Suzumiya Haruhi:Volume4 Chapter1

From Baka-Tsuki

Chapter 1

In the morning, I woke up under my sister's usual killer blanket-strip-away move, together with the tri-colored cat that wrapped itself in the blanket beside me. This is my sister, the early-morning assassin who carried out Mom's orders dutifully.

"Mom said you should eat some breakfast properly."

Smiling, my sister held up the grudging cat from the bed with both arms, and brushed her nose against the back of its ears.

"Shami too! Time to eat!"

Shamisen, which became our house pet after the Cultural Festival, yawned with a blank face and licked its front paw. The originally-talkative tri-colored male cat had completely lost its voice, and established its status in our home as merely a pet. It had become a nondescript cat found everywhere – as if I had hallucinated that this cat had ever spoken in human language, now that I thought about it. The cat is great and not fastidious: its purrs are seldom, close to absent, as if it has forgotten cat language along with human language. Somehow it made my room its bed, and thus grew silent to the frequent dropping by of my sister, who is avid in taking care of Shamisen.

"Shamiiii, Shamiiii. It is time to eat!"

Singing with lyrics that didn't match the rhythm, my sister exited the room while hugging the cat with apparent effort. Getting goose bumps from the cold morning air, I glared down at the clock face for a short time. Finally I struggled up, abandoning the lingering affection for my warm bed.

Afterwards, I changed, washed, went down to the dining room, gulped down breakfast in five minutes, and exited the doorway much earlier than my sister. Today the weather was cold again, in good progress.

Until now, everything had proceeded normally.

I was climbing the usual slope when the familiar back-of-the-head was within sight. The figure ten meters or so in front of me was Taniguchi, no doubt. Usually, this guy gleefully bounces and jumps up the hiking path, but today he was definitely walking slowly. After a moment, I caught up with him.

"Hey, Taniguchi!"

It would be nice to take the initiative to pat him on the shoulder from time to time, I thought to myself, and did exactly that.

"...Hmm, Kyon?"

The voice was surely muffled. Of course; Taniguchi was wearing a white mask.

"What's up? Got a cold?"

"Eh...?" Taniguchi looked worn out. "A cold, as you can see. To be honest, I would rather take absence, but my old man was noisy about it."

He was so full of energy yesterday, but then suddenly caught a cold, I saw.

"What the hell? I was also feeling unwell yesterday! *Cough cough*"

Okay, don't mess up with my pace, just because I was not accustomed to seeing Taniguchi coughing and looking weak. But was he already close to being sick yesterday? I could only see the scatterbrain as usual.

"Hmm... Really? I did not intend to look well."

Taniguchi tilted his head, and I gave a spiteful smile.

"You had been piping merrily about your Christmas Eve date, hadn't you? Well, get well quickly, before the date! Such a chance rarely visits your door, you know!"

However, Taniguchi tilted his head even more.

"Date? What the hell? Idiot. I have no plans for Christmas Eve!"

The "What?" question should have come from me. What happened to his girlfriend at Kouyouen Girls High? Did he get dumped just last night?

"Hey, Kyon, what the hell are you talking about? I know nothing of this!"

Taniguchi grumpily shut his mouth, and turned to walk forward again. Every cold symptom seemed to be in effect, and his frailty did not look pretended. Moreover, judging from his condition, his date plans were surely toast, and he would just as surely be exhausted. With his pompous claims beforehand, it was definitely tearing his heart apart just to meet me face to face. I see, I see.

"Don't look so grim!"

I pushed Taniguchi's back.

"Why not join the Hotpot Party? We can still count you in now!"

"What hotpot? What party are you talking about? I don't remember hearing such a thing..."

Oh, really? The shock was so great that whatever I said would fall on deaf ears for quite some time, I guessed. Let me be the one holding his hand then. Everything would be solved by the vast never-ending flow of time. I would not mention the matter anymore, I promise.

Taniguchi continued to drag himself up, and I also continued my climb slowly besides him.

It was still impossible for me to notice at that moment.

I was caught off guard: the cold had turned into an epidemic within Class 1-5 without me noticing. I got into the classroom just before the bell rang, but there were still a couple of empty seats, and one fifth of the whole class had caught the white mask fad. The only explanation was that all of them had double booked their cold's incubation period and onset period.

I was even more surprised to find that the seat right behind me had been unoccupied since the first lesson.

"This is unbelievable..."

Was Haruhi taking sick leave? Was the cold that nasty and rampant this year? It is unbelievable that there are pathogens that exist which are courageous enough to invade her body, not to mention how unbelievable it is that Haruhi can be struck down by germs or viruses. The more convincing explanation was that Haruhi was preparing for some new scheme she had just thought of. Maybe there would be something else besides a hotpot?

The classroom ambiance was bleak, and it was not because there were no air-conditioners. A sudden increase in absentees. It even looked like the total population in Class 1-5 had somehow dropped.

It was true that I could not feel the overwhelming presence of Haruhi from behind. But at the same time, I also felt that the atmosphere had changed inexplicably.

Then came the lessons I took idly, after which, the lunch break smoothly followed.

As I was taking the stone cold lunchbox out of my bag, Kunikida approached with his lunch in one hand, and sat behind me.

"Seems like you are taking a break. Mind if I sit here?"

Kunikida said as he was unwrapping his Tupperware from its napkin. After becoming classmates in high school, it turned into half a habit to have lunch with this guy. I searched for my other lunch mate Taniguchi, but he was not in the classroom; perhaps he went to the school cafeteria.

I turned my chair sideways.

"Somehow the cold has suddenly turned so popular. Thank God I’m not infected, though."

"Hmm?"

Kunikida was putting his Tupperware carefully on the spread out napkin and examining the contents, and he returned a dumbfounded look at me. Moving his chopsticks like a crab with its claws, Kunikida spoke.

"Symptoms of the cold spreading were already noticeable a week ago! It doesn’t look like the flu, but it might be better if it were the flu. Since there are specific remedies nowadays."

"A week ago?"

I stopped cutting up my spinach-laced omelet, and asked again.

I could not think of anyone spreading the cold germs the same time last week. Nobody had been absent, and nobody was coughing in lessons as far as I could remember. Everyone in Class 1-5 looked healthy, but could it be that the Devil of Ailment had been operating secretly outside my sight?

"What? There were quite a few people absent. Didn't you notice?"

I didn't at all. Was that for real?

"Sure it is. It turned increasingly worse from the start of this week. Please don't isolate the whole tenth grade though. Winter break would be chipped off otherwise, I bet."

Kunikida stuffed some more furikake rice into his mouth.

"Taniguchi had also been green to the gills these days. His father's principle was to cure ailment by vigor, and he could not take leave unless his temperature was over 40 degrees (Celsius). I hope that he will be doing something before the cold gets worse."

I stopped my chopsticks.

"Kunikida. Sorry, but I thought Taniguchi started being almost dead today."

"Oh no, no way. He has been like that since the beginning of this week, hasn't he? He took a break from yesterday's physical education time."

I was becoming increasingly confused.

Wait, Kunikida. What on earth are you talking about? As far as I can remember, in yesterday's physical education lesson, Taniguchi took on a football rival match with vigor, as if he was on steroids. I could not be mistaken, as I was in the opposing team, and repeatedly slide-tackled him. I was not being resentful to Taniguchi's getting a girlfriend, but if I had known what would happen today I would probably have thought twice before tackling him.

"Are you sure? Really? That's strange!"

Kunikida tilted his head as he was picking out the carrots from the Kinpiragobou dish.

"Did I see it wrong?"

He said in an easy-going tone.

"Hmm, well we’ll see when Taniguchi comes back."

What on earth has happened today? Taniguchi and Kunikida are talking as if they were behind thick fog, and even Haruhi is absent! Don't tell me that this is an omen for happenings that trouble the whole human race except Haruhi. My usually nonexistent sixth sense began to sound sirens, and strange creeps suddenly ran up the back of my neck.

I was correct.

My gut feeling was not to be belittled. There was no doubt that it was an omen. What my gut feeling did not tell me was whom this would trouble. The whole human race except Haruhi… well, not exactly. Surprisingly as it seems, only one person noticed and was troubled by this turn of events. Except for this poor person, the entire human race was not at all troubled. It's because there was no way they could perceive the beginning of this incident itself. There's no way one could perceive something outside of one's perception. From their shoes, the world had not changed at all.

So who was the troubled one?

The answer was apparent.

Me!

I stood dumbstruck within the confusion, and ended up being left behind by the world.

Yes, I finally realized.

The lunch break of Dec 18.

The omen came in a physical form, and it opened the classroom door.

Wow! A couple of girls seating at the classroom front near the door burst into shouts of joy. The shouts were apparently from recognizing the classmate who just entered. From the gaps within the loose group of sailor clothes, I caught a glimpse of that person at the center of attention.

With a bag dangling in one hand, that person gave a smile to the approaching friends.

"Yes, I'm all right now. I felt much better right after I took the injection at the hospital in the morning. Having nothing to do at home, I figured I would come back to school, even just for the afternoon lessons."

A gentle smile answered the question if the cold had been cured. Ending the short lively conversation, with semi-long hair swaying, that person gradually... walked -- towards -- us.

"Oops, gotta go!"

Kunikida bit on his chopsticks and got up. For me, it was as if my vocal cords' voicing abilities had all been confiscated, or even as if I had forgotten to suck in oxygen through respiration. I merely stared at that person. The flow of time seemed infinite, but in fact, she had only walked a few steps. When the footsteps finally stopped, that person was standing right next to me.

"What's wrong?"

While looking at me, she said hackneyed expressions in a mystified tone.

"You look as if you’ve seen a ghost! Or is there something on my face?"

Then she turned to Kunikida, who was trying to tidy up his Tupperware.

"Oh, just let me hang my bag. Please continue with your lunch. I have already eaten before I came. During lunchtime, I will lend my seat to you."

Just as we were told, she hung her bag on the hook at the desk's side, and turned her body gracefully towards the ring of waiting friends.

"Wait."

I guess my voice must have turned shrill.

"Why are you here?"

That person turned around, and stabbed me with a cool glance.

"What do you mean? Is it strange that I am here? Or do you mean that it would be better if I were out with a cold for longer? What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Not that. I don't care if you have a cold or not. Not that..."

"Kyon."

Kunikida poked my shoulders worriedly.

"You are so strange today! Kyon has been saying strange things all day."

"Kunikida, don't you think of anything when you see this person?"

Unable to withstand it anymore, I stood up and pointed with my finger to that person, who was looking at me as if she witnessed an enigma.

"You also know who this is, don't you? This person shouldn't even be here!"

"...Kyon, how rude it is to forget your classmate's face just because she took a brief leave! What do you mean by that I should not be here? We have always been in the same class, haven't we?"

No way could I forget! This attempted murderer! Even if I were to forget the face of a person who would like to kill me, half a year was a little too short.

"I see."

That person spread a smile across her face, as if she had just thought of a super prank.

"You took a nap after lunch didn't you? Are you sure you are not having a bad dream? That should be it. Come on! Wake up!"

"You think so?" With a broad smile on her lovable face, that person turned to Kunikida for agreement. She took the appearance of the girl whose image had been etched into my brain and could not be shrugged off.

Flashbacks of various images. A classroom basked in sunset -- shadows extending on the floor -- walls without windows -- distorted space -- the wielding of a knife -- a wisp of a smile -- sand-like crystals that crumbled down...

Annihilated after defeat in her battle with Nagato, she was the original class representative, who on the surface, had transferred to a school in Canada.

Standing here was Asakura Ryouko.

"You'll be refreshed if you wash your face. Do you have a handkerchief with you? I can lend you mine."

Asakura put her hand into her skirt pocket, and I stopped her with my hand. Who would know if she took out more than her handkerchief?

"No thanks. Rather, tell me what is happening. Everything. In particular, tell me why you are leaving your bag at Haruhi's seat? This isn’t your seat, it's Haruhi's."

"Haruhi?"

Asakura knitted her eyebrows, and asked Kunikida.

"Who is Haruhi? Is there someone with such a nickname?"

Kunikida returned an answer that ended all hope.

"Doesn’t ring a bell. Haruhi-san... How do you write it?"

"Haruhi is Haruhi!"

I mumbled with a dazzling sensation.

"Have you all forgotten about Suzumiya Haruhi? How can you guys ever forget such a person?"

"Suzumiya Haruhi... Well, Kyon."

With a comforting voice, Kunikida slowly divulged.

"Such a person is not in our class! By the way, since the seating rearrangement earlier, this seat has already been Asakura-san's. Are you confused with another class? Hmm, I have never heard of a Suzumiya before. Shouldn't be in the tenth grade..."

"I don't have any idea either."

With the voice of a gentle cat, Asakura spoke as if urging me to receive treatment.

"Kunikida-kun, can you take a look inside my desk? At the corner there should be a class name book."

I snatched away the notebook that Kunikida took out. I first opened the page of Class 1-5 of the First year, and ran my finger against the list of girl names.

Saeki, Sakanaka, Suzuki, Seno...

Not a single name was between Suzuki and Seno. The name of Suzumiya Haruhi had disappeared from the class name book. Who are you searching for? Such a girl does not even exist in the first place! The page screamed out loud, and I closed the name book and my eyes.

"...Kunikida, I have a request."

"Yes?"

"Pinch me on the cheek. I want to wake up."

"Are you sure?"

He put his whole force in it. It was painful. But I did not wake up. Opening my eyes, I could still see Asakura standing there, curving her lips into an arc.

What on earth had happened?

I suddenly realized that we had become the center of attention in the class. The eyes were all focused on me, as if they saw an aging stray dog that suffered from canine distemper. Dammit! Why? I did not say anything wrong!

"Dammit!"

I asked two questions repeatedly to the people around me.

Where is Suzumiya Haruhi?

Didn't Asakura Ryouko transfer?

"Don't know."

"Nope, she didn't."

The answers I got did not smell good at all. As if on cue, they affected me to the point of dizziness and nausea. I could only support my body by putting my hand on a nearby table. Some part of my sanity seemed to be shattered.

Asakura put her hand on my wrist, and peered into me worriedly. The sweet aroma from her hair was like narcotics to me.

"Seems like you should go to the nurse's office. These kinds of things can happen when you are not feeling well. It must be so! Are you starting to develop a cold?"

No way!

I would like to scream out loud. I was not the strange one! This situation was strange itself!

"Get your hands off me!"

I pushed away Asakura's hand, and ran for the classroom exit. The slight unpleasant feeling on my skin was seeping into my brain. The cold that broke out all of a sudden, the gap in conversation with Taniguchi, the disappearance of Haruhi's name on the name book, the appearance of Asakura... What? Haruhi was gone? Nobody remembered her? That couldn't be! Wasn't this world revolving around that girl? Wasn't that girl THE Blacklisted Character on the Universal Scale?

On the verge of stumbling over, I pumped my legs hard, and stepped forth onto the hallway almost on all fours.

The first thing that came to mind was Nagato's face. She would definitely explain the situation to me. After all, it was Nagato Yuki, the silent but omnipotent alien android. Every single time she would sort things out. It is no exaggeration that I could survive thanks to Nagato.

I have Nagato!

And she would rescue a person like me from this stranded situation!

Nagato's class was in sight. Without needing to run, I arrived a few seconds later. Unable to think of anything, I opened the door and searched for the petite short-haired figure.

Not there.

But it was too soon to give up. In lunchtime she most probably was in the clubroom reading books. Even though she wasn't in the classroom, it would be unwise to conclude that even Nagato had disappeared.

The next guy in mind was Koizumi. The literature clubroom, located in the old wing, was far from here. The building was even beyond Asahina-san's eleventh grade classroom. It would be faster to go to Class 1-9 one story below. Koizumi Itsuki, just be there! In no other situation would I want to see his all-smiley face even more.

I ran at a dogtrot along the hallway, jumped down the stairs skipping three stair steps, and head towards Class 1-9 at the corner of the school building, while I was praying for that supernaturally powered dude to be there.

Passed Class 1-7, passed Class 1-8, and there Class 1-9 would...

"What? How come?"

I stopped, finally starting to realize, and checked once again the plates that hung out from the wall. On the left of Class 1-8 was Class 1-7. On the right of Class 1-8 was…

Only the staircase landing leading to the emergency stairs.

Nothing else. No trace of anything.

"Of all things who could imagine that…?"

Not to mention no Koizumi.

The entire class of 1-9 was gone.

I really had my hands tied now.

Who could have even imagined that the classroom that had existed yesterday would be gone today? It wasn’t as if just a single person had disappeared, the whole class had been erased, and the building itself shrunk. No matter how rushed the work was, it would be impossible to finish it all in just one night. Where had all the Class 1-9 people gone?

The great shock had knocked loose my perception of time. God knew how long I had frozen on the spot there, before I regained consciousness by a slight jab in my back. In the cloud I heard the voice of a biology teacher, who looked like a marshmallow hugging some textbooks.

"What are you doing here? Lessons have started! Return to your classroom!"

I must have missed the chime signaling the end of the break. The hallway was already cleared of people, and echoed only the raised voice of a teacher from the Class 1-7 classroom.

I staggeringly started to move. The time for ascertaining the signs was up. Things had already been set in motion. Those who should not have existed appeared, and those who should exist were gone. Exchanging Haruhi, Koizumi and all students in Class 1-9 for just Asakura was not up to scale!

"What the hell?"

If I wasn’t going nuts, the world had gone nuts.

Who did that?

Was it you, Haruhi?

Thanks to all that, I heard absolutely nothing from the afternoon lessons. All voices and sounds slipped straight out of my mind, and all information failed to be implanted in my brain cells. Before I noticed, even homeroom had finished, and time had become after school.

I was frightened, not so much by Asakura who was scribbling with her mechanical pencil behind me, but rather that both Haruhi and Koizumi were not at school. Even seeking reconfirmation from other people made me irritated beyond endurable limits. "Doesn't ring a bell." Every time I heard the line, I sank deeper into a bottomless swamp. I was not even recharged with enough energy to get my butt out of my seat.

Taniguchi walked straight home with Kunikida, who felt a little anxious about me. Asakura left the classroom in merry laughter with a couple of girls. She took a look at me before she headed out, a look showing sincere concern for a depressed classmate, and my head felt dizzy from it. Fishy. All of them.

Nearly dragged behind by some guys for cleanup duty, I finally managed to step out onto the hallway, with my bag in one hand.

After all, this wasn't where I belonged after class.

With a heavy heart I walked down the stairs and reached the first floor. Over there, a slit of light appeared in front of my eyes, and I dashed off towards it.

"Asahina-san!"

Could there be any merrier sight than that? Walking towards me from the other side was my goddess, my eye-stress relief medicine. What added joy to joy was the figure of Tsuruya-san beside the glamorous baby-faced beauty. The overwhelming joy busted my sensibility afar.

-- I probably should have been a little more prudent.

I rushed towards the two seniors with amazing speed, and gripped hard the shoulder of Asahina-san, who widened her eyes at me.

"He-eh!"

The shock was apparent on her face, but my mouth just kept on speaking.

"Haruhi is gone! Koizumi's class has turned into the Drifting Classroom! I haven't found Nagato yet, but Asakura is here, and the school's become a strange place itself! You're still my Asahina-san, right!?"

Bang! It was the sound of Asahina-san's bag and calligraphy set dropping onto the floor.

"Eh? Ah, he... Eh. Well...But..."

"So are you Asahina-san from the future?"

"...The future? What do you mean? And, please... let go of me."

The pit of my stomach cringed. Asahina-san looked at me just like a domesticated impala that had seen a wild jaguar. Her eyes were clearly filled with fright, and that was what I feared most.

Just as I was shocked stiff, I felt my arm twist upwards. Upsetting cracks sounded from my joints. Ouch!

"Wait a sec, young lad!"

Tsuruya-san grappled my arm using techniques from ancient martial arts.

"Stop jumping on people! Look, my Mikuru is shaking from head to toe!"

The voice was laughing, but the glance from her eyes was sharp as a sword. I looked at Asahina-san. She was definitely retreating with teary eyes.

"Are you a first-year from the Mikuru Fan Club? There are procedures to everything, young lad. Rushing things doesn't impress me."

The psychological chill I experienced so many times today ran down my spine.

"Tsuruya-san..." Still locked in a udegarami position, I wriggled out a sound.

Tsuruya-san looked me squarely in the face, as if I were a complete stranger to her.

Tsuruya-san, you too...?

"Hey, how come you know me? By the way, who are you? Mikuru's acquaintance?"

I saw something I least wanted to see. Cringing behind Tsuruya-san, Asahina-san gave me a closer look, and shook her head furiously.

"D...D...Don't know him at all. E..Eh. He must have confused me with somebody else..."

Feeling as if I received the scorecard of complete failure for this year, just when my tenth year was drawing to a close, my eyes grew faint. I would be silent to anyone attacking me with any words, but Asahina-san's words were the biggest shock to me, ever since my cousin, who I had a crush on when I was young, eloped with another boy.

Surely I did not confuse her with anybody else by calling Asahina-san Asahina-san, unless this Asahina-san was an Asahina-san from some other time. ... Oh, I got it! There was one way to find out whether this Asahina-san is actually the Asahina-san I knew, right?

"Asahina-san."

I pointed my free hand to my own chest. I can only say I lost my mind. My mouth moved itself with the following line,

"There should be a star-like birthmark somewhere around here on your chest. Do you have one? If you are okay with it, let me check--"

I was hit with a full-force punch.

By Asahina-san's fist.

Asahina-san, dumbfounded by the line I spurt out, turned redder by the second. Tears welled in her eyes, and in a slow, novice-like motion she blasted a right straight punch to my face. "...Urgh" a sobbing sound escaped from her throat as she ran off.

"Hey, Mikuru! Ah, whatever. And you, young lad, keep your otaku stench in check! Mikuru-chan is pretty timid, you know! If you dare to do anything to her again, you'll feel my hair-standing fury!"

Giving me an unwelcomingly tight final grip on my wrist, Tsuruya-san picked up the bag and calligraphy set on the floor, held them to her chest, and ran off chasing Asahina-san.

"Hey, wait a bit-- Mikuru--"

"..."

Watching them, stupefied, a cold wintery wind blew inside my head.

That's the end to it all, no doubt.

Could I survive tomorrow? If news that I made Asahina-san cry spread around the school, there would be more than a few guys who would come attack me. If the situation were reversed, I would do the same as well. Maybe I should prepare my will.

I was gradually pushed to my wit's end. I called Haruhi's cell phone, only to hear the operator's "the phone number you have dialed is no longer available." I had no record of her home phone number, and her name was erased completely from the namebook. I considered going off to her house, but on second thought I hadn't even been there before. It was unfair considering that Haruhi had been to my house, but it was too late to think of that now.

Disregarding the disappearance of Class 1-9, I went to the staff office to ask whether Koizumi or Haruhi was taking sick leave somewhere. The result was flat negative. There was no student in any class with the name Suzumiya Haruhi. There was no transfer student in this school or coming to this school with the name Koizumi Itsuki. Or so I heard.

I had come to a dead end.

Where could the leads be? Was this a Where's Haruhi game organized by Haruhi? Was it a game with the goal of reaching where the disappeared Haruhi had gone? But what was this game for?

I thought as I walked. Thanks to Asahina-san's single punch, my head cooled off a little. There was no use burning my ass off. In such a moment, I needed to be calm. Calm.

"Please, I beg you." I murmured.

There was only one destination now. It was the final foundation, the final absolute defense line. If this were to fall, then all would end. Game over.

The literature clubroom, located at the clubroom block normally referred to as the Old Block.

If Nagato wasn't there, what could I possibly do?

I slowed my pace deliberately, and inched towards the clubroom taking all the time I needed. After a few minutes, standing in front of the old and worn wooden door, I put my hand on my chest, confirming my heart rate. It was far from normal operation, but it was a lot better than at lunch break. Probably my senses had gradually gone numb after too many hits from the string of anomalies. I was driven to the corner. There was no path ahead of me except to barge into the cloud of darkness, with the worst-case scenario in my mind.

I skipped knocking on the door, and threw the door wide open.

"...!"

And then I saw.

A petite figure sitting on a makeshift chair, with a book spread at a corner of the long table in front of her.

It was Nagato Yuki, staring straight at me through her glasses, with her face written all over with surprise, her mouth popping open.

"You're here..."

I muttered a sigh of half resignation, half relief, and closed the door behind me. Nagato did not say anything as usual, but I couldn't loosen myself and rejoice. The Nagato I knew did not wear glasses, ever since the incident with Asakura. However, the Nagato here had the exact same glasses she had worn some time ago. I thought about it the second time, but Nagato just looked cooler without her glasses. That was my preference.

Moreover, that expression just didn't match. What was with her face, like a female Literature Club member caught off guard by a male student dashing in, someone she didn't recognize at all? What was with the surprise? Isn't it characteristic of Nagato to be furthest away from such emotions?

"Nagato..."

With the lesson from Asahina-san fresh in my mind, I managed to suppress my about-to-pounce upper body, and walked to the table.

"What?"

Nagato replied without moving an inch.

"Tell me. Do you know me?"

She tightened her lips, and pushed the bridge of her glasses. Then came a long period of silence.

I was thinking of giving up, and find myself a monastery to retreat from this world, when a reply came.

"I know you."

Nagato put her gaze somewhere around my chest. My hope welled. This Nagato might be the Nagato I knew.

"In fact, I also know a little bit about you. Would you listen to me for a second?"

"..."

"You are not human, but an organic android created by aliens. You had wielded impressive powers like magic several times, like the homerun-mode bat, and invasion to Cave Cricket Space..."

As soon as I started talking, a sense of regret gradually crept into me. Nagato was apparently making a strange face. Her eyes and mouth were open, and her gaze was wandering around my shoulders. The ambience around her read like she felt frightened to look straight at me.

"...That was you whom I knew all along. Was it correct?"

"I am sorry."

Nagato's reply made me doubt whether my ears were working properly. Why apologize? Why is Nagato saying this?

"I do not know. I know you are a student in Class 1-5. I see you from time to time. However, I know nothing except that. To me, this is the first time I've talked to you."

The final foundation turned into a house built on loose, weathered sand, collapsed and crumbled.

"...So you're not an alien? The name Suzumiya Haruhi does not ring a bell to you at all?"

Nagato tilted her head in confusion, savoring the word "alien" on her lips.

"Nope," she replied.

"Wait a sec!"

Except for Nagato, who else could I rely on? I was like an infant swallow being abandoned by its parents. My only chance of keeping sane was through her doing something. If this went on, I would go crazy.

"No way!"

Oh no, I was losing my composure once again. My mind was in confusion, with meteor showers of the three primary colors flying around like crazy, I circled around the table, and approached Nagato's side.

The pale fingers closed the book. It was a thick hard-cover. I could not catch the title in time. Nagato stood up from her chair, and shifted one step behind as if to retreat from me. Her two eyes, like polished black Go stones, were rolling in hesitation.

I put my hands on Nagato's shoulders. I lost my self-composure to look back to my recent failure with Asahina-san. I was totally focused on not letting Nagato go. If I hadn't grabbed her like that, all my friends would have slipped through the cracks of my fingers, I feared. I didn't want to lose anyone anymore.

With my hand feeling her body heat through the school uniform, I talked to her profile framed in short hair, as she was turning her face away from me.

"Please remember! The world changed when yesterday turned to today. Haruhi's been replaced by Asakura! Who is behind this player substitution? Information Synthesis Thought Entities? Asakura was resurrected, so you must know something! You and Asakura are from the same mold, right? What is this scheme, huh? Even if you use big words, you should still be able to explain--"

Just like what you have done all along, I was about to continue, but I sensed the feeling of liquid lead spreading inside my stomach.

What was this reaction... similar to a normal person's?

Nagato's eyes were tightly shut, and a blush of red began spreading on her ceramic-like pale cheek. Moans, like faint sighs, escaped from her slightly parted lips, and I finally noticed the quivering of her delicate shoulders under my hands, like a puppy under chilling air. A shivering voice reached my ears.

"Stop it..."

I recollected. For some time now, Nagato's back was stuck against the wall. In other words, I had forced Nagato against the wall without noticing. What had I done? I was behaving like a thug, wasn't I? If anyone had witnessed this, I would immediately have my hands handcuffed behind my back, and receive judgement from the public. When viewed objectively, I was nothing but a bastard who attacked a meek female member when there were just the two of us in the literature club room.

"I'm sorry."

Holding my hands up, I felt strength draining out of me.

"I didn't mean to attack you. I just wanted to confirm something..."

My knees felt weak. I pulled a nearby folding chair to my side, and collapsed in it like some mollusk straight after landing. Nagato did not move at all, with her back to the wall. It could only be considered lucky that she hadn't dashed out of the room.

I swept my eyes across the room one more time, and realized in one glance that this was not the secret base for the SOS Brigade. In this room were lines of bookshelves and folding chairs, and a desktop computer on top of a long makeshift table. The desktop was not the latest model Haruhi had snatched from the Computer Society using blackmail, but a model at least three generations older. Comparatively speaking, the processing power difference was like that between a two-horse phaeton and a maglev.

The Captain's desk, on which a prism with the word "Captain" was written on it, was nowhere to be found, as expected. The refrigerator and the rack of various costumes were absent as well. No board games brought by Koizumi. No maid. No Santa's granddaughter. Nothing at all.

"Damn it!"

I held my head with my hands. Game over! If this is someone's psychological attack, congratulations on her resounding success! I would give her first honor. So who was behind this experiment? Haruhi? Information Synthesis Thought Entities? Some undetected new enemy of this world? ...

It lasted for around five minutes. Struggling to lighten up my mood, I sheepishly lifted up my head.

Nagato, still plastered to the wall, fixed her ebony-like eyes on me. Her glasses were slightly tilted. My only thanks to the heavens were that Nagato's eyes did not show fear or horror, but glistened like those of a sister who was reunited with her supposedly-dead brother on a downtown street by chance. At least it didn't seem she was going to report the incident. In the midst of such panic, this was the only tiny source of relief.

Why don't you sit? I started, but realized that I had taken Nagato's chair. Should I give her the seat, or should I unfold another chair? Oh, and she might not want to sit near me.

"Sorry."

With one more apology, I stood up. Taking one propped up folded chair aside, I moved to the center of the room. Judging an ample distance from Nagato, I unfolded and sat on the chair, and continued to hold my head in my hands.

This was just one small literature club. One day in May, Haruhi dragged me here like a berserk industrial robot, and we met Nagato for the first time. The room I saw at that first encounter was exactly like this. At that time, this room was only equipped with the tables, the chairs, the bookshelves and Nagato. Since that time, miscellaneous accessories began to appear, all because Haruhi had announced, "From now on this will be our club room!" Among the accessories were a portable heater, a kettle, a clay pot, a fridge, a desktop...

"Wait."

I removed my hands from my head.

Wait. What was here again?

A hanger rack, a water heater, a teapot, teacups, an old radio cassette player...

"Not these."

Search for items that didn't exist in the room before it turned into SOS Brigade's den, existed afterwards, and exist now in this room!

"The desktop!"

The model was definitely different. Only the power cord crawled on the floor, so most likely it was not connected to the internet. However this was the only item that caught my attention. It was the only answer to the "Spot the Difference" game. (translator note: Referring to the game to catch differences between two pictures.)

Nagato was still standing. Her eyes were fixed on me for a long time, as if I were worthy of full alert. But when I turned my face towards her, her gaze immediately dropped to the floor. Taking a better look, I could actually see a blush of red again around her cheeks. Hey... Nagato. This isn't you! You never let your eyes wander and your face be reddened in confusion!

Maybe it was futile, but I pretended to be unperturbed as I stood up, in an attempt to not alert her.

"Nagato,"

I pointed to the back of the desktop.

"Could I play with this for a bit?"

Nagato's expression was first shocked, and turned little by little into perplexity, as her eyes darted between me and the desktop a few times. She inhaled deeply.

"One moment."

Clumsily she brought her chair in front of the desktop, pushed the switch on the main unit and sat down.

To boot up the operating system, it took as long as it took to cool down a hot can of coffee, just purchased, to a temperature cats could drink. After a sound resembling a squirrel's nibbling of tree roots finally came to a stop, Nagato swiftly operated the mouse, which I guessed was to move or delete files. Maybe there was something she didn't want others to see. I understood her feelings. I wouldn't want anybody to see the MIKURU folder either.

"Here you go."

In a small voice Nagato said without looking at me, left her seat and stood guard at the wall.

"Sorry for the trouble."

Settled on the seat, I quickly peered into the screen, and used all the techniques I could muster to search for the MIKURU folder and the SOS Brigade site file. The sense of futility weighed down my shoulder.

"...Not here."

Despite everything I had done, I couldn't find the connection. The proof of Haruhi's existence was nowhere to be found.

I wondered what data Nagato had hidden earlier, but I could feel a surveillant gaze shooting from behind. The atmosphere was like she was poised for pulling the plug immediately as soon as the not-to-be-seen data was about to be discovered.

I stood up from my seat.

The computer probably didn't contain any hints. What I really wanted to see was neither Asahina-san's photo gallery nor the SOS Brigade website. I was hoping to see a hint message from Nagato displayed, just like the time when Haruhi and I were imprisoned in the Sealed Reality. My hope was shot down mercilessly.

"Sorry for the fuss."

I apologized with a tired voice, and turned to the door. I'm going home. Then I'm going to bed.

Then something surprising happened.

"Wait."

Nagato pulled out a coarse piece of paper from a gap in a bookshelf, and stood in front of me hesitantly. With her eyes looking around the knot of my necktie, she spoke.

"If it's fine with you..."

She held out a hand.

"Take this."

The paper handed to me was a blank club sign-up form.

Well.

I should at least be thankful that I had already encountered all sorts of absurdity by now. Otherwise, I would, without a doubt, be running around looking for a counselor.

Examining the situation, either I had become nuttier than a fruitcake, or the world was completely off its tracks, but now I could almost cross out the former possibility. I am always the sober one, and I acknowledge myself as the levelheaded tsukkomi commentator towards everything under the Sun. Hey, I can butt in a comment even to this incomprehensible world, like this: Nandeyanen?/What the heck?

"..."

I grew silent, Nagato-style. In many ways, it turned a little cold. There was a limit to all my faked courage.

Nagato had turned into a bespectacled book-loving girl. Asahina-san had turned into a foreign senior. Koizumi had never transferred to North High, probably still studying somewhere else.

What on earth was this?

Did it mean I was to start over from the very beginning? If so, wasn't the season off? If it were a reset, it should have returned to the very beginning... which meant returning to the first day of high school life, didn't it? I had no idea who pressed the reset button, but changing only the environmental settings while keeping the time flow intact was just plain confusing, you know! Look at me now, completely disoriented and bewildered. I had thought that role was reserved only for Asahina-san!

And where was that other girl now? Where was that dumbass, getting away with her comfortable life, while I was out in the cold, in such a place?

Where is Haruhi?

Where are you?

Show your face, now! Is this unnerving or what?

"...Damn. Why do I need to search for you?"

Or, don't you exist at all here, Haruhi?

Stop the joke, will you!? I don't know why the heck I would think like this, but the story can't go on without you showing up! It is plain unreasonable to throw such depressing mournful emotions at just me! What's the matter with you?

With a lingering image of professional slaves carrying gigantic boulders up a slope for constructing a mausoleum, I looked up at the slightly overcast chilly sky from the connecting hallway.

The club sign-up form rustled inside my pocket.

When I returned to my bedroom, it was Shamisen and my sister who greeted me. My sister, with innocent laughter, was wielding a rod with a rumpled furball at the tip. Shamisen, lying flat on the bed, was repeatedly hit on the head by the rod. Shamisen narrowed its eyes as if it was annoyed, and sometimes raised its paws against my sister's attacks.

"Oh, welcome back~"

My sister looked up at my face with a smile.

"Dinner is about ready. Dinner-da-nya, Shami~"

Shamisen also lifted up its head, but soon gave a big yawn, and lazily fought back against my sister's continuous bristle grass attacks.

Ah, there was still one remaining hope in this.

"Hey."

I snatched the bristle grass rod, and hit my sister's forehead lightly.

"Do you remember Haruhi? How about Asahina-san? Nagato? Koizumi? Weren't we playing at the baseball match together, and appearing in the film?"

"What~, Kyon-kun? Not a clue~"

Then I held up Shamisen in my arms.

"When was this cat in this house? Who brought it here?"

My sister's round eyes became even closer to circles.

"Humm... Last month. You brought it back, Kyon-kun, didn't you? Remember? You got it from a friend who had moved abroad. Right, Shami~?"

Snatching the tri-colored cat from my arms, my sister brushed her cheek against it affectionately. Shamisen, which sleepily narrowed its eyes, looked at me from afar with an I-give-up expression.

"Give me that."

I grabbed the cat back. Shamisen's whiskers were shaking, apparently annoyed by being treated like merchandise. Sorry, I'll reward you with dried food afterwards.

"I need to have a word with it. Just the two of us. So, get out of my room. Now!"

"Hey, I'd like to talk too. That's unfair, Kyon-kun! Eh... You're talking with Shami? Eh? Really?"

Without further answers, I lifted my sister by her waist, and dropped her outside the room. "Don't open the door! No matter what!" I shut the door after the harsh warning.

"Mom~, Kyon-kun's brain has turned to noodles!"

My sister could be heard walking down the stairs, saying a line which might turn out to be right.

"So, Shamisen."

I sat cross-legged, and started talking to the precious tri-colored cat sitting on the floor.

"Okay, I told you before to stop talking no matter what. But now, never mind that. Rather, it would comfort me at this moment if you speak up. So, Shamisen. Say something. Whatever is fine. Philosophy, natural science, your choice. Even if it is difficult to understand. Please speak!"

Shamisen looked up at me with a bored face. As if bored off its ass, Shamisen began to lick its fur.

"...Do you understand what I said? Do you mean you cannot speak, but you can still listen and understand? Why not put out your right paw when it's a Yes, and your left paw when it's a No?"

With my palm up, I poked my hand against its nose. Shamisen smelt my fingertips for a moment, but as expected, it returned to lick its fur, without saying anything or showing any understanding.

Normal, I guess.

This cat spoke only when we shot the film, and it was only for a short moment. At the same time we stopped shooting the film, this cat turned back to a normal cat. A normal cat that could be found anywhere, and could only be associated with verbs like eat, sleep and play.

I know one thing. In this world, no cat can speak.

"Isn't that normal?"

Exhausted, I fell flat on my back, and stretched my arms and legs. Cats don't speak. So the strange time was when Shamisen had opened up to speak, not now. Or was it?

I would just want to be a cat. Then I could quit thinking about anything, and live my life on basic instincts.

I remained in such a position, until my sister came back telling me dinner was ready.

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