The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Page 11

  I turned the corner of the park to find her standing about a hundred meters ahead of me. She was walking with her back to me. Her high heels were clicking in a measured beat. She didn’t seem to be in a hurry, but unfortunately I was. Everything I’d done to make it to this point would be for nothing if I lost sight of her now.

  I began to run again. As I closed in, I could see her beautiful arms and legs and wavy medium-length hair almost shine under the faint light in the night. From behind, I could tell that it was definitely her.

  I quickly caught up and called out.

  “Asahina!”

  She froze. The soft tapping from her heels stopped. Her soft chestnut hair blew across her back. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. She turned around gradually.

  I tried to predict what she would say.

  —Why? Didn’t we just part ways?

  —You chased after me… or I suppose not.

  —Hmm? What happened to the other me?

  The answer was none of the above.

  “Good evening, Kyon.”

  She greeted me with a captivating smile on a face just as beautiful as I remembered.

  “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  The adult version of Asahina winked as she said that. It’s been a little over five months since I’ve seen this smile.

  Asahina (Big) had a look on her face like a child breathing a sigh of relief.

  “Still, I’m glad that we were able to meet here. I was a little worried. After all, I couldn’t be sure I hadn’t made any mistakes. I still screw up all the time,” Asahina said as she stuck out her tongue adorably.

  That gesture was lovely enough to make me melt, but I’d lose everything if I gave in now.

  This Asahina knew what I needed to do next.

  I did my best to hold back my flapping tongue.

  “Asahina, you knew that I’d be back… You knew that I would return to this place at this time, didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” Asahina said. “Since it was established information.”

  “You were the one who arranged for the small Asahina and me to go back three years in time on that Tanabata… in other words, to this time.”

  “Yes. It was absolutely necessary. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here now, right?”

  If I hadn’t drawn the geoglyph on the East Middle school grounds, I would never have named myself to the seventh-grade Haruhi as John Smith. Naturally, the freshman Haruhi at Kouyouen Academy wouldn’t have recognized the name. Which meant that I wouldn’t have been able to find a link, since there had been absolutely nothing else to connect that Haruhi to me. And as a result, the five of us wouldn’t have assembled in the clubroom and the escape program wouldn’t have done its thing.

  This was when a question came up. The other John Smith… it couldn’t be.

  “It was you. Kyon. The present you.”

  Asahina (Big) smiled at me like a white rose.

  “It’s rather tiring to talk while standing, so why don’t we go find a place to sit down? We still have time.”

  Her smile and words held enough power to dispel the shroud of unease and confusion surrounding me.

  If Asahina (Big) was here, the future still existed. And it wasn’t a future that had gone out of whack on the eighteenth. It was the future where I and the Haruhi and Asahina I knew belonged.

  It was going to be okay.

  I now felt confident enough to calm down. She continued to bolster that confidence.

  “It is my role to guide you from here on. However, after that, you’ll be on your own. I can only follow your lead.”

  And then she shut one eye. A perfect wink that almost sent me to my knees.

  We went back to the park and sat down on the bench where Asahina (Small) and “I” had been sitting. Before we sat down, Asahina (Big) gently caressed the bench as though it were an ancestral relic, which left me feeling solemn as I sat down. The bench was still warm. The warmth from the Asahina and me who had traveled back three years in time five months ago.

  I immediately broke the silence.

  “What’s up with the flow of time? I can understand how this Tanabata is connected to the time I just came from. Or else I wouldn’t have made it here. In that case, Asahina… wouldn’t that mean your future was also connected to that altered time?”

  “I can’t tell you any details.”

  Figured as much. It was probably classified information.

  “No.”

  Asahina (Big) shook her head.

  “I wouldn’t be able to explain it in a way you could understand. Our space-time continuum theory is based on a unique concept. I wouldn’t be able to convey the idea through words. Do you remember when I first confessed my true identity?”

  I recalled the shocking revelation by the cherry blossom trees along the river when Asahina, who I’d thought to be an adorable upperclassman, declared that she was from the future.

  “My explanation didn’t make much sense, did it? That’s the best I can do. I’ll only confuse you if I try.”

  Asahina (Big) tapped herself on the side of her head with her fist as she winked. Every little gesture she made felt so sensual.

  “A concept cannot be explained through words when the necessary terms don’t exist yet. Do you understand that?”

  How could I? My head was spinning as Asahina spoke to me as if she were trying to teach a preschooler differential equations.

  “Uh-huh. Still, you’ll understand soon enough. I’m sure. That’s all I can say for now.”

  I’ll understand soon enough—pretty sure that someone else said something similar to that before summer vacation. Right, Nagato said something along those lines… Wait.

  A flash of electricity ran through my synapses as I replied.

  “Before summer vacation… the stuff Nagato mentioned during the incident with the cave cricket… About how computers in the future weren’t anything like the ones now, was that…”

  “Ah, that’s a sharp observation. You still remember? That’s right. The system in our time that serves as a computer or network does not rely on any material substance. It exists within our minds in an abstract form. The TPDD is also that way.”

  The thing she lost that was supposed to be impossible to lose.

  “Is that a time machine?”

  “Time Plane Destroid Device.”

  Shouldn’t that be classified information?

  “Yes, it was for me back then. The restrictions on me are slightly more relaxed now. Since I’ve worked very hard to come this far.”

  Asahina puffed up her chest, which almost sent a button flying off her blouse. Her physically impossible body proportions were impressed on me in a beguiling fashion, but unfortunately my mind was unable to find optical refuge in that sight.

  I asked, “What was the cause? I understand the future I was in had been changed. But when did it change?”

  “It would be better to ask the Nagato in this time period for the details. But I can tell you one thing. Your time plane was altered three years from ‘now’ on the morning of December eighteenth.”

  That would be two days ago for me. Alteration to the time plane, huh? Which meant that… I tried to remember the two interpretations Koizumi had come up with. I guess that the one that didn’t involve parallel worlds was correct.

  “Yes. STC data… um, the entire world was changed overnight. Only your memories remained untouched. It was an incredible timequake that could be observed from the distant future.”

  It wasn’t that I had no interest in technical terms like “STC” or “timequake,” but I didn’t have time to waste on trivial matters. There were other more pressing questions to deal with.

  “If you were waiting here for me, Asahina, does that mean you’ll also be dealing with the disaster that has befallen my future?”

  “I cannot deal with it alone,” she replied with a glum look on her face. “We need Nagato’s help. And you also have to be with us.”

&nbs
p; “Who’s responsible for this? I’m guessing it was Haruhi.”

  “It wasn’t.”

  Asahina’s smile faded as she continued in a soft voice.

  “It wasn’t Suzumiya. Someone else was responsible for this.”

  “A new character? Some freak who came crashing in from another dimension—”

  “No.”

  Asahina almost sounded wistful as she interrupted me.

  “It was someone you know very well.”

  Asahina (Big) checked her watch and noted that we still had some time, so we began reminiscing about the SOS Brigade. In my case, less than a year had passed, but I got the impression that it had been many years for her. Starting with Haruhi carrying her away to the clubroom, forcing her to dress up like a bunny girl, the wishes on Tanabata, the murder show on the island, wearing a summer kimono for the Bon Dance, doing summer homework with everyone else in the brigade, filming the movie… Asahina (Big) began talking more slowly as she reached the parts that were still fresh in my mind.

  I was waiting for her to accidentally reveal a story that would be in my future, but this Asahina was cautious. Our conversation was limited to minor chitchat.

  “It was quite an ordeal, but they were all fond memories.”

  And after that final observation, Asahina shut her mouth. She continued to stare at me in silence.

  I was wondering if I should make an appropriate comment when something soft and warm landed on my shoulder. It was the head belonging to Asahina (Big), but I couldn’t even imagine what this action was supposed to mean, as the body pressing against mine was certainly worth its weight in gold and my mind was a total mess because the sweet fragrance and sensation were incapacitating me. I could feel the soft warmth of her body through the cloth of her shirt. What was she trying to say? Was she trying to sense something from my body? Asahina (Big) had her eyes shut as she leaned her face into my shoulder and her lips moved without making a sound. She was saying something inaudibly. I wonder what.

  No way, I thought in a daze. Don’t tell me that this Asahina is going to fall asleep and then another Asahina will show up from behind to confuse me with more weird talk. And then I’d just keep on running into Asahinas from different times forever—no, I was starting to think in circles like laundry spinning round in a dryer. Hey, what am I doing here? Somebody tell me.

  Asahina (Big) was nestled against me for about a minute.

  “Hehe.”

  She smiled as though reading my thoughts.

  “It’s almost time. Let’s go.”

  She stood up as though nothing had happened. Sadly, I had to return to my senses. That’s right. I needed to go. Uh, where are we going?

  To my second destination.

  Asahina’s wristwatch told us that it was a little before ten PM. That would be after “I” had finished defacing East Middle’s school grounds with the seventh-grade Haruhi and dragged a weeping Asahina to Nagato’s apartment. Around the time when “I” had my time frozen.

  I needed to ask Nagato for help again.

  “But first,” Asahina said, as a heartwarming smile hit her face like a starry sky, “there’s something else you must do, right?”

  We left the park and soon found ourselves inside a residential area.

  I followed Asahina’s cue and headed down an alley.

  I could see a small shadow marching at the end of the dark street. The thin arms and legs that extended from her T-shirt and shorts swished around with her somewhat long hair as she walked.

  “Hey!”

  I could see the short shadow in T-shirt and shorts turn around in the distance. Once I was sure that she had seen me, I cupped my hands like a megaphone and shouted. Loud enough to blow off some steam.

  “Cheers to saving the world by overloading it with fun with John Smith!”

  The seventh-grade girl appeared to be staring my way before turning in a huff and stomping off.

  She must have thought that there wasn’t any hurry, since she’d be able to find me at North High later on, which was why she walked away without any hesitation. As I watched her somewhat long, black hair depart, I added in a soft voice, “Please remember the name John Smith, Haruhi…”

  I prayed from the bottom of my heart to a twelve-year-old Haruhi, a Haruhi who would continue to run wild at East Middle.

  Please don’t forget. That I was here.

  I could probably have made my way to the fancy apartment blindfolded, since I’d practically memorized the path by now. Asahina (Big) was walking behind me to the side in a subdued manner as I looked up at the brand-new building I had just visited around twenty hours ago. Asahina (Big) seemed to be hiding her nice body behind me as though she was expecting someone to show up.

  “… Kyon, I have a favor to ask.”

  I had no reason to turn down her pleas. I wasn’t cruel enough to ignore a request from any Asahina from any time.

  “Sorry. I’m still uncomfortable around Nagato…”

  Right, Asahina (Small) was acting the same way when we came here last time. Haruhi aside, Koizumi was the only one who was able to conduct himself in a neutral manner around aliens and time travelers.

  “Well, I can understand how you feel.”

  I tried to sound considerate as I entered 708 into the keypad and pressed the button to ring the bell.

  After a few seconds I heard a click over the intercom.

  I was greeted by a duet of wordless and soundless.

  “Nagato, it’s me.”

  —Silence.

  “Sorry, it’s a little hard to explain, but I’m back from the future. Asahina’s also here. The grown-up one. Uh, yeah, her time-divergent variant, was it?”

  —Silence.

  “I need your help. Or actually, the future you sent me here.”

  —Silence.

  “Asahina and I should be up there. Asleep in your guest room with our time frozen…”

  There was a click as the entrance was unlocked.

  “Come in.”

  The sound of Nagato’s voice through the intercom was comforting to hear. It was her usual flat voice, cool and soft. There seemed to be a subtle twinge of wonder and surprise mixed in, but it was probably just my imagination. The sky was the limit once Nagato took over. She’ll be able to do something about this situation. Or I’m screwed.

  Asahina’s fingers were hooked in my belt, and she appeared as nervous as if she were walking on a fence in high heels. The elevator doors opened and inhaled us before heading up…

  To the now-familiar room 708.

  There was a doorbell, but I wasn’t in the mood. I knocked on the door without a word. I couldn’t sense anybody on the other side, but the metal door soon opened.

  “…”

  A small spectacled face peeked through the crack in the door. She stared at me and swiveled her head to focus on Asahina (Big) before returning her gaze to me.

  “…”

  The empty reaction with no expression on her face or words spoken almost made me want to beg her to say something, anything at all. This was vintage Nagato. The Nagato from when we first met. The one who’d been aloof back during spring. The one “I” had asked for help “three years ago.”

  “May we come in?”

  After a moment of silent thought, Nagato’s chin dipped about a millimeter and she retreated into the room. I’m guessing that’s a yes. I turned to the tense beauty behind me.

  “Let’s go, Asahina.”

  “Yes… You’re right. It should be fine.”

  She sounded like she was trying to reassure herself.

  Still, how many times have I entered this room? Four times in total, but only twice if I counted chronologically? My sense of time was a train wreck. I was surprised that my biological clock hadn’t gone haywire yet. My body should have collapsed after jumping from winter to summer and going back in time three years twice, but everything was functioning normally for now. In fact, I was tempted to say that my mind had never been clearer
. Because I’d gotten used to it? Maybe after going through all these surreal experiences, I’d managed to fry the nerves that recognized what was normal.

  Nagato’s room was just as empty as I’d remembered, without any signs of being inhabited. Just the way it’d been “three years ago.” Just the way it’d been when I first visited back in May.

  I was able to relax because this Yuki Nagato was the one I knew. No expression on her face, no emotion shown. A completely infallible alien who never acted confused.

  I took off my shoes and made my way through the narrow hallway to reach the living room. Nagato was waiting there. Standing all alone with her eyes fixed on Asahina and me in silence. Even if she was surprised, I wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at her face. It was possible that this Nagato saw me visit from the future on a regular basis, though I doubt that I’ll be traveling through time to this day that many times.

  “We shouldn’t need to introduce ourselves, right?”

  Nagato had yet to sit down, so Asahina and I also remained standing.

  “This is the adult version of Asahina. You’ve met her before,” I said before remembering that it wouldn’t happen for another three years. “I mean, you’re going to meet her. Yeah, she’s definitely Asahina, so it’s fine.”

  Nagato stared at Asahina (Big) the way you’d stare at a Math IIB problem on an entrance exam and let her eyes drift toward the guest room before returning to stare at the well-endowed body hiding behind me.

  “Understood.”

  She nodded without a single hair’s moving.

  As I followed Nagato’s gaze, I couldn’t help finding myself drawn to that special partitioned-off room next to the living room.

  “Can I open it?”

  I pointed to the guest room and Nagato shook her head.

  “It will not open. The room structure has been frozen along with time.”

  That brought on a mixture of regret and relief.

  I felt a warm breath on the back of my neck. Asahina (Big) had let out a soft sigh. She apparently felt the same way I did. I wondered how Asahina (Big) would feel if she saw herself sleeping next to me. I was tempted to ask, but I needed to explain the situation first.