“What are you talking about? Is the late person not you?”
Haruhi happily looked at me.
“What is it, Kyon, it looks like something’s troubling you. What’s wrong?”
Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that this holiday finally came, but it’s a freezing day, and I’m irritated because I have to spend this cold day digging up treasure that doesn’t even exist.
“Look more alive. Did Shamisen get sick again?”
“No-pe.”
I pulled back my neck and shook it.
“I’m just a little cold.”
Heh-heh. The ardent Haruhi shook her hands, and said,
“At times like this, you have to adapt to the environment, both mind and body have to change. Yes, climbing a mountain in the middle of a cold winter is very much the thing to do! The reason we’re doing this is simple, right?”
I’m not a plastic model, how the hell do I change that easily? I’m not somebody with an ‘on-off’ switch, something Haruhi with her ‘one-season-all-year-ness’ cannot understand.
While Haruhi and I had our normal morning banter, the other three people stood there like an audience.
Koizumi, Asahina-san and Nagato’s appearances were casual, basic and natural, respectively. Nagato’s natural outfit is the uniform and the short jacket. There’s no need to ask her why she’s wearing that for mountaineering. If I brought Nagato to Tsuruya-san’s house and left her there, Tsuruya-san would happily give Nagato clothes Tsuruya-san wore a long time ago. I have to try that next time.
It felt like Koizumi’s some model who walked out of a commercial. He’s wearing a stylish winter outfit, standing there with a slight smile. He looks exactly like a mannequin in the window of a store in the mall if you ignore the two shovels that he should’ve left at a work site.
And Asahina-san had on a pair of unadorned pants and a commonplace jacket. Now that I think about it, in all this time, I’ve never seen Asahina-san in the same outfit twice.
“Lunch boxes, I prepared them.”
Is it because you were looking forward to going, Asahina-san, with your 100% sincere smile and the two blue baskets you’re carrying? Can I pretend I only came here today to eat that?
Also, this happy Asahina-san was commanded by me and kicked back in time, I still can’t believe it. Is that Asahina-san telling the truth?
“Is something the matter?”
Asahina-san artlessly lifted her head.
“No, no,” I calmly said. “I was just thinking that the lunch boxes were something to look forward to.”
“Don’t look forward to it that much. I don’t know if I made them well or not……”
Asahina-san’s face is just cute when she’s blushing. The only person who can move my heart is her.
“The lunch boxes can’t be bad.”
Haruhi suddenly came into my field of vision.
“You, do you actually understand why you’re here today? It’s not to play, you know. Digging for treasure, digging for treasure! If you don’t work hard, you don’t get a lunch break!”
As she said this, Haruhi was the cold wind that fought against the sun, and won. I’ll put away my ‘child-that-came-out-to-play’ smile, I’ll use it later if I remember to, is what I wanted to say, but I chose not to.
Come to think of it, this is Haruhi’s spirit-filled face. Entering the month of February, I had been lulled by her deceptive calm. I don’t know why I feel like I was deceived.
On this unusual day, I didn’t have to take everyone to a café. But it’s not never again inviting them to a café, just not today. Next time we have a meeting, it doesn’t matter what time I get there, I’ll be paying for it all. As Haruhi said this, she walked towards the intersection in front of the bus stop. Maybe she was thinking, if she didn’t get there fast enough, and spent too much time somewhere else, somebody would beat her to the treasure.
Anyways, she just wants to get to the mountain. I took the shovel she handed me, and we all got on the bus heading in the general direction of the mountain. I stood beside Koizumi, who had grabbed a hand-hold. Because we were both holding shovels, we stood out a lot, but whatever. It isn’t too bad, the bus going towards the mountain didn’t have too many passengers. That’s the only thing I could rejoice about.
After being on the bus for about 30 minutes, at Haruhi’s prompting we got off. The other station had been filled and congested; in contrast, this station is very natural and peaceful. It didn’t seem like we were in the same city. Actually, because of school-planned events during my elementary and junior high years, I am very familiar with this region. If we walked north from here, this would become a real mountain hike. It’s a good thing Tsuruya-san’s mountain is lower than that one. I’m surprised that such a mountain is the private property of the Tsuruya family. I’d never climbed this one before, not even on school excursions.
“It’ll be fun to climb up from here.”
Haruhi studied the map and led the way. I don’t actually know if this is called Mt. Tsuruya or not. Whatever, we looked up at the summit of Mt. Tsuruya while blowing white clouds out of our mouths.
This time the climb wasn’t quite the same as two days ago when I went up this mountain together with Asahina-san. That time we came from the opposite side of the mountain from where we are now. If I were to say which side is shorter, I think the way Asahina-san and I went is actually more direct. Today, the path from the bottom of the hill, the place Haruhi chose, to the summit is winding back and forth. I see, so if we go this way, it should be easier to climb up. Yes……?
“Kyon! It’s not a good time to be staring off into space, walk faster, faster!”
After hearing Haruhi’s yell, my legs started walking forward. I’m getting the feeling like I’m being pushed into doing this. Therefore, I already don’t want to do any work.
“I got it.”
I balanced the shovel on my shoulder and caught up to them on the path. Not only Haruhi, bouncing around like a wild rabbit, but Asahina-san also looks like an elementary student on a nature hike. Nagato’s still the same as usual, not much change there. And looking at Koizumi’s forced smile, I found myself wondering how many of us actually want to go treasure digging. I obviously have no wish to, since there is no reason I should work. Asahina-san (Michiru) has already put on my schedule that nothing will be found. The only person who wants to find treasure is Haruhi, anyway. To put it concisely, there might be a chance that we could find treasure, but Asahina-san wouldn’t, or couldn’t, lie. The hidden treasure which the Tsuruya family has passed on for generation after generation will never be found, this is the truth.
“What’s wrong?”
Koizumi walked beside me, a frank smile plastered across his face.
“Your expression makes it seem like you already know that what we’re doing is just a waste of energy.”
I didn’t say anything, since I have nothing to say to him.
Koizumi, aren’t you also showing a face that says that you already know what’s going to happen? Your face says that it doesn’t matter if we dig up something or not, and you’ve already made up your mind to treat this like a chore.
I think Asahina-san already knows there’s another her in this time. If she really does know, I should go talk to her about it. Did I come here just to have that chat with her? That would be convenient. I’ve already got Tsuruya-san to help me, I don’t need you to help with this anymore, Koizumi. So, I don’t think I’ll tell him anything. Being decisive is useless if you don’t get up and do it. The action is more important, and that leaves room for impulsive behavior too.
And about me not answering him, I wonder what Koizumi’s thinking. He lifted the shovel just a little bit, the front of the shovel pointing forwards. His smile showed he’s either taking treasure digging very lightly or he already knows what’s going on.
Meh, the Koizumi now is no different from the normal Koizumi. I honestly don’t know what I’m worrying about. Anyway, we came here
today to climb the mountain.
Haruhi pushed aside the weeds and advanced upwards.
“First, we go to the top. If it were me burying treasure, I would put it in a place so it can be found easily. Tsuruya-san’s ancestors are also human beings, so they must’ve put it in the most obvious place as well.“
If the first thing that makes hidden treasure hidden treasure is the fact that it’s hidden in an easy to find place, you might as well not hide it at all. It doesn’t matter what’s logical, we just do what Haruhi wants us to. Because she is the leader of the SOS Brigade. She even commands Aliens, Time Travelers and Espers. We have to listen to her, because she is our head.
I wanted to reach out and pat the heavily breathing, very tired Asahina-san’s back, but because Haruhi had already pulled ahead, there was no chance for me to do so, and we kept climbing, just like this. After about thirty minutes, we reached the summit. Oddly, the mountain path seems like it was made so as not to tire the hikers. If we weren’t walking on a slow, ambling path, we would’ve actually climbed a mountain.
Since walking up that path is only slightly more tiring than walking on flat ground, I didn’t feel especially tired. Maybe because when I walk to school every day, I have to climb up and down that huge hill, and the strength of my legs naturally increased. The problem is, what we’re going to do next will tire me out.
That would be the treasure digging part, and now it’s up to Haruhi to choose a spot.
“Is it not in this area?”
In a nutshell, wherever Haruhi pointed, we would have to dig a hole. Wouldn’t this be too easy a spot if you were going to bury money or treasure? Even though I can’t say that I actually know where it is, but even after digging two meters, all the shovels manage to dig up is hard soil and small rocks. The digging must be done by the males, and because of that, the only people digging are Koizumi and me. The three girls seem like they’ve come for a picnic, only the cheers of Asahina-san lend me a little comfort.
Haruhi just casually pointed again, “This time, here.” Nagato’s just like a stone Buddha, the kind that would tell me exactly where the treasure was if I prayed to it a bit. But assuming she really could do that, it would be very peculiar to manage to dig up buried treasure on the first try. So I, with my little bit of self-respect, managed to refrain from worshipping Nagato.
Trying to find anything is troublesome from the beginning. Also, the reality-ignoring Haruhi, who is just relying on her decision making skills and working oh-so-hard, doesn’t she hold any suspicion that the treasure won’t be found? The only people who have a problem with this thing would be me and Koizumi, and since Koizumi’s happy face looks like it’s carved of wood, so in the end, the only one feeling like a laborer is me.
I wanted to get Taniguchi and Kunikida to come and help me, but Haruhi said no.
“Ii? What we’re going to look for is treasure, treasure! The people who dig it up all have to get a share. Because I’m a fair Brigade leader, I will split it evenly among the people who helped. If they come, I’ll have to divide it into seven portions, I don’t want to do that for a totally stupid reason!”
13 Genroku (Japanese: 元禄) was a Japanese era that spanned the period from 30 September 1688 to 13 March 1704. The reigning emperor was Higashiyama, the reigning Shogun was Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, nicknamed the “dog shogun”. The period followed the Jōkyō era and was followed by the Hōei era.
The era is generally considered to be the golden era of the Edo period. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan led to economic stability, and arts and architecture flourished. To finance the splendour of the Genroku era, the Shogunate reduced the quality of coins. This caused an inflation. To solve the crisis, the Kyoho Reforms were carried out a few years after the era.
If what we dug up was gold coins from the Genroku era[13] then I would agree. But, this treasure map came from Tsuruya-san’s house. Even if you say that Tsuruya-san’s family was here back in ancient peaceful times and has continued on to now, if we look at the changes in time, there must’ve been some difficult times. The treasure the ancestors left, wouldn’t it be a good time to use it then? This treasure map must’ve been followed by some Tsuruya leader way back when, or maybe they just wanted to pull a prank on their descendants. Like spending lots of energy digging up this treasure, only to find a slip of paper with ‘Try again.’ on it. I think the chance of this happening is quite big, this seems like just the type of thing that Tsuruya-san’s ancestors would do. Tsuruya-san herself said that. So that’s why she gave the map so casually to Haruhi. Tsuruya-san must’ve known that the leader of the Tsuruya house would do something of the sort. Also, using her imagination, she can see that they would laugh until their stomachs hurt if someone in the future actually tried to dig it up. This map is something that gets people excited at first, and in the end it’s just a joke that everyone can laugh at. What a-.
…Is what I wanted to tell everybody, but I had to keep it to myself and silently dig up dirt using the shovel.
Because it’s only a small hill, the area at the top of the hill naturally isn’t very big. Digging here and there up on the summit is just making burrows, basically. According to Haruhi, the only people supposed to be physically doing anything are me and Koizumi. Unlike the pretending-to-be-a-mole-while-smiling Koizumi, I keep feeling more and more mistreated. The holes we dig can be very dangerous if we don’t take care where we’re digging. So after digging it up, we have to put all the dirt back. Because of this pointless gesture, we have lots more work to do. I’m getting this feeling of being put into a work camp.
“Quit talking and dig faster.”
Haruhi sits at the side with her legs crossed, looking like the head commander of a great battle with her invincible smile as she directed us. The slight figure sitting beside Haruhi is Nagato; she’s currently sitting there reading a book. Asahina-san, sitting on the left, huddles close to Haruhi to keep warm.
“Kyon, isn’t it good that you get to do that? Since you’re sweating, you’ll feel warm. Look, the place where I’m sitting is very cold, and if you don’t dig up that treasure soon, I’ll be frozen solid. Is the way you’re digging wrong or something?”
I’m digging exactly where you tell me to dig. If you want to get some exercise, just choose another random spot and start digging yourself.
For some reason, Asahina-san, clinging to Haruhi’s arm, looks a little anxious.
“Umm… should I come and help?”
“No need,”
Haruhi replied very casually.
“This is good for Kyon. It’s his training for future careers in carpentry and other work. If he has no experience, it will be very tiring later on.”
I don’t want to hear any life lessons from someone my own age.
“Sometime later, you’ll reflect and will think about how great this experience was. That’s the way it is. People should do a bit of everything while they can.”
Then you come do it.
“Oy, Haruhi,”
I stopped digging and mopped my brow.
“Even if the way I dig is correct, we won’t find anything anyways. You can’t be planning to level this mountain, and we’re still not sure if the treasure exists.”
“What, after all this and you still don’t get it. We haven’t found out if it’s here yet.”
“We haven’t found it, therefore, we don’t know if it’s here or not. We should find out if that treasure exists first, then dig if it does.”
Haruhi’s jaw dropped in shock, but her eyes were bright and laughing.
“Isn’t this evidence?”
In her hand was the Tsuruya family’s handed down map.
“It says something’s buried up here, so something must be here. I trust Tsuruya-san’s ancestors. So there’s treasure here, there’s got to be!”
Even though she just made up a random, reasonless excuse, Haruhi still hadn’t changed her confident expression.
“But, I kind of a
gree.”
As if she were thinking of something, Haruhi tapped her forehead.
“Since they thought burying it on the top was too reckless, and climbing up is too troublesome, it’s probably a little bit lower than here. Un, I also wanted it to be in a more exciting place.”
Haruhi let go of Asahina-san’s hand and fixed up her shoes.
“I’ll start looking for other places something could be buried. Oh, and Kyon, go dig there for a sec.”
After telling me the newest location of digging, Haruhi walked towards the huge forest. She walked forwards where there was no path, exactly opposite from the way we came up, her shoes making a sound.
I silently gazed after the departing Haruhi. If my sense of direction isn’t wrong, if you go down that way, a flat kind of area will appear about mid-mountain. Then, push over that gourd-shaped rock. It will seem to be telling us to dig there, sort of like a giant marker.
Even though I could’ve done as Haruhi asked and dug a hole, I chose to throw down the shovel and let Koizumi have the job of filling in the hole, opting to sit on the mat.
“Here…”
Asahina-san poured the hot tea into a paper cup and gave it to me. This is a better source of nutrition than anything else anyone can give me. It’s very sweet; this sweetness is just like Asahina-san herself.
The mannered Asahina-san held onto the thermos, and she watched me finish the brown liquid with a smile on her face.
“Fufu, it’s a good day today. The scenery’s so beautiful……”
We looked into the distance as though nothing is happening around us. Facing south, we looked from the top of the mountain down. In the distance, I could just barely see the street by the hill where I lived, and beyond that, the sea.
Hyuu~, the wind started to blow. Asahina-san’s body started to tremble.
“The faster spring comes, the better. February’s so cold.”
I sense a kind of loneliness from Asahina-san, even though she smiled and looked around at the lovely scenery on the top of the hill.
Volume 7 - The Intrigues of Suzumiya Haruhi Page 16
