“Nagato.”
I called to the small figure that was looking right at me.
“Sorry for calling you out so suddenly. Just like I told you on the phone, Nakagawa changed his mind.”
Nagato stood naturally, then nodded.
“I see.”
I looked into her dark eyes.
“Think maybe you could tell me the whole story now?”
I’d ridden over pretty quickly, to keep my body warm. I could withstand the night’s chill a little longer.
“I can understand why Nakagawa might have fallen in love with you so quickly. Everyone has a type, after all. But why would he suddenly change his mind today? It’s unnatural. And with the football game… it’s just too much to swallow that he would get an injury today that just makes him forget about his feelings.”
“…”
“You did something. I know I saw you doing something during the game. You were the one who made him have that accident. It was you. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
Nagato’s answer was simple. She looked up at me.
“I am not the one he saw.”
She sounded as though she were reading an essay aloud.
“What he saw was the Data Overmind.”
I listened quietly while Nagato continued.
“He has the ability to use me as a terminal to access the Data Overmind.”
The cold wind made my ears hurt.
“But I doubt he understood what he was seeing. Mere organic life-forms like humans are on a different level of consciousness than the Data Overmind.”
I saw a radiance shining out from behind her… light as though from heaven itself. That’s how Nakagawa had explained it.
Nagato continued her emotionless explanation.
“What he probably saw was accumulated transcendental knowledge and understanding. While what would have passed through the terminal was insignificant, the information would have overwhelmed him.”
So it was a misunderstanding, then. I looked at Nagato’s tousled hair and sighed. What Nakagawa was sure had been Nagato’s true inner nature had simply been a bit of the Data Overmind. I don’t really understand the details, but Nagato’s boss possesses a history and a power far beyond the reckoning of any human. It’s hardly strange that by accidentally accessing that, Nakagawa got overwhelmed—like a computer freezing when its browser crashes.
“And Nakagawa got confused and thought he’d fallen in love or whatever, then?”
“Yes.”
“And then you… corrected his feelings?”
The messy bowl-cut hair nodded.
“I analyzed, then deleted, his powers,” answered Nagato. “Human intellectual capacity is insufficient for interfacing with the Data Overmind. I projected that eventually he would suffer adverse effects.”
I could believe it. One glance at Nagato had been enough to send Nakagawa into a daze, making ten-year plans a few months later. I shuddered to think how crazy he might have gotten if he were left alone.
But there was still one thing I didn’t understand.
“Why did Nakagawa even have that power? Has he always had the ability to see the Data Overmind through you?”
“He probably acquired it three years ago.”
So it all goes back to that again, eh? The reason Nagato, Asahina, and Koizumi are all here can also be traced back to something that happened three years ago. Or rather, something Haruhi made happen.
That was when I realized it.
The ability Nagato had mentioned—I understood now. Nakagawa might very well have been a candidate to become an esper like Koizumi. Haruhi had definitely done something three years earlier. Something unimaginable, to create a temporal rift, to create an explosion of data, to create espers. So it was entirely possible that Nakagawa could be something like Koizumi. Koizumi’s strange statement made sense now. Whether he knew all along or just found out in the last couple of days, he must have known about Nakagawa’s power. That’s what he meant by “mysterious friends.”
“Possibly,” agreed Nagato.
Or it might be… I felt a shiver that wasn’t just because of the cold. There was no reason that such events were limited to three years ago. Was Haruhi still giving people supernatural abilities? Just like she made cherry blossoms bloom in autumn or turned shrine pigeons into doves? Like that, but with humans?
“…”
Nagato stood and began to walk away, not answering—or perhaps she’d said all she came to say. I stood still as she passed by me, beginning to fade into the darkness like a wandering spirit about to ascend to the Buddha.
“Wait. Can I ask you just one thing?”
I called out to her form, feeling something I couldn’t put into words.
Nakagawa had fallen so deeply in love with Nagato that he’d entrusted an incredibly embarrassing love letter to me. To my knowledge, no one else has ever confessed their love to her so directly. What did she think when I read the proposal to her the next day? What did it feel like, hearing someone say, “I love you; I want to spend my life with you,” only to find out it was all just a mistake?
The question spilled out of me:
“Were you disappointed?”
In the months since I met her, we’ve done a lot together. That’s true of Haruhi, Asahina, and Koizumi too, but nearly all the incidents involved Nagato somehow, and you could say that she makes my internal pendulum swing the farthest. Haruhi will always get by on her own power. Asahina is fine the way she is, and who cares what happens to Koizumi? But Nagato—
I had to ask. I couldn’t help myself.
“When you found out his confession was a mistake, were you a little disappointed?”
“…”
Nagato stopped, then turned her head just enough that I could tell she was looking back. A sudden wind blew her hair across her face.
The night wind was bitterly cold as it sliced over my ears. I waited for a bit, and eventually these small, quiet words were carried to me on the chilly air:
“… Just a bit.”
WHERE DID THE CAT GO?
The middle portion of the winter break crept asymptomatically toward the new year; originally we had been looking forward to the mystery that Koizumi and his comrades had set up for us, but the day we arrived at Tsuruya’s vacation house, we found ourselves wandering within its daydreamlike interior, and to make matters worse, Nagato collapsed out on the ski slope, which got even Haruhi freaked out.
Fortunately, upon returning to normal dimensionality, Nagato soon recovered, but no matter how you figure it, it was a crazy New Year’s Eve Eve—or December thirtieth, as the calendar figures it.
The next day. New Year’s Eve.
We had finally come to the brink of a project that had been in the planning stages for some time—the winter version of the mystery game that that overachiever Koizumi had set up when we’d visited a remote island during summer vacation. Of course, this time we knew it was a game, but it was still the main event of this whole excursion. As for the disaster on the snowy mountain; the phantom villa; the nude, fake Asahina; Euler’s theorem (or something); the feverish Nagato fainting—those were all unanticipated and undesired incidents. They weren’t Haruhi’s style, and I’d like to tell whoever or whatever was responsible that they’ll get what’s coming to them. Although Nagato was incapacitated, Koizumi and I (it’s hard to say how useful Asahina the Younger was) managed somehow. And now in the same villa that housed us, we had Tsuruya as well as Koizumi’s associates, none of whom should be underestimated. It would be stranger if something didn’t happen.
So.
With the preparations completed, things could now proceed in an SOS Brigade–style—or should I say Haruhi-style—fashion.
I had lingering doubts about whether this was the right way to end the year, but since I was the only one who seemed to hold such doubts, I kept my own counsel.
Just to be clear, the dramatis personae of this episode were: me, Haruhi, Naga
to, Asahina, Koizumi, Tsuruya, my little sister, Shamisen the calico cat, Mori, and Arakawa, along with brothers Keiichi and Yutaka Tamaru, who arrived that day.
At Haruhi’s urging, Koizumi’s Mystery Tour Part Two began.
The morning of New Year’s Eve. After polishing off the breakfast that Mori and Arakawa prepared for us, we assembled downstairs in Tsuruya’s villa. The first floor was an open common area. The floor consisted of around twenty tatami mats arranged upon a Japanese cedar base, almost like a stage for performing Noh or Kyogen theater. In the middle of the room was a sunken hearth table that could easily seat eight people. The space seemed designed for letting guests relax and make merry to their hearts’ content. The floors were also heated, of course, and a quiet heater fan in the corner blew a warm breeze through the room, so both the common area and the hallway were kept effortlessly warm.
Through the windows, the clear blue of the sky above the ski slope was perfectly smooth, as though airbrushed onto a smooth acrylic board—but there would be no snow sports today.
“I’m still a little worried about Yuki, so let’s play inside today,” said Haruhi, putting a ban on skiing. Of course, Nagato herself had returned to her normal expressionless self, even saying “It’s nothing” to try to curtail Haruhi’s nursing efforts, but once she’d decided something, Haruhi never reversed herself.
“No! At least stay inside for today. Until I’m sure you’re all right, no intense exercise or vigorous activity. Okay?”
Nagato just looked at Haruhi with those big eyes of hers, then looked to the rest of us in turn. I probably wasn’t the only one who thought it was almost as if she were saying “I don’t mind, but how do you guys feel about it?”
“It would be worrisome to leave Nagato all alone while the rest of us went out. I agree with Haruhi. All of us facing doom in order to save just one… it makes a beautiful story, does it not?” said Koizumi pleasantly.
Tsuruya and my little sister, neither of whom were proper brigade members, also agreed. Shamisen dangled from my sister’s arms; his opinion was unclear, but he didn’t make any noise, so presumably he had no complaints.
“Shall we push the plan forward, then?” said Koizumi, his gaze pointed out the window. “I had originally planned to start in the evening and end around midnight, but we can begin earlier.”
Can’t we just begin now? I wondered. Before the light of Haruhi’s anticipation burns out my optic nerves?
“Actually, it needs to start snowing again before that can happen. The weather forecast calls for snow showers starting around noon, so we’ll need to wait until then.”
I had only dragged the heavy Shamisen all the way out here because Koizumi had told me he needed the cat, and now he needed snow? If he needed snow, there were piles of the stuff outside, I told him.
“I need continuous, ongoing snowfall. I can’t explain further—I don’t want to ruin the trick.”
Having explained, Koizumi smiled to the calico cat in my sister’s arms, who was for the moment behaving himself, then picked up a rucksack from next to the heater.
“In anticipation of such a situation, I’ve brought several games. We can play indoors all day, if need be.”
I got a little excited, but then Koizumi started taking analog board games out of his bag. I wondered if he had something against video games.
Sure, we could play, but I was worried about Mori and Arakawa. Arakawa had acted as butler and chef, taking care of everything since our arrival the previous day, and Mori attended to us as a maid—although both of them were really members of the same Haruhi-observing Agency that Koizumi belonged to.
Their demeanor was so servantlike that I felt bad, and I wondered if I should help clean up a little after meals or something.
“No, we’re quite all right,” the two of them politely assured me. “This is our job, after all.”
Huh? Were they actually a butler and a maid? I was pretty sure they were just pretending and were actually part of Koizumi’s Agency.
Perhaps having noticed my doubts, Arakawa removed his businesslike mask and smiled. “It’s a gift of our occupational training,” he said to me.
Thus, neither of them were to be seen in the common area. Perhaps they were busily working away in the kitchen.
As for the other two—Keiichi Tamaru, whose fortune from bio-something or other was large enough to buy himself a private island, and his brother, Yutaka—they wouldn’t arrive until around two o’clock, by which time Haruhi had made herself a board-game billionaire, leaving the rest of us bankrupt, and we’d moved on to lunch and Haruhi’s nerve-racking punishment games.
The two brothers appeared in the common room where we were all playing, led there by Arakawa.
“The trains were running late because of the snow. We’d planned to be here in the morning.”
Keiichi Tamaru looked like a completely normal older guy, and his smile was just as nice as it had been in the summer.
“Hi, guys. It’s been a while.”
The pleasant Yutaka Tamaru smiled even more brightly than Koizumi as he waved, then spoke to Tsuruya.
“Pleased to meet you—my name is Tamaru. Thank you so much for the invitation. It’s an honor to be invited to the Tsuruya family villa.”
“Don’t worry about it!” said Tsuruya quickly. “You’re friends of Koizumi’s, and you’ve put together this game for us, so don’t sweat it at all! I love stuff like this!”
No matter whom she was talking to, Tsuruya had a way of making friends in fifteen seconds. I wondered if Asahina’s homeroom class was like this too. The second-year guys in that class must be pretty happy.
Mori and Arakawa immediately paid their respects. “Welcome, honored guests.”
“To think we’d be imposing upon you in the winter too!” said Keiichi with a sheepish smile. “We’ll rely upon you, Arakawa.”
“Would you care for some lunch?” asked Mori with a small smile.
“No, thank you, we ate on the train,” replied Yutaka. “I think we’d like to put our luggage in our room.”
“Very good, sir. I’ll take it up for you, then.” Arakawa politely nodded, then looked to Koizumi.
“Well then, everyone—”
Koizumi stood and addressed the room like a priest conducting a marriage ceremony.
“With everyone assembled, let us begin the game—I should apologize to the Tamaru brothers, who’ve only just arrived.”
Koizumi’s smile was a bit forced. Was he unsure whether the game would go smoothly, or did some foolish punch line await us?
“Let me state again that the only victim will be Keiichi. There are no plans for this to become a serial murder case. Also, there is one murderer, and only one. Do not worry about multiple culprits. You need not consider motive. It has no meaning in this game. Finally, I would ask that starting now”—he pointed to a clock on the wall—“from two PM to three PM, no one other than Arakawa and Mori may leave this common area. Yutaka, that goes for you as well. If you need to attend to anything before we begin, please do so now. Is this all understood?”
Everyone nodded.
“It’s still seven minutes until two, but that’s fine. Shall we begin?” asked Keiichi Tamaru, at which Koizumi nodded.
“Well then.”
Reprising his role from this summer as the victim, Keiichi scratched his head, apparently a bit uncomfortable with being the center of attention.
“My room is in the small building, a bit removed from the main house, correct?”
“Yes. I can show you the way,” said Mori.
“I think I’ll take a bit of a nap. I actually awoke rather early today and am running short on sleep. My nose is acting up, as well—I may have caught a cold.”
“Now that you mention it, Keiichi, you are allergic to cats,” Yutaka said. “Perhaps that’s the trouble.”
Even for an act, this was all way too fake.
“That could be it. Uh, please don’t worry about me. The allergy’s
not that severe. It can be rough in a small room, but I’ll be fine in a large space like this.”
Then, as though to really hammer the point home:
“Please come and wake me around four thirty. Will that be all right—four thirty?”
“Understood, sir.”
Mori bowed, then returned to her upright, elegant posture. “This way, please.”
Having delivered that series of obviously expository lines, Keiichi disappeared into the hallway after Mori. It was all so obvious.
“I’ll take my leave, then. Mr. Yutaka, I’ll take your luggage.”
Arakawa the butler gave a full ninety-degree bow, then quickly gathered up the bag and coat and left.
Having watched the three leave, Koizumi cleared his throat deliberately.
“Well then, that concludes the opening. Please enjoy yourselves in the common area for the next hour.”
“Now wait just a minute.”
It was Haruhi who objected.
“There’s an external building? I don’t remember that.”
“Sure there is,” said Tsuruya. “There’s a little place, separate from this house. Didn’t you see it?”
“I did not. Koizumi, it’s no fair hiding clues. You have to tell us these things. Let’s all go take a look at it.”
“You were going to see it later anyway…” Koizumi’s smile was weak in the face of his already disintegrating plans, but after looking at the clock, he seemed to decide the situation was salvageable. “Understood. There’s no harm in doing this much.”
“This way!”
Tsuruya walked along, taking the lead. Everyone else followed behind, of course—even my sister, carrying Shamisen, not that one person and one cat were going to be any use in solving the mystery.
Leaving the common area, we came to a hallway that ran parallel to a courtyard. The outside-facing walls were glass, so the garden was plainly visible.
Somewhere along the line it had started to snow.
The accumulated snow was about knee-deep. The garden was totally covered in white, yet somehow I got the sense that it had been done in the Japanese style. In the middle of the courtyard was a small hut.
After a minute’s walk, we came to the door that led to the courtyard, which Tsuruya opened. She then pointed.
The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya Page 11