I don’t think I’ve had the fortune to encounter Nagato’s imposter yet. Though I’ve seen her behaving in a completely different way before, but that’s all in the past now.
“You should be happy,” I said, “Your future bride ten years from now has come to see you, can’t you at least pretend to be moved?”
“Umm… hmmmm,”
Nakagawa mumbled and nodded his head,
“That’s Nagato-san… alright. No doubt about it. That was neither a twin sister nor a doppelganger.”
What the hell are you trying to say? Don’t go telling me that she isn’t Nagato just because she isn’t wearing glasses. Haven’t you seen Nagato recently yourself? Nagato had already heeded my request back then and stopped wearing glasses since. I’m not accepting any lame excuse like you having a fetish for glasses and so can’t accept Nagato now, I’m telling you.
“No, that’s not it!”
Nakagawa lifted his head, his face looked troubled,
“I don’t know how to say this… please let me think, Kyon. I’m sorry…”
Nakagawa then sat on the bed and began groaning. Has he bumped his brains out after all? His reaction was totally unexpected. There was no point talking to him. No matter what I said, he would just reply with an “hmm”, as though trying to think seriously on something. In the end, he even clutched his head as though having a headache. I didn’t have the patience to play with him forever, so I decided to leave the ward,
“Nakagawa, I’ll have to ask you for the details later. I can’t give her a reasonable reply like this…”
My report for Haruhi would have to wait as well. If I told her what had happened, she would simply glare at me.
Exiting the ward, I found Nagato leaning against the wall waiting for me.
Exiting the ward, I found Nagato leaning against the wall waiting for me. Her dark bead-like eyes turned towards me, and then turned to the floor.
“Let’s go,”
Nodding her head slightly, Nagato resumed her role as my personal ghost and obediently walked behind me.
Just what was going on?
Like a tiger beetle, I walked ahead of Nagato, who remained silent all along, and hurried towards the bus stop.
The scene that followed at the coffee shop was a scene most of you are familiar with. Haruhi laid out her plans for the winter vacation and chattered away, Koizumi nodded with mechanical efficiency, Asahina-san slowly sipped her Darjeeling tea, I wore the look of being at a loss on what to do, while Nagato played her role of the silent listener without any opinions from beginning to end.
The bill was evenly divided amongst us in the end, and so today’s SOS Brigade activity had come to a conclusion. When I arrived home, what awaited me was…
“Kyon-kun! You came back just in time, you’ve got a phone call…”
My sister held out the cordless phone in one hand, while she carried Shamisen with her other arm and smiled at me. I received both the phone and Shamisen and proceeded to enter my room.
As expected, that call was from Nakagawa.
“I really don’t know how to say this…”
For everyone’s information, this call was made from the hospital’s pay-phone. Nakagawa’s voice indeed revealed something that seemed hard to say,
“Can you please relay a message, that I would like to cancel my wedding appointment?”
He sounded like one of those medium to small-sized corporate presidents begging for a postponement in payment of their ever increasing debts.
“Care to tell me why?”
While I sounded like a creditor in a very bad mood towards a hapless business owner,
“You went to describe your dream of living together as a happy couple all on your own, and now you’re saying you want to give up after just one day? Then what was the meaning of all this yearning for these past few months? You’re saying you’ve changed your mind after meeting Nagato? If you don’t give me a very good reason, you can forget about me relaying the message for you.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not even sure I understand myself…”
Nakagawa’s apology seemed sincere…
“When she rushed to the hospital to see me, I was very happy and grateful that she did. But unlike before, Nagato-san this time didn’t have those illuminated rings or aura about her. She just seemed like a normal girl one would find anywhere in the streets. No, she was a normal girl no matter how I looked at her. As to why she became like that, even I find it hard to explain.”
My mind came up with Nagato making an expression that says, life is unpredictable.
“Kyon, since then I’ve been thinking seriously, and have finally come to a conclusion. I was deeply in love with Nagato-san in the past, but now I don’t feel any affection towards her. That means I must have got it wrong in the first place.”
What do you mean you got it wrong?
“I made a mistake. It wasn’t love at first sight. Now that I think about it, there’s no such thing as love at first sight. And yet I’ve been mistaken, thinking that’s what my feeling was.”
Okay. Then what were your claims of having seen Nagato engulfed in a white angelic halo, and going through a feeling of being struck by lightning all about? How do you explain the amazing fact that you would be frozen stiff at the sight of Nagato?
“I really don’t know,”
Nakagawa’s voice sounded so apologetic that he sounds as though he was begging for the weather forecast for the next hundred years,
“I haven’t got a clue. The only explanation I can think of is that it has all been a hallucination…”
“Oh really?”
Though I sounded rude, I didn’t intend to blame Nakagawa at all. In fact, I wasn’t surprised. Because things didn’t go beyond my expectations. When I first heard Nakagawa rave about his delusions, I had already guessed what this was all about.
“Alright, Nakagawa. I’ll relay the message for Nagato. I’m sure she wouldn’t be too disappointed, since she never really gave a thought to you in the first place. She’ll probably forget about you in an instant.”
I could hear a breath of relief through the phone.
“Really? If that’s true, then thank goodness. Otherwise I really wouldn’t know how to apologize to her. My nerves must have gone haywire back then.”
That has to be it. There’s no doubt about it, Nakagawa’s nerves weren’t functioning properly at all back then. But they’re all back to normal now. Someone must have cast a restoration spell on him, perhaps?
I then had a short chat with Nakagawa, until his phone card was running out of credit, and we said goodbye. It was good that way, as we may yet meet again.
After hanging up, I quickly called another number,
“Are you free to come out now?”
I arranged a time and location for the person on the other side of the phone, then picked up my scarf and coat. Shamisen, who was lying sprawled out on my coat, got rolled off onto the carpet where he looked at me with a scowl.
After a busy day yesterday, today, which was just as hectic, was soon coming to an end.
I pedaled on my bike and headed towards that holy ground for peculiar people, the park in front of the station near Nagato’s apartment complex. Nagato had called me out to meet her there back in the beginning of May. When I traveled with Asahina-san back in time to Tanabata three years ago, I also woke up in that place. And recently, when I went back in time for the second time, I was sitting right there with the grown-up version of Asahina-san. All these past memories came flooding back to my head.
I rode near the entrance of the park and parked my bike there, and then walked towards the park.
Sitting on the park bench full of memories waiting for me was a person wrapped in a hooded coat like one of those Jawas. Under the illumination of the street lamp, she looked as though she had emerged from the darkness itself.
“Nagato,”
I said to the little figure that was looking at me,
“Sorry for calling you o
ut all of a sudden. It’s just like what I told you over the phone, Nakagawa’s changed his mind.”
Nagato stood up naturally and nodded her head slightly, she then said,
“I see.”
I gazed at Nagato’s pitch black eyes,
“Isn’t it time you tell the whole truth now?”
As I came rushing over by bike in the fastest speed possible, my body still felt warm, so I could still stand like this in the middle of a chilly night for a little longer,
“I can understand Nakagawa falling in love with you at first sight, since everyone has their preferences. But the way he changed his mind today was just too unnatural. Not to mention after today’s game… after Nakagawa got injured and was sent to hospital, all the affection he had for you had disappeared, so I’m guessing that his injury was not a coincidence,”
“…”
“Were you pulling any strings? I know you did something during the match. It was you who let Nakagawa get injured, right?”
“Yes.”
After replying swiftly, Nagato lifted her head to face me, and then said,
“The one whom he had fallen for was not me.”
Her tone was so plain it sounds like she’s reciting an essay,
“What he had seen was not me, but the Integrated Data Sentient Entity instead.”
I silently listened, while Nagato continued in the same expressionless tone,
“He had the extra-sensory ability to interact with the Integrated Data Sentient Entity using me as an interface.”
I could feel the cold wind biting my ears.
“However, he did not understand what he had just seen. Humans are organic lifeforms after all, and are thus on a totally different recognition level from the Integrated Data Sentient Entity.”
…“A glowing aura behind her back… as holy and pure as the heavens shining upon the earth…” That was what Nakagawa had said.
Nagato continued her explanation without showing any emotions,
“He must have seen the culmination of aeons of knowledge that has transcended time and space. Even though the data that he had extracted from the interface was very insignificant, it was enough to overwhelm him.”
And that was why he got it wrong… right? I looked at Nagato’s messy hair and sighed. The “inner character” that Nakagawa felt was merely just a part of the Integrated Data Sentient Entity. While I didn’t completely understand it, Nagato’s boss is a powerful existence that possesses an enormous history and knowledge well beyond the grasp of humanity. It now became clear why Nakagawa, who had accidentally stumbled upon this knowledge, became so disoriented. It’s just like unwittingly opening an attachment that carries a malicious program, eventually your computer would be hijacked and there is nothing you can do about it.
“So that’s why Nakagawa would mistakenly think that he had fallen in love?”
“Correct.”
“So… you decided to amend his feelings during the football game?”
In place of a spoken reply, the messy haired bowl head nodded and then said,
“I analyzed the powers that he possesses, and then had them deleted.”
Nagato continued,
“The capacity of a human brain is too small to connect with the Integrated Data Sentient Entity. I foresaw that he would continue to behave in such a way if left unattended.”
This I understood. Putting aside Nakagawa’s reaction of going into a trance upon seeing Nagato, just the fact that he has waited for nearly half a year before telling me his plans for the next ten years was proof that his brain has been short circuited. If he was allowed to go on like that, who knows how crazy he would get. I shuddered just thinking about it.
Yet, there was something else I didn’t understand.
“Why did Nakagawa have such powers? Was he born with the ability to see the Integrated Data Sentient Entity through you?”
“He probably began possessing such powers three years ago.”
Three years ago again? The reason Nagato, Asahina-san and Koizumi are here was all because of something that happened three years ago. Or to be precise, something Haruhi caused to happen…
At this point, I realized one thing.
The extra-sensory ability that Nagato had mentioned. If that’s what it was… I get it now. Who knows, Nakagawa could probably be a back-up esper to Koizumi. In spring three years ago, Haruhi indeed did something. She caused a temporal faultline to appear, created a data explosion, and gave birth to espers around the world. If that’s the case, then it wouldn’t be surprising if Nakagawa were to replace Koizumi as the esper by her side. Koizumi’s enigmatic sentence now made perfect sense. Whether he already knew, or just happened to find out about it these past two days, that fellow must have realized Nakagawa possessed some semi-esper powers. That was why he implied that I had a lot of “extraordinary” friends.
“It is possible.” Nagato said.
Or it could be… I felt a shiver that had nothing to do with cold weather. Not everything can be traced back to that single incident three years ago. Haruhi might still have the ability to influence other people in a supernatural way even now. Just like allowing the cherry blossoms to bloom in autumn, turning all the pigeons’ feathers in the shrine to white overnight. She’s still spreading her influence to the people around her to this day.
“…”
Nagato stood there motionless without answering me, or maybe she has said everything she wanted to say and began to walk off. She slowly went past me, who was also standing motionless, and began to go back into the darkness, like a wandering ghost about to ascend into the realm beyond…
“Wait, can I ask you just one more question?”
Nagato’s silhouette gave me an impression that was hard to describe, I instinctively called and stopped her.
Claiming to fall in love with Nagato at first sight, and coming up with an extremely embarrassing love letter, Nakagawa was, according to my knowledge, the first person to declare his love for Nagato. After hearing me recite his wedding proposal yesterday, what was going on in her mind? Someone came to declare his sincere love for you, telling you “I love you, let’s make a happy future together”, but after a whole day, it turns out that he was just mistaken. Just how did you feel about that?
The questions in my heart finally formed into words and came out of my mouth,
“Don’t you find it a pity?”
In the past few months since we met, I’ve shared many memories with Nagato. Though I’ve also shared memories with Haruhi, Asahina-san and Koizumi, I found that I’ve experienced more events with Nagato in particular. In fact, every situation seems to involve her. I might as well mention this, she’s probably the only person to cause the bell within me to shake the most vigorously. No matter what happens, Haruhi would always find a way out, Asahina-san only needs to remain as herself, while Koizumi can go to hell for all I care, but…
I finally couldn’t resist asking a question which I’ve been dying to ask,
“When you realized that his confession was all just a misunderstanding, did you feel any pity about it?”
“…”
Nagato stopped, and sort of turned her face towards me. A sudden wind blew by and covered Nagato’s face with her hair.
The night wind was so cold as though it could slice off my ears. After waiting for a while, a tiny voice travelled through the wind and into my ears,
“…A little bit.”
Where did the Cat Go?
The end of the year is creeping up on us in the middle of the winter break. Originally we expected to be looking forward to Koizumi and his merry men’s detective game production; however on the very day that we had arrived at Tsuruya-san’s villa, we found ourselves lost inside that strange house that was seemingly a mere daydream. This event led to a state of emergency with Nagato having fainted on the ski slopes and Haruhi screaming and yelling over it.
Fortunately Nagato’s health has returned after coming back to normal space
. No matter how I put it, this has been one very hectic day. The date on the calendar is still the thirtieth of December, a day before New Year’s Eve.
Come tomorrow - which is New Year’s Eve…
The project, long in planning, is going on as planned. That project is simply the surprise activity that busybody Koizumi will host, really unnecessary: the winter version of that messed up detective game. The only difference compared to the last game is that we know from the beginning that this is merely a game and that it is at the heart of the whole co-ed experience. As for the disaster on the snow mountain, that mirage of a mansion, the fake all-nude Asahina-san, some principle of Mr. Euler and Nagato out cold with a high fever, this was all just an unanticipated prelude. That incident wasn’t Haruhi’s style, and I really want to have a word with the nameless perpetrator. Although Nagato fell, at least Koizumi and I — it is debatable as to whether or not Asahina-san (small) contributed at all — had managed to somehow get us through the maze.
Right now in this villa, we also have Tsuruya-san, who doesn’t seem to be the average person, as well as Koizumi’s associates, which would become an even more unnatural circumstance should I overlook them.
Finally, in a very SOS Brigade-esque… no, I should say very Haruhi-esque fashion, we can finally proceed ahead as planned with the extra-curricular activities.
Concern about how this year would end lingers on in my head and won’t go away. It seems that only I have that question, so I better keep my mouth shut as I’m in the minority.
Let us verify the cast for this act: there is myself, Haruhi, Nagato, Asahina-san, Koizumi, Tsuruya-san, my sister, Shamisen, Mori-san, Arakawa-san, as well as Tamaru Keiichi-san, and his brother Yutaka-san.
Haruhi proposed that the sequel to the Mystery Tour should begin as soon as possible.
On New Year’s Eve, after finishing the breakfast prepared by Mori-san and Arakawa-san, we start by gathering on a raised public meeting space on the ground floor of Tsuruya-san’s estate. This area is as large as at least 20 tatamis and all covered with cypress wood flooring, similar to a wooden stage made for speech-making or to put on a drama. There are eight sunken hearths that comfortably seat eight individuals each. Of course, the floor also has heating and a warm breeze comes from an efficient electric heater, all of which keeps people in the public area and the walkway really cozy.
Volume 6 - The Wavering of Suzumiya Haruhi Page 12
