Volume 5 - The Rampage of Suzumiya Haruhi
Page 13
Besides, the slider has yet to appear.
“Hurry up and appear already!”
My tongue slipped. Thank goodness that Haruhi and Tsuruya-san were knee-deep in a fight for the mushroom, so it seemed that nobody caught what I said to myself.
However, I noticed that Nagato’s eyelash moved just slightly.
I took a general glance outside the windows, and the shy sky made one feel rather lazy as the snow drifted about. Koizumi caught where my sight was at.
“The destination of our trip will make you sick of snow when we’re done. By the way, do you like to ski or sled? Part of my job is to take care of the gear.”
“I’ve never sledded.”
Tossing out this ambiguous answer, my view left the winter sky. Koizumi kept up his harmless smile, but opened his mouth to pry at me:
“Which yuki (snow) would you be looking at? The one drifting down from the sky, or-”
It was not to my benefit to stare Koizumi down. I shrugged and thrust myself into the mushroom fight.
This hot-pot feast slipped under the teachers’ radar and was not sighted by any tattletale. Well perhaps they did find out, but instead turned a blind eye at us. Whatever it was, when we were fully stuffed, we cleaned out the bowls and the garbage and promptly left the classroom. The moment we walked out of the gates, the snowfall stopped.
After bidding farewell to Tsuruya-san, who had to hurry back to her family’s Christmas dinner, the SOS Brigade proceeded to the bakery. After we picked up the extra-large cake that Haruhi had ordered, we set forth to Nagato’s apartment.
It wasn’t as if we took pity on Nagato spending Christmas alone, rather it was that Nagato’s place provided the unique opportunity for us to enjoy the cake together and to go crazy with no one to frown at us. I wondered which one of us was luckier: Koizumi with Twister or me with the cake. Haruhi, in the lead and skipping about, looked to be rather pleased; there was no doubt about Asahina-san (whose hands were held and being waved about) and even the muted Nagato moving step by step must have been infected by that cheery mood.
From the looks of things, I would say that such incidents as having Santa Clauses raining down on us instead of snow should not occur. Haruhi had fully experienced the commoners’ Christmas Eve and seemed to have enjoyed it. Her spirits were on par with that of my little sister. Well, it could just be the day that stood out.
For no particular reason, I am more forgiving during this period. Even though Haruhi was on a Santa hunt and spent the time stalking the streets in the winter air, I just might oblige her to the end with a wry smile.
As we played the numerous games that Koizumi had brought along, each and every one of us seemed to have a good time. Nagato’s attention was on <
With that, we had a fun-filled Christmas Eve.
The days between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve went by in an instant as if Haruhi were pushing along Chronos, the god of time. We did a total clean up of the clubroom, and even got a phone call from a seemingly brain-dead high school former classmate. After being begged, I went along to a football game with him. The end of the year approached during this time.
The New Year. Would the new year be good or bad, I did not know. Personally, if I didn’t improve my marks, I would fall flat on my face.
My mom’s desire to shove me into a cram school was already beyond mere rhetoric. Had I joined some full-fledged sport club and really got into it, or even just some established clubs that were not so well featured, I might have some excuses against it. It just so happened that I am in a lacking and obscure group that is involved in nothing but messing around – at least that is how things appeared to outsiders. If there was ever a bunch of students that did poorly in school but still wanted to advance, I’d be wondering what they learned in high school.
Maybe there is no such thing as fairness, as Haruhi’s marks were splendidly off-the-scale high. Koizumi’s marks from the previous final would be good enough to be on top of the pack, Asahina-san also attended to her lessons very keenly perhaps due to her interest in archeology, and Nagato is a no-brainer.
“Never mind, let’s save it for later.”
The pressing matter was to deal with the winter co-ed event. It was fine just to look into that for now. Schoolwork could wait till the coming new year. The countdown to the new year co-ed had to happen in this year.
With that –
“Let’s go!”
Haruhi called forth!
“Yahoo-!”
Tsuruya-san cried back.
“The weather apparently is clear, making today perfect for skiing. Although this is according to the weather at this point in time.”
Koizumi relayed the forecast.
“Skiing? Where you scoot about on the snow?”
Asahina-san remarked as she lifted her chin, which was sealed tight by her scarf.
“…”
Nagato stood still as she held her small luggage in one hand.
“Hi!”
My little sister jumped out.
We were standing over the station bright and early. We would take the train, and hop between connecting rides. Estimated time of arriving at the snow mountain would be by afternoon. That was not an issue; it was rather how my little sister came out uninvited that posed as the real issue…
“No matter, what can you do if she’s already here? Let’s take her along, probably easier to solve this if we go together. You won’t cause us any trouble right?”
Haruhi leaned forward, and flashed a smile at my sister.
“If it were somebody that I don’t give a damn over, I would’ve kicked him out already, but your sister is different from you, having such an honest personality, no reason to say it’s not OK. That and she took part in the movie and Shamisen needs a playmate.”
True, even Shamisen, my cat was included in the luggage. Want to know why that was? Listen to what the event planner of the SOS Brigade winter co-ed had to say:
“The cat needs to be there for the plot of the suspense drama.”
Is it a suspense mystery similar to The Cat Knows? (猫は知っていた)
Koizumi, sitting atop his own luggage continued:
“It doesn’t matter which cat, one way or the other, so long as the cat can crack the case. His superb acting performance in the movie however makes me want to have him come back and act once more.”
The present Shamisen is but a typical house cat that can utter no word. It is best not to have high hopes for his acting skills. I went on and said the following to Haruhi, who was nose-to-nose with my sister:
“Thanks to her, I was caught in the act as I was leaving the house.”
It was simply too early to be leaving at the crack of dawn. I had already sealed my mouth when it came to my mom to preserve my own hide. My sister had no sense that I was to head off with Haruhi and gang on a trip. However, a leak sprang. Just as I was in my room, shoving the dozing Shamisen into the traveling bag for a kitten, my sister had to stumble her way in. It could’ve been that she needed to head to the washroom and went the wrong way, being half-asleep, I suppose.
Things got out of hand right after that. My sister’s hazy eyes suddenly expanded wide open –
“Where are you taking Shamisen? Why are you dressed like that? What’s with the luggage?”
Jeez, shut up. With that I witnessed a tantrum worse than in summer, from the fifth-grade eleven year old that is my sister, making full use of her hands and legs as she clung onto my bag and wouldn’t let go. It was the splitting image of those colorful clams that have solid steel grips on the rock they are on and won’t let go no matter what.
“It is still quite manageable with one more on board.” Koizumi smiled. “We won’t go over budget paying for a child fare. Besides, both Suzumiya-san and I feel that given that she has
already come this far, it would be too cruel to send her home.”
After goofing about with Haruhi, my sister sneaked her little face into Asahina-san’s full bosoms, and hugged the knees of the still Nagato. Finally, she was swung in circles by the laughing Tsuruya-san and wouldn’t stop squealing.
Thank goodness that she’s a sister. Had she been a brother, he would’ve been covered up in a bag in some dark alley by now.
On the express headed for Snow Mountain, my sister’s urge to play did not subside and she tunneled about in between all of us, burning away at her energy. Getting so worked up now would have you totally exhausted by the time we hit our destination. By that time I would have to carry my snoozing sister, but my warning on that fell on deaf ears. Haruhi and Tsuruya-san, in the same class as my sister, were still psyched up; even the more refined Asahina-san seemed to be excited. Even Nagato, who shoved her book into her luggage after only a few pages, observed my sister with quiet stares.
I hugged my chin over by the windowpane, pensively staring at the fleeting view. Koizumi sat in the seat next to me. Haruhi and the other girls were right in front of us. They turned the seats to face each other, so the five of them could play UNO together. Don’t get too loud, you’ll startle the other passengers.
The discriminated-against Koizumi and I played Joker for about ten minutes after the train set off. It got progressively more and more boring, so I gave up. Why must us two men be cast as tragic fodder?
If that was so, all that was left was to let the mind’s eye drift to a glorious feast. Imagining the yet to appear skiing attire on Asahina-san was far more constructive. Just as I was deep in thought over how I should forge a scene of just me and her on the ski slopes in lovey-dovey mode…
“Meow~”
A sound came from my carrying bag, and cat whiskers appeared from the opening.
After the movie phenomenon, Shamisen turned into a well-behaved house cat of low maintenance, leaving no trace of being a stray to anyone. He would behave and wait for feeding time to come, and would not scratch or chew on things. Maybe it is because the number one priority to the fellow is none other than sleep. He was snoozing the moment he was in the cat cage in the morning. Having said that, no matter how lazy the cat is, it’ll get sick of sleep and wake up eventually. He brushed the edges of the lid as if he was bored. However, there was no way for me to let him roam about in the car.
“Hold on for a little longer.”
I persuaded him, as he lay beside my legs.
“After we get there, I’ll get you new cat food.”
“Meow~”
Shamisen fell into silence, seemingly understanding my intention. Koizumi, amazed, remarked:
“At first, when he first started talking, I was totally blown away. Having caught this cat was to have struck gold. I don’t just mean having found a male calico, but to have him so understanding of emotions makes him just incredible.”
It was Haruhi that grabbed him from a pack of stray cats, which happened to have a mutation in the chromosome that only occurs once in a couple thousand cats. I really should tell Haruhi to buy lottery. No matter what we got, we could somehow offset the costs of our activities. I feel rather bad having to use the Literary Club’s budget all the time.
“Lottery… If Suzumiya-san really won the lottery, the aftermath might be difficult to cope with. Just think, what would happen if she had millions of dollars in her hands?”
I don’t think of such things often, but I believe the twit would start buying up second-hand fighter jets from the Americans. A single seater is ok, the real headache would be the twin-seater. You don’t need to think to know who’s going to be stuffed into the rear as a co-pilot.
Either that, or she’d lavishly toss it all on advertisements. One of these days as you sit back and watch prime-time entertainment, you might suddenly run into “This show is solely sponsored by the SOS Brigade” on the screen. Just the thought of our advertisement being broadcast to every family in the nation sends chills down my spine. If Haruhi became producer, any show would become totally whacked. A kindergartener would fare better in stocks than her at the helms.
“Perhaps she would do things that would benefit the masses, such as setting up some grants for inventions, or to create a laboratory.”
Koizumi fiercely launched the wind direction balloons into the air. You lose 90% of the time in life however and the stakes here were just too high. Even a skilled statistician would hesitate at this. We shouldn’t ask for more trouble without some very convincing reason to do so.
“It would be enough to have her buying popsicle sticks in supermarkets that might fetch a prize.”
I looked at the scenery outside once more. Koizumi leaned back, sank into the chair and shut his eyes to rest a little. The moment we got there we would be totally occupied, so storing up energy was the right thing to do right now.
The scenery outside became more and more rural. As we pass each tunnel, the view became more silvery white. I headed into sweet dreams as I enjoyed the view.
With that, we concluded our train ride as we hugged our luggage and rolled out of the train station. What greeted us was the dichromatic view of the clear blue sky accompanying the glaring white snow and the familiar greetings from a group of two.
“Welcome, everyone. It has been some time since we last met.”
With a deep bow, here was the best actor as the butler –
“You must all be tired from the long trip. Welcome.”
– alongside the beautiful maid of age unknown.
“Not at all, not at all, sorry for making you so busy.”
Koizumi, ever so able to make such talk, headed their way and stood alongside the two of them.
“This would be the first time that Tsuruya-san has met them. They are my friends, Arakawa-san and Mori-san. I have asked for their assistance regarding the dining accommodations for this tour.”
Their attire remained exactly as they was in Lone Island… here was the three-piece wearing, gray haired gentleman butler Arakawa, and wearing a plain apron atop a dress, the maid Mori san.
“I am Arakawa.”
“I am Mori.”
The two greeted us at the same time.
In this chilling temperature, they greeted us without donning even a coat. Would this be part of the act, or was it a sense of professionalism stemming from their roles that prompted them into this?
Tsuruya-san dangled the heavy luggage around.
“Hi! Nice to meet you! Since Koizumi-kun recommended you all, I have no doubt whatsoever. Please take care of us. Use the mansion however you like!”
“Thank you very much.”
The sincere Arakawa-san bowed once again, and lifted his head after some effort, as he revealed a stiff smile on his face.
“It is of much relief to see all of you in high spirit.”
“I apologize for the poor reception in the summer, please do forgive us.”
Mori-san revealed a warm smile, and the moment she saw my sister, that smile softened even more.
“Wow, such a cute little girl.”
The uninvited guest quickly sprang back to life as seaweed does when it hits boiled water. “Hi!” she said and quickly dashed to Mori-san’s skirt.
Haruhi walked forward and stepped onto the snowfield.
“It’s been too long. I am really looking forward to the winter co-ed. That typhoon which blew over in the summer was quite the bummer, so I plan to make up for all of that in one scoop this time around!”
With that, she turned around and went on as if she was a rook about to charge:
“Let’s get going! We can really go crazy after this! Let’s get rid of all the dirt from this year out of us, and welcome the new year anew! Not even one speck of remorse can be taken to the new year. All right!”
We each answered in our own way. Tsuruya-san lifted a hand up high, shouting “YA-!” Asahina-san seemed rather shy and timidly nodded, Koizumi had only smile after smile, Na
gato as per usual was totally silent while my little sister wouldn’t let go of Mori-san.
As for myself, I looked aside at the horizon to avoid that beaming-to-the-point-of-glaring smiling façade of Haruhi.
The sky was absolutely clear and showed no sign of an impending storm.
At this point in time.
We went in 4x4s to get to Tsuruya-san’s mansion. The drivers were Arakawa-san and Mori-san, so one could conclude that Mori-san must’ve at least been the legal age to obtain a vehicle license. This would be quite a breakthrough since I had little doubt that she would be of our age group from before. No, no, I don’t mean anything else. Having Asahina-san as the sole busy maid is enough. I have no desire toward Mori-san, just to clarify. This is important.
The car ride through the view blanketed by snow was rather short. It only lasted about fifteen minutes, and the four-wheeled monsters came to a halt in front of a very classy building.
“Quite the atmosphere!”
Haruhi, the first to step off the car, remarked fondly.
“This would be the most petite and beautiful of the villas that we have.” Tsuruya-san said. “But I really like it here, since it is the most comfortable.”
This place was not far from the station, and there was a skiing ground accessible on foot. Based on the location it was clear that the villa could fetch quite the pretty penny. The comment that this was the smallest mansion was no lie, for her to say this was the smallest and the most beautiful should be due to having to compare this to her own Japanese style estate. If I am to use the impression of a commoner to describe this, I have to say that the stretch of this property is on par to that of the lone island resort we were at this summer. Just what kind of shady things did the Tsuruya family do to have obtained such grand houses?
“Please come in.”
Arakawa the butler was in the lead. He and Mori-san obtained the permission of Tsuruya-san and had the key beforehand, and headed here a day in advance, which meant that they had been setting the stage since yesterday. This was thanks to the minute detailed planning of Koizumi as well as revealing how easy-going the Tsuruya family was, with just this detail.