Chapter 9

"Damn it, damn it, idiot, idiot! How dare you hang up on me!"

Just as she ran out of the school, Haruhi Suzumiya saw that the call she had just connected had been hung up by the other party. The timing was perfect, right at the moment they had just climbed out of the school...

"I've decided! Starting from tomorrow, our SOS Brigade's goal will be to find that place! I'll make that ghostly shopkeeper pay!"

"Ah..." Kyon scratched his head, thinking that maybe he should talk to the mysterious Yuki about this. Such a place might really exist? Of course, it was also possible that Haruhi had lost her phone, and some nasty person had picked it up.

No matter what.

It seemed that he wouldn't get his phone back until Haruhi bought a new one!

In any case, this was a rather unfortunate fact.

"Haruhi, can you give me my phone back?"

No matter what, he had to try. Kyon attempted to ask for it back, and as expected,

"Not yet! We'll talk about it tomorrow. I'm leaving now."

Haruhi Suzumiya turned and walked away, clearly upset by someone's malicious actions.

"Well, she's really persistent."

Looking at the constant incoming call notifications on his phone, Kyuubey shook his head, thought for a moment, and then pressed the power button...

Kyon and the others, who hadn't gone far, heard another loud roar. In any case, some of the ESPers in this world were going to be busy tonight.

In the following days, Kyuubey realized he had underestimated Haruhi Suzumiya's persistence. As soon as he turned on his phone, the call notifications would start immediately, and the numbers would rotate. It seemed the other party was determined to continue the harassment.

Had they formed an uninterrupted harassment gang?

What was going on? It was just a lost phone, right?

Well, since he was bored anyway, with this 'magical' phone in hand, Kyuubey wasn't worried about his 'business performance' at the end of the month. Without these concerns, he became quite lazy, even taking the time to go out and get a charger for the phone...

Just the phone bill couldn't be paid in this world, but someone would pay it for him! As for the issue of the phone's owner... that was easy to solve based on the other party's personality!

Apart from his daily meditation and exercise, Kyuubey was happy to chat with the other party.

The SOS Brigade's clubroom often echoed with angry roars. When Haruhi Suzumiya really hated someone, the consequences...

In her world, one had to seriously consider whether offending her was worth it. If she really hated you, you'd face a constant stream of 'death events' every day. He wanted to see how long you could survive!

Kyuubey could feel the full force of the other party's malice every day, but unfortunately, he still ate well and slept well, living his life as usual.

"Kyon... this can't go on." Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Itsuki Koizumi said, "The frequency of Closed Spaces is increasing."

Indeed, Kyon could see that the usually sunny and handsome Itsuki Koizumi now had dark circles under his eyes and a pale complexion, looking like he had been overworking himself. How frequent must it be to tire him out like this?

He had seen Itsuki Koizumi and his 'Agency' people handle the 'gods' without much effort...

"But we can't stop Haruhi from answering the phone, can we?" Kyon shrugged, equally helpless. The mysterious person on the other end of the line had no idea about their world.

The reason for answering the calls seemed to be more for daily entertainment? Was the other party's life that boring?

Now, in the SOS Brigade's clubroom, everyone was holding their phones and making calls non-stop. The moment someone connected, Haruhi would rush over.

It was like a drowning person grabbing the last straw, refusing to let go.

Of course, they could choose not to do this, but the consequences... "I just want to find that guy and beat him up. I haven't had a good rest for days... Koizumi?"

He was actually asleep? Looking at Itsuki Koizumi, who was hugging his shoulders and still holding his phone, Kyon's eyes twitched. Compared to him, his own complaints were just whining!

"You're really persistent, aren't you? Want to listen to some music?" After half a month, Kyuubey was truly amazed by Haruhi Suzumiya's indomitable spirit. At this rate, as long as he kept the phone, her 'harassment' would never end?

"Of course! Just tell me where you are!"

Sigh... here we go again. Kyon sighed deeply, losing the desire to complain. They had all tried to contact Kyuubey privately, but without the 'Haruhi Suzumiya aura,' all their attempts failed.

"I give up, but I really don't know where I am." Kyuubey shrugged. How to explain it? The location of the mysterious shop was hard to pinpoint, like a grain of sand in a pile. He was the 'owner' of that grain, but how could he find it in the pile?

"Then how do I get to you?!" Seeing Kyuubey's hesitation, Haruhi immediately pressed on, already thinking about what to do to him once she found him.

"That's easy, it's all about luck. If your luck is good, you can come to me just by going up or down a few stairs or entering and exiting a door." Kyuubey said, summoning the panel and carefully searching for details about the mysterious shop.

Finally, he found a rule. For customers with great potential, the shop could provide an 'invitation card.' Of course, since they were potential customers, they needed to have the capital to match their potential. Each use of the invitation card required 100 points of Origin, which could be paid with other items or by trading parts of their body, such as life force, limbs, or organs...

Okay, generally speaking, transactions through the mysterious shop were for things that couldn't be restored, like a person buying an arm from Kyuubey.

That arm would be like being cut off by the Dead Apostle Ancestor's eye, no matter how strong your recovery ability, it wouldn't help.

So unless you were crazy, don't trade parts of your body, especially if you think your recovery ability is strong. While such beings could trade more Origin, Kyuubey didn't want to do such transactions. Why sell your body parts when you could be a normal person? You only realize the pain after you lose them, just like Kyuubey's current situation.

Food... was out of the question for him. Just the smell was enough to make him crave, but eating?

What's the difference between a skeleton eating a lollipop?

"Lies! I've tried many times, and it's not like you said!" Haruhi Suzumiya angrily retorted, "Are you kidding me?"

"Lying to customers is not good. I'm telling the truth. Anger ages you... Oh, I have a new customer, I'll hang up now. Talk to you later."

With that, Kyuubey hung up first, leaving Haruhi Suzumiya fuming. Itsuki Koizumi, woken by the phone, looked at the message on the screen. Clearly, another Closed Space had appeared.

If this continued, they would exhaust themselves, and in the end, the world would revert to chaos, and Haruhi would have to recreate it.

They had to find a way to contact that person, preferably without Haruhi knowing.

...

"Hello, welcome, what can I do for you?"

Kyuubey smiled at the man who walked out from behind the door. He was wearing a red jacket, white shorts, and had a small ponytail on the left side of his head. He had a slightly childish and innocent face, and a mini panda was by his side. After confirming, Kyuubey was sure it was alive!

It wasn't some dog that looked like a panda, but a real... baby panda.

Another impressive customer, it seemed. Well, he was still a newbie, even if his starting point was higher than those who needed to level up and farm resources.

But he was still a newbie, and having such high-profile customers put a lot of pressure on him, especially with only one card with fifty days of life.

If he traded with a hardcore gamer, they might even complain that it was a real-life game card...

"Ten packs!"

"Huh, this isn't my house, did I walk into the wrong door?" The man's voice was gentle, and he must be a good-tempered person, and a... master!

"..." But was he also a bit absent-minded? He didn't even notice Kyuubey's welcoming smile.

"But I am a bit tired. Thank you." The man sat down on the sofa without hesitation, and the sturdy sofa visibly sank under his weight!

How heavy is this guy?!

"Customer..." If Kyuubey had to worry about the furniture, he would have been heartbroken over the sofa he had been using for a long time.

"Oh, this is a shop? I couldn't tell at all." The man seemed a bit slow, or perhaps distracted. Kyuubey had just opened his mouth when the man continued, "I don't see any products. Do you sell furniture?"

The man smiled warmly, "I'm Wang Yao." He pointed to the 'small' panda, "This is Gungun~"

The panda waved its tiny paw at Kyuubey.