Outside:
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Koizumi Itsuko had, of course, heard her own heart beating in her head before.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
You were supposed to hear that sort of thing after exerting yourself, weren't you? When your pulse was racing and your lungs were burning from a long run or something.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
But the more she tried to stay calm, so as not to upset her already squirming stomach, the louder the noise became. Was it really possible that being this close to the toxic Closed Space was affecting her this much?
"Please help me sit down," she whispered to Asahina Mitsuuru. The boy sempai didn't hear her over his own and Suzumiya Haruki's shouting for Kyon. "Nagato-san," she wheezed. The alien interface also didn't seem to register her pleas; his eyes were fixed on a point on the sports field which did not distinguish itself from any other in her eyes.
Limp, almost as if she were boneless, Itsuko allowed herself to slide to the ground. Her back thumped against the school fence, sending jarring stabs of pain through her whole body. With her whole body seizing up with the agony, the thought that she wasn't doing well was rather superfluous.
'At times like these,' Itsuko thought to herself, 'it would be deeply helpful if I could reach out to my comrades at the Organization.'
But she needed her energy for other matters. Important matters. Nagato was trying to find an entrance into the Closed Space before them, was he? Good for him. Koizumi Itsuko did not fully grasp his difficulty; after all, the way in was there. This Closed Space was based on Suzumiya Haruki's, after all, gaining entry felt as natural as breathing. Only in this case, what she was breathing was chlorine gas.
'I need to gain control,' Itsuko thought to herself. Slowly, one muscle at a time, she started to lever herself to her feet ... A stabbing headache lanced through the center of her head. With a whimper that went completely unheard, the esper sank back to the ground, eyes squeezed shut and jaws clamped tight against the waves of nausea that rode the pain.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump ...
"Oh my, are you all lost?"
Itsuko's eyes snapped open of their own accord. Suzumiya Haruki turned around, quick as a viper, mingled surprise, annoyance and hope evident on his face. They all melted into disappointment in an instant: the person standing behind them all was not Kyon.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing, dressed up like that?" Haruki snapped, frowning fiercely at this ... apparition.
There were some superficial similarities between this new arrival and the vanished Kyon; they were roughly the same height and build. Slender and frail-looking. The new arrival was ... extravagant, however. She wore a snowy white kimono, made of pure silk by the look of it. An intricate pattern, made of dragon, fox, phoenix, eagle, turtle and kirin, all bound up with each other in a complicated tangle, swirled over the fabric. A jet-black obi held the luxurious-looking garment closed. A smiling -- no, grinning -- Oni mask of the same hue covered the girl's face. Golden eyes twinkled merrily at the SOS-dan from behind it. Bangs of black hair framed it, the rest of the hair was bound back in a ponytail.
"Isn't it setsubun today?" the stranger replied to Haruki's question with one of her own. "Today is the day people drive demons from their homes, isn't it? If you're going out into the street, you should wear a disguise so the demons won't recognize and eat you, little boy." There was a lilting, musical quality to her voice, as if she were constantly singing. Or laughing at a private joke at the world's expense.
Under other circumstances, this line of thought might have tickled Suzumiya Haruki's fancy. Right now, however, he was confused and worried. This meant that he was quickly growing irritable. Angry, even.
"Look," he said, his voice clearly conveying his feelings of annoyance, "I -- we -- really don't have time for jokes right now. We're --"
"You've lost a little something, haven't you?" the new girl asked, taking a step closer.
"H-how did you know that?" Asahina Mitsuuru asked. He blushed when the girl looked at him, smiled feebly and bowed. "Um, h-how do you do? I am Asahina Mitsuuru, we -- ah, well, that is ..."
"I could hear you calling out," the girl replied, eyes shining, gleaming as she eyes Asahina-san up and down. Her mask bulged oddly for a moment.
Itsuko was trying to think. What was the significance of that kind of motion? She knew she could puzzle it out, but ...
"Ah, well," Asahina-san stuttered. "Um, our friend. We're looking for ... for our friend. Yes? Right, Suzumiya-san?"
"Of course we are!" Haruki snapped. "Now, unless you're planning to help, just go away and --"
"Oh my, you've lost your little friend?" the girl gasped, one hand covering the smirking mouth of her Oni mask. "Such distress! Little boys" -- she looked at Haruki when she said this, her voice becoming sly -- "should take better care of their toys. Just look at the one you didn't lose. Shouldn't you be trying to save her, first?"
The girl gestured calmly at Itsuko when she mentioned 'the one you didn't lose'. The mask bulged out again, almost too quickly to be seen. Significance. While she painstakingly levered herself to her feet, Itsuko thought she must know the significance. The mask bulges out ...
"If you're just going to stand there saying weird things and being annoying," Haruki snapped, "you can get lost!"
"Oh, but I'm not lost," the girl tittered. "Your little friend is. And you are. Poor little girl, lost to her. She's so greedy. Don't you think sisters should properly share nice things?"
"Y-you know where Kyon-chan is?" Asahina-san stuttered. Even that humble soul was starting to notice something was very, very wrong here. Itsuko painfully dragged herself up and up ...
"Where is she?" Haruki demanded, taking one step closer to the girl, hands balled into fists. He seemed surprised at that; he looked down at his own hands, frowned, apparently tried to unclench them. They wouldn't go. Through the haze of pain, Itsuko could see Suzumiya Haruki was starting to sweat quite badly; he just shook his head, sending drops flying, and took another step towards the girl in white.
"She really is greedy," the girl in white sighed. "Keeping the poor little lost girl all for herself. A sweet, savoury little virgin girl, with that sharp tongue. I like tongues. But then again, maybe it's for the best. After all, I'm not about to share any of you with her ... poor little lost boy."
"I am asking you where Kyon is!" Suzumiya Haruki roared. He made to grab the girl by her shoulders -- and her hands shot up, seizing his wrists before they could get to her. His skin turned white where she grabbed him, a clear indication of the strength in those frail-looking hands. Suzumiya Haruki grunted, quivered, and his eyes rolled up. He remained standing, and the girl in white started to laugh, laugh and laugh: a musical, lilting titter, appropriate for the geisha of old, who had served the nobles of bygone eras.
The laughter tore through Itsuko's thoughts like a rusted chain. She shrieked with pain and clamped her hands to her eyes, her ears, her eyes again, unable to decide where the pain was worst.
"Koizumi-chan!" Asahina-san yelped, rushing to her side, attempting to pull her hands away and see whether she was bleeding. "Koizumi-chan, hang in there, I --"
Closed Space.
The sensation of utter misery that radiated out from Suzumiya Haruki was overwhelming. It battered at Itsuko like the fist of a giant, lifting her up and flicking her away. Her hands scrabbled at Asahina Mitsuuru, frail anchor that he was, and tore something loose before she went spinning away. Into the area of Closed Space that was making her sick.
"Such a pity," she heard the sweet, poisonous tones of the masked girl's voice. "Oh, well. Maybe if she eats two girls, she'll be satisfied and go to sleep, and I can go back home. And I like virgin boys better, anyway."
Sweet, lilting laughter followed her as she fell into the toxic space. It turned into a shrieking cackle as cool darkness enfolded her world, and died into a distant echo before she hit the ground ...