Rin continued to run, carrying Haruhi, the frozen world a silent tableau around them. His mind raced, trying to recall any details from the anime that might offer a clue. He knew Yuki's apartment, a stark, minimalist space in the tallest building in the city. Asahina and Itsuki's residences, however, remained unknown to him. His best bet was Yuki.
The city, though frozen, was still navigable. He sprinted through the silent streets, the suspended cars and pedestrians a bizarre, unmoving audience. Finally, the towering apartment building came into view. He ran towards it, his footsteps echoing in the unnatural stillness.
He arrived at the main entrance, pushing against the glass door. It was, as expected, frozen solid. But then, with a soft click, the door swung open. Rin's eyes widened. He was right. Yuki Nagato, the humanoid interface, was unaffected. The elevator, too, was still moving, its digital display cycling through the floors.
Haruhi, who had been silently observing the frozen world from Rin's arms, suddenly remembered her current predicament. A faint blush crept onto her cheeks. "Rin! Put me down!" she demanded, giving his shoulder a light punch.
He gently set her on her feet. "Where are we going?" she asked, her excitement still bubbling beneath the surface.
"To Yuki's," Rin replied.
Haruhi's eyes lit up. "Yuki-chan! Oh, right, you said she was an alien!" Her expression then shifted to a slight frown. "Though, I'm a little disappointed. She doesn't look like the aliens in the movies. No green skin or antennae."
They reached the door of Yuki's apartment. Rin pressed the doorbell. The door clicked open immediately, and Yuki stood there, her usual impassive expression on her face. "Enter," she said, her voice flat.
They stepped inside. The apartment was as empty and devoid of personal touches as Rin remembered from the anime. Haruhi, however, seemed oblivious to the minimalist decor. Her face alight with a happy, almost manic, expression, she immediately launched into a barrage of questions. "Yuki-chan! Are you really an alien? Where do you come from? When did you come to Earth? Do you have a spaceship? Can you show me your alien powers?"
Yuki didn't answer Haruhi. Her gaze, direct and unblinking, fixed on Rin. "I did not expect you to do this kind of thing," she stated, her monotone voice carrying a subtle, almost imperceptible hint of something akin to disapproval.
"This is something she would have known in the future anyway," Rin replied, shrugging. "Might as well know it now."
Yuki's eyes narrowed slightly. "Did you tell her identity?i" she asked, then paused. "No, you wouldn't have known about it." She then added, almost as an afterthought, "Forget about what I was about to ask."
"No," Rin answered, cutting her off before she could finish.
Before he spoke the word "no," Yuki's eyes, though still fixed on him, seemed to glaze over. Her mind, which Rin could now perceive, was not here. She was communicating, processing, talking to her internal entity.
Meanwhile, Haruhi, frustrated by Yuki's lack of response, finally gave up trying to extract information. She began to look around the apartment, her gaze sweeping over the bare walls and sparse furnishings. "Aliens really have no sense of furniture design, do they?" she muttered, a slight pout on her lips.
After a few moments, Yuki's gaze sharpened, returning to the present. "Why did you let Haruhi know about our existence?" she asked Rin, her voice back to its usual flat tone.
"I was bored," Rin admitted, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "And curious."
Yuki's expression remained unchanged. "Does Haruhi Suzumiya know that you come from another world?"
Haruhi, who had been distracted by the lack of furniture, suddenly perked up. "Another world?!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening. She remembered Rin punching Ryoko, the hole in her stomach, the impossible healing. Her excitement, already at a fever pitch, surged. "Rin! You came from another world?!" she demanded, her voice filled with an almost frantic enthusiasm.
"Calm down, Haruhi," Rin said, raising a hand. "Yes, I did. My world is similar to this one, except devils, angels, gods, and other fantasy entities are secretly living with humans."
Haruhi's face initially fell into a frown when he said "similar world," but as he continued, her eyes grew wider, her smile returning with renewed vigor. "A world like that… is very exhilarating!" she thought, her mind alight with possibilities.
And at that moment, her imagination, her very thoughts, became the law of this world.
Everything stopped.
Not just the people outside, but Rin himself. He couldn't move. Yuki, too, was frozen, her impassive expression locked in place. It seemed Haruhi's power was far more potent when she was in close proximity, her belief directly manifesting.
A blinding light suddenly engulfed them.
Rin blinked, the harsh light fading. He was in his own bed. It was morning. He immediately shot up, looking out his window. Everything was moving. Birds flew past, cars hummed down the street, people walked by. The world was back to normal.
He felt a strange sense of relief, coupled with a lingering unease. He decided that a few days in Haruhi's world was enough. It was time to return to the familiar chaos of the DXD world. He reached for his system interface, ready to select his destination.
But something was wrong.
He couldn't pick the DXD world. A system message flashed across his vision, stark and unyielding: "System Upgrade Required." Every time he tried to select the DXD world, the same message appeared.
Rin felt a flicker of panic. He could tolerate the inability to manipulate Haruhi's feelings, but now, he couldn't even go home? What was going on? He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Panic wouldn't solve anything.
His alarm clock blared, signaling the start of a new school day. For now, Rin decided, he would go to school. He needed to figure out this system problem, and he had a feeling the answers might lie within the very world he was now trapped in.