CHAPTER 2
α—1
“Hello.” The voice was like a mountain echo; it was a woman’s voice, one I had no memory of hearing before.
It was neither Haruhi nor Nagato, nor the Asahina of any time plane. Not Miss Mori or Sakanaka, much less Kuyoh Suoh or Kyoko Tachibana, nor even Sasaki, of whom there was some small possibility. One word was enough to know. It was nobody I knew, a voice that had never once vibrated my eardrums.
“Ah. You’re in the bath, aren’t you? I’m ever so sorry. Excuse me. Shall I call again later?” Before I could say that wasn’t necessary, she continued. “But, but, I shouldn’t call too many times, so. Again, I’m so sorry.” Her voice emerged from the phone like the sound of a running river.
“Who is this? Just tell me your name.”
“It’s me. M-E, me.”
No, this wasn’t Haruhi, so that did not constitute a self-introduction, I said.
“Aw, c’mon!” said the voice. Since it was coming through the phone, I can’t say it was very clear, but the voice’s owner was speaking brightly and cheerily. “But that’s okay. I just called to say hello. Hee hee, your little sister’s a cutie. I always wanted a little sister like that. ‘Arithmetic dri-i-i-lls!’ So cute!”
Now then, I thought. I still had no memory of hearing it, but its intonation sounded like someone speaking in a voice they would normally never use. But no matter how much I searched my internal voice recordings, I couldn’t find it. It just sounded young, sort of like my little sister’s.
“I just wanted to hear my upperclassman’s voice,” said the voice’s owner. “That’s all. I just wanted to. I might need your assistance in the future, so thanks in advance. I hope we can be friends for a long time.”
Now wait just a minute. She was calling me an upperclassman? Which meant she was younger than me. Still, the reality was I didn’t remember her, but before I could press her for her full name—
“I’m hanging up. If we have a chance to meet, I’ll see you then. Hee hee.”
Click.
She hung up rudely.
What was going on here? Having met Sasaki for the first time in a long while, plus Kyoko Tachibana and Kuyoh Suoh, I was at my limit. I didn’t want any new characters showing up for a little while.
I had a sudden realization and looked at the caller ID history. Of course she’d used a blocked number.
I got out of the bath and put on my pajamas, all the while asking myself if I had any clue as to who the girl was, but it was a waste of time.
“What’s with today, anyway?”
There was no point in thinking about it. Whatever was going to happen would happen. And if it wouldn’t happen, I’d find some kind of reason to make it happen. If it came to that, I could consult (in order of degree of difficulty) Koizumi, Asahina, Nagato—and an infinite distance beyond that, Haruhi. I couldn’t be held responsible for what would happen after that.
“What a pain.”
Tomorrow was a full day off, and so long as Haruhi didn’t hit upon something while I was asleep, I’d be able to enjoy my Sunday.
I carried Shamisen like a heating pad in order to ward off the post-bath chill, and I headed to the room where my sister waited.
β—1
“Hello.” The voice was like a mountain echo; it was a woman’s voice, one I’d heard just this morning.
I would’ve preferred it to be Haruhi, Nagato, or even Asahina the Elder. Haruhi probably would’ve just gone on about her plans for the next day, and Nagato would’ve needed to brief me on Kuyoh. There were any number of questions I’d saved up for Asahina the Elder.
“Ah, bathing, are you? Your sister should’ve said something. Shall I call back? Although the fact that you picked up the phone suggests that you’re going to get out of the bath comparatively soon.”
It was not anyone I’d guessed it might be. I said the familiar voice’s owner’s name. “Sasaki, huh?”
“Indeed, it is I. About this morning, I’d wanted to talk a bit more, but Suzumiya and the others arrived early. I suppose you could call it a miscalculation.” Sasaki’s voice chuckled. “Still, your little sister hasn’t changed a bit. I told her my name, but she either didn’t catch it or didn’t remember me—but I suppose that’s not surprising. We’ve only met twice—wait, three times, I think it was.”
“If you want to be her math tutor, that’s plenty.” This was one of my few contributions to the household.
“I know. I’ve no intention of snatching your little sister away. There are billions of perfect strangers in the world, but only a few are related to you by blood, so their value rises in proportion to their scarcity. Such relationships must be treasured—blood is thicker than water.”
“So what do you want?”
“You certainly do get right to the point. I’d like you to come to the usual spot at the station tomorrow. You know the place I’m speaking of. As for the business—perhaps it would be better if Tachibana and the others explained it instead of me. My guess is that you’ll understand it better than I do.”
“So they’re all coming, then?” I got irritated thinking about the silent, eerie Kuyoh.
“Yes, and he’ll be there too—the self-proclaimed time traveler.”
This just got better and better. If that guy spouted off more nonsense about Asahina, I wasn’t confident I could control myself. If it looked like I was going to slug him, Sasaki had better stop me, I said.
“So you’ll come, then? Kyon, don’t worry. All three of them just want to have a peaceful conversation with you. A verbal exchange of views is what everybody hopes for.”
Sure, so long as that alien can actually speak Earth language. Speaking of which—“Sasaki, where did you go with that crowd today?”
“So I need an alibi now? We got on the train and took it to the shopping district, where we wandered around for a while. Tachibana is quite the good-natured young lady, you know. She told me all about her high school.” Sasaki then casually added, “And about what happened four years ago.”
Four years ago.
I’d first heard about it a year earlier, when it had been three years ago. It was like a buzzword that was on everybody’s lips, a punch line that made everyone shake their heads. It was the amount of time passed since Haruhi had used her bizarre superpowers to do something. Four years—time for another Olympics.
“What did she say?”
“You should ask her yourself. It’s still confusing to me. Ah, Kyon—I’m actually quite worried about all this. I feel like a grade-schooler who can’t swim, and my first pool class is tomorrow.”
I recalled Sasaki’s swimsuit-clad form as she loitered beside the pool in middle school. She was a girl, wasn’t she? So long as she was mixing with other girls in our class, she seemed like a totally ordinary female student. Her only above-average qualities were her politeness and the sparkle in her eyes as she chatted. Yes, so long as she was talking to someone other than a boy, she was a middle school student—now high school student—like any other.
And yet in spite of all that, why would Sasaki be going to the trouble of making this kind of bizarre phone call? It was highly irregular. There had to be some mistake somewhere. Whose fault was it?
“Sasaki. I know you’re the mouthpiece for that group. But what I don’t know is why you’re doing it.”
Over the telephone, Sasaki was quiet for a moment, then seemed to suppress a chuckle. “Because I’m your good friend. Better me than one of the others, right? I know you’re not so easy to fool that if one of them called you, you’d just say, ‘Oh, really?’ and come right over. Although you are pretty easy to argue with.”
I told her I wasn’t trying to win a debate with her.
“You’re an excellent listener. Clever enough, but ignorant to a certain degree. Don’t be mad; it’s a compliment. It’s not any fun for the speaker if the listener refuses to understand what she’s saying, but there’s also no point in conveying information the listener al
ready knows. On that count, I don’t need to worry about you, Kyon. You have that feeling about you. You’re easy to talk to.”
Somehow I didn’t feel like I was being complimented, but if it was Sasaki talking, I’d go along with it. Now that I thought about it, it had always been this way.
“I’ll be hanging up soon. I don’t want to take away from your sister’s study time. I’d hate for you to lose the opportunity to show off as her older brother. Make sure you arrive on time tomorrow—otherwise I’ll have wasted my time flipping through the school name registers looking for your information. It would’ve been quicker if your phone number were written on your New Year’s card.”
I’d be there. Oh, I’d be there, all right.
I definitely wanted to have a conversation with them. They were an alien, time traveler, and esper whose enemy status I no longer needed to confirm via IFF. It was convenient that they’d all decided to meet me together, rather than separately.
“Make sure you don’t catch cold after your bath. My regards to your family.” She hung up unhurriedly.
I hurried out of the bath, changed into my pajamas, and dashed into my room.
β—2
On the bed, Shamisen was using my cell phone as a pillow; I picked it up and dialed. The answer came after one ring.
“This is Koizumi.”
I was impressed at his speed; it was as though he’d been sitting next to the phone, waiting for it to ring.
“Well, I suspected you would call. It’s almost too late. I honestly expected you to call right after we dispersed.”
I called immediately after Sasaki called me. If this was late, then I’d have to start putting tachyons in the phone line.
“Ah, seems our conversation isn’t meshing. I see—you received a call from her, did you? I wasn’t speaking about whether or not Sasaki called you, but rather that I expected you to call me. Didn’t you have something you wished to ask of me?”
“Do you know someone named Kyoko Tachibana?”
“Of course I do. She is in the management of an organization whose path will never intersect with ours—essentially, an enemy power.”
I very much wanted to know what sort of hostilities they engaged in. It didn’t seem as though they would be exchanging gunfire in secret, so—surely not psychic battles in closed space?
“That sounds like it would be rather fun. Unfortunately, it is nothing so easily understandable. She and her kind cannot enter the closed space that Haruhi Suzumiya creates… but Kyoko Tachibana’s faction and my Agency are not so very different. You could say that while we are founded on similar concepts, our interpretations differ.”
And that would be the theology that held that Haruhi created the world three… no, four years ago?
“As it is impossible to prove, that must remain a mere hypothesis, but to speak plainly: yes. It has many believers within the Agency. As regards the fact that Haruhi Suzumiya gave us in the Agency our power, that has one hundred percent agreement. It transcends reason and is an unshakeable conviction among us all, including me.”
And what about Kyoko Tachibana?
“Consequently, she is a representative of those who did not receive power from Haruhi Suzumiya. Or perhaps I should say ‘nonetheless.’ They believe themselves to be the rightful group. Unlike us, they do not think of Suzumiya as the ultimate authority. While they should simply stand aside and observe, their rash understanding compels them to attempt to enter the stage. Though I must say I sympathize with the urge.” Koizumi’s tone was scattered with compassion. “So, what did Sasaki have to say?”
“She wants to meet tomorrow.” I briefly relayed the contents of Sasaki’s call. “I don’t know what it is, but she seems to want to talk to me. I mean, I sure as heck have some stuff to say to her. I’m gonna give them a real earful.”
Koizumi gave a short laugh. “I should explain that Kyoko Tachibana will never use violence against you or Suzumiya. I expect she was against the previous kidnapping incident. And the two of you are very important to her and her organization. The dangerous one is Nagato’s counterpart. Her kind is even harder to understand than the Data Overmind.”
After he cautioned me to please be as prudent as I could, I ended my emergency-hotline call with Koizumi. I can say that the reason the conversation hadn’t dragged on longer was because Koizumi understood what I was getting at. If I were kidnapped, I’d be counting on him.
“Now, then.”
It was time to call Nagato.
I had her number so thoroughly memorized, there was no need to consult my phone’s memory.
This time, I had to wait for three rings.
“…”
“Nagato, it’s me.”
“…”
“About tomorrow—” She hadn’t given me a proper response, but I could tell who it was from the quality of the silence. I just kept talking. “—So that’s why tomorrow I’m going to be seeing the same alien we saw today,” I finally said.
“I see,” came Nagato’s blunt statement.
“Assuming Sasaki can be trusted, they’re basically peaceful. Koizumi seemed to mostly agree. What do you think?”
“…” There was a silence like she was looking up words in a dictionary. “At present, the risk is low. A low-enough level to be ignored.”
I believed it, if only because Nagato said it. I felt my body relax.
“The Data Overmind is currently dedicating all resources to analysis of them.”
“Have you figured anything out?”
“Not yet. Only that it is a macroscopic information consciousness.”
“Were you able to say anything to that Kuyoh girl?”
“I was unable to share basic concepts. Her cognitive processes remain unclear.”
So the mysterious alien remained a mystery.
Just as I was wondering if there was some way I could capture the Kuyoh girl and turn her over to some kind of space research agency, Nagato suddenly spoke up.
“Their designation has been temporarily determined.”
“Oh ho. Care to let me hear it?”
“The Heavenly Canopy Dominion.”
Without consideration for any theatrics, Nagato continued.
“Because from our perspective, they came from the heavens.”
α—2
Having dispatched my homework, I deposited Shamisen in my sister’s room before returning to my own, falling into the bed, picking up my cell phone, and dialing. The answer came after one ring.
“This is Koizumi.”
I was impressed at his speed; it was as though he’d been sitting next to the phone, waiting for it to ring.
“Well, I suspected you would call. It’s almost too late. I honestly expected you to call right after we dispersed.”
I wasn’t that impatient. The truth was that I needed some time to collect my thoughts.
“About that group today—what the hell were they?”
“That’s a question I’d like to ask you as well, but regarding Kyoko Tachibana, there’s little of note. I expected her faction to start becoming impatient soon. The kidnapping incident was their opening move. Of course, it’s not certain that it was made at Kyoko Tachibana’s behest.”
To think he’d be arguing for the defense.
“For my part, I only wish to avoid pointless fighting. Violent conflict does not particularly suit me. Fortunately Kyoko Tachibana can still be reasoned with. There’s the old saying—‘A wise enemy is better than a foolish ally.’ In any case, I would’ve preferred they continue watching from the sidelines, but this too may be an opportunity. ‘When comes winter, spring too is nigh,’ they say. Don’t you think this is better than continuing a glacially paced cold war?”
So long as it didn’t grate too much on my nerves.
“Another possibility—the time traveler may have indoctrinated her. Given that Nagato’s opponent has also appeared, her faction will also have to move.”
But what did they want?
> “To be honest, Kyoko Tachibana’s organization and my Agency are not so very different. You could say that we are founded on similar ideas, though our explanations for Haruhi Suzumiya are different. However, they wish to reject, as much as they can, the possibility that they are mistaken. I understand the urge. The same is true of me. We are able to wield a supernatural power because Suzumiya gave it to us. This is an unwavering conviction.”
And that would be the theology that held that Haruhi created the world three… no, four years ago?
“It is not a matter of believing or not believing. Setting aside talk of ‘God’ for a moment, there is simply no doubt that Suzumiya is the source of closed space, and that we were created in order to deal with that closed space. I have known that from the very beginning. It will not do to be told, now, that I was mistaken. It is something I cannot concede.
“It would be best if the problem could be solved via debate,” said Koizumi in a resigned tone. “But let us not worry about Kyoko Tachibana and Sasaki. They are, at least, humans who live in the same time period as we do. Their values can be shared and they can be easily observed. But the movements of the TFEI that opposes the Data Overmind are totally opaque. Given the fact that Kuyoh Suoh is the only individual of her kind we’ve observed, she is likely the only instance of her kind on Earth. Since her methods are incomprehensible, her goals are likewise. Compared with her, time travelers are practically cute.”
Asahina was obviously cute, but the same could certainly not be said of all time travelers.
“I quite agree. As Asahina’s actions are the same as ours, she falls within our area of protection. She is a magnificently adorable upperclassman, after all. We certainly won’t abandon her. However, we had no desire for the conflicts of the future to be dragged into the past. But surely the various time travelers can work out their differences themselves.
“To do otherwise would be awfully irresponsible,” Koizumi added. “Nagato and I will take care of the rest. And you, of course. I’m quite sure you won’t sit idly by if you see the hand of evil closing in on Suzumiya.”
The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya Page 10