Moments later, half the school was gone.
I couldn’t tell how large this Sealed Reality was, and I didn’t know if this dimension would expand and become another reality. At this moment, my mind was full of uncertainty. If at this instant, an old drunkard sitting beside me in a train had said to me, “Let me tell you something, but don’t tell anyone! I’m actually an alien,” I would have believed him right away. Because the number of mysterious events I’ve experienced has now tripled compared to a month ago.
What exactly could I do? If it were a month ago maybe I wouldn’t have thought of anything, but right now I believed I could. Because I’ve already received a few hints.
Once I’d decided, I said the following,
“Haruhi, these last few days, I’ve gone through some very interesting things. Though you may not know it, there are all sorts of people who are very concerned about you. It’s not ridiculous to say that the world literally revolves around you. Everyone believes you are a very special person, and they’ve tried to back up those beliefs with actions. You may not know it, but the world is headed in a very interesting direction.”
As I grabbed onto Haruhi’s shoulders, I realized I was still holding her hand, while Haruhi looked at me with a face that said, “What’s gotten into you?”
And then, she moved her eyes away from me and towards the rampaging blue giants, with a matter-of-fact expression.
Looking at her young and smooth face, I remembered Nagato’s “evolution possibility”, Asahina-san’s “temporal distortion”, and Koizumi treating Haruhi as “God”. But as for me, what is Haruhi to me? Just what do I treat her as?
Haruhi is Haruhi, what else is there to say? I didn’t intend to just answer like that though. Yet, I didn’t have a definite answer. I knew it’d come to this, right? If you had pointed at the classmate behind me and asked, “What does she represent to you?” - how do you think I would answer? ……This, I’m sorry. I’m going in circles again! To me, Haruhi’s not just an ordinary classmate, and certainly not any “evolution possibility”, “temporal distortion” or even “God”.
The giant turned towards the trackfield. He’s not supposed to have any eyes, yet I could vividly feel his vision. He took one step in our direction. His single step was most likely a couple of meters, or he wouldn’t have shortened the distance between us so quickly despite walking so slowly!
I got it! Didn’t Asahina-san say something about it? That prophecy! And Nagato’s last message. Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Please, even I know what Sleeping Beauty means! What is the similarity between these two stories? In our dire situation, the answer was practically shouting out loud.
Man, this is so lame.
It’s way too lame! Asahina-san, Nagato. I’ll never accept such a development! Never!
My rationality insisted on that. But humans were never a lifeform that relied only on reason to survive. Maybe they needed a bit of what Nagato called “mixed-up data”. I let go of Haruhi’s hand, grabbed her shoulder, and turned her towards me.
“What now……”
“You know, I really like you in a ponytail.”
“What?”
“I don’t know when, but since then, I can’t stop thinking of you in a ponytail. I think that suits you best.”
“What’re you trying to pull?”
I ignored Haruhi’s protests and kissed her on the lips… I grabbed her hand and held on tightly, not wanting to let go yet.
Her black eyes resisted me. I ignored Haruhi’s protests and kissed her on the lips. It’s more polite to close your eyes at times like this, so I closed mine. And so, I didn’t know what expression Haruhi had. Were her eyes open from the shock? Or did she close her eyes as well? Or did she try to raise her hand and slap me? But even if she did slap me it didn’t matter, since I was betting everything on this. If anyone else did this to Haruhi, they would know how I felt then. I grabbed her hand and held on tightly, not wanting to let go yet.
I could still hear the rumbling in the distance; it seemed the giant was still destroying the campus. Just as I was thinking that, I suddenly lost my balance and fell downwards, and then everything turned upside down. There was a hard impact upon my left side. No matter what I did, I couldn’t keep my balance. When I tried to sit up and open my eyes, I saw a familiar ceiling above my head and was stunned.
I was in my room, and turning around, I realized I had fallen out of bed onto the floor. Of course, I was wearing my pajamas. Half of the messed-up blanket lay on the floor. I placed my hand behind my back, opening my mouth like an idiot.
It was some time before I could think again.
Under a half dreamlike state, I slowly stood up, opened the window, and looked outside. I saw a few twinkling stars and the shining street lamps. I confirmed there were lights coming from other people’s windows and occasional silhouettes moving behind them.
Was it a dream? Had I been dreaming all of this?
I had a dream where I fell into a surreal world with a girl I knew, and then ended up kissing her! A dream so easy to understand that even Sigmund Freud would laugh out loud.
Urgh, I really wanted to hang myself right away.
Maybe I should be grateful that this country has outlawed guns, or I would’ve grabbed a fully automatic gun and aimed it at my head without hesitation. If it were with Asahina, then I could have at least gotten some sort of well-detailed personality analysis from this dream, but I had to dream of myself kissing Haruhi, of all people! What on earth was my subconscious thinking!?
I sat wearily on the floor and held my head, thinking if this were all a dream, why did it feel so real? The sweaty right hand, and the warmth left on my lips……
……Does this…does this mean that this is no longer the original world? Is this a brand new world created by Haruhi? Is there a way for me to confirm this?
There isn’t, no matter how hard I thought. Or rather, I never wanted to think about such a problem. If I had to admit that all of that was a dream because my brain was out of order, then I’d rather believe that the world had been destroyed. Besides, right now I’m in denial.
I looked at my alarm clock. Two thirty in the morning.
……I’m going back to sleep.
I pulled my blanket over my head, asking my already clear mind to give me some deep sleep.
I couldn’t sleep.
That’s why right now I’m so exhausted that I almost need to crawl in order to climb up the slope. This is killing me, to be honest. I’m just glad I didn’t meet Taniguchi on the way, or I’d be forced to hear him go on and on. The sun continued to release the heat from its endless nuclear fusion. Mr. Sunshine, I beg of you, can’t you occasionally take a break? I’m going to fry to death!
Refusing to come when I needed it, the sleep demon now circled around my head when I least wanted it. If this goes on, I don’t know how long I can stay awake in the first class.
When I saw the school complex, I stopped and looked at the crummy old four story building. The sweaty students all crawled into the school buildings like a bunch of ants.
I dragged my feet up the stairs, and then into the familiar first year Fifth Class room, stopping three steps from the window.
There, sitting in the back by the window, I saw the back of Haruhi’s head. How should I say this? She had her chin resting on her hands as usual and stared outside with a wooden expression.
From her back, I could see a small tail hanging from her hair onto her shoulder. Her hair was a bit too short now to tie a ponytail, so I guess she only tied that randomly?
“Yo, how’s it been?”
I placed my bag on the desk.
“Miserable! I just had a terrible nightmare last night.”
Haruhi said in a calm tone. Hey, you actually just went through a really incredible event last night!
“That’s why I couldn’t sleep all night. I wanted to take sick leave, but then my attendance rate would have gotten too low.”
“I s
ee.”
I sat down on the hard chair and studied Haruhi’s face. Her hair covered the side of her face from her ear downwards, so I couldn’t clearly see her expression. In any case, she was in a bad mood. At least her face told me so.
“Say, Haruhi.”
“What?”
I said to Haruhi, whose eyes were still staring outside,
“You look great in that ponytail.”
Epilogue
Let me talk about what happened after that.
That afternoon Haruhi had let her hair down to her shoulders again. She was probably sick of having to tie her hair up. I guess I’ll have to wait until her hair grows longer before trying to convince her to tie a ponytail.
On my way to the bathroom during lunch break, I met Koizumi on the corridor.
“I should really thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
He smiled cheerfully,
“This world has remained unchanged, and Suzumiya-san is here as usual. It seems my work will have to continue for a while, all thanks to you, and I’m not being sarcastic. On the other hand, it’s also possible that this world was only created last night! In any case, it’s an honor to have known you and Suzumiya-san.”
“Maybe we’ll get to be together for some time!” Koizumi said while waving his hand towards me.
“See you after school!”
I went to the Literature Club room to have a look during lunch break, and there sat Nagato reading her book as usual.
“For two and a half hours this morning, you and Suzumiya Haruhi had disappeared from this world.”
She opened her mouth and said this, and only this. Then she lowered her head and continued reading.
“I’m reading the book you lent me now. I should be able to return it to you in a week.”
“I see.”
Her head remained lowered.
“Can you tell me if there are many others like you on this planet?”
“A lot.”
“Does that mean there’ll be those who might attack me like Asakura did?”
Nagato now lifted her head and looked at me.
“I won’t let them.”
I decided not to mention the library to her.
After school in the club room, I met Asahina-san, who was wearing her uniform for once instead of her maid costume. When she saw me, she ran and embraced me.
“I’m so glad, I can still see you……”
Asahina-san cried with her face buried in my chest.
“I thought you’d never……(sniff)……return to this (sniff) world……”
Perhaps she just realized she was embracing me because Asahina suddenly pushed me off with her arms at once.
“No, you can’t. If Suzumiya-san sees this, the same thing will happen again!”
“I don’t get what you’re saying.”
Looking at the teary-eyed, adorable Asahina-san, I really wanted to be reborn. In my opinion, there wasn’t a man in this world who wouldn’t fall for such innocent looking eyes.
“Why aren’t you wearing your maid costume today?”
“It’s being washed.”
At this point, I suddenly thought of something, and pointed towards my heart.
“Oh yeah, Asahina, you’ve got a star-shaped birthmark over here on your chest.”
Wiping the tears away from her eyes, Asahina looked as shocked as a dove shot by a stray bullet. She then slowly turned around and pulled her collar aside to take a look inside her shirt, upon which her face blushed red very quickly.
“H…how did you know!? I didn’t even know myself! When did you find out?”
Asahina-san waved her fists and hit me nonstop while blushing furiously.
Your future self told me so. I wonder if I should tell Asahina-san the truth?
“What’re you two doing?”
Haruhi stood by the door with an astonished face, while Asahina’s fist stopped in mid-air with her face going pale at once. Haruhi gave an evil smile, like an evil stepmother who knows that her stepdaughter has eaten the poisoned apple and is about to die, and lifted the paper bag she was carrying.
“Mikuru-chan! You’re tired of maid costumes, right? Come! Time to change!”
Haruhi moved as swiftly as a martial arts master and grabbed Asahina, who was still petrified on the spot.
“N…nooooo~~!”
Asahina screamed endlessly as Haruhi forcefully pulled off her uniform.
“Stop moving! It’s useless resisting. This time it’s a nurse uniform! I think they’re now called hospital attendants or something, but it’s all the same!”
“A…at least lock the door!”
I had wanted to stay and enjoy the scenery, but finally decided to go outside, shutting the door.
Although I feel sorry for Asahina-san, I’m really looking forward to what I’ll see when the door reopens.
Ah yes, and Nagato was there as well, sitting in the corner as usual, quietly reading her book.
This time, I finally handed the SOS Brigade application form to the Student Council. If I didn’t bribe the Student Council, there was no way they’d ever allow a club like the “Save the World by Overloading it with Fun: Suzumiya Haruhi’s Brigade” to exist.
That’s why I changed the name slightly to the “Assisting the Student Council in Changing the World Association” (abbreviated as the SOS Brigade), and I altered the club’s activities summary to “providing all sorts of consultation services to any problems people may encounter at school, and to actively participate in local community services”.
I don’t know what that exactly means, but I guess it’ll be OK as long as it makes sense grammatically. After that I’ll just make some posters about those annoying consultations and stick them on the board. I have a feeling most of the people that come looking to us for consultation will probably not be for “something interesting”.
On the other hand, Haruhi’s “Search for Mysterious Events” in the town continued under her command for the second memorable time today. According to precedent, today’s activities should have involved wasting a whole weekend wandering around aimlessly, but today Asahina, Nagato, and even Koizumi all said they couldn’t come as they had something important to do, so I ended up waiting all alone for Haruhi at the station ticket turnstiles.
I don’t know what those three were up to, or whether they genuinely had something important. But since they aren’t normal humans in the first place, it’s not surprising that they would need to handle some very important matters in some place I’d never heard of.
I looked at my watch. There were still thirty minutes before the meeting time. I had stood here for thirty minutes already; in other words, I arrived an hour early. I did this not because I looked forward to today’s activity, but because the SOS Brigade had an unwritten rule that whoever arrives last, whether they’re late or not, has to pay a fine. Besides, there’s only two people involved in today’s activity.
I lifted my head and saw a familiar figure, casually dressed. She probably never expected me to arrive so early, and stood stunned on the spot. She then grumpily walked towards me. I didn’t know whether her frown had to do with today’s low attendance rate, or the fact that I arrived earlier than her. I’ll just have to ask her when we get to the cafe. Of course, Haruhi’s paying.
By then, I’ll have many things I want to talk to her about, like where the SOS Brigade is going from now on, Asahina-san’s costumes, trying to have her talk to other classmates for once, and asking her what she thinks of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis.
However, I need a good topic before I can start a conversation with her.
Ah, I’ve already decided what to say. That’s right, I’ve decided……
……To talk about aliens, time travelers, and espers first, of course.
Author’s notes
Sometimes, I wonder if the total amount of words one can write has been decided since birth. If everyone has a set amount of words to write in their lifetime, then their
writing volume will decrease as they grow older. Once I think of that, I’d lose the will to write, and concentrate on calculation. For example, I aim to write a draft of about 300 pages with 400 words on each page, but the best answer is that it just doesn’t seem possible to achieve. Even if I write a 120,000 word story a day, and on average I type one word per second, then it’ll take me at least 33 hours to complete; that is of course, impossible for me. Perhaps there’s someone who can do it? But I can’t prove if that person exists.
Since I don’t know what else to say, let’s change the subject! Really, cats are wonderful animals; they’re adorable, lazy, and they meow. Though it can be a headache wondering just what they’re up to, I don’t intend to defend their actions. As long as people think that cats are adorable, that’ll do for me.
Let’s talk about something else again. I never thought I would win a prize with this book. I’m really surprised, actually. When I received the phone call notifying me of the result, at first I wondered if I’d heard correctly. Then I wondered if I was going insane, and then I questioned whether the phone was working properly, doubting reality, and wondering if the world had stopped spinning.
Finally, when I thought “this seems real after all”, I found myself grabbing my cat’s legs and spinning ecstatically. I even got scratched a few times. As I looked at the scars on my hand, I thought, “If some people are fated to have good luck, then I’ve probably used up all my good luck by now.” Anyway, I was so mentally shocked that parts of my memory have now been lost, so I can’t remember the details, but it should be something like that.
I believe the publishers and editors who worked long hours to get this book published probably had a harder time than me as an author. Right now I can’t think of any words to express my gratitude to them. I don’t know how to express my gratefulness, especially to the judges. Right now I’m still trying to find a new word to describe my thankfulness, but I believe it would be a newly created word that no one would understand. Anyway, I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart.
Volume 1 - The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi Page 18