Volume 6 - The Wavering of Suzumiya Haruhi

by Tanigawa Nagaru

  So you decided to roll up your sleeves and help them out?

  “My costume didn’t have any sleeves then. The guys from the School Festival Executive Committee in this school are all imbecile yes-men appointed by the teachers, there’s no way one can listen to whatever they say. But……though I may be at loggerheads with the Student Council, when I saw the band leader looking so terrible, even I thought she couldn’t make it. And so I said, ‘Why not let me take over for you?’”

  And that leader, bassist and and drummer actually agreed?

  “If it was just the singing, it wasn’t too hard. The sick band leader stared at me for a while, then said, ‘Alright. If it’s you, then you can do it.’ She then gave me a gentle smile while looking very tired.”

  Everybody in North High now knows who Haruhi is and what she looks like. They probably have guessed what sort of girl she is as well.

  “I didn’t think much, after I pushed her into the teacher’s car as she was driven off to the ambulance, I then concentrated on memorizing the tunes and lyrics from listening to the demo tapes and reading the sheet music, since we only had one hour left.”

  Then, what about Nagato?

  “Um, it’s not that much of a problem for me to play the guitar as well, but we already had no time as I was already busy memorizing the rhythms. So I decided to ask Yuki to help out on the guitar part. Do you know? That girl’s good at everything!”

  Of course I know that, better than you in fact.

  “When I found her, she was busy telling the fortunes of her customers. When I explained everything to her, she agreed to help right away. I’m so amazed that she can memorize the notes instantly after reading it just once, and then play them all out so accurately. I wonder where Yuki learnt her guitar skills from.”

  She probably only started learning the moment you came asking her to help out.

  On the following Monday, two days after that incident.

  It was on the first Monday after the school festival, during the recess before the fourth session.

  Haruhi sat behind me, happily writing something on her notebook. I don’t want to know what it was, but I could pretty much guess the details. Haruhi was pleased that the SOS Brigade’s first indie movie did surprisingly well, and already she was busy conceptualizing on its sequel. Just thinking of how to banish these thoughts from Haruhi’s mind was already tiring enough for me.

  “Someone’s here!”

  Kunikida said after returning from the bathroom,

  “They’re looking for Suzumiya-san.”

  Haruhi lifted her head, Kunikida then pointed towards the door. Finishing his role as the messenger, he hurriedly returned to his seat.

  Outside the open sliding doors stood three solemn looking girls. One of them wore a sling over one of her shoulders. I remembered seeing the other two……they were the band members from last time.

  “Haruhi.”

  I pointed to the door with my chin.

  “They seem to be looking for you.”

  “Um.”

  Surprisingly, Haruhi looked hesitant. She slowly stood up, but had no intention of moving. In the end she even said,

  “Kyon, come with me.”

  Why should I have to go with you? I never had a chance to argue, as Haruhi pulled me by my collar with her incredible strength towards the classroom door. The three sempais instantly giggled at the sight of this.

  Haruhi then forcefully had me stand beside her.

  “Has your tonsillitis got any better?”

  She said to the third year girl that I only met for the first time.

  “Yes, it’s much better now.”

  She gently caressed her throat and said in a weak voice,

  “We’re forever indebted to you, Suzumiya-san.”

  She then bowed deeply to Haruhi. Her band members did the same as well.

  I later found out from them that the whole school (especially the girls) have rushed to the Pop Music Society and requested copies of the original demo recordings. Right now they’re visiting every class distributing the MD copies.

  “There were so many orders that it’s amazing.”

  When I heard how many orders were made, I was amazed as well. Because people weren’t ordering the version which Haruhi and Nagato stood-in, but the original version instead. It was an unexpected ripple effect.

  “This is really all thanks to you.”

  The three of them all gave the same graceful smile to their helpful lower classman.

  “As a result of that, all our hard work didn’t go to waste. We’re so grateful of your help. Suzumiya-san, you truly are amazing. This year’s school festival was our last chance of performing for the Pop Music Society, I would have performed myself if it were possible, but it was better to find a stand-in than to give up completely. We are simply eternally grateful for your generosity.”

  It was embarassing enough to be thanked so sincerely by three sempais, even though I wasn’t the one being thanked. Why should I stand with Haruhi and be embarassed together with her?

  “We’d like to offer you a gift as a token of our gratitude.”

  When the band leader said that, Haruhi quickly shook her hands.

  “There’s no need for that, no, really. I had a fun time singing, the songs were really pleasant. It’s like having a karaoke but with free live band playing for you instead. So I’ll feel bad if I accept any gifts from you.”

  I felt Haruhi sounded strange. As though she had prepared this speech beforehand. Although talking to her sempais so casually sure suited her image well.

  “There’s no need to be too concerned about it. If you want to thank someone, go thank Yuki. She was the one that I had to turn to for help.”

  The three of them all said they’ve already gone to Nagato-san’s class to thank her.

  After expressing their gratitude, Nagato simply nodded without changing her expression and then silently pointed towards Haruhi’s classroom. That wasn’t too hard to visualize.

  “Well then……”

  The leader sempai finally said,

  “We plan to hold another concert just before our graduation, so feel free to come along, and……”

  She looked at me carefully.

  “Don’t forget to bring your friend along.”

  But, how was it that their original recorded version became so popular in demand?

  The answer was later solved by someone. It’s only during this time that this chatterbox would come to explain in detail the answer to this minor mystery. Sometimes this esper-boy can be useful as well.

  “Have you noticed any difference between Suzumiya-san’s voice with the rest of the rhythm sections? Or to be more precise, the difference between the rhythm sections of Suzumiya-san’s melody, Nagato-san’s guitar riff and that of the bass and drums.”

  Koizumi continued,

  “The difference was so small it was near impossible to notice. Their jamming was so perfect no one would have thought they were a temporary band. Suzumiya-san sure has an amazing sense of rhythm, she only needed to listen to the original tape three times before going on to perform.”

  Nagato too was pretty amazing, with her guitar skills reaching professional levels. But for our ever reliable goddess Nagato, that sort of trick was easy for her.

  “However, that sort of singing wasn’t exactly perfect. After all, those were all original composed songs. The musical foundation over the songs of the band members, who had practiced day and night over their own created songs, and that of Haruhi, who only came on after listening to the tape three times, were drastically different.”

  That was pretty obvious.

  “Exactly. In other words, no matter how hard the bassist and drummer try to match up with the singing of Suzumiya-san, who had hastily memorized the rhythms and made her own interpretations, and the guitar riffs of Nagato-san, who would be trying to follow the singing rhythms, there would still be some discrepancies between their various rhythm sections. The audi
ence would feel some sort of disharmony within the song, yet they don’t know where the disharmony comes from, since that was based on a subconscious feeling.”

  He’s always like that, explaining things as though they really mean something. Must you explain everything from a psychological point of view?

  “This is based on my analysis, you’ll understand once I finish my explanation. As the second song and third song followed, that disharmonious feeling within the audience grew larger and larger without them realizing it, until the final song was played……Think about it, what did Suzumiya-san do before performing the last song?”

  She explained to the audience that the lead singer as well as main guitarist was absent, and she had to stand-in together with Nagato. She then stuffed the microphone to the band members for them to introduce themselves. That was it.

  “And that was enough. The mystery was answered, and the doubts of the audience were all cleared at once. ‘Ah~. So that’s why we had that strange feeling of disharmony.’……and all their questions were answered.”

  Since you say that, I guess I have to agree. Yet I still wasn’t convinced.

  “Suzumiya-san’s singing and Nagato-san’s guitar skills were far above the levels a high school Pop Music Society could reach. The audience would probably think, ‘If the stand-in artists was already this great, then wouldn’t the original members be superb?’”

  So that’s why many people requested MD copied of their original recordings?

  “Suzumiya-san’s singing is so good that it’s close to perfection. Yet her near perfect performance has created something good out of it, Suzumiya-san sure is incredible.”

  Maybe. For those three third-year band members, Haruhi was like a saviour.

  But……what was she to us?

  “To us? What do you mean?”

  I mean what was Haruhi to the members of the SOS Brigade, the constant victims of Haruhi’s ideas! Don’t tell me you expect her to create “something good” from her ideas.

  “Then I wouldn’t know the answer. These things are best left till the end to find out. Yes, if till the very end, we still feel it wasn’t a bad thing to have met her, then it’s probably a blessing.”

  The three third-year sempais left just as the bell for the end of the fourth session began to ring.

  Haruhi returned to her seat with an expression that was complex and hard to describe. She spent the whole fourth session daydreaming and carrying the same expression. When lunch break came, she disappeared at once.

  I spent the lunch break sitting with Kunikida and listening to Taniguchi making his excuses, “It’s true. There were no hot girls at all during the school festival, I think this has to do with our school’s geographic position. As the school is situated on a hill, the romantic path becomes an uphill struggle as well.” I think I let that babble enter my left ear and out of my right, as I was too busy eating. I finished my boxed lunch in no time and got off my seat.

  For no reason at all, I suddenly felt like having a walk after lunch.

  After walking aimlessly for a while, for some reason my legs automatically turned to the central courtyard, and towards the patchy grass fields just beside the corridor leading to the club room building, and it was there I saw Haruhi lying on the grassy knoll.

  Placing her hand behind her back as a pillow, she seemed concentrated on the movement of the clouds above.

  “Yo.”

  I said,

  “What’s with you? You’ve had that face since the last recess.”

  “What now?”

  I decided to follow suit and silently look at the sky.

  Haruhi gave me an incomprehensible reply, and continued looking at the clouds. I decided to follow suit and silently looked at the sky.

  I don’t know how long we kept silent for. I don’t suppose it was more than three minutes, but I don’t have much confidence with my internal clock anyway.

  At the end of this meaningless silent marathon, Haruhi finally spoke. She sounded very stiff, as if struggling to find a topic to talk about.

  “Um……I just can’t remain calm, I wonder why?”

  Hearing Haruhi’s tone I could tell she was troubled, I half-smiled,

  “How should I know?”

  It’s because you’re not used to being thanked by other people, and especially to being thanked personally by someone you’ve never met before. And you never have done anything others would say “thank-you” for face-to-face. You’re probably wondering whether you were being intrusive when you decided to help them. After all, if it had been you, even if your vocal cords and arms were broken, you would probably had dragged yourself onto the stage with your sheer determination, no matter how people tried to talk you out of it. Never once would you have thought of getting anyone to help.

  In the end, you not only saved the day, but you managed to raise the popularity of the sempais’ band, all thanks to your effort in standing up against the Executive Committee. Their gratitude was genuine and came from the bottom of their hearts. So the decision you made was probably the second best, if not the best, choice. How does it feel, Haruhi? Now you know the importance of helping people in need. Why don’t you make an oath to help others for the rest of your life?

  ……I never said any of the above to Haruhi, only keeping it in my mind. Since all I was doing was standing besides Haruhi and looking at the sky. Since the school festival ended, the autumn season really kicked into gear, and the mountain breeze began chasing away the thin clouds.

  Haruhi remained silent as well. Her scowling face was probably deliberate just to spite me. She must be having another expression inside her mind.

  “Well?”

  Laying flat on the grass, Haruhi turned her sharp gaze towards me,

  “You have something to say? Hurry up and say it! Though it’s probably some unimportant nonsense, but you’ll go crazy eventually if you keep things to yourself for too long.”

  “No, nothing really.” I said.

  Haruhi sat up and clutched the grass on the knoll with her hands, she gathered them up and threw them towards me. But it seemed even the weather gods were on my side, as a wind suddenly came and blew the green grass straight into Haruhi’s face.

  “Damn it!”

  After spitting out all the grass that flew into her mouth, she lay flat again.

  I lifted my head and looked towards the club building, I could see the Literature Club’s window. I thought I would see a slim short haired figure looking down at us, but in the end I could see nothing. It was normal for me not to see anything anyway.

  After another moment’s of silence, a voice began to talk to herself,

  “It didn’t feel bad at all singing live. Though for a moment I was concerned with how well I could sing……but it was fun. How should I say this? I felt very immersed with it.”

  If dressing up in a bunny girl costume and singing from the notes as a stand-in singer makes you happy, then it means you have an unlimited amount of enthusiasm, though I knew that for a long time already.

  “And it was because it was so much fun that the injured sempai had to argue with the Executive Committee to allow her on the stage.”

  “Yeah.”

  Hearing this heart-felt confession, I felt moved somehow. This girl never fails to amaze me.

  “Hey!”

  Remaining solemn all the time until now, Haruhi suddenly leaped forward and stood near my face. I instinctively backed off, but mistimed my step. And right now this ever moody drama queen now showed a deluxe smile and raised her voice,

  “Kyon, what instrument can you play?”

  A particularly ominous feeling swiftly crept into my consciousness, I quickly shook my head.

  “I don’t know any.”

  “Let’s form a band for the school festival next year. Even if we don’t join the Pop Music Society, we can still go on stage to perform after passing the audition. We’ll get through with ease. I’ll do the singing, Yuki’s the guitarist, while
Mikuru-chan can shake the tambourine and make the stage lively. Good idea, huh?”

  No, it’s not a good idea!

  “Of course, we must work on the sequel to the movie as well. Yup! We’ll be quite busy next year. We ought to have more goals for the new year than previous years!”

  Now just wait a moment.

  “Let’s go, Kyon.”

  Wait, hold it. Where’re we going? And what’re we doing?

  “To get some instruments! We’ll probably find something good if we go to the Pop Music Society’s place, besides I want to ask that third-year band tips on how to compose a song. Good things ought to be done quickly!”

  It may be a good thing for you, but not for me! But Haruhi ignored my doubts and grabbed my hand, she then began to drag me along……

  In very large strides.

  “Don’t you worry, I’ll take care of the music and lyrics. Of course, I’ll be in charge of the editing and dance choreography as well!”

  Sigh. The secret switch that only exists in Haruhi’s has been switched on and was generating strange ideas once again. Even if I was abducted by aliens, I still wouldn’t be dragged so strongly as this. I looked up again for someone who could save me.

  There was still no sign of anyone by the club room window. The guitar maestro and alien magician was probably deeply immersed in her world of books right now, since autumn was the season for reading, after all.

  “Can’t you walk with your own legs? C’mon, let’s leap through every three steps and we’ll climb the stairs in no time!”

  Haruhi turned, her eyes glittering with all sorts of entertaining stuff, she hastened her footsteps and soon began running.

  I had no choice but to run along as well.

  Why you ask?

  Because it was still some time before Haruhi could let go of my hand.

  Asahina Mikuru's Adventure Episode 00

  And so, my first school festival in high school has ended frantically together with the seasonal change, yet the lively atmosphere of the festival still echoed inside Haruhi’s mind, and behind that echo were all sorts of promotional posters that read, “Book your pre-order tickets now”, “This movie will rock Hollywood (very soon)”, “One year to conceive, and (less than) one month to complete shooting”.