The plan Haruhi had proposed, one that had seemed like idle nonsense, was not plucked from thin air at all—it was real. More importantly, even Yuki had failed to notice the presence that had appeared around them.
Something even Yuki could not detect... Jiu Ming felt his teeth ache just thinking about it. This might be some unfathomable, ghost-and-god-like existence again. Haruhi's world might seem like an ordinary daily-life sort of world, but with Haruhi herself being an AX-level mystery and Nagato Yuki an AX-minus-level mystery, was it really impossible for another mysterious existence to show up?
Maybe Haruhi had been bored out of her mind and imagined herself an enemy boss? Uh, that did seem possible too. Either way, he would wait and see what happened tomorrow, then pay her a visit.
The next day, the moment Jiu Ming opened his eyes, he saw a face filled with fury. Kyonko's... yes, Kyonko again.
"Yo... good afternoon, Kyonko."
"You bastard, aaahhh!!" Before Jiu Ming could even sit up, she pounced on him with claws bared. Her legs pinned him down, and she jabbed a finger fiercely at herself, like someone who had won five million only to accidentally lose the lottery ticket. "Why am I still like this?! You laughed so weirdly yesterday because of this, didn't you?! That has to be the reason, right?!"
"Mm-hah... hah." Unable to suppress the smile tugging at his lips, Jiu Ming turned his face aside beneath Kyonko's furious glare and muttered, "What are you talking about?"
"Everything!"
"Don't spout nonsense. I never guaranteed that you'd definitely return to normal."
"Uh..." Kyonko choked on her words. Thinking about it, that really was how it had been. From beginning to end, Jiu Ming had never said she would definitely return to normal. When she woke