Volume 8 - The Indignation of Suzumiya Haruhi

by Tanigawa Nagaru

  There have been no confessions, much less any dates.

  I gave a sigh as a scene floated on the insides of my eyelids.

  It was a scene from about a year before, when the graduation ceremony for middle school was ending, at that period of time just before I came into this school. With not so much as a mosquito’s leg of thought that my high school life would be so hectic; it was the carefree, lethargic spring break at the end of middle school.

  Originating from the time my little sister brought the telephone receiver to my room, it was a short episode that was barely caught within the cracks of my brain.

  After staring up at the ceiling for a while, I lightly snorted my nose and moved my hand to the notebook computer’s track pad.

  The screen saver flew away somewhere, and the restoration of the text editor that I had been neglecting brought back the white screen.

  As I sensed Koizumi making a foppish smile from the side, I tried hitting a key.

  Well, I was just breaking in my fingers. When I got bored in the middle of my writing, I immediately deleted the whole paragraph.

  Thinking of the task as sifting out gold dust from the deep pool of memory with a sieve, I transmitted the sentences I had composed in my head to my fingertips, and began writing the introduction.

  For the time being, let’s just do this by feel.

  It was before I entered high school; a time when I was just passing through what remained of the last spring break of middle school……

  It was before I entered high school; a time when I was just passing through what remained of the last spring break of middle school.

  Though I had already received my middle school diploma, I still didn’t feel like I was going to be a high school student, and if I could, I’d keep that status forever, I remember thinking.

  As a result of being sent to private tutoring by my mother since I entered third year, getting through the entrance exams without a hitch was, well, easy enough. However, when I went there for a preliminary inspection before the exams, I thought that having to go up that slope that just went on and on for three years of high school would get really tedious. Come to think of it, in relation to the division of the school districts, I had some good friends in the municipal next to my neighborhood, but because they’d decided to go to far-away private schools, I felt my feelings of loneliness would worsen whether I liked it or not.

  At that time, I had no idea I would be meeting a strange girl as soon as high school started, and never saw my name getting on the member list of some bizarre brigade even in my daydreams, so as I looked back at my middle school days, I was somewhat anxious about the unknowns of high school life, which, in short, is the reason for my eagerness.

  And so, I buried that loneliness that had taken over a large part of my heart, kept sleeping lethargically up ‘till noon, opened the game tournament that was supposedly the farewell party for the people going on to other high schools, then went on to watch a movie―――which was fun and all, but passing day after day like that got tiresome before long, so, after having brunch, I just idled away that early, pre-April afternoon in my own room like a cow.

  After sleeping, waking up, eating, and then lying on my bed to sleep again, the ringing melody of the house phone started up and reached my ears.

  Having no extension in my room, I left it for my mom or sister to answer, but a moment later, my sister came into my room carrying the cordless phone.

  It felt like she’s been doing this for a while now, but whenever she came to me with the phone in her hand, this peculiar feeling would well up inside me.

  However, though I might be repeating myself, the me of that time was still pure, and my experience points were overwhelmingly insufficient.

  “Kyon-kun, phone~”

  My sister gave me a strange smile,

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s a girl~”

  My little sister pushed the receiver to me, grinned widely, twirled her body around, and then left my room with a hop, step, and a jump.

  Strange. Usually, she wouldn’t budge from my room until I drove her out, so why was she in such a hurry?

  Anyway, just who could this be? As I scrolled across the main menu in my mind for the face of the girl who could’ve called me, I pushed the talk button on the receiver.

  “Hello?”

  A moment passed,

  “……Yes. Um……”

  It was a girl’s voice for sure. However, my search mode didn’t finish as I couldn’t recognize who it was. But it was a voice I had heard somewhere before.

  “It’s me. Yoshimura Miyoko. Good afternoon. Are you feeling well right now? You’re not busy, are you?”

  “Ah-……”

  As I started thinking, the scrolling in my head came to a complete stop. It was no surprise that she sounded familiar, since she was someone I had met many times. I just had difficulties realizing it since she had said her full name. It was Yoshimura Miyoko, nicknamed Miyokichi.

  “Ah, it’s you. Yeah, I’m not busy at all. Too much free time, actually.”

  “Wonderful.”

  She said with heartfelt relief, making me feel hesitant. Just what did she want with me?

  “Are you free tomorrow? The day after tomorrow is also good. But it won’t do if it goes into April. Would you lend me some of your time?”

  “Um, you’re asking me?” (※1)

  “Yes. I’m sorry for saying it so suddenly. Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. Are you going to be busy?”

  “Not at all. I’m free all day for either one.”

  “Wonderful.”

  She let out an honest, whispering voice that once again sounded like it had come from the bottom of her heart,

  “I have a favor to ask of you.”

  Miyoko shifted to a nervous voice in some way, and continued.

  “The whole day tomorrow will do. Would you please go out with me?”

  As I gazed at the gap in my door to chase after the shadow of my sister who had just left,

  “Me?”

  “Yes.”

  “With you?”

  “Yes.”

  Miyoko lowered her voice,

  “Just us two. Is this no good?”

  “Nope, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “Wonderful.”

  I heard her give an exaggerated sigh of relief again, and with a voice that sounded like she was working hard to restrain her cheerfulness,

  “Well then, I’ll be looking forward to it.”

  I could picture Miyoko’s figure bowing through the telephone line.

  After that, she proposed a time and place for the meeting, worrying about whether they were convenient for me, while I simply said “Got it” and went along,

  “I’m sorry. For calling so suddenly.”

  “It’s okay. I wasn’t doing anything, anyway.”

  After responding vaguely to that girl who was modest to the end, I hung up. If I didn’t end it right there, I was sure Miyoko would go on giving thank-you’s indefinitely. Yoshimura Miyoko, nicknamed Miyokichi, was that kind of girl.

  To return the phone to its original location, I exited to the corridor. As soon as I did, I found my sister waiting there while looking giddy for some reason, so I pushed the extension onto her.

  “Nyahaha~”

  My younger sister laughed out like a fool, waving the receiver around as she went away. As I worried about my little sister’s future, I recalled the calmness of Miyokichi’s voice. (※2)

  And then, the next day.

  I don’t plan on writing too much about the details. It would be troublesome to say even a single word. This is a story, not an activity report or a ship’s log. Much less my diary or something like that.

  Being the writer, I will do whatever I like. I can do that, can’t I?

  On that day, as I went to the appointed location, I saw that Miyokochi had arrived earlier and was waiting for me as I walked hurriedly to meet her. When she not
iced me, she turned her face towards me and gave me a bow.

  “Good morning.”

  After greeting me with a very thin voice, she set the sash of her hand bag on her shoulder, and then raised her head, making her ponytail swish around. She was wearing a light blue cardigan over her flower-pattern blouse, and for the bottom, she had on slim, seven-tenths length jeans. It suited her slender figure well.

  I gave her a “hey” as something of a return, before I slowly took in the surroundings.

  We were in front of the station. This would become familiar when we make customary use of it as the gathering point for the SOS Brigade. However, at this time, it would be several months later before I become attached to that ambiguous brigade, and I had no idea that I would be pushed around by my chin because of a Brigade Chief who would break into this world and reign supreme, so I just gazed normally around the vicinity. There should be no reason to think that there’d be trouble if someone were to see me and a girl meeting as a pair. Wouldn’t you think that way, as well? (※3)

  “Um…”

  Miyokichi said with a trace of nervousness on her elegant face.

  “There’s someplace I want to go to, is that okay?”

  “That’s fine.”

  So we went. If I didn’t plan on going, then I would’ve just broken it off yesterday through the phone. And there was no reason for me to flatly refuse Miyokichi’s request.

  “Thank you.”

  To not make it overly polite, Miyokichi only gave one bow at a time,

  “There’s a movie that I’ve been wanting to see.”

  Of course, she didn’t have to worry about it. I’ll even buy her tickets.

  “There’s no need for that. I will pay for myself. Since it was me who had unreasonably asked you to go.”

  After stating it clearly, she beamed. It was what you would call a smile that knew no impurity. An innocent smile that differed in meaning from my little sister’s.

  Incidentally, there were no movie theaters in the area. Miyokichi and I turned to the station, bought passes, and took the train. The movie that she wanted to see wasn’t in the cinema complex or the big theater; since it was a minor affair of an up-and-comer, it was just out as a small, single-hall preview.

  At the intervals when we were being jostled about in the juddering train, she would hold onto the town guide and gaze outside the window the whole time, but she would sometimes remember to look up at my face, and give a quick bow.

  It wasn’t that we were both totally silent, since we did have our conversations, but I won’t write anything about that. We just chatted about random things. I remember talking about what school she would be going to after that spring, and about my little sister. (※4)

  It was the same when we arrived at our station and walked to the movie theater. However, it seemed like she was getting a little nervous. That nervousness went on until we arrived at the theater and made it to the front of the ticket counter. (※5)

  Though it was almost time for the next showing to begin, the queue for the ticket counter was empty, showing how low the attendance for the film was. After glancing at Miyokichi, I turned to the glass window where an old lady seemed to be idling away,

  “Two students please.”

  I said.

  ……After writing that much, I lifted my fingers from the keyboard, leaned back on the pipe chair, and stretched out widely.

  Because I wasn’t that accustomed to it, it can’t be helped that my shoulders went stiff. As I turned my head from side to side,

  “This is pretty well written, isn’t it?”

  Koizumi smiled as he interestingly said,

  “Please write that way until the end. Though the truth is, I’m happy with just being allowed to read it at all.”

  You’ll regret it, Koizumi. You can bet on it. I’ve got to say, it won’t be something you’d enjoy reading. It’ll be far from being a romantic story.

  “Nevertheless.”

  Koizumi said as he picked at the liquid crystal of his notebook computer with his finger,

  “I am intrigued by what you have written. The text should contain even a little of what the writer is inside, shouldn’t it? The voice that we can hear oozing from between the lines is nothing less than the author’s voice. More than Nagato-san or Asahina-san’s writings, it is your story that makes me anxious.”

  There’s no need for you to trouble yourself over it. Since when did you start working as something other than Haruhi’s mental health expert? Isn’t psychoanalyzing me outside of your duties?

  “Considering that Suzumiya-san’s mental condition changes depending on you, that is something you can’t declare unconditionally.”

  You’re a bastard as always.

  Dropping out of the exchange with Koizumi, I swept my gaze over the room. Haruhi had not yet returned, while Asahina-san was still in the middle of making her drawings.

  “Hnnnn, hnnnn……”

  The airy upperclassman, Asahina-san, was turned toward a piece of paper with a bewildered expression on her face, as she childishly grasped her pencil, drew a wobbly line, erased it after a little thought, and then again going,

  “Hnnnn.”

  Without raising her head, she continued working enthusiastically. Although Asahina-san’s picture-book style fairy tale has already been introduced, she, at the time, was actually just starting it. Looking at the finished product, you could really say that her efforts were fruitful. It had become a work that was very much in character with Asahina-san.

  And accordingly, for the one who had already finished her own work,

  “…………”

  At the end of the table, Nagato was quietly reading a book in her usual spot. After submitting that untitled super-short trilogy, the light-and-slight-as-can-be Literature Club member had completely zoned the cheerfully-skipping-about Haruhi and the groaning Asahina-san and I out, making the effort to read as soundlessly as she could.

  If it were up to me, I would at least request some author’s notes for Untitled 1, 2, and 3 from Nagato, but I somehow felt like it would be better not to ask for anything; what I should be worrying about right now is the “Romance Story” that I had just started. Though I had busted my gut writing that,

  “It’s boring. Rejected.”

  With that single word, I would not have been able to do anything had she summarily tossed them straight into the garbage. However, writing something while thinking about what would please Haruhi would also irritate me. Why can’t I just forget about her when it’s such a useless thing?

  As I was starting to get more and more angry, the refreshing smile came again from the side,

  “That’s not true, is it?”

  It seems like he’s rebuking my soliloquy. As Koizumi continued his touch-typing without lifting a finger from the notebook computer,

  “If you wrote a document about a past experience, from before you met me or Suzumiya-san, I feel that Suzumiya-san would be interested in reading it.”

  Being able to write while having a conversation is no mean feat, but how can you be so sure?

  “For example.”

  Koizumi seemed to get somewhat happier,

  “Haven’t you thought about wanting to know about my past? What I was doing and where I was before I transferred to this school, or what I think about as I pass the days by; don’t you feel like getting a glimpse of that?”

  Well, you……. If you tell me which one it is, I’d like to hear it. If it’s a nonfiction piece about the daily life of an esper, then I’d be jumping with excitement to read it, if I were still a grade school student. What happens within the Organization as an institution, is something that stimulates my intellectual curiosity even now.

  “Even if you do get to know it, you will just be disappointed. It won’t be a very interesting episode. As you also know, I am an esper who is restricted by place and time.”

  Koizumi went on saying,

  “However, it is certain that I pass
my ordinary days different from ordinary people. Someday, when things have cooled down, I’ll think about whether I should write my autobiography. If I do write one, I’ll put your name in the dedication.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “Is that so? In that case, I would certainly think about giving you a complimentary copy, at least.”

  Without answering, I stretched out my hand to ask for tea. The teacup in my hand was already empty. Since Asahina-san was devoted to working on her picture book, I had no choice but to bring in a second cup by myself, and as I stood up to do so,

  Bang, the clubroom door opened, letting in the authoritative girl.

  “What’s up, everyone? How’s everything going?”

  With strangely high tension, Haruhi walked hastily into the clubroom and took her seat at the Brigade Chief’s chair, then after tossing a bundle of paper at her desk, she turned to me with a mysterious light in her eyes.