Suzumiya Haruhi:Volume7 Chapter 7

From Baka-Tsuki

Chapter Seven

Waiting in front of the station, Haruhi waved her hand madly like a cheerleader waving her flag the moment she saw me and Nagato arriving. Asahina-san stood just next to her, and a few steps away was Koizumi. Haruhi seems to be giddy to the point of being hysterical, while Asahina-san revealed a smile more cheerful than usual. Koizumi gave me a meaningful glance while flicking his bangs.

"Kyon, Yuki, you two sure are enjoying yourselves. Just where have you been?"

Haruhi said mischievously as she grabbed Nagato's little hands,

"I bet you two were probably having a date in the library. It'll be better if you actually find some mysterious stuff in there, so did you?"

"Of course we didn't."

There weren't books which would suck the reader into another world, or books that people would emerge out of. Maybe you'll have better luck finding one or two of these books in those large and antique libraries.

"I see, then we'll try looking for them in those old bookstores next time. I had wanted to rummage through Tsuruya-san's ancestral store room, but that's off limits for outsiders."

Haruhi began walking at her own pace without declaring where we're going, and as though reading her mind, Asahina-san and Koizumi smiled nonchalantly and followed her. Nagato and I have no choice but to follow as well.

I know very well that asking Haruhi "Where're you going?" was plain useless. Even if the destination were uncertain, she would still stride forward, then brake suddenly, point to where she's standing and declare proudly, "This is our destination!" If the SOS Brigade were to sail the uncharted seas under the guidance of Captain Haruhi, we might end up in Bermuda. Yet this time Haruhi simply led us to the Italian restaurant we'd been to yesterday.

During lunch I glanced thoughtfully at Asahina-san many times. While I was relieved to see her enjoy herself as she ate her seafood spaghetti with her knife and fork, when I realized that very soon she would be busy spending time with my past self, I felt like telling her everything, at least I should tell her about her getting kidnapped......

While my mind was debating intensely, Haruhi suddenly roughly tapped the side of my plate with her fork and said,

"Kyon, what are you daydreaming for? If you have any problems, you can always tell the Commander."

Her glittering eyes were proof of her enthusiasm. Haruhi then spoke with the look of someone who was far from amused by an unfunny April Fool's joke,

"Oh yeah, you still remember that phone call you gave me? The prank call, that is, just what were you thinking?"

"Oh, that."

I gulped for a while and said,

"It was a stupid joke. I wasn't thinking properly then, if I had known the prank wouldn't work I wouldn't have called. Sorry about that."

I took a glance at Asahina-san, Haruhi did the same as well. Asahina-san replied with an "Eh?" and stopped sipping her spaghetti. We then turned to face each other again. "Not that it matters," Haruhi said generously, "Next time be more creative with your prank calls, I'll give you bonus points if the joke's funny. Once you collect enough points you get to redeem them for a little prize. But be prepared to get a massive points deduction if the joke's not funny at all! Remember that!"

Feels as though she's asking me to give her a prank call. Does this mean I have to think up of a joke every time I call her? Seeing me looking troubled, Haruhi and Asahina-san began to giggle quietly.

After lunch, Haruhi happily called it a day. I'd already heard from Asahina (Michiru)-san, but to dismiss the band after just a few hours in the morning... I guess having activities for two consecutive days was finally taking its toll on Haruhi as well, although she still remained as energetic as ever.

As we parted ways, Asahina-san smiled gently at me; Nagato remained expressionless; while Koizumi looked relaxed as though he'd seen it all.

I walked for a while before turning and calling out to Koizumi,

"I guess I owe you one."

"Oh don't mention it. I was merely taking precautionary measures, and I'm not confident that they're adequate. I was pretty much redundant during the car pursuit."

Were those cops in the police car really the Tamaru brothers? I somehow doubt that they're even brothers.

"Well you could say they're my colleagues that sometimes pretend to be brothers who own a lone island mansion and run an investment enterprise, and sometimes pretend to be a pair of cops......would that do?"

What about Mori-san and Arakawa-san......? Especially Mori-san, I'm beginning to suspect what her true identity is.

"Is your organization working together with Asahina-san's and Nagato's bosses?"

"We aren't directly working together, yet for some time we seem to have created an understanding with each other, and have even joined forces unknowingly. The world is now headed in a direction which I'm no longer familiar with, and it may be some time before everyone within the 'Organization' can be united in understanding and intent."

As we continued to walk along the path, Koizumi shrugged his shoulders and said,

"There are some among us who actually hold the extremist view that Nagato-san and Asahina-san are just pitiful delusional girls who think they're an alien or a time-traveler, and that there are no such things as aliens or time-travelers,"

Boy, they sure are stubborn even at this stage. These guys should come attached with a warranty for stubbornness.

"Well, they could argue that Nagato-san's magical-like abilities and Asahina-san's ability to travel through time are all triggered by Suzumiya-san, causing them to believe they're an alien or a time-traveler......what do you think about that?"

If they can say even that, then what couldn't they deny?

"Maybe the one with omnipotent powers isn't Suzumiya-san after all, but rather someone else?"

Koizumi's probably trying to add some sarcasm to his smile, yet all I saw was his usual grin.

"The eye of the storm is very calm, yet it is surrounded by calamity. Maybe there are some that decide to watch from the sidelines and see how all this unfolds. You sure have been kept busy as well, would a scriptwriter play such a tiring character himself?"

There he goes with his ambiguous statements again, but since I owe him one, I might as well listen. Though I can't guarantee that I can remember everything, because if I could my grades would've improved by now.

"To be honest, I'm beginning to be marginalized. If you ask me where I belong, then I would have to say it's with the SOS Brigade. My feelings tell me that rather than the 'Organization', the SOS Brigade is where I truly belong. I've thought about it before, should the 'Organization' come into conflict with the SOS Brigade, would I be stuck in a dilemma? You know what I mean?"

Just when I was preparing for one of Koizumi's long-winded speeches, this time he chose to finish it with his question and part company with me.

After I got home, I sat on the floor of my room, now completely covered with Shamisen's fur. The project with Asahina (Michiru)-san was over, but the project with Asahina-san (small) has only just begun. In other words, I still got work to do!

I also still had Letter #6 from the future:

"When everything is all over, please come to the park......"

I've already followed Letter #5's instruction and sent Asahina (Michiru)-san back to her time period where she came from, that just leaves Letter #6. But then what......

Was it really all over? I felt like something's stuck in my mind, but I couldn't think what it was, just like getting choked by a fish bone and not being able to spit it out.

It was pointless trying to squeeze dry a brain that's already empty, so I went back and read all of Asahina-san's (big) letters. The problem was that they were all so cryptic, I just couldn't guess what good following the instructions would bring, yet......

"Except this one,"

"Please head to the mountain. There lies a rock that stands out from the rest. Please move it three meters west of its original position. As for the exact location, Asahina Mikuru will know......"

Only this was linked with Haruhi, and this was the only place where everyone in the SOS Brigade had gathered. A fruitless treasure hunt, though I already knew the outcome beforehand......

As I was about to link all the missing pieces together, my sister charged in saying it was time for dinner. Reluctantly, I left my room. I decided to forget everything as I washed my hair in the shower. By the time I dip my chin into the bath water, my mind will only be thinking of quickly getting some sleep.

As if right on cue, today's instruction finally arrived, save that it's from Haruhi instead of some time traveler, and instead of a letter in a shoe locker, the instruction came via the phone in my sister's hand.

"Kyon-kun, your phone. It's from Haru-nyan,"

My sister barged into the bathroom holding the cordless receiver, I quickly waved my hand and drove her out while placing the phone by my ear,

"Hello?"

"Oh, you're taking a bath?"

Haruhi's voice echoed through the bathroom walls. Yeah, I'm taking a bath, so don't go around getting any funny ideas now.

"Of course I wouldn't, you idiot. Anyway, as usual, we'll meet tomorrow in front of the station, got it?"

Now you tell me, why couldn't you say that when you dismissed the team earlier today?

"Well, I was sort of busy myself as well."

I don't remember you being considerate about other people's free time.

"Shut up! Let's meet in the afternoon, um......two o'clock would do. You can come empty handed,"

What about you?

"That's none of your business. Remember, two o'clock tomorrow, if you dare stay away I'll make you regret it for the rest of your life. Be punctual! See ya."

Haruhi has always been swiftly straightforward when talking on the phone. I stepped out of the bathtub with the phone in my hand and thought as I dried myself with the towel.

"Here we go again, what is she up to this time?" Ever since entering into sulking mode in the beginning of February, Haruhi had gone through throwing soy beans in Setsubun, treasure hunting, and two consecutive days of mystery searching. Does she intend to end this all with a bang?

Hang on, how come I never heard any of this from Asahina (Michiru)-san? Meeting in front of the station tomorrow wasn't included in her itinerary. Did she have anything to do with it, or did she know nothing about it, or maybe she was deliberately hiding this from me?

Please don't tell me that this part of history never existed......

Yet arriving at the specified location at the specified time was becoming a habit for me. There were still five minutes remaining when I arrived in front of the station that afternoon, but the scene of seeing everybody already there waiting was more reliable than seeing the seasons changing from winter to spring.

The sun must be rising in the west! Not only did Haruhi not blame me for my late arrival, she didn't lead us into the coffee shop either. We walked together to the bus depot, there Haruhi shoved me onto the bus as though escorting a prisoner.

I was becoming aware to Asahina-san's constant yawns and attempts to cover her mouth quickly afterwards. I then noticed Haruhi also seemed to be lacking sleep as she kept rubbing her eyes. When she realized I was watching her, she quickly glared menacingly at me and turned her face away with a scowl to look at the scenery outside, which was becoming greener as the bus went along.

The bus drove towards the mountain, it was the same road we took when we went treasure hunting on Tsuruya-san's private hill.

We even got off the same bus stop. Don't tell me we're climbing Tsuruya Hill using the same route we took last time?

"That is actually the longer and less direct path. This time we're going to climb from the south side on the other side of the hill,"

Haruhi walked with steady footsteps, followed by Asahina-san and Nagato as they climbed the hill for the second time without hesitation. Koizumi rubbed his chin and said,

"Let's go. We're here already, so there's no point in retreating anyway,"

While chuckling like a pigeon.

Haruhi walked around the outer range of the hill and began climbing from the south side. I was now aware where we were headed, as I had been there for two consecutive days not long ago.

Besides the mountain forest, a dried grassy field appeared before our eyes. The first time I climbed this way was with Asahina (Michiru)-san, the second time I came down the hill this way with the SOS Brigade.

Haruhi led the way, picking the shortest route as she led her brigade to the gourd-shaped rock.

"So that's why......"

On the day when I moved the rock, the reason Asahina-san was able to guide me directly to the destination was because she had already climbed this hill many times.

And right now this Asahina-san was walking haphazardly while being dragged by Haruhi, Nagato acting as her guardian and preventing her from falling.

Very soon we arrived at our destination. Haruhi quickly rushed onto the plateau, and as though finding a seat, sat right on top of the gourd-shaped rock,

"Kyon, Koizumi-kun, we now begin the second phase of the treasure hunt! Think carefully, we were too impatient to give up after digging for only one day, we can't just leave empty handed!"

Haruhi revealed a bright sunshine smile as she took out two small shovels normally used for gardening from her coat pocket and threw them towards me and Koizumi.

"I had wanted you to dig using those large shovels like last time, so I'm letting you off the hook this time! There's only one place we need to dig this time, and it's right here!"

Haruhi pointed right in front of where she was sitting, at the side of the gourd-shaped rock. That was exactly where Koizumi and I had spent our life force digging as much as to two meters deep. Before I could say "We've already dug there before", Haruhi spoke again,

"Isn't it common that the things that people desperately want to find are actually lying in places which they've already gone through? The same goes for treasures, if you want to find them, you'll have to go through the same spot carefully. When I say there's treasure, then there has to be."

Haruhi's confidence is greater than the loyal dog of the Old Man who Made the Trees Blossom (Japanese wikipedia entry only: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8A%B1%E5%92%B2%E3%81%8B%E7%88%BA, Story in English: http://www.spiritoftrees.org/folktales/chung/old_man_who_made_trees_blossom.html). Asahina-san nods her head and smiles in agreement, while Nagato doesn't even move an eyebrow. In that case, I decide not to daydream while holding the shovel in my hand, and I began to understand why Koizumi was grinning.

I didn't spend a lot of time or energy while digging, as the dirt that we piled back in was already quite soft, so even digging with a small shovel was easy. Not to mention as I just stuck the shovel in the dirt, it immediatelyly hit something hard.

Basking under the evil smile of Haruhi, I wiped the dirt away with my hands and picked up the object which the shovel had hit. The box I held didn't seem to be from the Genroku period (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genroku), it was more like a senbei (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senbei) or cookie container. As I didn't remember seeing this when digging with Koizumi three days ago, someone must have placed it in here during that time, but I didn't have time to think of who it was that put it in.

"Well, open it,"

Haruhi's expression is like that of the Tongue-Cut Sparrow when the kind old man who came to visit him chose his smaller present. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shita-kiri_Suzume)

I held tight to the box and pulled the lid open with a "clang" sound,

"......"

There was no gold, not even a Koban coin. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koban_%28Japanese_gold_coin%29) But I don't think anyone would complain if I said there was indeed treasure inside.

There were six little boxes wrapped delicately with shiny wrappings, with a ribbon on top on each of them to boot.

Finally, as now was the most appropriate time to use the word "finally",

I suddenly remembered what day it was today. Instead of remembering, it was more like noticing. For some guys, this day was far more meaningful than July 7th.

Today was February 14th.

Valentine's Day.

"I made them myself,"

Haruhi leaned forward and explained,

"Last night, I've been working all night with Mikuru-chan and Yuki and even had to spend the night at Yuki's place. We had originally wanted to use just cocoa powder to make chocolates, but we thought that was too grandiose. So in the end we decided to make chocolate cakes instead!"

On each box wrapping there was a sticker with the name of myself or Koizumi handwritten by the girls; we both got three of these each.

Koizumi put down his shovel and picked up one of the boxes after elegantly wiping his hands free of dust. On top it was labeled "For Koizumi-kun - From Mikuru-chan" Now that's a treasure, made by the very hands of Asahina-san!

Like a machine gun, Haruhi began to fire away,

"Of course it is! We made it specifically for you guys, it felt fun and exhausting when we made it, but we're fine. I had been feeling uneasy about this secret plan, as I had wanted to laugh at you guys for falling for it, but what's the point? In the end, this has become a well-accepted tradition after all. Though there're still some that insist that this is all some conspiracy conjured up by the confectionery industry, seriously are they nuts? Anyway, I had fun making these with Yuki and Mikuru-chan, we even thought of adding pepper inside at first. Well, what's with that face of yours?"

"Oh it's nothing, I'm actually so grateful I could weep." That's what I truly thought, since I had completely forgotten about the very day that all the men in the country had been so looking forward to. If I had known then I would have prepared some charming words, but this had come all so suddenly that I was at a lost on what to say to the three female brigade members. I was neither good enough to make an elegant response, nor was I prepared to act embarrassed. Perhaps that means I've still got lots to learn in life.

My whole body relaxed, now everything makes sense. Haruhi's irregular behavior at the beginning of February, the Asahina-san that traveled from the future not revealing any further details concerning the true nature of the treasure hunt, and Taniguchi's sudden dumping by his girlfriend......

Haruhi sure is something, so she was bothered by how she could give chocolates to me all this time, but she just wouldn't admit it. She could've just gave them to me in the classroom, but instead she had to come up with treasure hunting as an excuse, just so we could dig a hole for her to bury the chocolates inside, that's how indirect she is. Does that mean Tsuruya-san was an accomplice to this as well? The treasure map was probably fake as well, the fact that Haruhi gave up the hunt so easily meant she knew there was no treasure all along. That was because the treasure she mentioned had not yet been buried until the suitable time. So it was this treasure - the three pieces of chocolate cake Koizumi and I each received - that made Haruhi so uneasy, she even dragged Asahina-san and Nagato into it as well.

Now how should I say this......

"You stupid idiot!" That was for both Haruhi, who had planned this, and for myself, who had not figured this out earlier.

"They're just obligation chocolates! They should be obligation chocolates, sort of! Actually I don't know why they have to call it obligation chocolates. Chocolates and chocolate cakes are both made of cocoa anyway,"

Haruhi sounded like one of those strange insects chirping in the autumn grass fields. I slowly made an effort to lift my head up.

What I saw was Haruhi's eyes looking glaringly at me, Asahina-san smiling gracefully like an adorable girl who just did some mischief, and Nagato looking blankly at my hands.

What I saw was Haruhi's eyes looking glaringly at me, Asahina-san smiling gracefully like an adorable girl who just did some mischief, and Nagato looking blankly at my hands.

"I'm extremely grateful for this gift. I'll definitely enjoy it,"

Koizumi spoke before I could......Haruhi twitched her lips and said,

"I hope you quickly finish them all when you get home, even better if you do it before dinner! Don't take them as offerings to some shrine!"

Haruhi hurriedly turned her head away, and then quickly stood up,

"Let's go home. If we don't leave after the activity ends, we'll get stuck in a traffic jam on the way back. Boy, I feel sleepy, we worked all the way till sunrise, you know? And we had to come and bury them here afterwards, so by the time I got back to Yuki's place I only slept for two hours. Mikuru-chan and Yuki as well!"

On the return trip, when we were waiting for the bus at the bus stop, Haruhi stood furthest away from me and stared at the skies, totally avoiding eye contact with me. Oh boy.

I whispered to Asahina-san who was standing besides me,

"Do you have anyone that you fancy?"

"Um,"

Asahina-san said looking despondent,

"Even if I did fall for someone here, we would have to part when it's time for me to go back to the future. That would be too painful for me......"

Such an impeccable way of thinking, there was no way I could argue against that. Yet even when faced with such a perfect argument, I was still hesitant on whether to accept this fate.

"Then don't go back," I said, "This time period isn't that bad, is it? You can always go back to the future anytime, only you will have made your new home here."

"Hee hee, thanks,"

Asahina-san smiled gently, I was really tempted to kiss those pink lips of hers, which were like a flower that had just blossomed.

"It's just that this period isn't the period where I was born, my home is in the future. I mean, as this is technically my past, I'm simply a visitor here. The future is where my present and where my home belongs. Someday I would have to go back."

She is like the Kaguya-hime (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaguya-Hime), nothing can be done to stop her from leaving the mortal world when the fated time arrives, since she doesn't belong here after all, or at least that's what I truly think. If I were to go back a few hundred years into the past, at first I would be feeling curious about the new environment I was in, but after a while, I would begin to miss the advanced tools and machines, the crisp display of a video game, the microwaved boxed lunch from the local convenience store, and trying to write a meaningless text message or make a phone call that transcends time with my cell phone. In any case, nothing beats being able to sleep in a nice warm bed in your own room.

Even if she could do all the same stuff in this time period, Asahina-san would probably still feel out of place here. She is, after all, just a visitor, and I guess if a person is in a place that doesn't feel like home, she would probably feel unsettled as well.

"Oh, b... but......"

Asahina-san frantically waved her hands and explained,

"This doesn't mean I'm unhappy here. I've found staying here to be quite meaningful, allowing me to work hard to become even better. Actually I'm grateful that you have always been by my side, Kyon-kun."

I was very delighted to hear her say that, so I decided to try something to see how she really feels,

"Alright then, when the time comes for you to return to the future......why don't you take me along?"

Though Haruhi's not going to keep quiet about it if that were to happen.

"Then we could have an SOS Brigade tour of the future. We'll bring Haruhi, Nagato, and Koizumi as well, I can guarantee there'll be no complaints from them. Hmm, now that I think about it, it wouldn't be too bad moving to the future either."

"Eh!?"

The fairy-like round eyes now widened in astonishment,

"N-no, you mustn't! That sort of action is absolutely forbidden......"

The fear in Asahina-san's face stayed for a while, but then she noticed my expression. She quickly shut her mouth and her shoulders begin to move gently,

"Hee hee, really, stop making such serious jokes. You gave me a fright."

"Sorry."

Yup, it was obviously a joke. The time period where I must exist is here in the present, though I have gone through lots of hardship, including having to travel to and from three to four years in the past; yet right now, the SOS Brigade club room is still the place where I would go. It's still less than a year in high school, Haruhi still has plenty of peculiar ideas waiting to be explored, and it's likely she won't give up so easily. So it's still a bit early to think about leaving everything behind and escaping to the future.

There will come a day when Asahina-san would return to the future, but at least for now she is still with us, and that is enough. If all the happy moments were to be joined up together like beads in a necklace, the future would probably become interesting as well. Asahina-san once described the various time planes as a series of still images in a cartoon. In that case, if every page consists of comedy, then it's simply impossible for the last page to contain any horror elements. I'll never allow that to happen, I mean, who would?

I once lost Haruhi and my friends from the SOS Brigade for a brief while, but now they're back within my embrace. I'll never forget that determination I had then. No matter what difficulties I'll face, how many times I fall, I'll never stop going forward. I'm not the sort of bridge-burning expert that would so easily abandon a decision I made just two months ago. I only ask that the exclamation "yare yare" be reserved exclusively for me.

In other words, no matter how cheap one's self esteem is, the price would still be too high to be able to sell it in a flea market auction. Even if one were to sigh "yare yare", it'll be fine as long as he's willing to give it his best. Nobody cares about the dialogue anyway, whether it's "Haruhi, you idiot" or "take me with you", it's fine if you keep as quiet as Nagato as well. In a three-legged race, everyone's foot is strapped with their companion, as it's impossible to run a three-legged race by tying one's own legs together, and it's even more fun running with five people in a six-legged race.

After the events of the past week, I came up with the above realizations.

It's been quite some time, starting with the ritual of meeting in front of the station to coming back to call it a day here. All this time today Haruhi has turned her face away, she didn't even bother talking with her back turned to me. As Our Excellency the Commander then walks away in great strides, I wonder just what sort of expression she would appear with in the classroom tomorrow?

I made sure the boxes were still in my pocket as I thanked both Asahina-san and Nagato. Asahina-san even bowed apologetically, "I'm sorry for hiding this from you, because Suzumiya-san had forbidden us to say anything......" What's really amazing is that Haruhi had managed to keep Nagato's mouth shut as well. Anyway, it was understandable, since even I had completely forgotten such an important day. After going through so much stuff, the arrival of Valentine's Day was the last thing I could think of then and it had quietly slipped past my consciousness.

I entered my room and hurriedly opened the three small boxes, but I did not intend to have them as my dinner as Haruhi had asked me to. Inside the transparent plastic box was a cake coated with a chocolate layer.

Haruhi's cake was round, while Asahina-san's was heart-shaped, and Nagato's was star-shaped. On top of every cake were some words written using white chocolate cream.

Haruhi simply wrote the description of the cake "CHOCOLATE"; Nagato's cake was written in very proper handwriting "COURTESY"; while Asahina-san's was written "OBLIGATION CHOCOLATE", just when I was thinking this doesn't sound like her style, I noticed there was more to it. Under her box was the corner of a handkerchief, with a message that read "Suzumiya-san asked me to write it like that," It seems to have been written in a hurry. I imagined how the three of them worked their hats off in Nagato's kitchen, and then placed the three present boxes into the refrigerator. That reminds me, I gotta remind my sister not to nick those cakes as well.

As the sun began to set, I got on my bike and began pedaling.

The final checkpoint was near Nagato's apartment complex, the long bench inside the park.

Inside the dim, empty park, the bench that was brightly illuminated by the street lamps was empty. Even after parking my bike and walking into the park, there was not a single person in sight.

I sat on the icy-cold bench and said towards the air,

"Are you there, Asahina-san?"

A rustling noise was heard from the bushes behind the bench, and the person I was waiting for walked around the bench and made her appearance,

"Is it okay for me to sit down?"

Of course it is, we may even chat for a long while.

"Hee hee, I'm afraid I might have to make things brief."

Asahina-san's (big) elegantly beautiful figure was now sitting on the empty space beside me. Wearing winter attire, Asahina-san was no different from anyone else, save that frost-melting beauty of hers.

After inhaling the cold air of winter, I breathed out some white vapors and said,

"Can you explain everything now?"

"Now where should I start?"

"You can start from the first prank which the little Asahina-san and I had to carry out like an errand."

The prank where a poor man had to go to hospital for getting his foot injured after kicking a can that was nailed to the ground. It now felt like ages ago when I mentioned it again.

"Was that really necessary?"

Asahina-san tilted her head and smiled softly,

"Kyon-kun, please think carefully. Whether it be a few years ago or a few decades ago, if you could go back to the past......"

She carefully chose her words,

"And witness history in the making. Yet when that history is different from what you remember, what would you do?"

"What do you mean by 'different?'" I didn't understand what she was getting at.

"Let's say if you went back to one year ago today, what were you doing then?"

Probably shut up in my room playing video games. I don't remember getting giddy over someone sending me chocolates then.

Asahina-san nodded her head slightly,

"Now try to imagine a situation that's different from that version of the past. When you travel back to your home one year ago, but find that you weren't living there. Instead of your sister or your parents, the place was now occupied by another family. Even your relatives have become different from the ones which you knew, living a totally different life in another place......"

How is that possible?

"When, after traveling to the past we find out that history is slightly different than it was as we knew it, do you know what we from the future would think? If every moment in history depended on interference from the future, then our future would never be able to exist if we did not interfere, and everything would change......"

Asahina-san's voice began to stray away, as though feeling nostalgic about something.

"A past where someone dies when they're supposed to live; or where two people have never even seen each other when they're supposed to be good friends; if we leave these situations alone, then our future would never arrive......"

Her lonely smile was now cast in a lonely shroud,

"I'll get to the point. The person who got injured kicking the empty can that you placed will meet a certain lady in the hospital. Afterwards, they get married and have children, and pass the torch to the next generation. This was all because he went to the hospital that day, otherwise those two would never have met in their whole lives."

An image of the man smiling uncomfortably while looking up at me and Asahina-san flashed before my eyes.

"The memory device was the same, it was necessary to deliver the data in that condition. Someone may have stumbled on similar data by coincidence, only this coincidence didn't exist in the past, perhaps it was erased. That was why we had to deliver the data ourselves, and try our best to make it look like a coincidence."

"Someone picks up a memory device from a flower bed, and just happens to send it to someone else at the right address." - She continued to explain.

I didn't know how to respond. That sure wasn't coincidental, not to mention the freak that appeared then, and handed the memory device to us. If he had decided to create trouble, then how would things turn out?

"He wouldn't dare, that piece of data means everything to the existence of his future as well. That was why he came to this time period,"

Asahina-san elaborated in simple terms.

"For us future time-travelers, that is a pre-determined event; but for you and the recipient of the data, it's a coincidence. That's how time works,"

"......"

I feel a bit dizzy, maybe it's because the dialogue had broken through the boundaries of my comprehension with so much ease.

"It was also coincidence that the boy had seen the turtle. He will always remember the little turtle he obtained from a young man and young woman, as well as the ripples caused by the young man dropping the turtle into the water, and how the ripples slowly disappear as they dispersed from the center. As turtles live very long lives, every time he picks up the turtle he would always think of the scene he saw then. Though there were many other factors, but it all came from this event, which would inspire him to formulate a set of basic theories."

Could it be......while feeling dizzy, my imagination began to go wild. Perhaps that boy would one day become the inventor of the time machine, and the one who inspired him to think about the turtle turns out to be me, causing changes in the future. Thanks to my unconscious interference, that boy and the future of this world has......

A memory from a corner of my brain was suddenly awoken. It was a few days before the school festival, something that Nagato said to me at a time when I was mightily busy while shooting the climax of the movie,

In order to stabilize the future, it is necessary to input the correct value. Asahina Mikuru's mission is to adjust that variable to an acceptable value.

Now was not the time to be feeling giddy about how good my memory was. The ambiguous phrase "in order to stabilize the future"... "There could only be one future, whether it was stable or not, right?" I had long since abandoned that idea.

Could the future be unstable?

In other words, could there exist other futures apart from Asahina-san's future?

It would make sense if that's the case, but only a little. If the future really diverged into many different branches, then there once existed two futures where the boy survives in one and is now dead in the other, it's just that I've killed off the possibility of the latter from ever happening.

That means thanks to my help, I had destroyed one future completely.

I didn't know if that was the correct answer. Even though this deduction was so weak that if I were to say "Here's a problem for our readers to discuss", I'd probably be condemned as an idiot; but it wasn't easy trying to dispel a wild thought that I had just formulated. When I thought about this, I just didn't know what to say. Was there more?

"The divergence points are mostly concentrated in this time period, though a lot would end up the same, anyway; but the things that you have done the past few days, if not done, would create divergences that would lead to all sorts of futures......"

Asahina-san's charming voice began to grow weak,

"Very soon you will be faced with a great divergence, a choice that would cause a great change to the future......If you chose the other side, then it......um......it wouldn't be good for our future."

I suddenly felt stiff for no reason, and I had wanted to turn and face Asahina-san. Damn, why can't I turn my face!?

"But it doesn't matter, because I can trust you, right?"

My consciousness began to blur, a familiar image begins to form in my dizzy mind, two curvy lines criss-crossing each other. The figure on the white board rotated in my mind, and in this whirlpool I saw two spots marked "X". There were two X's, that's what Koizumi said.

The past can never be completely erased. After being amended history would simply be rewritten over its original time-space.

This triggered anther memory - we had experienced being in that never-ending two weeks of summer vacation for thousands of times already.

Except for Nagato, the rest of us only remembered what happened in the final two weeks, the previous thousands of times were as though they never existed. Then the answer became obvious.

The past can be erased, in fact it wasn't a question of whether it existed or not. Even if it did, it's as good as non-existent if no one had noticed it. So in order to achieve that......

One would need to erase all memories of that past.

If all my memories of my experience between December 18th and 21st, as well as leaping back three years ago and getting stabbed by Asakura were all erased, what would have happened to me when I woke up in the hospital bed? I would probably have believed what Koizumi had told me - that I merely tripped down the stairs and knocked my head, then lain unconscious for three days.

Nagato the Literature Club member, Asahina-san the Calligraphy Club member, Haruhi with her surprisingly fitting ponytail, and Koizumi as a completely normal person. If my memories of these people were each erased, then one would not have to worry about any time loops or traveling back in time to fix history.

Yet, things just wouldn't fit that way.

In the early morning of the 18th, after being attacked by Asakura, as I came close to death, I saw myself from the future. I realized then that I had to go back to that time. The only person who could provide a remedy to the astray Nagato was Nagato from three years ago, and the person to execute that remedy was the Nagato from January 2nd. Only these were essential.

After that, time was rewritten......

I felt myself shivering. Haruhi knew absolutely nothing about this, neither did Taniguchi or Kunikida. The only ones who knew about this were me, Nagato, Asahina-san, and Koizumi who had heard about it.

If that's the case, it's not impossible that I could already be in Haruhi's position. I might or might not be aware that history was being rewritten; if I did not possess the original memories, then the "Truth" would never exist.

Besides, it's possible that while I was worrying about all these considerations in the present, my past could be rewritten in another time period. My present self would cease to exist, my past self would move towards another future, and this was all because of the alteration in that time period.

"Erase all your memories concerning this incident."

"No one can guarantee that something that hasn't happened would ever occur."

The Asahina-san from a week later once guaranteed that she has never seen herself, so I went to great lengths to make sure they never see each other. If they really do meet, I don't suppose much harm could be done.

That's because the problem could be solved simply by erasing the present Asahina-san's memory, so that when she travels back to the past a week ago she wouldn't have remembered a thing. So it doesn't make much of a difference whether they met or not.

I felt a surge of negative feelings coming from my chest, this being the same feeling that I vented against the Integrated Data Sentient Entity when lying in the hospital bed last time, but this time those feelings were towards Asahina-san (big).

She had been toying with her past self, that is Asahina-san (small), in the palm of her hand. Making this Asahina-san play the role of a clumsy and unreliable cute elder-sister. Yeah, I know you had no choice but to allow your past self to experience history as you had remembered it. This must be what Koizumi was saying about the future doing something about the past. But couldn't you come up with something better?

The curse that was constraining my head was finally released, I nearly spent an hour just trying to get out of this dizziness. Yet by the time I wanted to say what I was feeling, I found there was no one standing besides me.

Asahina-san had vanished into thin air just next to me, only I remained sitting on the bench under the dimly lit street lamps. However, in Asahina-san's place on the bench was a small box.

It was a delicately wrapped, square-shaped box with a ribbon on top.

It even came with a card. Placing it under the light, I found a single line that said, "Happy Valentine".

A box of chocolate that could be found anywhere, without any flavors or styles from the future. Are chocolate recipes the same throughout the ages? Or did she make this chocolate according to the recipes of this time period?

"But Asahina-san......"

You can't just keep me quiet like that. Yeah, you did make an exception and provided information, but that's not good enough. Leaving aside the fact that you said nothing about you getting kidnapped, but you were obviously hiding the truth behind Haruhi's treasure hunting and the gourd-shaped rock on purpose! That's right, there's something fishy about this. Haruhi could have buried the chocolates anywhere, for what reason must it be buried by that gourd-shaped rock? And why did it have to be moved in the first place?

Could this all be within the calculations of Asahina-san (big)? Has she clearly listed everything that I would do in her pre-determined list?

"Everything is now over......"

Looks like it's still too early for that. There'll come a day when I would come to this place again, I might very well bring everyone from the SOS Brigade then, so you'd better come up with a satisfactory explanation for Koizumi and Haruhi! I'm just a mere observer, after all.

I quickly made a phone call,

"Hello? Is that Tsuruya-san? It's me, well um, Michiru-san has gone home already, she wanted me to thank you for taking care of her, and she said she would return the clothes you lent her......huh, really? Oh and, when you see Asahina-san the day after tomorrow apologizing to you for no reason, please let her be. And can you please bring the North High uniform she left behind to school tomorrow? Yes, bring it to me before school ends,"

This was all that I needed to do up till now, after hearing Tsuruya-san going "Okay~" on the other side of the phone, I adjusted my breathing and said,

"There's one more thing I need to tell you, and this is the most important. You know your family's private hill? The one with the treasure map, that is. I see, it's fine. I never thought Haruhi would go in such a large circle just to......Yeah, I got four, um I mean, three from them. It's pretty interesting,"

I tried to suppress Tsuruya-san's deafening laughter and continued,

"You know from that treasure map, you could actually climb the hill from a path that leads from the marsh grass fields? Great, that makes things easier to explain. From this path you'll come to a flat plateau, do you know there's a rock that resembles the shape of a gourd? I'm not kidding, honest. Go east about three meters from that rock and try digging on that spot, who knows, you might find something."

I then said to Tsuruya-san, who was sounding very puzzled,

"I don't have any evidence, so I can't be absolutely sure. But there should be something,"

If I hadn't moved the stone from that place, Haruhi would have probably asked us to dig on that spot the moment she saw the rock. And she might have ended up discovering something that's not supposed to be found and discovered.

All I did was merely move the stone westwards for about three meters.

After giving some random responses to Tsuruya-san, I hung up the phone.

This is a small act of defiance from me, Asahina-san (big). I have no intention of playing mind games with you and your different versions of futures, I just want to play a prank from time to time.

Though I wouldn't go as far as Haruhi would, of course.

(Chapter Seven End)