The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (16 page)

The time traveler clenched her fists in determination as she spoke to the alien.

“Wait.”

The removal of Nagato’s glasses had left her face bare, though still unruffled.

“As of now, you would be caught in the space-time transformation. Applying countermeasure.”

She extended her arm without a sound.

“Your hand.”

What? You want to shake hands or something? I obediently stuck my right hand out and Nagato grabbed my wrist with her cold fingers, giving me a scare.

“…”

Nagato’s somber face turned to my arm.

“Whoa!”

I let out a cry without meaning to. But you couldn’t blame me for reacting that way. Nagato had leaned over to place her lips on my wrist and bite down, even. The way I’d seen her bite Asahina multiple times while shooting the movie.

It was a soft bite without any animosity, like the ones Shamisen gave me when we were playing around. But the sensation of her cuspids on my skin was a little itchy. The penetration certainly didn’t hurt, but Nagato might have had something in her saliva to numb the pain, the way a mosquito did.

Nagato’s teeth remained planted in my wrist for five or ten seconds before she slowly looked up.

“An operational counter-data screen and protective field have been applied to the surface of your body.”

Nagato didn’t turn red or blush. Asahina (Big) was the one covering her mouth with both hands in surprise. I looked at my wrist, which still felt slightly numb. There were two tiny holes, as if I’d been attacked by a vampire, that were closing up before my eyes. So Nagato’s special nanomachines had been injected into my body, like what had happened to Asahina during the film shoot.

“And you.”

Asahina timidly extended a trembling arm in response to Nagato’s solicitation.

“… It’s been a long time since I’ve experienced this. Sorry about all the trouble I caused back then…”

“This is my first time.”

“Ah. Th-that’s right. I wasn’t thinking…”

The time traveler kept her eyes shut tight as the alien kissed her wrist and injected the suspect nanomachines for what felt like a shorter period of time than I had endured, before coughing when it was all done.

“Then let’s go, Kyon. Time for the main event.”

The introduction was way too long then, if that’s the case. Still, I’ve done my best to narrate the chain of events. Though I never want to do it again.

“Thanks.”

I voiced my gratitude to the composed owner of the room. Nagato, silence incarnate, didn’t reply. No sign of emotion on her face. Yet for some reason Nagato, standing tall and erect, looked lonely somehow. Was that how it was? My guess had been right?

“See you later, Nagato. Sit tight in the literary club until Haruhi and I show up.”

Like a china doll come to life, the alien-made organic life-form nodded her head in a mechanical motion.

“I will be waiting.”

Her soft voice left a funny feeling in my chest. But I didn’t get a chance to identify this hazy-like-cigarette-smoke feeling because Asahina (Big) cut in.

“We don’t want you to get temporal sickness.”

She poked me in the shoulder.

“Close your eyes.”

I did as she said. I could sense Asahina (Big) standing in front of me. She grabbed my wrists.

“Kyon…”

Her soft, whispering voice was sweet music to my ears. Shouldn’t she throw in a kiss as an extra bonus?

“Here I go.”

Go right on ahead. As many intense ones as you’d like, and the moment that thought was out of my head—

I was hit by a dramatic wave of dizziness. Good thing my eyes were closed. I probably would have blacked out if they’d been open. This was like riding a roller coaster without wearing seat belts. I couldn’t tell if I was feeling light-headed or if blood was rushing into my head. I felt like I was floating in zero gravity as my head spun around despite the fact that my eyes were closed. I hadn’t lost consciousness only because of the warm sensation of Asahina (Big)’s skin against my arm.

How many minutes passed? How many hours? I was losing my sense of time and space. I’ve reached my limit. I’m about to throw up, Asahina…

I fumbled around for something to serve as a substitute for a sick bag.

“Okay… we’re here.”

The sensation of standing on solid ground had returned. I could feel the cold ground through my shoes. And at the same time my entire body was once again at the mercy of the Earth’s gravity. My urge to puke was gone like it had never existed.

“You can open your eyes now. That’s a relief. We’ve arrived at the place and… time Nagato indicated.”

I looked up. I could see winter constellations sparkling in the night sky. The air was cleaner, which meant that the stars were more lucid than they were in summer. I turned my head to spot the top of the North High school building sticking out above the houses.

I looked around to check our current position. It was dark in
the dead of night, but I knew for sure where we were. I’d been here a few hours ago. I could even remember Haruhi with a ponytail and Koizumi in gym clothes standing here.

By coincidence, we were at the spot where Haruhi and Koizumi had changed clothes. A coincidence—I think.

So when was this?

Asahina (Big) checked her watch and told me.

“Four eighteen
AM
on December eighteenth. The world will change in five minutes.”

Going from the twentieth, when I pressed the Enter key to be sent three years back in time, the eighteenth would be two days earlier. On that day I had woken up and gone to school like always, without a care, before finding myself in a panic because North High had completely changed. Haruhi no longer existed, Asakura had returned, Asahina didn’t know me, and Nagato was an ordinary human.

This was when it all began. I was currently at the moment when it would begin. In that case, I had a chance to prevent it from happening. That was why I was here right now.

I was feeling all serious and determined when…

“Oh, my shoes. I forgot them,” Asahina (Big) murmured in a flustered voice.

Since we had come directly from the living room without putting our shoes on. That’s Asahina for you. Years later, and she was still a klutz.

“I wonder if Nagato will hold on to them for me.”

I had to smile upon hearing her anxious voice. You shouldn’t need to worry. She held on to that card for three years, so she probably wouldn’t throw away shoes. I’ll check her shoe stand the next time I visit her room…

As soon as I finished with that line of thought, my body shook as if I’d been hit by lightning.

Jumping barefoot from summer to the middle of winter had left me feeling really cold. I was about to put on the jacket I was carrying when I noticed that Asahina (Big) was hugging herself against the cold. Well, she was probably freezing, since she was wearing a blouse and miniskirt in this temperature.

“Here, take this.”

I laid my jacket on her trembling shoulder. The chivalrous act helped to boost my ego.

“Th-thank you. Sorry about that.”

It’s no big deal. I was able to make it back here because you were waiting for me three years ago. From that perspective, I’d be willing to give up every article of clothing I’m wearing.

Asahina (Big) giggled as she presented me with a sexy and cute smile that was dazzling enough to send half of the human race to its knees, before getting a serious look on her face.

“It’s almost time.”

It was probably a good thing that we had forgotten our shoes. We needed to walk without making any sound. Still, Asahina and I kept our breathing to a minimum as we crept toward the entrance to North High. We stopped at the corner and glanced around the dark street surreptitiously, as though we were stalking prey.

There weren’t many streetlights around, but there happened to be one right in front of the gate. It illuminated that particular area like a diffused spotlight. There wasn’t much light, but it was bright enough for us to tell that someone was standing there.

“There she is…”

A warm hand fell upon my shoulder. Asahina (Big) was nervously breathing softly into my ear, which normally would have left me entranced, but in this situation I had to banish those thoughts from my mind.

The perpetrator emerged from the night as
she
walked near the streetlight.

A North High uniform. The person whom Nagato had named.
She
was the one who had changed our world and scattered the members of the SOS Brigade while turning them into normal people. The one who had left my memories intact while changing history for every other person.

She
was about to commit that very act.

I couldn’t jump out yet. Nagato had advised us to watch everything happen. We had to let
her
change the world before we could fire the repair program. The reasoning was that my activation of the escape program would be erased from history otherwise, which really didn’t make any sense at all, but Nagato and Asahina (Big) seemed pretty sure of themselves. Those two probably know what they’re talking about when it comes to the flow of time. I sure don’t. I have no chance of understanding, so I should simply follow the instructions of people who do. Nagato wouldn’t lie to me. She always stood on our side with a serious look on her face…

I clenched the needle gun Nagato had given me and waited for time to pass.

She
walked quietly toward the North High entrance before coming to a stop as
she
looked up at the cheap building, shrouded in darkness.

Her sailor uniform skirt was fluttering in the wind.

She
hadn’t noticed us watching. Probably thanks to the nanomachines Nagato had injected into us. The screen-and-protective-shield thing.

She
suddenly raised one arm, as though
she
were trying to grab the air. A rather unnatural motion that made me wonder if someone else was controlling
her
, but I already knew that wasn’t the case.

“Amazing…” Asahina murmured in admiration. “It’s a powerful timequake. I never would have imagined that she had so much power… It’s hard to believe, even as I’m witnessing it happen.”

Witness it happen? I haven’t seen a single thing change. It was still nighttime. But Asahina (Big) was somehow able to sense the history of this world being altered. I mean, she is from the future. She should know a trick or two.

Asahina (Big) was leaning against me. Originally we would have been caught up in the transformation to the world, but Nagato’s bite had solved that problem. Nagato and Asahina (Big). I couldn’t do anything without the two of them. I made the right move. My next move should resolve the current mess. Can’t afford to screw up this last bit.

I held my breath and watched as
she
lowered her arm and abruptly turned in our direction. For a second I thought that
she
had noticed us hiding here, but
she
was apparently just looking around.

“Don’t worry. We haven’t been discovered. She was just reborn. The timequake… alteration to the world has ended. Kyon, it’s our turn now.”

Asahina (Big)’s firm and serious tone served as a signal.

I moved out of the darkness and headed for the school gate. No need to rush, since
she
wasn’t going to run away. As expected,
she
didn’t budge from her spot before the school gate upon noticing me stepping into the light. Only her expression changed. The look of surprise left me feeling somewhat melancholy.

“Yo.”

I walked over as though I had just run into an old friend.

“It’s me. We meet again.”

I’d more or less figured it out from the tone of Asahina (Big)’s voice. Who besides Haruhi out of the people I knew could be capable of such a thing? Just think. After the eighteenth the
members of the SOS Brigade all lost their secret identities. However, their personalities didn’t change. Only one person acted and behaved differently from before.

The small figure wearing a North High uniform stood in the darkness. That person was glancing around, wondering why
she
was here, like a sleepwalker who had just woken up—

“Nagato.”

I opened my mouth.

“So it was you.”

She was wearing glasses. This was the other Nagato. The Yuki Nagato after the eighteenth, who was nothing more than the sole member of the literary club. No longer an alien. Just a shy bookworm.

The spectacled Nagato looked at me in surprise, like she didn’t understand what was going on.

“… Why are you here?” she asked.

“What about you? Do you know why you’re here?”

“… A walk.”

Nagato spoke in a subdued voice. The girl’s eyes widened as she looked at me, and her glasses were reflecting the streetlight’s glare. That was when I thought.

No. That’s not it, Nagato.

She’d been tired. After enduring Haruhi’s sporadic ideas, protecting me from harm, engaging in secret activities the rest of us didn’t know about—she’d built up a lot of fatigue after everything she’d been through.