Next I phoned Nagato. I have to tell her that Asahina-san is now staying in Tsuruya-san's house. Even Koizumi noticed it, it's possible Nagato already knows.
After three rings, Nagato picked up the phone. She knew who it was, the proof being that she didn't say anything.
“…………”
“Nagato, it's me. I'll cut the chit-chat. This is about Asahina-san.”
While telling her the main points about what happened with Asahina-san, Nagato listened to me explain with a '…………'.
“Understood.”
She lightly said. It sounded like she wasn't reluctant at all. Then she added.
“I feel very well.”
“I see. In that case, I'm relieved.”
“Why?”
You even asked why. I was even worrying about Nagato feeling regret. It was a one-sided request to begin with, and now Asahina-san just leaves on a whim. That's kind of selfish.
“Unnecessary worrying,”
Nagato tranquilly said,
“I understand what she means.”
A pause.
“I've never thought about wanting to be like her. But, her thinking that is logical.”
What can I say?
“If I were her, I might think like that too.”
Um, that means, Asahina-san worrying about Nagato, Nagato can see that from Asahina-san's point of view?
Silence for a while, then,
“I think so.”
The volume was very soft. I instantly regretted not turning on the voice recording function, so as to record this happy sound.
After that, a couple more lines and I hung up the phone. There's nothing to worry about. It seems the alien and the time traveler have come to a mutual understanding. Maybe this kind of mutual understanding even surpassed their imagination.
For some unknown reason, I let my gaze slide sideways. Shamisen is lying on the bed, sleeping. Like a human, his head is on my pillow, and he sleeps very nicely. In case Haruhi actually comes to my house, I think of cutting away some of his fur, but then I remember something.
“How long does lying about Shamisen have to go on?”
I forgot to ask. Asahina-san should know when I was absent and when I was there. I want to know when I return. After I know that, I have a basic knowledge of how the week is going to go. But Asahina-san from a week later didn't bring anything, not even her cell phone. If I'm going to phone, it would have to be to Tsuruya-san. But maybe it's because of what Koizumi said, I don't really want to contact her right now. I don't even know what's true of what he said. That bastard, he can even rationally explain things on the spur of the moment. Maybe he just looked at my face and thought, 'Well, that works too.'
I picked up the remote control and adjusted the temperature, then rested my head on my bed.
Tomorrow, I'll go check my shoe locker and then figure out what to do.
I looked at the three-colored cat, whose mouth was opening and closing slightly, and slowly closed my eyes. Without meaning to, I fell asleep. And then I was awakened by a sister who had just finished taking a bath.
Chapter 3
The next day.
“Please scale the mountain. There you will encounter an oddly shaped rock. Move this rock approximately three meters to the west and leave it there. Asahina Mikuru knows what to do. Since it will be pitch dark after nightfall, it is advised that you go there before the sun sets.”
After tearing open yet another letter in the washroom, I was once again greeted with more strange instructions. Similar to yesterday’s letter, there were strange scribbles beneath it, and the word “rock” was circled, as if emphasizing that specific word.
So I decided that today I would head straight back home.
“Even though it’s fine with me…”
But what in the world was this? Rocks atop mountains? What mountain? What rock? The only mountain I had heard from Asahina-san recently was…
I started to feel my head spin.
“That damned treasure hunt.”
According to Asahina-san, we would spend our holidays treasure-hunting. And that would be the day after tomorrow. Tsuruya-san was said to have a mountain behind her house, and if that was so, she would still be involved. That girl bought the story of the two Asahina-sans without question, as she continued to smile before me and Haruhi. That’s what worries me the most. Even if it was a sticky matter for Koizumi, I could still ignore it for the time being, and that’s exactly what I did.
“So that means that Haruhi should be back to her usual self soon.”
I walked to the classroom as I predicted her reaction. The map was currently in Tsuruya-san’s possession, and two days later we would be on a treasure hunt. That means that Haruhi would probably obtain this map within two days time, most likely tomorrow. I hadn’t detected any sense of excitement in Tsuruya-san last evening. Does this mean that she hadn’t found the map yet? Or was she just keeping quiet? Knowing Tsuruya-san, she would be one to give me the map for safe keeping, and tell me to pass it to Haruhi, if she had already found it.
“Hey, Haruhi.”
Just as I expected, she was already in the classroom, still as quiet as Nagato, like a normal high school student full of melancholy.
“How’s Shamisen?”
She didn’t even bother to look at me as she continued to stare outside the window. She didn’t look too happy.
“Oh, he’s still okay.”
“Is that so? Well, that’s good I guess.”
Her breath condensed on the window and made it cloudy. Using her index finger, she began tracing patterns on the window.
That’s weird. Being able to have a normal conversation like this with Haruhi is even more rare than seeing Nagato not reading in the club room. This makes me feel anxious, as if some unknown peril might be slowly creeping up on me. It couldn’t be the doing of some unknown aliens, could it?
“What’s the matter? You look down.”
Haruhi snorted in reply.
“What are you talking about? I’ve always been like this. It’s just that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately. Tomor…”
Just as I was expecting her to go on, she abruptly shut her mouth and stared at me.
“You’re one to ask. Not coming to the club room again today?”
Haruhi revealed a face that clearly said, ‘It doesn’t matter whether you come or not.’ I don’t care, though. To me, it’s a great opportunity to chat with her.
“Shamisen’s easily bored. And since I can’t entrust him to my sister, I’ll have to take full responsibility of taking him to the vet again.”
“Hmm, I think that’s great.”
Even more surprising was that even though Haruhi wore a scowl on her face, I could sense that she was in a pretty good mood.
“When you’re sick, it’s only natural to rely on someone. When he’s all better, be sure to take him out to play. I also wish to play with a fully recovered Shamisen soon.”
To Haruhi, Shamisen might have very well have become a brigade member already. Asking me to take care of him and then bring him out when she feels like playing with him, that’s Haruhi for you, all right. Still, I think it would be a good experience for both Shamisen and me to let him go over to her place for a week.
“I’ll think about it.”
Looking up at the sky, Haruhi once again began blowing at the window pane.
Since everyone wishes for lessons to end faster anyways, I didn’t feel how slow the flow of time really was.
All I did was silently pray under my breath that my teachers won’t ask me to answer any questions, as I mechanically flipped the pages, not paying attention to what was going on. Thinking back about it, it was normal to showcase such behavior. Even though it wasn’t a good thing to do, and was probably the reason why my grades suffered so phenomenally, it was nevertheless typical. Feeling dread about the troublesome things I had to do after school, I consoled myself by thinking about how bad Taniguchi’s results
were compared to mine. Hey, give me a break already.
I placed my textbooks in my desk’s drawer, knowing that they would very well gather dust in my room anyway. My bag felt remarkably lighter, as I made my way out of the class room. Just then, Taniguchi, who was on class duty, patted my shoulder and said,
“Yo, Kyon.”
For some reason, Taniguchi looked at me with eyes that had seemed to have lost their light. I didn’t have the time to be fooling around with him. Asahina-san was waiting for me. If he understood what I was feeling, he would have let me go.
But Taniguchi stood there as if blocking the door, and pointed the broom he was holding towards me.
“How I admire you.”
There was an air of spite in his voice. I racked my brain as I thought of what could have possibly inspired his admiration. I couldn’t find anything.
“Is that so?” Taniguchi replied slowly, and sighed.
I wonder if Haruhi’s melancholy had affected Taniguchi, too. Maybe it was some kind of sickness that could be transferred via the air.
“Hey, Taniguchi.”
Kunikida suddenly appeared and stared at Taniguchi’s face.
“You look like someone who just got dumped by his girlfriend, looking very depressed lately. What’s the matter? Don’t tell me you two really did break up.”
Kunikida asked while busy operating the vacuum cleaner.
“Is that so, is that so…?”
I smiled as I patted Taniguchi’s back. Speaking of his girlfriend, I heard it was some girl from Kouyouen he got to know during Christmas. Unfortunately, I was busy eating Haruhi’s hot pot during Christmas, so too bad, Taniguchi.
“Seeing your face, it looks like you got dumped. I see, I see.”
“This can’t be.”
My friend, who had obviously been fishing for sympathy earlier on, put on another depressed face as the broom fell from his hands. It was painfully clear that he was still very sad.
“You should get going, you’re disturbing my cleaning.”
Kunikida forced out a sympathetic smile.
“Even if it hurts, I’m sure that it’s only a matter of time, Taniguchi. Pardon me for being honest, but even though I never once met your girlfriend, from your words I could tell that she wasn’t really serious from the start.”
“How could you know if the both of you have never met? Oh, forget it. It’s not like I was expecting you to understand anyway—-”
“Truthfully speaking, don’t you think it’s a bit too weird to become lovers before the two of you even started off as friends?”
“Bah, don’t mention this anymore. I really want to get over it as soon as possible.”
I really wanted to stay, just to see how a typical high school drama unfolds in real life. Unfortunately for me, real life does not permit me to stay here any longer, and I needed to take my leave soon.
“Oh well, don’t think about it too much. A good lad like you will surely meet a fine lass one of these days. Until then, just be patient!”
After making my statement, I hurried out of the classroom before Taniguchi could think of a reply. At least I tried to console him. I’m not that kind of guy that would make fun of someone who just got dumped. Truthfully speaking, I really sympathize with you, but at the same time, I’m relieved to see one of my good buddies once again come back to accompany me at the starting line. Let’s try harder in the future, okay?
But why did he admire me so?
As I opened my shoe locker, I suddenly thought of many things. If Taniguchi’s melancholy was due to love, could the same thing be said for Haruhi too? If Taniguchi was acting all melancholic because of the end of his love life, could Haruhi be acting the same due to her lack of one?
Thinking about this, I suddenly felt scared, before I laughed out loud to myself.
“Impossible.”
Thinking that Haruhi’s melancholy was due to love problems was just plain stupid. The possibility of that happening was roughly equal to me being selected to join the national baseball league. And even if it did happen, I wouldn’t be happy, just like the current situation. Even if it was totally unrelated to my current problems, I wanted to know what Haruhi was really thinking. It was hard to imagine a world without Haruhi, who was presumably sulking alone in the club room beside the heater right now.
“Just forget it.”
Now is not the time to be thinking of such things. I mean, it’s Haruhi we’re talking about. She’ll be okay in no time. If she knew about our treasure hunt, she’d be in high spirits instantly. Since I already knew what was going to happen, there was no need to worry anymore. Nor was there any need to try to find out any further. Because there was always the possibility of making a mistake, and endangering the entire SOS Brigade in the process. Just like a harmless germ, if exposed to laser radiation, it might very well mutate into some life-threatening organism. Even though I could learn a lot from this specific “germ”, the risks of it mutating were too high, and therefore I decided it was best to leave it alone. Was it the right choice to play it safe, or a foolish decision to forsake the opportunity to find out more? There’s only a blurry line between what’s right and what’s wrong.
“I’ll just do what I can for the future before me, before worrying about the distant future.”
Someone once said that the only thing certain about the future is the uncertainty it brings. But for me, there was something sure about the future, and that was that Asahina-san existed, and therefore so did the future.
After returning home briefly, I got on to my trusty bike, and pedaled all the way to Tsuruya-san’s mansion.
What I had in mind was to telephone Tsuruya-san’s house, and tell Asahina-san to come out and meet me. But since Tsuruya-san wasn’t home yet, things were a little tricky. I thought of asking one of Tsuruya-san’s maids to relay my message to Asahina-san, but after thinking that it would probably take a long time for me to get my message through, and an even longer time for them to relay it, I gave up upon the idea. Unable to decide, I finally telephoned the Tsuruya residence, and decided to just let the future play itself out.
It was, as I expected, one of Tsuruya-san’s maids who picked up the phone. It seemed that Asahina-san was already expecting my call, as the maid didn’t ask any further question other than what my name was. Before I even said “Hello” to Asahina-san, she said, “I’ll go and meet you right away. Please wait for me,” as if totally understanding what I wanted to say. If she happened to become my secretary in the future, I’m sure she would display a great deal of potential.
Just like Tsuruya-san, Asahina-san was a respectable sempai. Instead of conveying everything through the phone, why shouldn’t I just let Asahina-san read the message? That would save me a lot of time trying to explain to her the various symbols. Now why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?
Within my pockets were the said letter and a flashlight, just in case something happened. Because I had been to Tsuruya-san’s house too many times for me to remember, I instinctively knew where to go. Even though it wasn’t snowing, knowing the cold February, it would probably snow any time soon. While my ears and nose were turning numb from the cold winter wind, I continued to pedal furiously, until I finally reached Tsuruya-san’s house.
Asahina-san’s face emerged cautiously from between the doors.
“Kyon-kun.”
Asahina-san let out a relieved smile, as she stepped out from Tsuruya-san’s house. She wasn’t dressed in her sailor uniform like she was yesterday. Instead, she was dressed in long pants and a thick, furry jacket.
“I borrowed some clothes from Tsuruya-san.”
As if noticing my blank stare, Asahina-san tightened her collar, and said:
“Because I can’t go back home to retrieve my own clothes.”
“So you have no memory of losing clothes?”
I asked stupidly while sitting on my bike. It was painfully obvious, but that was all I could think of at that moment.
As
ahina-san didn’t look too good, as she said,
“Erm… I can’t really remember if I lost any garments… Because I never once thought of going through them to search if any of them went missing… Even if I did lose some I doubt I would notice… But that’s not to say that I have too many outfits to choose from… umm…”
You need not worry too much. If it were me, I wouldn’t have noticed if a pair of my pants suddenly went missing and even if I did, I couldn’t go around blindly accusing people of stealing them. If that really did happen, all I would do was stay quiet. Not like I would really mind anyway.
I gently looked at Asahina-san. It doesn’t matter whether those clothes are yours or not, anything would look great on you.
“N-No… T-There’s no such thing…”
Asahina-san shook her hands in embarrassment.
“The sleeves are too long for me, and…”
Asahina-san reached for her chest, and gently laid her fingers on them. Her face blushed bright red, as her movements stopped.
“I-I-I-It’s okay… R-Really… Ahahahaha!”
After a moment of silence, my heart finally calmed down. Tsuruya-san may have had longer hands and feet, as well as a taller figure, but on Asahina-san, there were also places that were too tight. At one glance, anyone could see which part was too small for Asahina-san. I knew that beneath the jacket lay a hot figure. It was too bad that I couldn’t see it without the jacket. But then again, I was sure that I would be able to in the future.
I took out the letter I found in my shoe locker this morning.
“It seems that this time we have to do it no matter what. Do you know why?”
Scale a mountain. Move a rock. This seemed like those RPGs, where the main character would be given a rather pointless mission, without any explanation why he had to do it. And there wasn’t any mentioning of what he would obtain should he follow the instructions given either. Worse, there wasn’t any guarantee that even if the hero did oblige, he would obtain something good.
“Hmm… Is it that mountain? It’s the only mountain I know. Oddly-shaped rock? Rocks… Hmm… Ah, could it be…?”
Volume 7 - The Intrigues of Suzumiya Haruhi Page 11
