The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya (29 page)

The missing message had been delivered to Nagato. I hardly had to ask who the sender was, but Nagato told me.

“Mikuru Asahina’s temporal variant. We met roughly one hour ago.”

So Asahina the Elder
had
been here. But to think she’d go to Nagato!

“What did she say?”

“She said to take care of herself,” said Nagato simply, then reached out with her index finger and touched Asahina on the forehead.

“… Mm… ah… Whaa…?”

It was a magic touch. Asahina’s eyes blinked open.

“Waah… Kyon… huh? Why are you carrying… oh, N-Nagato…”

Shamisen struggled the same way when someone picked him up. Asahina had started squirming immediately upon awakening, and although I would’ve been happy to carry her a bit longer, she seemed unlikely to calm down—and Nagato was watching. I let Asahina down. According to what Mori had said, the tranquilizer was supposed to keep Asahina asleep for two hours, but perhaps because of something Nagato did, Asahina seemed perfectly steady once her feet were on the ground.

Her eyes a bit red at the corners, Asahina looked up at me.

“Um… what happened to me? We gave the turtle to the boy, and then… then all of a sudden there was a car, and it stopped, and…”

Apparently she’d been given the tranquilizer immediately thereafter. She didn’t remember anything, so I explained the rest. As the story progressed, her face went from pale to flushed, and when I finished the tale of the car chase, she smiled, much to my surprise.

“So that’s what happened. I guess even I can be useful sometimes. I managed to protect my other self in this time line.”

Asahina’s straightforward smile blasted all the psychological fatigue out of me. She was right. If it hadn’t been for (Michiru) Asahina, the kidnappers would’ve resorted to more extreme methods to capture Asahina the Younger. They might’ve done it right in front of Haruhi. Koizumi and his comrades could have tried to stop them without worrying about the consequences, but that would’ve been a terrifying turn of events. Haruhi would be shocked, and Koizumi’s Agency could hardly stand by and do nothing. But even our enemies would realize that, now—that they couldn’t get away with kidnapping even the comparatively harmless (Michiru) Asahina.

We’d managed to get Asahina back without relying on Nagato. I’ll bet our antagonists were well aware of what might have happened if she
had
been involved. If they wanted to be our enemies, I looked forward to seeing them get the treatment they deserved.

“Oh, that letter…” Asahina’s eyes fell upon envelope #5. “When did it…?”

Just a while ago. It was for Nagato, I said.

“For Nagato…” Her long eyelashes fluttering, Asahina addressed her petite fellow brigade member. “N-Nagato. Who was it that gave you this letter—was it…?”

“I cannot say,” came Nagato’s flat refusal. The expressionless alien continued, as though to remind Asahina. “You will understand eventually.”

Asahina’s mouth opened, and she froze.

“You of all people should understand that,” added Nagato, in a voice that sounded like a snow sculpture given life. She then pulled the hood of her duffle coat over her head.

I guess I wasn’t the only one who wanted to remind Asahina that it wasn’t that we didn’t want to tell her—it was that she should’ve known without asking.

I suddenly felt strangely uncomfortable sandwiched between the two silent girls, so I opened the letter and read it.

The contents of letter #5 were as follows:
“This is the end. Please tell your Mikuru Asahina to return to her original temporal posting. You are free to choose the time designation. And location as well, if you like. Do as you will.”

“Do as you will,” huh? I wouldn’t mind hearing that phrase under different circumstances, just once. From the original Asahina, of course.

Of course, since this is me we’re talking about, even if that wish were granted, I’d probably just stand there and faint dead away, sleeping soundly until Haruhi came along to pound wakefulness into me. I wasn’t like Haruhi—I wouldn’t wish for the Earth’s rotation to reverse. It was better to just seal away wishes you didn’t actually want to come true. The world was best left as it was.

Which was why we had to send Asahina back. I placed my hand on the shoulder of the dazed-looking Asahina, and showed her letter #5. She seemed to be more concerned about the sender’s identity than the content, but she read it through to the end, her face showing her acceptance.

“I understand. I’ve finished what I needed to do.” She then continued, sounding a bit lonely. “But it was an indirect order. If it hadn’t come through you, I wouldn’t be able to return to my own time.” Her sad expression soon disappeared, though, and she
smiled. “Someday I’ll be able to do all of this on my own. You’ll see. That’s when I’ll come and save you, Kyon, and everybody else. I don’t know when it will happen, but surely…”

Her wish would come true, so long as she didn’t lose sight of her resolve at that moment.

I glanced down at my watch. “So, about the time we’ll return you to…”

This Asahina had appeared in the broom closet six days earlier, at three forty-five
PM
, and at the time she’d explained she’d come from eight days in the future, at four fifteen
PM—
thus her correct temporal posting was two days from now, after four fifteen. Anytime before that, and her situation wouldn’t be any different than it was at this moment. We wanted to avoid another instance of two Asahinas existing simultaneously. A sixty-two-second time lag would do nicely.

“Two days from now will be Tuesday. Shall we say four sixteen in the afternoon? That way only one minute will pass without your existence. The same place should work—we’ll send you right back into the clubroom’s broom closet.”

“That sounds fine, since you were the only person in the room then, Kyon,” said Asahina.

“Uniform and school slippers,” said Nagato, reminding me.

This Asahina was wearing things she’d borrowed from Nagato. Her school uniform was back at Tsuruya’s house. But if I went with her to get them now, I’d miss the scheduled rendezvous time with the rest of the brigade. I didn’t like the idea of sending Asahina back to fetch them alone either.

“Let’s do this. You go back to your correct time in those clothes, and I’ll get your uniform and shoes from Tsuruya later today and figure something out.”

“I will leave that to you, then. Oh, um…” Asahina bowed, then looked up at me seriously, opening her mouth, then shutting it as though having forgotten what she wanted to say. I wondered if it was my imagination that she seemed to be worried about Nagato.

“It’s… it’s nothing. We’ll talk about it after I get back.”

It bothered me, but it probably wasn’t too important. If it was something I didn’t need to know about for two days, I wouldn’t worry about it.

I would not have minded Asahina activating her time-travel mechanism right there on the spot, but she didn’t want to be seen doing it. She wanted a place where she could be alone. We went into the library and escorted Asahina to the girls’ bathroom.

“Kyon, thank you for everything. I really should thank Koizumi and Tsuruya too.”

She could tell Koizumi anytime, but Mori would have to be thanked whenever we met her next. As for Tsuruya, I said, she probably already understood, but I’d make sure to thank her too.

“Well then… Kyon, Nagato—I’ll see you soon.”

Reluctant to say good-bye right up to the end, Asahina sighed and entered the bathroom. I heard the sound of a stall door closing, but no further Foley reached my ears after that. Nagato looked up quietly.

“She has disappeared from current space-time,” she explained.

It was over, then. All I had to do now was wait two days. I left the library with Nagato and heaved a deep sigh.

“Hey, Nagato. Just since yesterday, Asahina and I have met a time traveler from a different faction and a group that opposes Koizumi’s organization.”

“I see.”

“Yeah. So I was thinking maybe the other aliens are also around.”

“Are you afraid?” Nagato asked, her gaze perfectly still.

I offered her her own answer. “I am not afraid.”

You’ve got that right, Nagato.
I had the same opinion. I bet Asahina and Koizumi would agree with me too. Us birds of a feather had to get along, I said.

Nagato faced silently ahead, and I closed my mouth and continued to walk.

I knew full well that I didn’t have to come right out and say something so obvious. The SOS Brigade wasn’t a group of five people. It was a single unit. There was no need to explain that to the person who’d long since understood that far better than I ever had.

At the station front, Haruhi spotted Nagato and me and waved her hands hugely, like a cheerleader with a great flag. Asahina was there, right next to her, with Koizumi a bit removed. Haruhi was in fine form, Asahina had a happier-than-usual smile, and Koizumi made eye contact with me but said nothing, only brushing aside his bangs with a finger.

“Kyon, Yuki, you guys sure took your time. Where did you end up?” asked Haruhi, entwining her arm around Nagato’s. “Don’t tell me you spent the whole time at the library keeping warm. I guess that’d be okay if there were any mysterious spots around there, though. So were there?”

“Hell no,” I said.

There were no books that would suck you into their world upon opening them, nor were there books whose characters would leap from their pages into the real world. Maybe in the stacks of a bigger or older library—but not there, I told her.

“Good point; we’ll have to try to find a place like that next time, an antique bookstore or something. I’d love to rummage through Tsuruya’s family-only storehouse, but there’s probably nothing but her ancestors’ last testaments.”

Haruhi started walking without explaining where she was going. Maybe Asahina and Koizumi already knew; they happily followed her. As did Nagato and I.

I was well aware that putting to Haruhi the question of where she was headed would be pointless. She’d keep walking even if the destination were totally unknown, eventually stopping and pointing at her feet, proudly declaring, “We’re here!” The
SS SOS Brigade
had Captain Suzumiya at the tiller, and if it were really a seagoing vessel, we’d probably end up in Bermuda. As it was, Haruhi took us to the same Italian restaurant we’d visited the previous day.

I gazed at Asahina as I ate lunch, full of complicated emotions. She was placidly eating her seafood carbonara with a knife and spoon. It was a calming scene, but soon she’d be heading back in time to flail around for me for days. I wanted to tell her—at the very least, about the kidnapping part.

As I agonized over it, an irritated Haruhi prodded my plate with her fork.

“Kyon, what’re you so spaced out about? Got something on your mind? Tell me all about it, and I’ll give you some good advice, as your brigade chief.” Her eyes shone with energy, the eyes of someone happily taken in by even the most childish April Fool’s prank. “Also, about that phone call. Did you forget? The prank call. What
was
that?”

“Oh, that was—” I took a drink of water to buy myself some time. “It was just a stupid joke. I just felt like making a prank call, I guess. I really shouldn’t have. I’m sorry.”

I glanced briefly at Asahina; Haruhi did likewise. Asahina made a confused expression, her utensils freezing in place halfway to bringing a bite of pasta to her mouth. The next moment, Haruhi’s and my eyes met again.

“I guess it’s okay,” said Haruhi generously. “Just make it a better prank next time, okay? You’ll get bonus points if it makes me laugh. If you get enough, you can trade ’em in for a special prize
from me. But if the joke’s stupid, I’ll dock points without mercy! Remember that!”

It felt like Haruhi’s roundabout way of asking me to prank-call her. As I was agonizing over having to think of jokes every time I called her, Haruhi and Asahina giggled conspiratorially.

Once lunchtime was over, Haruhi was happy to call it a day. I’d known this would happen, thanks to (Michiru) Asahina, but it was still impressive to see how after two consecutive days of patrolling, even Haruhi would get tired, though her face remained as energetic as always.

Asahina hid her smiling mouth with her hand as she nodded to me in parting. Nagato wore her standard lack of expression, and Koizumi had the same pleasant smile I was sick of, as we all went our separate ways.

After a short while, I caught up with Koizumi.

“I should thank you.”

Koizumi smiled as though it were nothing. “You’re quite welcome. The idea is to avoid such things before they happen, so I can’t say this was a total success. The car chase was a bit much.”

The Tamaru brothers had driven the police car—had they been the real thing? I asked. I doubted if they were even really brothers.

“Let’s leave it that they’re my colleagues, who sometimes assume the identity of the master of a mansion and his younger brother, sometimes a venture capitalist and his younger brother, and sometimes a pair of police officers.”

And what about Mori and Arakawa? I’d become particularly suspicious of Mori’s true identity.

“Is your organization working with Asahina’s and Nagato’s bosses?”

“Not directly, no. However, we seem to have come to a tacit
understanding, and there are even times when we unwittingly work toward the same goal. I myself no longer fully understand this world, and the Agency itself is far from united.” Koizumi shrugged as we walked down the alleyway. “One extreme viewpoint is that there are no aliens or time travelers. That Nagato and Asahina are just pitiful, deluded girls.”

That obviously wasn’t true, I said. I’d sign a testament if they wanted me to.

“Ah, but what if Nagato’s magic and Asahina’s time travel are all the actions of Suzumiya, and the girls are mistaken in believing they are the source of such things?”

If that was the reasoning, you could explain anything that way, I said.

“Or it might be that it’s not Suzumiya who possesses this godlike power, but someone else.”

Koizumi was probably trying to add some sarcasm to his smile, but all I saw was his usual handsome face.