“Do not move away.”
Nagato dodged Asakura’s attacks while pulling my tie so that I would kneel and hide behind her.
“Whoa!”
An unknown object flew over my head and smashed the blackboard to pieces.
Nagato looked upwards a little, and in an instant many icicles grew from the ceiling and fell on Asakura’s head. Asakura moved away with a speed that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye, and instantly an icicle forest formed from the ground.
“There’s no way you can beat me in this area of space.” Asakura said calmly. She and Nagato stood a few meters apart, facing each other, while I could only kneel on the ground hopelessly, not daring to stand up.
Nagato stood in front of me with her legs slightly opened, and it’s only now that I notice she’s so serious that she even wrote her own name on her indoor shoes. Then, as if chanting a prayer, Nagato mumbled softly,
SELECT serial_code
FROM database
WHERE code='data'
ORDER BY aggressive_combat_data
HAVING terminate_mode
“Target name Asakura Ryoko, hostility confirmed. Disconnecting target’s organic information interface.”
Normal space no longer exists in the classroom. Everything has turned into geometric shapes, appearing twisted or cone-like. Seeing this surreal scenery is like entering one of those theme park house of horrors, I’m getting dizzy already from watching.
“You would stop functioning before I would.”
I have no idea where Asakura’s voice is coming from in all this colorful mirage.
Whoosh, the sound of the wind slicing through the air.
Nagato kicked me hard with the back of her heel.
“What are you……”
Before I could finish, there was a spear so fast, I could just barely see it as it went past the tip of my nose and fell on the ground.
“We’ll see how much longer you can protect him. Try this!”
The next second, Nagato stood in front of me, impaled by about twelve brownish looking long spears.
“……”
In other words, Asakura attacked Nagato and me from all directions at the same time. Nagato managed to crystallize some of the spears and smash them, but trying to prevent me from getting hit by the remaining spears, she’d shielded me with her body. But I didn’t know that then, since it all happened so quickly.
Nagato’s glasses fell from her face and softly bounced as they hit the ground.
“NAGATO!”
“You should not move.” Nagato said calmly, pointing to the spears stuck on her chest and stomach. A pool of blood began to form under her feet.
“I’m fine.”
God, how can this be fine?
Nagato pulled out the spears from her body without even flinching once. The bloody spears fell onto the ground with an icy sound, and instantly turned into a desk. So that’s what the spears are made from!
“Being this injured, I don’t suppose you can stop me now. Here’s the finishing blow!”
At the other end of the twisted space, Asakura’s silhouette faded in and out. I could see a smile from her face, she then slowly raised her hands - if I’m not mistaken, her arms glowed all the way from her fingertips, and then extended to twice as long. No, not just twice as long…
“Please die!”
Asakura’s arms kept on extending, wriggling like a bunch of tentacles, and then closing in from both directions. Unable to move, Nagato’s small figure shook violently…… The next instant, my face was splattered with blood.
Asakura’s left arm clawed into Nagato’s right abdomen, while her right arm clawed into Nagato’s left breast, piercing through her back and stopping at the classroom wall. Blood spattered from Nagato’s mouth and down along her white legs, making the blood pool below even wider.
“It’s over.” Nagato said softly, then grabbed onto the tentacles. Nothing happened.
“What’s over?” Asakura said, sounding as though she’d won. “You mean your three years of life?”
“No.” said a seriously wounded Nagato, as though nothing had happened to her. “Commencing data interface disconnection.”
Almost instantly, everything in the classroom began glowing brightly, and then crystallized and dissolved within the next second, the desk beside me also turned into sand and collapsed.
“How can this be……”
Crystallized sand fell from the ceiling nonstop, this time it is Asakura’s turn to be stunned.
“You truly are outstanding.”
The spears within Nagato’s body also turned into sand.
“It took me some time to penetrate the program. But, everything will end now.”
“……You’ve already planted destructive factors around long before I penetrated this place, haven’t you? No wonder you looked rather weak. It was because you’ve used attacking data beforehand……” Asakura said despondently as her arms began to crystallize.
“Sigh, it’s such a pity, after all I’m just backup. I thought this would be a chance to break free from this deadlock.”
Asakura reverted back to her normal classmate self and looked at me cheerfully.
“I lost. It’s great that you can survive. But you’d better be careful, the Integrated Data Entity isn’t as united as you think, there are quite a number like me with dissenting opinions. It’s just like humans, there will be extremists like me next time. And who knows, even those who control Nagato-san might change their thinking and turn to kill you instead.”
She’s now covered from chest to toe by the glowing crystallized substance.
“Before that happens, I wish you and Suzumiya-san the best of luck. Farewell.”
Saying that, Asakura silently dissolved into small sandy dunes. And then, the smaller crystallized sand dunes continued to dissolve until they completely vanished.
Under a rain of crystallized sand, the high school girl known as Asakura Ryouko vanished completely from this school.
There was a loud thud, suddenly. I was quick to find Nagato lying on the floor, so I frantically got up.
“Nagato! Hang in there! I’ll call the ambulance!”
“There is no need.”
Nagato glanced at the ceiling with her wide open eyes.
“Physical damage doesn’t mean anything to me. Our priority is to restore this area of space back to its original state.”
The sand crystals around stopped falling.
“Removing impure substances, reconstructing classroom.”
As she finished, the familiar 1-5 classroom reappeared before our eyes. It was like a tape rewinding: everything in the room reverted to the way it had been before.
The blackboard, the teacher’s desk, the remaining chairs and desks all grew from the white sand and back to their original form as I had seen before school ended today. I can’t describe what was going through my mind then. If I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would’ve thought all these images were made with state-of-the-art CG special effects.
Windows grew from the walls, with the half-stained glasses intact; the sunset reappeared outside, bathing me and Nagato in an orange-red light. I tried looking inside my desk drawers, all the contents were still there intact, and all the blood that had spattered onto my face had now completely disappeared. This was too amazing. I could only describe it as magic!
“Are you really okay?”
I knelt beside Nagato who remained lying on the floor. I had thought she would have many wounds and holes in her uniform after being impaled by those spears, but they were all gone now.
“As processing power has been converted into data operation, I have just reversed the linking interface for a bit.”
“You need me to pick you up?”
Surprisingly, Nagato didn’t hesitate and grabbed my hand, just as she was about to stand up -
“Oh!”
She gasped suddenly.
“I forgot to regenerate a new pair of glasses.�
��
“……I actually think you look cuter without glasses. Four-eyed girls are not really my type.”
“What does ‘Four-eyed girls’ mean?”
“It’s nothing, just some stupid comment.”
“I see.”
Now is not the time to say such trivial things. I regret having said that. Even if it meant leaving Nagato behind heartlessly, I should’ve run out of the classroom at once in embarrassment.
“Yo!”
The classroom door suddenly opened.
“I forgot~ I forgot my stuff~”
Damn, there entering the classroom, humming a stupid song, was Taniguchi.
Taniguchi probably never thought there would still be people in the classroom. When he discovered us, he stood dumbfounded with his mouth wide open like an idiot.
At that moment, I was trying to carry Nagato, but if you had only seen us then, it would have looked like I was slowly laying her down.
“I’m so sorry.” Taniguchi said in a serious tone that I had never heard from him before, and fled the classroom at once. I didn’t even have time to chase him.
“Such an interesting person.” Nagato said.
I sighed heavily.
“What should we do now?”
“Leave it to me.” Nagato said while resting on my chest.
“Data manipulation is my specialty, I’ll let everyone think that Asakura Ryouko has been transferred away.”
So that’s how she does it!
Now is not the time to think about such trivial matters when I’ve just experienced an incredible event. This is no longer an issue of whether or not I should believe what Nagato said to me the other day, I didn’t dare admit I was half-convinced. Yet what happened just now has led me to realize how serious things really were. I really thought I was going to die! If Nagato hadn’t appeared from the ceiling, I would have been killed by Asakura. The experiences of seeing the classroom distorting, of Asakura’s arms extending unnaturally, and Nagato eliminating her emotionlessly have all been etched into my mind.
Is Nagato trying to use this to tell me she really is an alien?
In a way, doesn’t that make me an insider to this mysterious event? Just as I said in the beginning, I had wanted to be a bystander that got sucked into these events, content with being a mere sidekick. But as things stood, I was already the protagonist! That’s right, I had really wished I was a character in a story involving aliens, but when I’d really become one, it put everything into perspective.
To be honest, I’m quite troubled by it.
What I really want is to be the sort of side character that cheerfully provides helpful advice at the right moment when everyone is facing a difficult situation. I don’t want to have my life targeted by my own classmates! I do have my principles when it comes to my life.
My mind wandered aimlessly for some time as I sat in the orange-red classroom. I’d completely forgotten that Nagato was still resting on my chest.
W……what’s all this? What was I thinking? Thanks to my spacing out all this time, I didn’t notice that Nagato had completed her regeneration and has been staring at me expressionlessly for some time already.
The following day, Asakura Ryouko disappeared from class.
This outcome was inevitable, but I was the only one who thought like that.
“Hmm, I guess it has something to do with Asakura-kun’s father’s work, that’s why she had to transfer all of a sudden. To be frank, the teachers were shocked as well when they heard the news this morning. Because they had to leave the country, they already flew off yesterday.”
When Okabe-sensei announced this cover story, most of the girls exclaimed in shock, “What?”, “Why?”, while the guys also talked amongst themselves about this. Even the teacher had a look of bewilderment. Not surprisingly, the girl behind me could not be silent about this.
Smack! She smacked the back of my head with her fist.
“Kyon, this HAS to be a mysterious event!” Haruhi’s eyes shone brightly as she regained her usual vigor.
What should I do? Tell her the truth?
Actually, Asakura-san was created by an unknown entity known as the Integrated Data Sentient Entity, Nagato-san is also her companion, but for some reason their relationship broke down, and in the end Asakura-san had to resort to killing me. As to why it involves me, the reason is actually you. However, Asakura-san got turned into a pile of sand by Nagato-san and disappeared.
Oh please! I’d be ridiculed like hell if I said that, and I don’t feel like saying it. I’ll just pretend that everything that happened yesterday was just an illusion and leave it as that.
“First a mysterious transfer student coming in, then a girl transferring out mysteriously. There has to be something fishy going on!”
Should I commend her on her brilliant instincts?
“Maybe her dad got a transfer?”
“I’m not buying such a lame excuse.”
“Believe it or not, that’s the number one reason for having to transfer schools.”
“But don’t you find it strange? It took them only one day from receiving the job transfer notice to moving out. Just what sort of work is her dad doing?”
“Maybe Asakura’s dad didn’t tell her beforehand……”
“That’s impossible. This requires further investigation.”
I had wanted to say the job transfer was just an excuse, they had escaped overnight from their debtors after leaving behind a mountain of debt, but I decided not to. Since the person who knew the real reason was me.
“As a member of the SOS Brigade, I can’t leave such a mysterious event lying around unnoticed.”
Please stop!
After what happened yesterday, I had a complete changeover overnight. After all, having witnessed all this supernatural stuff firsthand, and trying to tell myself that it never happened, I had to pick one of the following choices: I was either hallucinating; or something was wrong with my brain; or the world is strange enough already; or I’d had a very long dream.
Besides, I could never admit that the world itself is a virtual reality.
Man! For someone who’s just turned 15, having to face a turning point in his life is just a bit too early!
Why does a first year high schooler like me have to deal with such philosophical questions like whether the world exists or not? Those aren’t things I should be thinking about. Please, don’t add to my troubles anymore.
Right now I have a whole lot of tricky issues to deal with!
Chapter 6
As with yesterday, today I found yet another letter inside my shoe locker. What’s with people delivering letters through shoe lockers these days?
It had a different feeling this time, however. The letter wasn’t folded and anonymous like last time. On the back of the envelope, which looked like one of those elegant envelopes that come with the shoujo-manga magazines for questionnaires and the sort, was clearly written a name. If my eyes didn’t deceive me, I was sure whose name was written on it.
Asahina Mikuru.
I instantly placed the envelope into the pocket of my jacket, and rushed to the men’s room to open it. There, on a piece of paper with smiley symbols all over it, were written the following words.
I will be waiting for you in the club room during lunch break.
Mikuru-chan
After the events yesterday, my whole view on life, the world and reality itself went through a 360 degree somersault like an acrobat.
I never want to go through such life-threatening situations again.
Yet I couldn’t turn this down. After all, it’s Asahina-san who’d invited me this time! Though I had no evidence to prove that this letter had been written by Asahina-san, I never doubted its authenticity, because she seemed like the sort to go through such indirect means. Furthermore, the image of her clutching her pen while writing excitedly on a cute piece of paper really suits her. If it’s during lunch, Nagato should be in the club room as well, should anyth
ing really happen, I guess she’d come rescue me.
Please don’t call me a hopeless coward. I’m just a normal high school student, after all.
After the fourth session, I was surrounded by: Taniguchi, staring at me with meaningful eyes; Kunikida, coming over with his lunchbox, trying to invite me to have lunch together; and Haruhi, asking that I go with her to the staff room to investigate the truth of Asakura’s departure. Without even having eaten from my lunchbox, I left at once for the club room.
It was only May, yet the sun was already shining with the brightness of summer. The sun is like an extra large fireplace, happily radiating its energy towards the Earth. When summer finally comes, Japan becomes a natural sauna. I could feel the sweat creeping into my underwear just from walking a few steps.
In three minutes, I arrived at the club room door. I knocked first.
“Please come in.”
It was Asahina-san’s voice, there was no doubt about it. Alright, I could relax and go in!
When I entered, I found Nagato missing, and to my surprise, so was Asahina-san.
In front of me stood a long-haired girl leaning by the window ledge facing the school courtyard. She wore a white blouse and a black mini-skirt, while her feet sported a pair of slippers made for school visitors.
When she saw me, she walked towards me delightedly and took my hands.
“Kyon-kun……it’s been a while.”
She was not Asahina-san, yet she resembled Asahina-san a lot, so much that one would easily mistake her for Asahina-san herself. To be honest, even I would have thought she was Asahina-san.
Yet she wasn’t Asahina-san. The Asahina-san I knew wasn’t that tall, and her face wasn’t that fully grown, not to mention the breasts under her blouse couldn’t have possibly grown a third in size overnight.
No matter how I looked, I was sure the person in front of me, smiling while holding my hands, is in her twenties, giving off a completely different feeling from the junior high schoolgirl-like Asahina-san. But why did she resemble Asahina-san so much?
“Excuse me……”
I suddenly thought of a reason.
“Are you Asahina-san’s……sister?”
Volume 1 - The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi Page 12