[An affirmation that she is hurrying won't help. Haruhi continues to simply hurry. She tabs to her contacts list - includes entries like Alice at the top, Maya and Minako in the middle, but no... Maria. Why would a little kid have a cell phone, right? And then the question morphs into a different, worse one. What could "she's dead" mean? Maria is very innocent and pure, but too old for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. She was in the woods, wasn't that what Maya implied? Maria KNOWS the woods are dangerous; she was the bottomless legend wellspring; she could not have had herself an accident. Foul play is at hand, and... A little girl is dead. Maya tells the truth enough. What is the point? This is a good town where nobody disagrees except for Yamane and Minako and Alice politely - why else would Haruhi come here - and tragic death can't be happening. She needs to wake up from this bad dream, though until then obey the rules of the dream and shape it subtly.

Instead of wasting time by scrolling further down her contacts (her stride is already getting unsteady, her black shoes leave streaks), Haruhi realizes, she should concentrate more specifically on waking up with all her homework done on Monday morning.]

I'm calling Alice