Volume 7 - The Intrigues of Suzumiya Haruhi

by Tanigawa Nagaru

  But this is a different story. Two similar looking Asahina-sans are separated by one flimsy steel door; one is inside, and the other outside; one has her body pressed tightly against me, while the other is changing into the maid uniform.

  Both of them are the real Asahina-san. I took pride in having two abilities that far excelled anyone else – being able to read Nagato’s emotions, and being able to tell apart real and fake Asahina-sans.

  Believing in myself, I came to the conclusion that both the Asahina-sans were one and the same. Two of the same people existing in the same time and the same space could only mean one thing —- Time travel.

  One of them definitely came from a different time, from the not-so-far future. I had a feeling it was the Asahina-san squeezed together with me in this tight space.

  These two Asahina-sans were totally alike. Even if they were twins, there would be at least a shred of difference…

  It was only logical that I thought like this, although it only lasted for a short moment. Anyone in my situation would place their emotions before their rational thinking, and I think this needs no explanation.

  6 Nijo Castle (二条城, Nijō-jō?) is located in Kyoto, Japan. The castle consists of two concentric rings of fortifications, the Ninomaru Palace, the Honmaru Palace, various support buildings and several gardens. The surface area of the castle is 275,000 square meters, of which 8000 square meters is occupied by buildings. It is most noted for its twin moats and twin barriers, which Kyon finds hard choosing one over another.

  No matter how you look at it, these two Asahina-sans are not going to disappear any time soon. The Asahina-san inside would probably not disappear after forcefully pulling me inside the broom closet, then forcing me to shut my eyes, and the Asahina-san outside was brushing against her clothes, making sounds that greatly stimulated my imagination. They were like the inner and outer moats of Nijo Castle[6], each awaiting my signal for fortification. It was useless. Just like how the Siege of Osaka was doomed to fail with the absence of Yukimura Sanada[7], there was no way I could choose between the two. Faced with these mental challenges that Plato himself would be proud of, only someone who had lost a couple of bolts in his brain would show no reaction.

  7 A Japanese Samurai. He is most noted for his absensce during the Siege of Osaka, which many consider the prime reason for its failure.

  As my brain was busy analyzing the situation, my head was cracking under the strain. If this went on, I would surely faint. I had to think of something, fast.

  If this went on, I would probably hug the Asahina-san in front of me and squeeze her to death, or charge out and scare the changing Asahina-san to death. At this crucial moment, my savior finally appeared.

  At the sound of the door creaking open, my breathing casually returned to normal.

  “…”

  It seemed that whoever had opened the door was standing there without making a sound. There was no sound of the door being closed either.

  “A-Ah, Nagato-san,”

  Asahina-san’s clear, crisp voice could be heard.

  “Please wait for a moment. I’ll serve you tea immediately.”

  I craned my neck around again.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the sight of Asahina-san’s maid outfit fluttering as she walked past - that was the most I could make out from this small, miserable opening. Unable to see any more, I could only imagine Asahina-san, fully changed into her maid outfit, run towards the kettle with a pitter-patter.

  “…”

  I couldn’t hear Nagato walking towards her seat. While Nagato is capable of walking silently, the door is too old to be closed without making any noise. That is to say, Nagato is probably still standing by the door right now.

  “Eh… What’s wrong?”

  Asahina-san spoke with a sense of uneasiness in her voice. I suddenly imagined the sight of Nagato holding her bag in one hand, and the doorknob in the other, as she stared straight at the broom closet.

  “…”

  “Eh?”

  “There’s something I have to tell you.”

  That’s Nagato’s voice, all right.

  “Eh?” Asahina-san repeated, this time sounding surprised.

  “Come with me.”

  “EH?” Asahina-san repeated once again, sounding even more surprised than before. “W-Where are we going?”

  “Anywhere but here.”

  “B-But… W-what is it… Can’t we talk here?”

  “Not here.” Nagato said simply.

  “A-Ah… Something to s-say to me? R-Really?”

  “Yes.”

  “Uh… Nagato-san? Kya… You don’t have to drag me like this…”

  I could hear the sounds of Asahina-san’s footsteps leaving, and then the door was shut with a bang. What followed next was silence, as the both of them gradually retreated from the club room.

  Thank you so much, Nagato.

  There was another bang, as I burst out from the closet. This was followed by Asahina-san rolling out from the closet.

  “Kyaa~”

  Asahina-san remained crouched on the floor, as she let out a cry of tiredness mixed with relief.

  “That was scary.”

  I never thought she would be more surprised than me.

  “Asahina-san,” I slowly said. “Can you tell me what is the meaning of this? What in the world is going on? Which time are you from?”

  Asahina-san lifted her head and looked at me, her eyes blinking furiously. “Huh? Don’t you know, Kyon-kun?”

  How was I supposed to know? Wait, before that, what was I supposed to know?

  “But,”

  Asahina-san made a face that resembled a sailor after a shipwreck who had just clambered onto a rescue boat, only to find out that the rescue boat had a hole in it.

  “But the one who told me to come to this time period was you.”

  Wait a second.

  I racked my brains for a moment. I had definitely said something like that before. That was on the 2nd of January, because I had needed to return to the 18th of December the year before. We had gone back to that time to fix things, before returning to the present. There wasn’t any problem with that.

  The problem was what happened after that. I don’t recall asking for Asahina-san’s help to bring us back to the future.

  I was sure I never told her to do that.

  Which is to say…

  This Asahina-san had come from the future.

  “What time are you from?”

  “Ah…”

  Asahina-san shuddered for a while, before looking at her watch.

  “Eh… one week plus one day… That should be 4:15PM, eight days from now.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “I have no idea.”

  That was an honest answer all right.

  “I really have no clue. I was just following your orders after all. In fact, I was just about to ask you, why are your requests granted so easily?”

  The sight of Asahina-san pouting reminded me of Haruhi. This expression was also really cute, but this was not the time to be making comparisons. I shifted my glance to the club room’s door.

  “So it was my order, one that I will issue eight days later?”

  “Yes. You told me nervously that I would know what to do when I got there. You also told me to tell you that your future self said ‘hi’.”

  What in the world was my future self trying to say?

  This was too hard to understand. Telling Asahina-san to go back to the past, what was my future self trying to do? What was the point of telling her to say ‘hi’? A friendly greeting?

  Wait a moment, something’s not right again. This Asahina-san said that she came from eight days into the future. The Asahina-san dressed in a maid outfit, which was the Asahina-san from this time plane, had been dragged off by Nagato.

  Huh…? What was the meaning of this? There were two Asahina-sans. One was in the club room together with me, while the other had been dragge
d off by Nagato to who-knows-where…

  “I was brought all the way to the emergency staircase, where I had to listen to all kinds of confusing stuff.”

  Asahina-san tilted her head and said, “What am I here for? What should I do now…”

  Although Nagato didn’t say anything, her actions must have meant something, but what could it… Ah!

  I suddenly realized what Nagato meant.

  “…Now I see.”

  As I realized what Nagato was trying to convey, red emergency lights flashed in my brain. If things went on like this, we would be in serious trouble.

  I only hope that Nagato’s talk would last for a little longer.

  “Asahina-san, you never came in contact with your future self during the past week, did you?”

  “Erm… That’s right…”

  Asahina-san nodded honestly, looking a bit worried. If that was so, we needed to make haste.

  Because I couldn’t let both Asahina-sans see each other.

  Nagato had already noticed this. She had sensed this Asahina-san and me hiding in the closet, and knew of the consequences should both Asahina-sans meet. That was why she had pulled the maid version of Asahina-san out of the club room – to buy time for me and this Asahina-san to escape.

  Haruhi and Koizumi might be here any second now. Just like salmon returning to their original stream to spawn, most of the SOS Brigade members had already made it a habit to return to the club room when we wanted to rest. I know, because I was like that too.

  If Haruhi happened to stumble across two Asahina-sans in two different places, I don’t know if she would buy the story that Asahina-san had a secret twin.

  I had to get this Asahina-san out of this place, or there would be consequences to face.

  “Let’s go, Asahina-san.”

  I grabbed my bag, slowly opened the club room door, and took a peek outside. There was not a single soul in sight. I waved my hands at Asahina-san, signaling the coast was clear. Asahina-san hurriedly ran over, as my eyes once again swept through the deserted school corridors. The countdown had already begun. There were only two rules. One, we couldn’t let the Asahina-san from this time bump into this Asahina-san, and two, we couldn’t let Haruhi notice that there are two Asahina-sans. I looked at the clothes rack, and for a moment thought about dressing Asahina-san up in order to avoid detection, but I gave up on that idea after realizing that those outfits would serve to attract even more unneeded attention. It was a good thing this Asahina-san was wearing a normal sailor suit uniform. Like they say, seek camouflage amongst trees by dressing like a leaf.

  I grabbed Asahina-san’s wrist, and hurried out of the club room. Thus began our perilous journey across the school corridors.

  “Are you sure it’s eight days from now?” I asked as I walked.

  “Yes. You told me to return here at exactly 3:45PM, eight days from now.”

  Even Asahina-san’s footsteps were larger than before. Taking the steps two at a time, the both of us went down the stairs and moved away from the club room. I just hoped that Okabe-sensei would spend a longer time lecturing Haruhi.

  “If that is true, then you must surely know what will happen throughout this week, right?”

  After descending from the stairs, I paused for a brief moment, before deciding to take the shortest path to the shoe locker directly across the courtyard. Although the chances of bumping into Haruhi were higher, it was nevertheless the fastest route possible.

  Asahina-san stopped to catch her breath, as she said, “We’re almost there, right?”

  “Is there any need to return to the past or the future?”

  “No. It was you who forcefully shoved me into the closet, after all.”

  First ordering her to return to this time, and now forcefully shoving her into a broom closet? What was going on? What was I thinking? Even I couldn’t understand my own actions. Why hadn’t the future me tagged along? That would have probably saved me the time and trouble of thinking all by myself.

  We managed to reach the shoe locker without meeting anyone. It was then that I suddenly realized —-

  “Where should we go from here?”

  I knew that we had to leave the school, but, where do we go then? Where could I hide Asahina-san?

  Now what should I do? Should I tell her to return to the future, eight days later, without accomplishing anything?

  “That won’t do.”

  Asahina-san looked at me with lonely eyes.

  “If possible, I too wish to return to the future. I’ve tried contacting my supervisors, but they wouldn’t permit it. I don’t even know when am I allowed to return, as that’s highly classified information.”

  So, does this mean that the Asahina-san eight days from the future would have to accomplish something, be it today or tomorrow, before she was allowed to return? Then let’s just assume that this is true, and ignore it for the time being.

  But what was that “something”?

  That’s what I wanted to know the most. Why hadn’t my future self told her anything?

  Just as I was busy cursing my future self, Asahina-san had already scrambled over to the second-year-student’s shoe locker. I too was about to change from my school shoes into my sneakers…

  “Asahina-san!”

  I quickly searched for the time-traveler. Soon enough, I found Asahina-san tip-toeing to reach her shoe locker, which was located too high above her to reach.

  “What’s the matter?” Asahina-san said as she turned her head, still maintaining the same pose.

  Oh it’s nothing much.

  “These pair of shoes belong to the you in this current time plane.”

  “O-Oh… You’re right…”

  Asahina-san shut the locker door with a bang, as she said:

  “If I had changed into these shoes, the ‘me’ in this time plane would be crushed. And I don’t recall losing anything this week either…”

  That wasn’t all. If I hadn’t stopped her, this Asahina-san would have placed her current school shoes into the locker. When it was time for the Asahina-san from this time plane to return home, she would open the locker door, only to find a pair of school shoes identical to the ones she was wearing, down to the exact size.

  “Y-Yes…”

  Asahina-san said nervously.

  “But then, how should I leave then?”

  The only thing you can do is walk around in your school shoes. You may feel embarrassed or something, but there’s no other choice. It’s not like we can just nick someone else’s shoes anyway. Besides, instead of asking “What should we do?”, I think the more important question would be, “Where should we go?”

  While thinking deeply about this matter, I opened my own shoe locker, and saw something inside.

  I suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia. It was another message from the future.

  “…I should’ve known. I knew you’d make some arrangements, Asahina-san,”

  On top of my slightly dirty sneakers, was a special letter just for me.

  Asahina-san and I embraced the chillingly cold wind, as we made our way down the slope.

  A few North High students looked at us as we passed. It felt as if they were staring straight at the empty handed, school-shoe-wearing Asahina-san, wondering how she was so different from before. Or maybe it was just my imagination?

  Standing on my right, Asahina-san’s long, maroon hair danced peacefully in the wind. Her expression, however, was far from peaceful, just like the darkening of the evening sky before a snowstorm.

  I too wore a look similar to Asahina-san’s. I mean, I had just escaped from the club room. Skipping club activities without prior notice was sure to upset the Brigade Commander. Unless I was able to come up with a reason or excuse that satisfied Haruhi, I was sure to be sacrificed in one of her future “punishments”.

  But even so, there was no way I could just ignore Asahina-san. For all I know, she could be in grave danger.

  Anyone seeing Asahina-san walking u
nder the cold, winter sky would get the urge to protect her. Since there was no one else suitable in sight, I guess it was all up to me to protect her.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Asahina-san said with a monotonous yet cute voice.

  “I’m always causing trouble for you…”

  “Oh, it’s nothing.”

  I replied without waiting for her to finish.

  “It was me who told you to come here in the first place. So technically, it’s my fault.”

  That applied to both me and Asahina-san (big). Why couldn’t our future selves reveal more information? Why do they insist on distancing themselves from us? Do people from the future hate their past so much?

  I reached for my pocket and tightly gripped the envelope within.

  Inside the blank envelope was a small note that read,

  “Please take care of the Asahina Mikuru beside you.”

  There was no name, no address, nothing whatsoever. There was no way I would be able to forget that neat, tiny font. Last spring, I received a similar letter written in the same handwriting requesting me to wait in the club room during lunch break. It was then I first met the grown-up version of Asahina-san, and received a vital clue to escaping the sealed dimension with Haruhi. I was sure it was she who wrote the letter.

  But entrusting Asahina-san (small) to me? Does it mean I can do anything, Asahina-san (big)? Even as far as kissing her?

  Besides, I showed that letter to Asahina-san as well. I don’t suppose there’ll be any problems. She would understand the meaning of “Please take care of the Asahina Mikuru beside you”. If the letter was for my eyes only, then the message wouldn’t refer to “Asahina Mikuru” but rather “my past self”.

  Asahina-san looked at the letter in surprise, as she stuttered, “W-What’s going o-on…?” It seems she didn’t notice the letter was written exactly in her own handwriting.

  Come to think of it, even if she did notice, she probably wouldn’t be surprised. During our second visit to the 18th of December, she saw someone else other than myself, Nagato and Asakura. Even though she was immediately put to sleep, she must have felt her presence.

  There was also that van incident that happened last month. After she talked to that bespectacled kid that lived near Haruhi’s house, she appeared so depressed that I attempted to console her. Even though I wasn’t successful, Asahina-san told me that she just realized something. I have no idea what she realized, but just like Koizumi said, the members of the SOS Brigade seem to be changing, ever so slightly.