The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya Read online

  “There were signs that a cold was going around a week ago. It doesn’t seem to be influenza, though it might have been better that way. Since there’s a vaccine now.”

  “A week ago?” I asked as I stopped in the middle of tearing into my spinach omelet.

  I don’t believe that there was anybody doing anything a week ago that would have spread germs. I’m pretty sure that nobody was absent, and I can’t recall anybody coughing during class. So a disease had been spreading out of my sight, despite the fact that every student in 1-5 looked perfectly healthy?

  “Huh? There were quite a few people absent. You didn’t notice, Kyon?”

  I had no idea. Is that true?

  “Uh-huh, it sure is. It only got worse this week. I hope they don’t quarantine the entire freshman class. That would probably cut into our winter vacation,” Kunikida said as he carried some seasoned rice to his mouth. “Taniguchi’s been looking sluggish the past few days. His dad believes that you can cure a cold by using sheer willpower, so Taniguchi isn’t allowed to stay home unless his temperature’s over 104 degrees. I’m pretty sure he needs to do something before it gets worse.”

  I stopped my chopsticks in midair.

  “Kunikida. Sorry, but I thought that Taniguchi only started looking sick today.”

  “Huh, no way. He’s been like that since the beginning of the week. He sat out gym class yesterday.”

  I’m getting confused now.

  Wait, Kunikida. What are you talking about? As far as I can remember, Taniguchi was going wild enough in the soccer match during yesterday’s gym class to make you wonder if he was on steroids. I know because I was on the other team, trying to slide tackle him. Not because I was jealous of his getting a girlfriend or anything, but I probably would have held back if I had known he would be so sick today.

  “Really. Huh? That’s funny.”

  Kunikida cocked his head as he picked out the carrots in his burdock root stir-fry.

  “Maybe I was mistaken,” he said.

  He sounded pretty laid-back.

  “Mmm, we’ll know once we ask Taniguchi later.”

  What’s going on today? Taniguchi and Kunikida aren’t making much sense, and Haruhi’s absent. This had better not be an omen of some disaster that inconveniences every human being who isn’t Haruhi. My nonexistent sixth sense was sounding an alarm as I felt a chill creep up the back of my neck.

  Bingo.

  My intuition wasn’t too shabby. This was, in fact, an omen of things to come. But my intuition was unable to determine who would be inconvenienced. Every human being who isn’t Haruhi… was the wrong answer. Oddly enough, there was only one person who would notice this situation and find it disturbing. The rest of the world wouldn’t be inconvenienced in any way. Because they were completely oblivious to what was going on. They’re not going to pick up on something they can’t pick up on. As far as they’re concerned, the world hasn’t changed one bit.

  So who was the person inconvenienced by this turn of events?

  That goes without saying.

  Me.

  I was the only one left dumbfounded amid these bewildering circumstances while the rest of the world moved on without me.

  Yes, I finally realized what was going on.

  It was lunchtime on December eighteenth.

  The physical manifestation of my bad omen opened the door to the classroom.

  A cheer came from the girls near the door at the front of the classroom. It came in response to the entrance of a classmate. I peeked through the crowd of sailor uniforms to see that person arrive in grand fashion.

  With book bag in hand, that person smiled at the approaching flock of friends.

  “Yes, I’m fine now. I went to the hospital this morning to get a shot, and I feel much better. I thought I might come in for the afternoon classes.”

  That came in response to the person inquiring about recovering from a cold and was delivered with a gentle smile. After a quick joke that person, with medium-length hair swaying… slowly… walked… toward… us.

  “Oh, I should move.”

  Kunikida stood up with his chopsticks clamped in his mouth. Meanwhile, I was staring at that person as though my vocal cords had been robbed of their ability to speak. Actually, I had completely forgotten to breathe. It felt as if an eternity had passed, despite the fact that only a few steps had been taken. Eventually, that person came to a halt right next to me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  The question was accompanied by a puzzled expression and followed by a cliché.

  “You look like you just saw a ghost. Or is there something on my face?”

  Kunikida, packing up his lunch, was the next target.

  “Oh, I’m just going to set my bag down here. Go ahead and eat. I had lunch before I came to school. You can borrow my seat for now.”

  And true to her word, the female student hooked her bag on the side of the desk before turning back to the ring of waiting friends.

  “Wait.”

  My voice cracked a bit.

  “Why are you here?”

  That person turned around and gave me a frosty, penetrating look.

  “What do you mean? Is there something odd about my being here? Or are you trying to imply that I should have been sick longer? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “That’s not it. I don’t care about your cold. I’m talking about—”

  “Kyon.”

  Kunikida was poking at my shoulder with a worried look on his face.

  “You’re acting really weird. You haven’t been making any sense at all, really.”

  “Kunikida, you don’t have a problem with seeing her here?”

  I couldn’t take this any longer, so I stood up and pointed my finger at that person, who was staring at me with a baffled look.

  “Don’t you know who this is? It’s someone who isn’t supposed to be here!”

  “… Kyon, it’s not very polite to forget the face of a classmate when she’s only been absent for a few days. Isn’t supposed to be here? She’s been in our class the whole time.”

  I could never forget her. It’d take a lot longer than half a year to forget the face of this wannabe murderer who tried to kill me.

  “I know.”

  That person smiled as though she had just come up with a hilarious joke.

  “You were probably nodding off as you ate your lunch. Did you have a nightmare or something? That must be it. Isn’t it time for you to wake up?”

  A smile spread across her comely face as that person turned to Kunikida for support. I was focused on the images that had been burned into my brain.

  They were flashing through my mind. A classroom in sunset hues—shadows extending across the floor—a windowless wall—distorted space—the swing of a knife—that unnerving smile—crystal grains, crumbling like sand…

  Our former class representative who, after being annihilated in the battle with Nagato, was said to have transferred to Canada.

  Ryoko Asakura stood before me.

  “You’ll feel a lot better after you wash your face. Do you have a handkerchief on you? I can lend you mine.”

  I grabbed Asakura’s arm as she reached into her skirt pocket. She might pull out something that isn’t her handkerchief.

  “No thanks. Anyway, explain what’s going on. Every little detail. I especially want to know why you set your bag down on Haruhi’s desk. That isn’t your seat. It’s Haruhi’s.”

  “Haruhi?”

  Asakura frowned as she turned to Kunikida.

  “Who’s this Haruhi? Was there somebody who went by that name?”

  Kunikida’s response was yet another reason to despair.

  “Never heard that name before. Haruhi, is it? How is that spelled?”

  “Haruhi is Haruhi,” I grumbled as I was hit by a spell of dizziness.

  “You people forgot about Haruhi Suzumiya? How could you possibly forget about someone like that…?”

  “Haruhi S
uzumiya… Uh-huh, Kyon.”

  Kunikida spoke slowly in a consoling tone.

  “There’s no such person in this class. Besides, this has been Asakura’s desk since the last time we changed seats. Did you confuse our class with a different one? But I don’t recall ever hearing the name Suzumiya before. Can’t be a freshman…”

  “The name doesn’t ring a bell for me either.”

  Asakura seemed to agree that I needed to get my head looked at as she continued in a gentle, purring voice.

  “Kunikida-kun, could you look inside my desk real quick? The student directory should be near the end.”

  I snatched the small notebook from Kunikida as he pulled it out. I immediately opened it to class 1-5’s page. I traced my finger down the list of names for the girls.

  Saeki, Sakanaka, Suno, Suzuki…

  There wasn’t a name between Suno and Suzuki. Haruhi Suzumiya’s name had vanished from the student directory. It was as if the pages were asking “Who are you looking for? There’s no such person” as I shut the directory and closed my eyes.

  “… Kunikida. I have a favor to ask.”

  “What is it?”

  “Pinch my cheek. I need to wake up.”

  “You sure?”

  He pinched as hard as he could. It hurt. And it didn’t wake me up. I opened my eyes to find that Asakura was still standing before me with her lips pursed in a semicircle.

  Something’s going on here.

  I suddenly noticed that we had the entire class’s attention. Their eyes were all focused on me as though I were an old stray with canine distemper. Damn, why? I haven’t said anything wrong.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  I asked the people nearby the following two questions.

  Where is Haruhi Suzumiya?

  Didn’t Ryoko Asakura transfer out?

  Their responses were no help. Like they were all in on this together.

  “Don’t know.”

  “Nope.”

  I was starting to feel nausea in addition to the dizziness. I was struck by a jarring disconnect from reality that forced me to put my hand on a nearby desk for support. It felt like a part of my soul had been shattered.

  Asakura laid her hand on my arm and leaned in with a worried look on her face. The sweet fragrance from her hair was numbing me.

  “You should probably go to the nurse’s office. Strange things can happen when you’re sick. That must be it. I believe that you’re coming down with a cold.”

  No!

  I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I wasn’t acting strange. This situation was strange.

  “Let me go.”

  I brushed Asakura’s hand away as I headed for the classroom door. The vague disconcerting sensation had seeped through my skin and into my head. The sudden cold outbreak, the disparity in my conversation with Taniguchi, the absence of Haruhi’s name in the student directory, the appearance of Asakura… huh? Haruhi’s gone? Nobody remembers her? How is that possible? Doesn’t the world revolve around her? Isn’t she the focus of everybody in the universe?

  I mentally yelled at my legs as they tripped over each other, leaving me to practically crawl out of the classroom.

  Nagato’s face was the first thing to pop into my mind. She would be able to explain this situation. The reticent, omnipotent alien android, Yuki Nagato, was always able to provide a solution. I’d be willing to say that Nagato was the only reason I was alive today.

  Nagato would know.

  She would be able to save me from this predicament.

  Nagato’s class was nearby. It took only a few seconds to reach without my even having to run. My mind was still a jumble as I opened the door and searched for her small and short-haired figure.

  She wasn’t there.

  However, it was too early to despair. She usually spent lunch in the clubroom reading. It’d be hasty to conclude that Nagato had also disappeared just because she wasn’t in the classroom.

  Koizumi was the next thing to pop into my mind. The literary club room in the old shack was pretty far away. The second-year classroom where I would find Asahina was also in a different building. It would be faster to go down a floor to 1-9. Itsuki Koizumi, you better be there. I’ve never been so desperate to see Koizumi’s grinning face.

  I jogged through the hallway and skipped down the stairs, three at a time, as I made my way to the corner of the building where 1-9 was, praying the entire time for the esper freak to be there.

  I passed 1-7’s classroom and 1-8’s classroom to find myself in front of 1-9’s…

  “… What the hell is this?”

  I finally came to a halt as I turned to look at the nameplates on the wall again. To the left of class 1-8 was class 1-7. And to the right of 1-8 was—

  A landing that led to the emergency stairwell.

  Gone. Without a trace.

  “This is too much, man…”

  Forget Koizumi.

  Class 1-9 no longer existed.

  Wits’ end, seriously.

  Who would imagine that a classroom could disappear in the span of a day? This was nothing like a missing person. Every member of the class was gone. The school building had shrunk. You couldn’t manage that in one night, even with a rush job. Where did the members of 1-9 go?

  I was so shocked that I had lost track of time. I have no idea how long I stood there, but a jab to my spine brought me back as I listened in a daze to the voice of a biology teacher who reminded me of the Marshmallow Man.

  “What are you doing? Class already started. Return to your classroom.”

  Guess I was so out of it that I didn’t even hear the bell. Nobody else was in the hallway as the teacher’s voice rang out from the 1-7 classroom.

  I slowly began to move. No more time for confirming the omen. It had already happened. A person was here who shouldn’t be. People who should be here weren’t. Swapping Asakura for Haruhi, Koizumi, and everybody else in class 1-9 couldn’t be considered a fair trade.

  “What the heck?”

  If I hadn’t gone crazy, the world had.

  Who was responsible?

  Was it you, Haruhi?

  As a result, I wasn’t listening to a single word during my afternoon classes. Every voice and sound passed right through my ears without leaving any data in my brain cells. The next thing I knew homeroom was over, and so was class for the day.

  I was frightened. Not by Asakura, scribbling away with a mechanical pencil in the seat behind mine, but by the fact that Haruhi and Koizumi weren’t at school. I was too scared to even ask other people for confirmation. Every time I heard the words “Don’t recognize that name,” I found myself sinking deeper into a bottomless swamp. I couldn’t muster the energy to lift myself from my chair.

  Taniguchi immediately left the classroom with Kunikida, who was probably worried about me, while Asakura walked out with a group of laughing girls. She turned to me as she went out the door with a look of genuine concern for a classmate who wasn’t well. That only made my head hurt more. This was wrong. Everything was wrong.

  I finally grabbed my bag and stepped into the hallway as I followed the people on cleaning duty out of the classroom.

  Either way, this wasn’t where I should be after school.

  I trudged down the stairs in low spirits and when I reached the first floor, I spotted a glimmer of hope and took off running.

  “Asahina!”

  Nothing could have made me happier. My goddess/eye-balm was walking toward me. Even better, the baby-faced and well-endowed beauty was accompanied by Tsuruya. I was overwhelmed with joy.

  —I’m pretty sure that I should have been a little more careful.

  I raced over to the two upperclassmen at an incredible speed and grabbed the wide-eyed Asahina by her shoulders.

  “Wah!”

  I saw the surprise on her face, but my mouth had a mind of its own.

  “Haruhi’s gone! Koizumi’s been Drifting Classroomed! I haven’t checked on Nagato yet, but Asa
kura’s here and the entire school is weird. You are my Asahina, right?”

  Slip, slam. That was the sound of Asahina’s bag and calligraphy set hitting the floor.

  “What? Ah, um. Wait. Er. Huh…”

  “I mean, you’re the Asahina from the future, right?”

  Then came Asahina’s response.

  “… Future? What do you mean? Could you please let me… go?”

  I could feel my stomach turn as Asahina looked at me the way a domesticated impala would look at a wild jaguar. She was clearly frightened. The last sight I ever wanted to see.

  As I stood dumbfounded, my arm was twisted upward. I heard some disturbing sounds from my joints. That hurts.

  “Hold on a minute, young man!”

  Tsuruya was using some kind of ancient martial arts technique on my arm.

  “You gotta take it slower. Look, our Mikuru’s all scared now.”

  Her tone was light, but her eyes were like daggers. On a closer look, Asahina was certainly backing away with teary eyes.

  “Are you a freshman in the Mikuru Fan Club? Everything has a certain procedure to follow. You shouldn’t rush things.”

  That would be the umpteenth chill down my spine today. My arm was still locked by hers.

  “Uh, Tsuruya…?”

  Tsuruya stared at me as if I were a complete stranger.

  Et tu, Tsuruya?

  “Hmm? You know me? And who are you anyway? An acquaintance of Mikuru’s?”

  I refused to believe my eyes. Asahina hiding behind Tsuruya and staring at me openly while shaking her head.

  “I—I don’t know him. Um. He must have me mixed up with someone else…”

  The year was almost over, but that reaction almost made me pass out, as it basically guaranteed that this year would be a bad one. I can put up with pretty much anything that anyone might say to me, but hearing those words from Asahina was the biggest shock I’d received since the cousin I had a crush on as a kid eloped.

  I wasn’t mixing up this Asahina with some other person named Asahina. It’d be a different story if this actually were some other Asahina… oh, yeah. There’s a way to determine if this is actually the Asahina I know.