Suzumiya Haruhi:Volume7 Chapter 4

From Baka-Tsuki

The second morning, I was awakened by my little sister who came to shut off my alarm.

"It's noisy, isnt it Shami?"

My sister picked up a curled-up Shamisen, hugging him close, and then put that pile of fur on my nose, asking,

"It's breakfast~~. Are you gonna eat~?"

This voice, which belongs to a tone-deaf person who constantly practices singing in order to get good at it, irritated my brain more than the alarm did.

"I'm eating."

I brushed away the claws my sister was playing with and picked myself up. Then I lifted Shamisen from my sister's wrist and shifted him down off my bed. Being the bothersome cat he is, he 'hmphed' and jumped right back onto my bed.

So then I changed, my sister standing by the side there pinching Shamisen's furry cheeks. He immediately resisted and started to scamper away with a 'pata pata', only to have two hands latch onto his tail. So he let out a complaining 'gnnyaa!' and promptly escaped by running out of my room, my sister in pursuit. Since they started this noise first thing in the morning, I was awake in no time at all.

As I walk out of my room and start to wash my face, I see my sister crooning 'Kitty scarf~' while draping Shamisen on the back of her neck. Shamisen is hanging on to my sister's woolen sweater, trying to defy her as best he could. Accordingly, I decide to ignore them calmly.

I brushed my teeth while looking at my oh, so lively face in the mirror and wondering what day today was, all the while aimlessly thinking about random stuff, like the cold wind outside. The freezing gales outside are sort of like omens. I'm guessing spring is almost here. If possible, I’d like to be a freshman for a while longer, in the year where nobody knows me yet. ——Not if it involves repeating a year though—— Also, I hope the weather won’t get colder. I don’t mind digging for treasure, or wandering around the city, but I do want it to become warmer. It’s February already, February.

But, if someone had told Haruhi about this activity any month, we would have had to do it then. Good thing nobody told Haruhi about going diving for sunken treasure or something. Yes, keep it like that.

After eating breakfast, I realized that I would be climbing up that mountain again, so I put on my jacket, then I walked to the station. I didn’t ride my bike, since we’re going to the Tsuruya family’s mountain. It's just a bus ride, and obviously meeting at the mountain itself would have allowed us to get started earlier. This method of gathering one by one is obviously pointless, as proven by experience.

One side of my head was taking a bath in something that seemed like the North Wind in all its glory doing battle with the sun, so I hid my face in my scarf and walked forwards. I didn’t walk especially fast, but this wasn’t because I had lots of time until the deadline, but because even if I’m on time, I’m always the last one to arrive. It usually goes like that. The only time I’ve ever been the person waiting for the others was that one time.

So, when I finally got to the train station, it was already 5 before 9. The other SOS members had assembled already, and were all staring at me.

Haruhi’s face looked like she was going to pass Divine Judgment on me.

“Why are you always late! I had hoped that when I got here, everybody would be gathered and waiting for me. Don’t you feel ashamed for making the Brigade leader wait?”

One person who understands my pain is obviously not you. You always say something about the other three people arriving before you, leaving me as the only one to arrive after. Some comment along the lines of me not having to pay for everyone’s drinks is just because you said I didn’t have to. So, then you’d say you wish I would reflect on this.

“What are you talking about. Is the late person not you?”

Haruhi happily looked at me.

“What is it, Kyon, you look 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.

[T/L note : Undecipherable sentence; will attempt later] I think that, in all this time, I’ve never seen Asahina-san in the same outfit twice.

“Obentou (???), 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 obentou 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 obentou 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 forwards. 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 very [T/L note : Blonde moment.]

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 worshiping 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!”

If what we dug up was gold coins from the Genroku era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genroku) 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-mol-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. My body’s movement..? >.< [T/L note: Ugh.]

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 agree.”

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-ish 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.

“If the flowers bloom, this will be a calming, comfortable place.”

Then, let’s come again some other time. Next time to view the flowers. After about two months, the cold air will disappear, when the warm air comes in, then we come.

“Ah, that, that’s good. Flower viewing. I’ve always wanted to.”

Asahina-san hugged her knees and changed the way she was sitting.

“April, I guess. I’ll already be a third-year when that time comes.”

Probably. I’ll hopefully be a second year too. If Asahina-san passed, she would be a third-year student. Unless she fails.

“Eh, no problem.”

Even though she said this, it seems liked she was saying it while sighing.

“But, it would be good if I could be a second-year again. I slightly think that. I want to be classmates with Kyon and everybody. As of now, there’s only me who's a year higher than everyone, but I don’t feel like an upperclassman at all……”

Asahina-san caring about something like this is very normal. A childish face, not very tall, yet beautiful, blossoming, charming young girls will idolize her. The one that got her to join on the basis of this unreasonable thing was Haruhi, one you cannot argue with and win. If she ever thought about wanting Asahina-san to be in the same grade as us, she herself couldn’t care less if it took failing a grade or going back a grade. She'd say something like, it’s okay, you just need to be the SOS Brigade’s amazing maid.

“Ufu. Thanks.”

Maybe because she’s worrying since Nagato sitting near her, Asahina-san softly said.

“It’d be good if we can also do stuff next year……”

Just as I was about to tell her about the other Asahina-san, Haruhi returned, breaking through branches and undergrowth recklessly.

“What, you’re resting already?”

I haven’t for about two hours, I think.

“Fufun, whatever. I’m starting to get hungry too.”

Haruhi looked very happy as she bounced back.

“Mikuru-chan, let’s eat.”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

The form of Asahina-san opening the basket looks very godly. She took out, one by one, handmade sandwiches, triangular onigiri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onigiri), and several other simple dishes. To me, this is the real treasure, saying I came here today just to eat this isn’t really lying.

“…………”

Nagato silently closed her book, and stared at Asahina-san’s hand. Koizumi, since he had finished filling in the hole, walked over after sticking the shovel in the soft dirt.

“It looks really good.”

I gently said what I thought before I started.

“Of course it’ll be good. Because you’re eating it after exercise.”

Haruhi randomly decided another thing for me. She then poured hot tea into her cup. When she was done, she lifted the thermos into the air.

“Well, I hope we can find some treasure, everyone can have a bit.”

Looking at this scene here, it seems like we’re on a picnic. If you ignore the dirt on me and Koizumi, that is.

Even Haruhi, putting [Nori http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nori] in her mouth while looking sideways, has forgotten that we came here today to look for treasure, as she eats the lunch Asahina-san made. Although Koizumi and I haven’t dug anything up yet, even if we use the shovels and randomly dig, it wouldn’t be considered weird. Today, Haruhi seems almost too happy. It seems as though the whole purpose of coming here today was to eat lunch with everybody.

Like Asahina-san’s (Big) notes from the future, Haruhi’s actions lately have been confusing me quite a bit. Suddenly going into a melancholic stage, and then suddenly wanting to scatter those beans, making me think she was a bit more mature now, at least. But then she used that treasure map to cause this……

Well, is it bad if it keeps going like this? If we compare this with the time I got put into the Avatars’ closed space, or when it was clearly Autumn but the cherry blossoms had appeared and were filling in the classroom, this place is only as difficult as having to choose to return home by either the light of the moon or the Andromeda galaxy. The pressure is different, [T/L note: You know what, I give up on this line. No matter how I word it, it’ll be crap.]

Five people eating a picnic together’s actually quite fun. The unstopping, continuously eating Nagato made me feel right at home. She’s still the same as when I first met her. And with this, Haruhi’s energy is more than enough and Koizumi’s the same as he always is. If I say Asahina-san’s the same as usual, it’s not wrong, but there’s another little Asahina-san living at Tsuruya-san’s house right now, just like a little lost cat. As soon as I think of this, I lose my easiness.

“Hey, Kyon. If we find any treasure, what do you plan on doing with it?”

Asked Haruhi after she took a bite out of a pork sandwich. This is the type of thing I frequently daydream about, so I already have an answer.

“I would change it immediately to cash and go buy a new game system. And with the leftover money, I would buy new video games. Then, if I still had some, I would go to the bookstore my mother took me too a couple of years ago, and buy every manga I couldn’t afford before. I would then proceed to save the rest.”

“That’s -. How is that any different from how you use your allowance? You have to have bigger and grander dreams.”

Having finished that pork sandwich in the blink of an eye, Haruhi looked at me as though pitying me. She smiled sympathetically. Then you decide what to do with your share, let’s hear it.

“About gold and money, I don’t actually want it a lot. Treasure that can be exchanged for money, likewise. Since it’s something we worked hard to get, we must take extremely good care of it. This is because we are going to bury it somewhere ourselves. Then we’ll give our descendants a treasure map, don’t you feel this is something money can’t buy?”

If it’s children, I guess they would love this kind of treasure hunting game. I shouldn’t only think of using the treasure like my allowance. If it’s something useful, I will keep it happily. If it’s something useless, we might as well bury it or throw it out.

“That's boring.”

Just like a jester, Haruhi’s lip curled and she started to laugh.

“Maybe. If it’s going to be like Kyon’s foolish idea, I think it would be better if the treasure wasn’t one you could exchange for money. Mikuru-chan agrees too, right?”

“Eh-?”

Asahina-san suddenly got asked a random question. Her half-finished onigiri dropped down, and her graceful hand covered her now-chewing mouth. Her eyes whipped over.

“Ye……Yeah, I agree. Wait, no……Um, that kind of thinking seems to be more joyful……”

I wonder why Asahina-san didn’t finish her sentence, and, after seeing both Haruhi and I staring at her with inquisitive eyes, nervously waved her hands around.

“De, I just hope we can find the treasure.”

“Don't worry, treasure will be dug up. I know it.”

Haruhi always says these baseless things, and now she has shoved a whole salad sandwich into her mouth, both her cheeks were very full.

Nagato, sitting on the corner, also displayed a Haruhi-like appetite, and steadily ate. Koizumi, at the side, seemed to be pretending to be a young idol, as he knelt on one knee there. As my line of sight moved over, Koizumi just quietly slanted his paper cup and looked at me with a slight smile. As Asahina-san cleaned up the bentous, Haruhi and Nagato just sat there staring off into space.

For this short time, the messages from the future, the other Asahina-san in Tsuruya-san’s house, it all disappeared from my mind. Maybe it’s because our whole group is together and happily eating a picnic lunch that I feel so joyful. An out-of-season mountain hike, a pointless treasure hunt, a content Haruhi, an unchanged Nagato and the same-as-usual Koizumi and Asahina-san, when I see them like this, for the moment I feel that nothing’s going to go wrong.

Iya……I might as well assume that nothing’s going to go wrong.

That’s what I should think. So, I should just do what I need to tomorrow and the day after that, in my future.

So, just like that, the vivacious lunch ended. My stomach is very full, and since we have nothing else to discuss, Haruhi and I drank tea while talking about trivial matters. Then Haruhi clapped her hands together and stood up. Things that must happen must happen sometime, said the other side of my heart.

“Okay, the treasure hunt in the afternoon is going to start.”

Haruhi squinted at Asahina-san, who was currently cleaning up the lunchboxes and thermos.

“I just walked down the mountain from there. This mountain is covered in trees, there’s not a good place at all for digging. From this, I came to the conclusion that it must be buried somewhere without trees. If there are trees growing on top, we can’t dig holes there.”

Haruhi made me pick up the shovel.

“But, there’s progress, I found a very suitable place to dig at. Let’s go together. It’s straight down this way. It’s also faster to get home, so we shouldn’t have taken that bus, this is the shorter path.”

I noticed Koizumi had already put the shovel onto his back and was prepared to descend down. Nagato folded the mat and held it, Asahina-san held both the baskets, and I got ready very quickly too.

Haruhi was just like a Kamoshika (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Serow), and she quickly jumped through the rocks and branches. And even on this steep of a path, Nagato’s still walking with ease.

“Ah, that was close.”

Nagato pulled on Asahina-san, who almost fell several hundred times. Koizumi and I both have heavy shovels in our hands, we couldn’t help her at all. I really want to throw away this shovel and help Asahina-san, but I guess I can just leave her to Nagato. Asahina-san, who always says thank you after being helped, is extremely polite.

It’s a good thing our path is pretty much just going in a straight line down the mountain. Compared to our climbing time, it’s almost faster than I can imagine, and we got to the site faster than I expected.

“Here. Look, don’t you think this is an unnatural plateau?”

We stopped and looked like she told us too. No doubt about it, this is the place Asahina-san (Michiru) and I came to two days ago. It’s shaded by tall trees and the sunlight is dull and dim. The ground is littered with leaves that form an odd crescent shape. I strongly feel that I’ve seen this somewhere before.

The stone gourd is still in the where we left it. This is the rock I moved three metres west, and just like that other day, I have another situation to through. At least the rock isn’t as white as it was two days ago. Ah, I see, it’s because it rained. Because the whole stone got extremely wet, the colour turned darker, but it also got rid of the excess dirt. If you don’t look closely, the colours of the previously exposed and buried parts are not that differentiable.

Ah, Haruhi. As she walks in a circle around the rock, I’m already becoming slightly nervous. I hope her extremely sharp sixth sense doesn’t sense anything weird. Haruhi suddenly put one foot on the rock, and expressionlessly pushed it to the side. After that, she didn’t care about the rock and just sat on it.

“Kyon, Koizumi-kun. The second phase starts now. We can’t just randomly dig, now can we?”

The smile she showed was just like a small girl playing a prank. Koizumi immediately said ‘I understand.’ and followed Haruhi’s instructions. I, however, have a better spot to dig.

Asahina-san (Michiru)and I had attempted to camouflage the original spot of the gourd-shaped rock, but if someone took the time to inspect it, they will find a lot of unnatural things there.

“…………”

For some reason, Nagato has already set up the mat exactly at that spot. She looked past the hair at the side of her face at me. Nagato didn’t do any code-like movements, just sat on the mat, silently reading. The corner-liking alien left a large space on the mat, so Asahina-san politely sat down. This type of scene is like a goddess, rare. The person sitting between them looks especially important.

“Kora-! Kyon, this isn’t the time to be spacing out, go and help Koizumi-kun dig.”

This SOS Brigade leader is yelling just like someone on a construction site making sure her subordinates aren’t slacking off. She really is a person who likes bossing others around. Haruhi already has minions and the forcefulness required to be a boss, even though she hasn’t even graduated yet. Just something I noticed. And as I thought that, I realized I didn’t have to think of this that way. I picked up the shovel and began to dig into the wet ground faster than Koizumi was.

I guess I’ll tell you all what happened.

It was pretty much what I expected it to be. No matter how we dig, even if we got a digging machine, we will never dig anything up. It was exactly as Asahina-san (Michiru) said, so I wasn’t surprised at all. I, who was afraid of making a mistake and digging up something weird, could finally relax, yet I got a complex feeling of disappointment. Was this actually good? Did I think too optimistically?

“U-n. We didn’t find anything, any buried treasure that is,” said Haruhi, looking perplexed. She held a chocolate bar and munched on it while looking at me. Haruhi was still sitting on top of that gourd-shaped rock.

I stopped filling in the hole and surveyed the clearing. The ground has been dug everywhere, there’s a whole bunch of holes and holes that were filled up, just like a bird dug it. It’s better if natural things are left undisturbed.

“I guess that’s it.”

Haruhi is never like this. She hunched her shoulders together,

“It doesn’t look like there’s any more places to dig, let’s just end it like this.”

After using her finger to point and instruct us, Haruhi walked back to the gourd-shaped rock and sat right in the middle.

Koizumi and I have been listening to Haruhi and digging all this time. No matter where we dug, all we found was empty holes. Koizumi and I once again returned the dirt to its original position.

So all we did was turn the hard dirt into soft soil suitable for earthworms to live in.

Nothing was found, and it ended just like that. I don’t know how Haruhi will choose to vent her anger this time.

“Go home, I guess. The sun’s already setting, if we stay on the mountain any longer, we’ll freeze. If we go down from this side, it’s quicker. It’s not that far from the road up to North High.”

Koizumi and I cleaned up the baggage without haste after resting a bit and drinking tea Asahina-san had steeped. When we were rested, we all went down together. I really couldn’t see any regrets about leaving the mountain and the treasure in Haruhi, who was descending the mountain in high spirits. What the hell happened? The picnic in cold weather and the digging?

Koizumi put his hand on a disappointed me’s shoulder.

“Isn’t this quite good?”

You don’t need to talk to me in a teaching tone. As I got angry, I suddenly remembered my mother’s words.

“Sorry. But I am also really tired. Before Suzumiya-san finds a place that looks like it was dug on before, we should leave as soon as possible.”

This I also agree with. Nagato, who only brought a mat today, was already leaving with Asahina-san. I was just wondering if what I did had a point to it.

“A point?”

“Suzumiya-san never has patience or perseverance, and is always changing, Isn’t it like that every time?”

Haruhi, who didn’t want to look for treasure anymore, was walking very fast, leading us. Asahina-san and Nagato both followed behind. A little further back were me and Koizumi.

Sometime later, about halfway home, Koizumi quietly said,

“But, if there wasn’t any treasure at all, that’s really weird.”

This phrase of yours, why do I feel like agreeing.

“Really? If Suzumiya-san really felt something was there, it doesn’t matter if Tsuruya-san’s ancestors buried anything at all, there would be something there. If it’s Suzumiya-san, she still has this kind of power.”

Yes. According to what you said before.

[T/L note: Koizumi says something that would take effort to decipher.]

To tell you the truth, it’s because Haruhi doesn’t think it exists. It’s not possible to have such a clear map, so it must be some old grandpa’s practical joke.

Koizumi nodded mystically.

“You’re good, Kyon, you already know what I mean. Right, Suzumiya-san doesn’t actually want treasure or anything passed down from a long-ago dynasty. I think there’s only one explanation for this. I think she just wanted to come out and picnic with everyone.”

Well, just say so then, don’t just say that you want to dig up some treasure. I wouldn’t be against us all going out together on a picnic.

“This is something that goes on inside a girl’s mind. From winter vacation all the way up to now, her spirit has been very stable. Maybe I should say she might be bored with this kind of stabilized life.”

Your work is very easy, right? Regardless of whether those blue giants appear or not, Koizumi’s wage will not be changing anytime soon……

“No, wait.”

I clutched my fist and asked,

“Haruhi’s stable right now? Since February began?”

“Yeah. There are slight fluctuations, but there’s no change that’s negative. How should I say this... In fact, she’s been even more stable than before.”

Then, what was that temporary melancholic period? Was my intuition wrong?

“What did you feel?”

Koizumi showed a slightly surprised look.

“What I see is just the normal Suzumiya-san.”

Aren’t you the expert on Haruhi’s mental state? Something even I could see you didn’t even notice. Are you planning not to do this analyzing thing anymore?

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

The easily smiling Koizumi looked at me with a light gaze.

“If we compare ourselves, you can actually understand Suzumiya-san’s feelings better than I do. I will have to give this job to you. That includes the Avatars in Closed Space. You haven’t been to one in a while, that world has – “

That can’t be helped, since I don’t want to go on any grand vacations. Taking many things into account, I actually prefer to stay here.

“That’s a pity. To tell you the truth, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been there too.”

It must feel bad to have so little opportunity to use your long-awaited powers. Maybe you should go to your boss and ask for a little bonus, go on vacation or something.

“Let’s think about this together. The person who has to tell the boss about this proposal must be extremely brave.”

Like throwing a baseball around, Koizumi and I tossed words at each other. We were already at the same farm path as the one I saw two days ago. Haruhi, Nagato and Asahina-san, who went down ahead, stood in a line waiting for us. The three of them, standing shoulder to shoulder, were coloured gold by the setting sun. If an impressionist artist saw them like that, he would probably start drawing. After gazing at the three of them for not quite long enough,

“We don’t need to go back to the station. Everybody’s dismissed now.”

Haruhi took the shovel from me, and a contented smile floated onto her face.

“That was fun. It’s actually quite good to occasionally come out into the outdoors. Even though there wasn’t any treasure, there’s no need to be depressed. We already found some, since someday in the future, we will look back and love this day. And we have to tell Tsuruya-san. Maybe next time we’ll find a [dynasty – I don’t know Japanese history well] map.”

I’d go for treasure any time, but please, no more maps. I’m also going to tell Tsuruya-san that if she ever finds such a thing, don't give it to Haruhi.

I gazed at Haruhi’s back as she bounced down the street with the two shovels in her hands. I really couldn’t say anything that expressed anger. Her melancholic stage in the classroom, I still don’t know if that was just my misunderstanding. Anyway, it’s good that she's back to her normal self. The strange peacefulness was just leading up to her explosion. During that time, she was storing up all her energy inside and, therefore, can never settle her mind. Eh? Why does it seem like I’m talking to myself?

As we walked down the road that let to North High, we were all still together. Then, just as we got to the place where we usually split up, Haruhi, like she just remembered something, waved towards me.

“Ah, right. Meet at the station tomorrow too. Same time as today, no problem?”

Well, it’s not too good, but couldn’t you have said something before?

Haruhi looked at me and coldly smiled. What, what’s with that smile?

“We’re going to search the city. You can’t even come for a little while?”

Even though we obviously can’t reject it, Haruhi pretended to be confirming everyone’s reply and walked around us in a circle.

“Understood. Don’t be late, everyone. The last person,”

After she took a deep, cold breath, Haruhi said something she says every time.

“Will be fined!”

I returned to my room. First I turned the heating on, then I took out my cell phone.

Like we had a scheduled meeting, the place I phoned was Tsuruya-san’s house. The maid who answered the phone was very polite. I’ve already gotten used to this switching around. The number of times I’ve called her has already surpassed the number of times I’ve called Koizumi.

“It’s me.”

“Ah, yes. It’s me. Michiru……Erm, Mikuru.”

“Tsuruya-san’s not home right now?”

“No……She went out today. Said her family had something to take care of.”

I think it’s probably better not to ask too much about where Tsuruya-san is, or what she’s doing.

“Asahina-san, it happened today.”

“Treasure hunt……?”

“Even though we didn’t find anything.”

I heard Asahina-san breath a sigh of relief.

“That’s good. It followed exactly what I remember……I was just worrying that if something different happened, what was I going to do.”

I put the phone close to my ear and wrinkled my brow like I was thinking about something.

“What do you mean, something different? If it’s the past, shouldn’t it be the same no matter where you go?”

“Ah……yeah. That, that, that is true, but……”

It seemed as though I could see the helpless Asahina-san holding the phone.

“It’s a very strange thing. Um, I don’t fully understand it, but...”

As I listened to Asahina-san’s quiet voice, I remembered something. I remembered that I’ve already been to December the eighteenth several times. I remembered the twin circles on the white board. If I think about it, is where something starts and ends always the same? What she doesn’t know is what I don’t know. Nagato changing the world, what really happened there? According to Koizumi, there were two December the eighteenths. If there are two of one time, that’s very troublesome, so then we fixed it back to the way it was before, so this time is the correct one, er, it should be……

What actually ha-. Last month, I saved an elementary student from getting into a car accident. That event with the glasses wearing elementary student must’ve been fate. But what about the vehicle? They did it to mess up the order of time. Who is it that wanted to kill the kid?

Who is it that wants to destroy the fabric of time, and pit themselves against the protectors, the time travelers, represented by Asahina-san? Whatever shall I do if that person is a time traveler as well? The only people who will be able to resist him will be time travelers.

I understand what you’re saying, Asahina-san (Big). Is there anything you wish for me to do?

“Sorry, Kyon-kun.”

Asahina-san said listlessly.

“Because this is Classified Information, there’s lots of things I want to tell you, but can’t. And I don’t know any important details……Kyon-kun, I……”

As I felt Asahina-san start to cry, I hurriedly said,

“So, about tomorrow.”

As Asahina-san said before, Haruhi wants to go on a city search again tomorrow. Tomorrow, Saturday, I must follow exactly what it says in letter # 3. I need to find a place where we can meet and Asahina-san (Mikuru) won’t see us.

“Asahina-san, if it’s possible, can you change your look a little bit?”

“My look?”

From hearing her sniffing, I could imagine her crying body.

“Sunglasses……would be a bit unnatural for this season. You shouldn’t stand out too much if you wear a mask [T/L note: The ones that are used to cover your mouth when you’re sick.] Can you manage this kind of change?”

“Ah, hai. I’ll get Tsuruya-san to help me.”

“Then the time. When do we disperse tomorrow?”

“Er-m.”

Asahina-san can remember the time.

“Exactly five o’clock. We met at around three. Then everyone went to a coffee shop……”

I took out letter #3 from my desk, and opened it. The place it instructed me to go to was only about ten minutes from the station. Even if I take fifteen minutes, that’s still only half an hour.

I’ll stay at Tsuruya-san’s in the morning, go searching in the afternoon and then go to the appointed spot to meet Asahina-san. I guess that works.

After making this extensive schedule for me and Asahina-san, I told her about the place and time she and I would meet.

“Then, see you tomorrow, look after yourself. Please try not to wear anything too conspicuous. Ah, and,”

There were dark clouds in my heart as I said this.

“Also, if it’s possible, can you get Tsuruya-san to come with you? Just tell her I asked for a favour. Um, ah, no, it’s not to get her involved in this. Don’t worry. Just, I want her to escort you there……”

From Tsuruya-san’s house to the rendezvous point, Asahina-san has to go back and forth all by herself. That will be hard on her. I don’t know why, but I always think there’s danger. It’s best not to let her walk by herself.

“Yes. I’ll ask her.”

Since it’s Tsuruya-san, she’ll see through me in an instant. I’m looking forward to her reply.

I hung up the phone and immediately called Nagato, since there are a couple more things to ask her to do.

But.

“Nn?”

Surprisingly, the line was busy.

Who is Nagato talking to? Apart from a salesman, I don’t think anyone would phone her. I guess I’ll phone her later. As I felt sorry for myself, who had to phone everyone, I put the cell phone off to the side and changed. I put the pants that were covered in dirt into the washing machine, started it, and then phoned.

This time someone picked up.

“It’s me.”

“…………”

As usual, Nagato’s silence greeted me.

“About tomorrow, I want to ask for a favour. Tomorrow’s search teams will be chosen by straws, right? Tomorrow and the day after that, I want you to help me do something.”

“Is that so.”

Nagato said in a cool, clear voice.

“It is. Tomorrow afternoon and the day after that’s first pick, can I be in your group?”

“……………………”

A long silence.

“Sou.”

I’m not sure if she’s agreeing with me, so I tried to confirm it.

“Can you do it?”

“I understand.”

“Thank you, Nagato.”

“No need.”

“If I may ask, when I called you a little while ago, the line was busy. Who was the other person?”

Another of Nagato’s long silences. I am now worried that something is going on with her and someone I know.

“Suzumiya Haruhi.”

Maybe it’d be better if I didn’t know the person.

“You two talked on the phone?”

“Sou.”

“Why did she phone you, did she have something to talk to you about?”

“…………”

A third silence. My sense of hearing became keen, even the hand holding the phone sensed it. Nagato only said one line in reply.

“Not telling.”

What day is today, Nagato shocked me. I never though Nagato would ever say that. Like I was blocked, I suddenly became silent.

“It’s better if you don’t know.”

Don’t say that kind of scary phrase. That’s the most unnerving phrase in the world.

“…………Don’t worry.”

I can feel the hesitation behind her words. Like she’s contemplating whether or not she should tell me. It’s really worrying me.

“Did Haruhi tell you not to tell?”

“Sou.”

That means Haruhi is planning something, and then forced Nagato to follow along, so they can’t tell me. Even though I don’t know what’s really going on, but if it’s something that requires Nagato to keep a secret, it must be something big. I guess that’s why we’re going on this search.

I confirmed tomorrow’s actions with Nagato, who wasn’t really listening, and hung up the phone.

Give me a break. This is a busy week. Even the days before a math, physics or history exam can’t compare to the business of this week.

“That Haruhi, what’s she up to this time……?”

If I think of it this way, my only partner left is Koizumi. Haruhi, Nagato and even Asahina-san are doing things I didn’t expect of them. Ah, Tsuruya-san is too. No matter what happens, to all intents and purposes, males cannot win against females. Maybe it’s because of the extra X chromosome. Who taught me this lesson of life?

I lay on the bed, stretched out my arms and legs, and prayed that the next week would pass calmly.

(End of Chapter 4)

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