"Hey, after today, you're going back, right?"
In the end, the rabbits and all that were still let go...
"Yeah, maybe." Jiu Ming answered with a blade of grass he had casually pulled out clenched between his teeth. Maybe after today, there would be another new loop.
"Going back to that boring place of yours again?"
"Boring? What makes you say that?"
"It's like a cage. Going there once in a while feels pretty novel, but..." Suzumiya Haruhi squatted on the ground, stacking several small stones atop one another. "After you go too many times, it starts to feel pretty ordinary. And it feels like you're being put into a cage... I don't like it."
"That's true. No matter how much it changes, it's still technically 'indoors.'" Jiu Ming nodded. That aside, the biggest issue was how devoid of people it was... Anyone who couldn't stand loneliness would find it hard to stay there.
"Come to think of it, can't you treat that place as your home, then come out and visit here whenever you have nothing to do?" At that, Suzumiya Haruhi looked at Jiu Ming with a hint of anticipation.
Jiu Ming scratched his head and answered hesitantly, "Well, normally, that'd be a little difficult. Our worlds are different, after all."
"I see. So you can't come often?"
"Probably..."
"I get it. Well, that makes sense. You are someone from another world, after all. It was already great that you could come during summer vacation this time. Yeah, I'm very satisfied with this summer vacation."
Hey, hey, the more you said that, the more unsettling it sounded, okay? Satisfaction wasn't something you declared out loud. Scratching his head, Jiu Ming thought for a moment before adding, Forget that faint unease in the back of my mind!
"Actually, there