staring at the bloomers for a long, quiet moment, Yuki shook her head.
"I will extract the data. Creation or destruction of data is beyond my means
at this point. However, manipulation of this data should still be possible."

"You want to take the crazy Asakura bits left in this pair of old gym shorts
to use them later?" Kyon guessed, looking at Yuki in consternation. "Setting
aside how disturbing that idea is for now, are you sure it's safe? Couldn't it
be a trap?"

"There is a possibility that some trap exists," Yuki acknowledged. "However,
it is exceedingly unlikely that Asakura Ryouko prepared it in expectation of
her defeat. The more significant probability is that this data was established
to serve some function designed to assist her, and Yamane Jun corrupted it via
contact."

"I'll take your word for it that it can happen that way," Kyon decided,
crossing his arms over his chest. "But what's the safest possible way to
handle this thing?"

Yuki hesitated. "Direct contact with the data can be avoided," she allowed.
"An alternate storage location will be required."

"Right, so, what could we use?" He rummaged through his pockets, but found
only his keys, wallet, and cell phone. He pulled the phone from his pocket and
studied it, frowning. Risking his picture collection for this was really not
an appealing idea....

"That will work," Yuki said, reaching for the phone.

"W...wait!" he protested. "I don't want to lose the data on this phone! I
mean, it's...."

Yuki blinked at him, then went to the desk, touching her fingertips on the
large eraser near the pencils and staring at it fixedly. After contemplating,
she picked up the eraser. Returning to the dresser, she touched it against the
gym shorts, which then collapsed into nothingness, leaving not even dust
behind.

Straightening, Yuki looked at the eraser thoughtfully, then presented it to
Kyon. "Keep this," she instructed.

"Why is that?" he asked, managing a half-smile. At that moment, as though to
underscore the oddity of the situation, his phone began to ring. Wincing and
looking at the door worriedly, he answered, dismissing the eraser in Yuki's
hand for the moment. "Hello?"

"Um, Kyon-kun," Mikuru's voice came, breathy and slightly hushed, as though to
keep from being overheard. "Um, I tried calling Nagato-san, but there was no
answer -- could you ask her a favor for me, if you see her?"

"Oh, yeah, sure thing," he agreed. "I'm with her now. What is it?"

"Um ... since Kanae-chan is already here with me and Tsuruya, could you ask
Nagato-san to bring you and herself to us, instead of bringing us to her
apartment tonight?"

"No problem," he agreed, as Yuki put the drawer back into the dresser, leaving
the room the way they had found it, except for the loss of the eraser and the
opened window. "Do you think Kanae-chan will be up for that, though? Is she
doing alright?"

"Um ... she's still a bit shaken ... but Tsuruya and I are watching over her,
so she's doing better. Well ... I think she'd do even better if she saw you.
So I'm sure she won't mind; really, why don't you ask her tonight before we
begin?"

"I will," he agreed. "Um, thank you, Asahina-san. I'll see you then?"

"Yes! Take care until then, Kyon-kun~!"

He looked at the phone to verify she had disconnected, then turned his
attention to Yuki. "Alright," he said, reluctantly, not eager to carry
something so closely linked with Asakura. "Why exactly should I have this,
though?"

"You can not be influenced by such data in the manner of Yamane Jun or
potentially myself," Yuki said. Her eyes went to the door, as a creak sounded
from outside. "We should depart."

As much as he wanted to ask her for more details, he _really_ didn't want to
be caught trespassing in Jun's room by his parents. Flicking the light switch
off, he quickly asked, "Can you take us to Tsuruya's place? You remember where
her room is, right?"

Yuki nodded in answer, and Kyon took her hand, closing his eyes.

* * *

Kanae was really uncertain what to make of her current situation. She'd spent
so long running that being _trapped_.... She had expected if she were well and
truly trapped it would be by her enemies -- except, the one time they _had_
captured her, the long-haired vulgar boy shooting her with a gun very like the
one her sempai now wielded, she'd gotten away.

Now the people who called her allies insisted on her staying with them, even
if it meant blocking her ability to slide. She thought that she _should_ be
grateful, and she _should_ be happy that the people around her wanted to help
her so much ... but at the root of it, even with the entire Trope-tan anime,
she was just _scared_. What if, even though they meant well, her friends
weren't strong enough to handle what was to come?

What if they somehow failed, and she was captured? But ... Mikuru was trying
so hard to cheer her up, and Tsuruya was, too. They were surprisingly
comforting presences, even though a small part of her mind wanted to regard
them as captors. That wasn't fair, though. They wanted to help, and she knew
she should accept that help.

All that being said, as she and the other girls changed out of their kimono
and into more comfortable, loose robes to sleep, she couldn't help but wish
that her sempai was there.

And then, quite suddenly, he _was_. He was wearing that very nice coat that
Mikuru had made, and Haruhi and Yuki had made somehow even better for him.
Yuki was standing at his side, and she couldn't help but stare with a small
bit of jealousy at the fact that Yuki was holding one of her sempai's hands.
Even if that hand was coated in a black skin-tight glove, like a layer of
paint at the moment.

Her sempai opened his eyes then blinked, staring at her, and quickly screwed
his eyes shut. "Sorry," he managed, his face reddening.

Mikuru, to one side, let a nervous squeak escape as she dived into her robes.
Tsuruya, with her robe on, but not belted, grinned and waved excitedly at the
boy. "Kyon-kun~!" she called. "Are you going to sleeps with us tonight?"

Her own face heating up alarmingly, Kanae hurriedly closed her own robe and
tied it up. "Tsuruya-san!" she cried out. "Y...your robe is open!"

Tsuruya blinked, looking down at herself, then shrugged, closing her garment
and knotting the sash. "No worries," she said cheerfully. "You can look now,
Kyon-kun!"

"Er," he managed. "S...sorry about that. Um, Nagato brought us here directly,
and I didn't think.... Well, my fault-- Sorry again."

"I...it's no problem for me," Mikuru managed, blushing and staring at her
feet. "It's my fault, too ... I asked you to come here, after all."

Yuki blinked expressionlessly, then turned her gaze to Kanae's sempai. "Er,"
he said, turning to look at Yuki, as the black skin-tight substance seemed to
flow away, vanishing into his wristwatch. "Um, you don't need to think it's
your fault; you were just following my instructions." She nodded slightly in
response.

He turned back to Tsuruya, and looked like he was about to say something else
when the door to Tsuruya's room slid open, and one of her maids crept in
unobtrusively, carrying two pairs of slippers and folded robes. "Your shoes,
Kyon-dono, Nagato-san," the maid said very quietly, setting the slippers on
the floor and kneeling between Tsuruya and Yuki.

"Sorry!" the boy yelped, looking aghast at the realization he was still
wearing his outdoor shoes. He quickly pulled them off and handed them to the
maid, bowing in apology. Though she seemed indifferent, Yuki also doffed hers.

The maid whisked their footwear away, then left as swiftly as she had
appeared.

Kanae's sempai stared after her in consternation. "She is _good_," he
muttered. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to Tsuruya. "Anyway,
I'm sorry again about the sudden arrival. I, uh, wouldn't _mind_ staying over,
but I get the idea that Haruhi might not appreciate that so much -- and like I
said the last time you offered, I don't think I'd get enough sleep...."

"Next times, then!" Tsuruya said cheerfully, winking. "Haru-nyan's on her way
over, anyway, nyoro~! Next time I'll ask after she's here, so you can't say
no!"

"Tsuruya," Mikuru said, still blushing, "y...you shouldn't tease Kyon-kun like
that."

"Tease?" Tsuruya asked, looking at Mikuru in surprise. "I invited Kyon-kun to
stay heres with me and you when you were 'Michiru', once, but he's too
polite."

The time traveler's eyes widened, and her face darkened. "Um...."

"Nyahah~!" Tsuruya chuckled. "Ooh! Kanae-chan, Nagato-chi, you should let me
and Mikuru take pictures of you for Kyon-kun's collections~! Won't that be
nice, Kyon-kun?"

Kanae's sempai scratched the back of his head and stared at the ceiling, his
face slightly red. "Um, well, that wouldn't be too bad, I mean--" He coughed
and shook his head. "N...never mind that for now, though."

Kanae wasn't sure what he was talking about, but she wouldn't have minded if
her sempai wanted a picture of her. And as glad as she was that he was around,
the heat in her face had finally faded to reasonable levels. "Um, Sempai, what
did Asahina-san ask you to come here for?" she managed.

He blinked, straightening, then shook his head again. "It's just that since
you and Asahina-san are already here, it should be easier for Nagato when we
train tonight," he explained.

"Ooh! I heard abouts that!" Tsuruya exclaimed, clapping her hands together
excitedly. "Can I go, too? It sounds fun!"

"Well ... I don't know," Kanae's sempai admitted. Turning to Yuki, he asked,
"Is that possible?"

The stoic girl blinked slowly, studying Tsuruya as though sizing her up.
"Possible," she allowed.

"Ah, but then, Haruhi can't," he realized aloud, grimacing. "And you said
she's coming over. I think it might not be very nice for her if we all left
her alone, though."

Tsuruya nodded thoughtfully at the boy, then grinned at Yuki. "I understand.
Nagato-chi, if it's no trouble, I'd like to go along some other time! Okies?"

"Understood," Yuki acknowledged.

"Speaking of which," her sempai noted, checking his wristwatch, "we should
take care of that -- then Nagato and I should get home. But before that, how
are you doing, Kanae-chan? Are you feeling a bit better?"

Realizing that it was the truth, since he was there, she said, "A little bit,
Sempai."

* * *

Just as he was about to congratulate himself on becoming used to the jarring
transitions of teleporting, quasi-dimensional sliding, and time travel, Kyon
opened his eyes only to be smacked in the face with a pillow forcefully enough
to send him stumbling backward, crashing to the floor tangled up with another
person. Dazed, eyes closed and stinging, he sighed and asked, "Haruhi? Was
that you?"

"Wah!" Haruhi exclaimed. "Seriously? You can tell it's me because of how the
pillow hit you?"

"I can tell it's you because you hit me with a pillow at all," he countered,
squinting, realizing that he'd knocked Kanae down when he fell. She was
staring at him curiously, sprawled half across him, one of her arms pinned
behind his head. "Sorry," he mumbled, helping her up.

"I don't mind!" she said cheerfully, seeming to genuinely mean it, her
seemingly eternal blush not fading.

He decided it was another one of those things he was best off not thinking
about. One he was standing, he glanced around, not surprised to see Haruhi and
Tsuruya peeking at him from behind a low barrier made of stacked pillows.
"Anyway," Haruhi said, waving another pillow menacingly, "we got left out of
your whole training thing and set up an ambush. Bah, what kind of action hero
are you if you get knocked down by a _pillow_?"

"A tired one," he muttered. She suddenly launched the pillow at him, and he
snatched it, ducking in the same motion so her next flung pillow passed over
him, smacking Kanae in the face.

"Gwah!" Kanae squeaked, flailing as she toppled to the floor again.

"Suzumiya-san, you must be careful!" Mikuru protested, running to the slider's
side.

Yuki watched impassively, and Kyon dropped the pillow he had caught instead of
throwing it back. "Oh, come on!" Haruhi complained. "Aren't you going to try
and play?"

"It's late, and I didn't tell my parents I was going out," he answered,
turning around to help Kanae up again. "I'd rather not try and explain this to
my mother. Hmm, yeah, she'd love that. 'Where were you?' 'Oh, you know, just
having a pillow fight in a girl's bedroom until around midnight. Nothing
special.'" Shaking his head, he added, "I'm happy to have not gotten grounded
for being put in the hospital -- best not tempt fate."

"T...thanks, Sempai," Kanae mumbled, rubbing her nose. "Ow...."

"Don't worry about it, Kanae-chan; if you insist on calling me 'Sempai', I'd
best live up to that title for you, right?"

The girl blushed more darkly, giving a weak giggle and not meeting his eyes.

Pouting, Haruhi stood, crossing her arms over her chest. "I guess," she
grumbled. "Yeah, making your mom mad would be--" She was cut off when Kyon
suddenly kicked the pillow he had dropped on the floor, sending it flying into
her chest and making her wobble unsteadily. She narrowed her eyes, then
smirked. "I'll let that one pass for _now_," she said in a warning tone,
waggling a finger at Kyon. "But don't be late and make your mother mad! That's
worse than any penalty _I'd_ assign."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Um, Nagato?"

"Shoes," Yuki replied, turning her gaze from one of the pillows on the floor
to him.

"Oh yeah, forgot about that," he mumbled. "Front entryway, right?"

"I'll walk you there!" Tsuruya said cheerily.

* * *

After Yuki and Kyon teleported away, things at Tsuruya's settled down. As
Haruhi had expected, Kanae had calmed after spending time with Tsuruya and
Mikuru. Kyon's presence, especially, seemed to calm her.... Which Haruhi could
understand well enough.

Then again, she still had to sit down with Yuki and explain at length what the
ongoing plan _was_. She had conveyed it to Tsuruya, though Mikuru was still
charmingly in-the-dark, but it wouldn't _work_ if she didn't trust the others
with what the plan was.

Yuki first, she decided. She and Tsuruya would have to find some opportunity
to corner the girl and explain things to her. Then Mikuru, and finally Kanae.
For the time being, Kanae would probably just be confused, possibly even
thinking it was staged specifically to reassure her. Thinking about that,
Haruhi drifted off to sleep, dreaming about flying through the sky, sentai-
style, with Kyon and the rest of the brigade, to fight evil aliens.

She was woken up before breakfast by Tsuruya tickling her nose with a peacock
feather. Kanae was already awake, sitting up and rubbing one eye in typical
moe fashion. Haruhi quickly grabbed her camera and snapped a picture of the
slider's sleepily surprised expression, then Tsuruya grinned and handed Haruhi
another feather. Kanae was handed the camera while the older girls sneaked up
to Mikuru, curled up on one side, and they started tickling _her_ nose.

After an adorable, petite sneeze, the time traveler managed to wake,
unconsciously mirroring the slider's gesture as she rubbed at her eyes, while
Kanae obligingly snapped several pictures. "Whaaa..." Mikuru mumbled, before
yawning hugely, which Haruhi noted with a small surge of jealousy threatened
to burst her sleeping outfit open. No sense letting Kyon get a picture of
_that_, though; he'd never be able to concentrate again.

Not that she could really blame him....

After breakfast, Tsuruya showed them to her over sized bath, and had clean
kimono brought in for Mikuru and Kanae, since they hadn't had time to grab
their own clothing before heading to the Tsuruya household the day before.
Feeling a bit left out, Haruhi was pleased when Tsuruya offered her a kimono,
too. She _did_ have her own clothes, but dressing up for fun was nice, too....

And the robes that Tsuruya offered were of _much_ higher quality than the
pretty but cheap clothing that Haruhi had picked out during the endless summer
vacation. Shortly after that, Yuki, Kyon, and Koizumi arrived together.

Haruhi didn't see it, but guessed that they had gotten a ride together from
Arakawa or Mori. Tsuruya chirped a bright greeting at the trio as they changed
shoes in the entryway. Koizumi was sharply dressed, as always, while Kyon's
clothing was more casual; jeans, an undershirt, and an unbuttoned flannel.
Haruhi frowned slightly, realizing that Yuki was still wearing her school
uniform, even though it was a weekend.... Her eyes widened at the realization
that this was a perfect opportunity.

"Hmm, Tsuruya-san, do you have any kimono that would fit Yuki-chan?" she
asked, looking at the taller girl.

Tsuruya nodded. "One size fits many!" she said happily. "She'll fits some of
my older ones, just like Kanae-chan! This way, Nagato-chi!"

"Don't you dare try to peek!" Haruhi warned Kyon over her shoulder, as Yuki
followed Tsuruya and Haruhi placidly.

Kyon shrugged, rolling his eyes, then greeted Kanae and Mikuru, while Koizumi
held out a bag containing the DVDs for the anime they were going to watch.
After that, they had passed from sight, into Tsuruya's room. The taller girl
traipsed happily to her closet and slid the door open. Behind the door was an
extensive array of formal kimono, as well as a small selection of high quality
dresses in assorted colors.

"Let's see, let's see.... What's a good colors for Nagato-chi?" she mused,
flipping through the robes. "Ah! How about this? I think Kyon-kun would like
you in this~!" The pattern was the same as the others, except the main color
was more of a sea-green than blue.

Yuki's expression barely shifted, but it went from tolerant to mildly
interested. If Haruhi hadn't been looking for it, she was positive she never
would have caught it. "Hey, Tsuruya-san, while we've got some privacy here, we
should talk about him with Yuki-chan, shouldn't we?" Haruhi noted.

Tsuruya cocked her head to one side, the kimono half pulled from the closet,
then grinned, nodding her agreement. "Yeah! Good thinking, Haru-nyan."

Saying nothing, Yuki turned her gaze between Tsuruya and Haruhi.

"Um ... Yuki-chan," Haruhi tried, unable to meet the shorter girl's eyes, "you
said once that you liked Kyon, but you needed someone else to tell you if he
liked you, right?"

Yuki gave a tiny nod in response.

"Well ... he does. And I know I said you could 'borrow' him, but ... I learned
from Auntie Rika -- er, that is, Kyon's aunt, that it maybe doesn't work that
way. Um, what I'm trying to say, then, is that ... it's okay if you want to
date Kyon, as long as that's what he wants, too. But, the plan is that he can
do that with any of us, right? Just like ... Mikuru-chan asked if she could go
on a date with Kyon, and wanted you to come, too. Do you understand?"

Haruhi had never seen Yuki struggle for words before, but the girl creased her
forehead slightly in contemplation, obviously thinking about it very hard. "A
little bit," she answered.

"The practical plan," Tsuruya said, grinning, "is that we can all be with
Kyon-kun~! I think that's quite fine, nyoro!"

Yuki tilted her head back and looked up, blinking. "Interesting," she finally
remarked.

"D...does that sound good to you, though?" Haruhi asked, trying to cling to
her confidence.

"Optimal," Yuki agreed, nodding, turning her gaze back to Haruhi. "I am
unfamiliar with protocol in these situations. I ... appreciate the opportunity
to observe others."

"You mean, you want to watch us on dates with Kyon-kun so you can figures out
how to do it yourself?" Tsuruya asked, giggling. "Silly Nagato-chi -- you'll
do fine on your owns! Aside from which, Kyon-kun wouldn't want you to just try
and copy other peoples; wouldn't he says it would be better to be yourself?"

Yuki blinked, turning to study Tsuruya thoughtfully. Haruhi was slightly taken
aback as well, but thought that Tsuruya was most likely right. "I ... see,"
the shorter girl said.

"Howevers..." Tsuruya said with a broad wink, leaning forward and pressing one
fingertip to the side of her lips. "If I ever get Kyon-kun to likes me enough
to ask me out on a date, I'll let you watch me, anyways, if you really like~!"

"I think he likes you just fine, Tsuruya," Haruhi opined, taking the kimono
that Tsuruya had picked out and presenting it to Yuki. "Now, Yuki-chan, go
ahead and change. We just thought it would only be fair at this point to
explain what the plan was ... and see if you wanted to be part of it. That
time that we were all ... around Kyon after he got hurt, that wasn't meant to
be a fluke, but it shouldn't only happen after something like that."

"Understood," Yuki replied, accepting the offered kimono, and giving Haruhi
and Tsuruya a look that wasn't _quite_ a smile.

* * *

Mikuru gave a slightly nervous smile to Koizumi and Kyon as they watched
Haruhi and Tsuruya lead Yuki away for her own Kimono. "Good morning, Asahina-
san, Kanae-chan," Kyon said, smiling.

Koizumi echoed the greeting, giving a much brighter smile.

"Good morning, Sempai," Kanae said, giving him a shy, cautious smile. "Um ...
thank you ... for yesterday. And especially last night."

"Any time, Kanae-chan," Kyon assured her, nodding.

Koizumi sighed, his smile not fading, but becoming very forced. "I hope we can
all enjoy the anime that Suzumiya-san chose for us," he commented, following
Mikuru and Kanae as they led the way to the plush living room with the giant
television screen.

"Oh, yeah, what was that one about, anyway?" Kyon asked, flopping onto one of
the couches and sprawling out, knuckling back a yawn. "Sorry, a bit tired from
last night."

Mikuru was positive one of Koizumi's eyebrows twitched at that. "It's titled
'Kamichu', and it seems to be a story of a middle-school student who suddenly
finds that she is a god," the esper answered, setting the discs down by the
player, near the stack of Trope-tan discs that Kanae and Mikuru had watched
the previous day. He sat on the other couch with a good deal more refinement,
cautiously lowering himself.

Kanae sat immediately at Kyon's left, and Mikuru reluctantly shared the couch
Koizumi had chosen. Undoubtedly, Haruhi was going to want to sit next to Kyon,
as well, and Mikuru couldn't bring herself to try and oust the slider.

"No, really?" Kyon marveled, raising an eyebrow. "That seems ... well,
interesting, to say the least."

"Somewhat like Suzumiya-san?" Kanae asked, innocently edging a tiny bit closer
to Kyon, her face the eternally pink blush it always seemed to be in his
presence.

"Not especially," Koizumi replied, ratcheting his smile slightly wider. "It's
more in the traditional sense. She must tend to area shrines and answer
prayers, as I understand it. I hear it's more oriented to girls than boys."

"It fits today's demographic," Kyon said, shrugging.

"Was there something you would rather have watched?" Koizumi asked, arching
one eyebrow higher.

"I can't really think of anything," Kyon admitted, grinning. "I don't
especially find myself in the mood for a shounen action series."

"I've heard this is very cute," Mikuru supplied. "Tsuruya has seen it, I
think. You know, I think she watches a lot of anime?"

"If that library is any indication," he replied, gesturing to the collection
of boxed sets lining the shelves on either side of the screen.

"She's got the entire Trope-tan series in boxed sets," Kanae commented
helpfully, edging another centimeter or so closer to Kyon. "We watched almost
all of the first season last night!"

He sat up suddenly, leaning forward and peering at the boxes she indicated,
then nodding. "Imouto _loves_ that series," he remarked.

"Sorry about the delay!" Haruhi cheered, breaking into the room without
warning, Tsuruya and Yuki flanking her. Haruhi eyed the seating arrangement,
and nodded decisively, taking a seat next to Kyon, as Mikuru had expected.
"Sit here, Tsuruya-san!" she called, patting the small amount of space between
her and Kyon.

Seeming unsurprised, Kyon scooted slightly closer to Kanae to give Tsuruya
room. Yuki blinked, then took the seat between Koizumi and Mikuru. Why would
Haruhi want Tsuruya closer to Kyon, Mikuru wondered. Hopefully Haruhi wasn't
_upset_ with Kyon.... That would be no good at all!

"You picked this anime out, right, Haruhi?" Kyon asked, as Tsuruya
nonchalantly stretched her arms over her head, incidental nudging Kyon
slightly closer to Kanae, who perked up, but said nothing.

"Yeah, I found it on the website that inspired the Trope-tan anime --
seriously, you guys should check that place out. Anyway, Kyon, go put in the
first disc!"

"Right, right," he sighed, rising to his feet and ambling over to the
entertainment center, rifling through the boxes and setting everything up.
"Easier than last night...."

"What happened last night?" Mikuru wondered, noting that Koizumi flinched at
that question, for some reason.

"Eh, Nagato and I sneaked into the police station to track down some mystery
'corrupt data' or something that was making Jun crazy," Kyon said absently,
loading the first disc into the player, then sauntering back to the couch.
Mikuru stifled a giggle, realizing that both Kanae and Tsuruya had shifted
slightly closer to where he had been sitting.... Still, she thought, they'd
better be careful not to upset Haruhi.

"Really?" Haruhi asked, raising her eyebrows. "You broke into a police
station?"

"Nagato 'stealthed' us, so we were invisible," he said dismissively. "After
that we went to Jun's place and got the ... data that was causing the problem
in the first place."

"Excellent work!" the brigade chief said, nodding enthusiastically. "So, what
kind of power-up did you get from it?"

He gave her a strange look and pulled an eraser from his pocket. "I didn't. It
was dangerous, so I asked Nagato to seal it away. See?" He wiggled the eraser.

Haruhi stared, her smile fading as she looked very unimpressed. "It's an
eraser," she said flatly.

"Well, if it's dangerous, containing it seems safer than using it," Koizumi
offered. "It seems quite reasonable to me."

"Boring! Okay, Yuki-chan, we need to make that into something useful for
Kyon!"

"Oh, come on, I don't want to have to remember a billion different things,"
Kyon protested, shaking his head and staring at the eraser. "I can keep track
of the jacket and -- that other thing, but what else are you going to insist
on?"

"Sounds like you need a PDA," Haruhi said, crossing her arms and raising one
eyebrow. "Like a new cell phone with all those neat features on it."

"Hmm, well, a new phone would be kind of nice," he admitted, rubbing his chin.
"But I have, er, some data I'd need to transfer over."

Mikuru felt her face redden, but couldn't deny the tiny surge of pride at
that. He was talking about the pictures she and Tsuruya had sent him, right?
Surely that meant he had liked them.... Maybe she could ask Tsuruya if it
would be okay to send another...?

Haruhi nodded, not seeing the time traveler's reaction. "Anyway, that data you
found last night can become a useful new PDA or something for Kyon, right
Yuki-chan?" she asked.

The shorter girl nodded in answer, rising from her seat and walking to Kyon,
then holding one hand out expectantly. "I can trust you," Kyon mumbled,
reluctantly handing it over, "even if I _am_ nervous about using this...."

In Yuki's hands, the eraser seemed to wobble and melt, before reshaping itself
into something larger, a rectangular prism that coalesced into a shiny looking
new phone. "Here," Yuki said, offering it toward Kyon.

He accepted it, turning it over in his hands and examining it thoroughly.
"Does it do anything neat?" Kanae asked hesitantly, incidentally leaning so
close to Kyon that they were almost touching to try and peer at the device as
well.

"It is capable of learning," Yuki answered, walking back to her original seat
with her usual silent, weightless seeming steps.

"Awesome, my new phone slash PDA is Skynet," Kyon deadpanned. "Is it going to
go crazy and get stab-happy on me?"

Yuki shook her head, while Tsuruya began to laugh, clutching her sides as she
leaned on Kyon. "Is that the end of the world in your pockets, or are you just
happy to see us?" she chortled, before breaking into even harder laughter.

"Well, what else do you need, Kyon?" Haruhi asked, unable to resist smirking
at Tsuruya's infectious laughter. "You were able to sneak into a police
station, and then break into Jun's house undetected, right?"

"Only with Nagato's help," he admitted, already fiddling with his phone. Kanae
made a subdued cooing sound, staring at the thing with wide eyes as he flipped
through various functions. "Oh, huh, it tracks that ... other thing I picked
up and tells me the charge level. That's handy."

"What, you had trouble?"

"I don't think it's necessarily a good thing to be skilled at breaking into
police stations or houses," Mikuru offered timidly.

"I agree," Koizumi echoed, nodding. "Not to be too presumptuous, but ... don't
you have people more capable of that who answer to you?"

"Gots to lead by example," Tsuruya countered, shaking her head as she
recovered, but still leaning against Kyon.

"That's very true," Haruhi agreed. "So, tell us about the break in! How did
you do it?"

"Nagato jumped from the street to the roof of Jun's house, like an anime
ninja," he answered absently. "I followed with a series of significantly more
mortal jumps, and eventually managed to climb up next to her. She opened the
window from the outside, and then we went in. Nagato's quite adept at that
sort of thing, so once we were inside, she made it so that any noises we made
wouldn't be heard, and we searched the room until we found the bl-- Uh, the
corrupted data thingy."

Haruhi's smile had faded, and she gave Kyon a disappointed stare. "So she did
all the work, and you were lazy, following in her footsteps like usual," she
surmised.

He looked up from the phone he was fiddling with, blinking, then nodded. "That
sounds about right," he agreed. "I am just a normal person, you know. I wish I
were able to do things like that by myself, so I wouldn't have to rely on
Nagato so much, but...." He trailed off with a shrug.

"That goes on the to-do list, then," Haruhi decided. "A proper hero should be
able to jump thirty meters, at least!"

"Sure thing," Kyon agreed, turning his attention back to his phone. "Anyway,
are we going to start watching this anime?"

Haruhi gave a pointed glance to Yuki, who nodded at something Mikuru hadn't
caught. What was that? _Another_ secret she wasn't in on!? The time traveler
was starting to get frustrated by this.... Maybe she should try and corner
Kyon and ask him about it...? But it seemed like he might not know, either....

Koizumi coughed politely, holding up a remote. "If you'd like me to start the
show, Suzumiya-san...?"

"Yeah," Haruhi agreed. "Let's see what this is about!"

Koizumi nodded just as politely, eyes flicking to Kyon briefly before
muttering so quietly that Mikuru wondered if it might be her imagination,
"Though, it seems the show's already started...."

* * *

Akasaka Miyuki was her father's child. She adored her mother, too, but more
than that, she took after her father. He joined the National Police Agency
when he was young and idealistic, and in the days shortly before she was born,
he had rescued a high ranking government official's son from a group of
kidnappers.

Well, she didn't have any accolades nearly as impressive as that when she
started her _own_ NPA career, but she was smart. She paid attention to
details, she was always cheerful, and more than anything else, she retained
her father's inquisitive nature. She couldn't have avoided that, seeing as she
had grown up with stories from her mother about how he was always being sent
afield to investigate this, or that....

But he had finally finished those days, retreating to a desk job as she was
entering college. And just as she was finally accepted into the force, he
gracefully retired. She didn't mind that, though; she would have loved working
with him on cases, but knew that having a family member on the active force
would always cast doubt onto her accomplishments. That aside, the man had
invested long, hard years into improving the force he worked for, always
following the rules, and always respecting his ideals and the goals of the
organization as a whole.

She could not imagine a better role model.

On one of the first assignments she had been trusted with any real
responsibilities, a gas-refinery worker had rigged an oil tank to explode, and
held his wife at knife-point in the harbor control tower. She told him that he
was acting out of desperation that he didn't need to feel; it was never as bad
as he thought it would be. Her inspiration for the speech that finally got the
worker to surrender was all thanks to her father, and his stories of a trip he
took to Hinamizawa in her younger days.

He wasn't alone, and being calm and rational would allow him to see things
through without anyone getting hurt.

As a result of that and other accomplishments, she was the first female NPA
officer to ever be promoted to the rank of Special Investigator in the
Organized Crime division. From there, she'd forged ahead, happily overseeing
operations destroying operations in the areas of smuggling, especially
firearms and drugs. Her track record was nearly flawless, with no real errors
-- just those lucky few criminals who were extradited, or escaped somehow.

Even then, she didn't let her closure rate bother her; she was easily a dozen
points ahead of any of her colleagues. Mindful of that, she maintained their
respect by respecting _them_, and never trying to boast. Indeed, she'd helped
her fellow investigators out so much that no one was especially surprised to
hear the rumors that she was being considered to replace the department
chief's current aide, once he retired.

She wouldn't reject the promotion, if it were to come through, and weren't
just a rumor.... But she would miss being able to do field work. Like her
father, she felt she could tolerate a desk job. She just knew that she would
only truly _enjoy_ the more real feeling work of confronting criminals and
examining evidence first hand, not perusing dockets and fighting bureaucracy.

Take her current assignment, for example:

A boy had been attacked in the streets of Nishinomiya. Attacked with a _gun_,
not the more traditional knife. Gun smuggling was one of her pet projects;
while it was dangerous, she dearly loved seeing her Special Assault Team
cousins and their no-nonsense attitudes when it came time to crash a yakuza
operation, ideally before they could properly ready the weapons they were
trying to move.

In the temporary office she had been given in the main Nishinomiya police
headquarters, she tabbed through pages of information on her laptop, and a
much thicker stack of good old fashioned _actual_ pages. Something about
handling real documents was reassuring, too. Perusing the current file, she
read over information she already knew.

There hadn't been just one gun, there had been three. The weapons were
illegal, smuggled in. They also had consecutive serial numbers, which meant
that the operation was dangerously exposed -- for the criminals. For _her_,
people who couldn't bother to conceal such information were easier to track.
The NPA as a whole shouldn't have too much trouble finding out what had
happened.

There was more evidence, of course. And people to interview! Watanabe Daichi
was a known member of the Sumiyoshi-rengo; he'd been caught before, for more
minor offenses. Generally, in her mind, he was too small-time to be involved
in such an operation. Even more intriguing, his own organization seemed to
have no interest in pressuring the judge to back away from the case, or
provide him with a lawyer!

That part was a bit of a pity; it probably meant that Watanabe Daichi didn't
know very much, or that he'd gone and acted behind the backs of his superiors
in his organization. She smiled anyway. Even if he didn't intend to cooperate,
there were other leads, more interesting things to investigate.

From the same crime scene, there were two somewhat suspect police officers --
naturally, she didn't mention this to their superiors. That might arouse
suspicion, so she'd only told her NPA colleagues about that part. The Tamaru
brothers were being investigated by the financial office already ... there
seemed to be a strange amount of money in their background, for a pair of
police officers on relatively fixed income. Nothing solid, but the
investigation was moving.

Then there were some of the witnesses, most of whom had been fooled into
thinking that the genuine incident was a _movie_ shooting. The mayor had
pressured the NPA chief to leave that cover story intact, pleading that it
made the city look terrible to acknowledge what amounted to children shooting
children in the streets. It wasn't like they lived in America, after all.
Also, there was enough evidence to support the claims that a movie _was_ being
produced ... without many of the proper permits. The movie seemed to be
scrapped, given the fines, but those had already all been paid.

The statements from the victim's friends were uniform, and logical, and didn't
have any holes in them.... And, Miyuki admitted, she hadn't spoken to a single
one of them herself. But it was starting to veer toward that time, she
thought, when she might have to take the stage.

One of those friends was the heiress to a known crime ring that was opposed to
the Sumiyoshi-rengo, the Yamaguchi-gumi. The victim appeared -- to accounts --
to be that heiress's boyfriend. Was the shooting revenge for some other
incident? Was the attack meant for _her_, and not _him_?

She was confident that it was more than just two criminal families fighting
one-another. Daichi was either knowingly involved, and discarded as useless
after failing, or had independently tried to cause the two factions to fight,
most likely goaded by some third, currently unknown party.

All of that, of course, was ignoring the victim himself. He'd been shot,
according to witnesses multiple times. But only one bullet had gotten to him.
The medical records from the surgery were sound, and seemed reasonable. In
addition, the hospital recorded video of _all_ surgeries for insurance
purposes.

Somehow, unfortunately, it seemed that the video of _his_ surgery was lost. A
few days after his hospitalization, a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi, the
powerful figure of Tsuruya Kenshiro, had outright _bought_ the institution.
Coincidentally, most of the surgeons who had operated on the victim had
immediately undertaken expensive out-of-country vacations, and weren't
available for questioning about it. Those who remained insisted it was
exceedingly routine.

Add in the fact that the victim had already been noted for criminal
involvement with the two younger members of the group that had attacked him in
the street.... A young tough who had joined with a powerful yakuza family?

Plausible.

A young tough so important that the head of the most powerful local family
casually bought a hospital to try and cover some aspects of his involvement?
Corruption hinted at in members of the police force?

She knew she was just scratching the surface of the mystery, but her latest
bit of evidence was by far the most interesting.

Yamane Jun was not well. On a mental level, he was nearing the verge of
collapse. Psychologists had examined him and determined that he was obsessive,
fixated on some classmate of his that had mysteriously transfered to Canada
nearly a year earlier. There was an investigation on that, too, but so far,
the NPA hadn't even been able to prove that the classmate had ever _existed_,
except for photographs and spotty school records.

Something about her, and that event, scarred him, and he'd become bent on
revenge with the victim for some perceived slight, ranting uncontrollably,
shaking off the effects of minor sedatives. If it weren't for the gun charges,
he'd be in a hospital instead of jail.

But abruptly, something had made him _snap_. Something had happened to him and
incited him, made his fury burn even _hotter_.

And then, strangely, it had burnt _out_, and he'd returned to something nearer
to sanity, wailing that he wasn't in control of what he had done. That some
other force twisted his mind, made him do things he would never do.

Miyuki tapped a fingernail against the screen of her laptop, reviewing the
footage of the cell that Jun was still being held in.

And there, wearing an unfamiliar outfit, but the right size, the right general
features, even with the coat and dark gloves.... The how was something she
couldn't understand, so she just accepted that it appeared to happen, and
focused instead on the _why_.

"Why did you suddenly appear for him, little boy?" she mused. "What makes a
victim confront the one who attacked him ... and make him _better_? What did
you say?"

She couldn't help but smile. If the ever-increasing rumors were true, this
could be her last case before the seemingly inevitable promotion came through.
"I don't know those things," she said quietly to her empty office, "but I do
know you'll make a fascinating case, little boy.... They call you Kyon, hmm?"
Her smile widened. She'd find out the truth. She'd understand the why, and
then maybe investigate the how.

Clasping her hands together in her lap, she hummed, tilting her head from side
to side. "But if you're linked to that Tsuruya heiress ... it won't be too
hard to get you to come out, will it? Let's see what happens when this anthill
is stirred~!"

* * *

Author's Notes: I tend to do my research, but opted for slightly more Action
Movie-style organization for the NPA, so, don't take their representation here
as entirely accurate with regards to what NPA officers actually DO. In the
real world, they basically almost only do administrative work. In this story,
they're a bit more like the FBI for a more interesting (I hope) narrative. >_>