The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya (19 page)

Read The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya Online

Authors: Nagaru Tanigawa

Tags: #Fantasy, #Young Adult, #Fiction

BOOK: The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya
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“Ah, that’s a good idea. I’ll add island exploration to the agenda. Maybe we can discover a new species.”

Not good. I just said something to make Haruhi’s eyes shine brighter. Please don’t let anything unneeded show up, island.

I directed that thought in the direction of the island covered in green.

“It appears that the islands in this area were formed long ago when underwater volcanoes erupted,” Koizumi said as he slowly walked out.

“New species aside, there is a possibility that we may discover shards of earthenware left by ancient tribes. Or traces left by
the proto-Japanese during their voyage across the sea. Isn’t it romantic?”

I don’t see any connection between the romance of archaeology and this newly built villa, but I definitely don’t want to go around looking for
tsuchinoko
or digging holes. We can split into two groups. Haruhi and Koizumi can explore the island while Asahina, Nagato, and I play on the beach. Nice idea.

“Oh? I see somebody over there.”

Haruhi pointed to a small wharf that I would expect to have been newly constructed. Apparently, the harbor was specifically meant for the cruiser as there were no other boats in sight. A single figure stood at the end of the breakwater-like structure and waved to us. It appeared to be a man.

Haruhi reflexively waved back.

“Koizumi, is that man the master of the manor? He looks awfully young.”

Koizumi was also waving.

“No, that isn’t him. He’s also an invited guest. The younger brother of the owner of the manor. I’ve met him once before.”

“Koizumi,” I interjected. “Tell us these things earlier. This is the first I’ve heard about any other guests.”

“I just found out about him now.” Koizumi casually shrugged me off. “But there is no need to worry. He is a very nice person. Of course, the same can be said of the owner of the manor, Keiichi Tamaru.”

I’d heard that this Keiichi Tamaru was crazy enough to build a villa in this remote place as a summer residence. He was a distant relative of Koizumi’s, like his mother’s cousin or something along those lines. I’m not really sure, but he’d hit the jackpot in biotechnology and was now living a very comfortable life. He probably had more money than he knew how to spend. Or else I wouldn’t be able to understand why he built this thing.

The cruiser slowed down as it approached the harbor. We were close enough for me to make out the features of the man standing on the dock. He was dressed in youthful attire and looked to be in his twenties. This was Keiichi Tamaru’s younger brother, apparently.

Arakawa was the butler and Sonoh Mori was the maid.

That left the star, the master of the manor, Keiichi Tamaru.

Was it safe to assume that we’d covered all the characters who would be showing up?

Thinking back, I’d spent hours on shaking boats today… Which was why I felt like the ground was shaking right now.

Once we’d disembarked from the cruiser and stepped onto firm land, the young man greeted us with a cheerful smile.

“Hey, Itsuki. It’s been a long time.”

“Indeed, Yutaka. Thank you for coming to meet us.”

Koizumi nodded before introducing us.

“These are the people who look after me at school.”

Not that I remember ever looking after him. Koizumi began working down the line, point to each of us one by one.

“This lovely young lady is Haruhi Suzumiya. A rare friend. She always acts in an open and natural manner, something I would love to learn to do.”

What kind of introduction is that? I can feel sweat dripping down my back. You too, Haruhi. Come on. Why are you pretending to act all refined and polite? Did your brain get jumbled up from being seasick?

However, Haruhi smiled a blindingly brilliant smile.

“I am Suzumiya. Koizumi is an invaluable member of my brigade… I mean, student association. Koizumi was the one who
invited us to this island. He always serves as a reliable deputy brigade… I mean, vice president. Ahem.”

Koizumi ignored the frosty look I was sending him and continued with his introductions.

“This is Mikuru Asahina. As you can see, she’s an upperclassman who’s considered the lovely and beautiful idol of our school. Her smile could bring world peace to fruition.”

There’s one.

“This is Yuki Nagato. She’s a veritable gold mine of information that can’t be found in our textbooks. She’s soft-spoken, but that could be considered as one of her endearing qualities.”

And there was another profile that set my teeth on edge. Naturally, I was also given introductions riddled with embellished compliments like something you’d find in a personal ad, but I’ll skip over that part.

Yutaka flashed a brilliant smile befitting a relative of Koizumi’s.

“Welcome. I’m Yutaka Tamaru. I’ve been hired to help out at my brother’s company. I’ve heard much about you all from Itsuki. I was worried when he suddenly had to transfer, but I’m glad he’s made such wonderful friends.”

“Everybody,” Arakawa’s melodiously gruff voice came from behind.

I turned to find the butler, carrying a fairly large burden, and Sonoh Mori getting off the boat.

“We’re exposed to the sun here. Why don’t we move to the villa?”

Yutaka nodded in response to Arakawa’s suggestion.

“You have a point. My brother’s also waiting. Let’s take the luggage with us. I’ll help out.”

“We should be fine. Please assist Arakawa and Mori. It appears that they bought a large amount of groceries on the main island.”

Yutaka returned Koizumi’s smile with a smile of his own.

“That gives me something to look forward to.”

And once the harmless chitchat was over with, we followed Koizumi toward the villa on the cliff.

Looking back, this was when I started to have a funny feeling about things.

Though as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

To reach the villa we climbed our way up a staircase resembling the one leading up to the eighth station on Mount Fuji. My condolences to Haruhi, but this place was definitely a villa and not a manor or mansion.

The white structure was three stories high yet it felt flat, probably because it took up a ridiculous amount of space. I almost wanted to count how many rooms there were. You could probably have housed two whole soccer teams in this place. A portion of the thick foliage had been cleared off to build the villa, but how had they managed to ship all the necessary construction materials here? That would have required a fairly large-scale heliborne operation. I don’t understand rich people.

“This way, please.”

Koizumi led us to the entrance like a butler-in-training. Everybody lined up in a row. We were finally about to meet the master of the manor. A nerve-wracking moment.

Haruhi was standing in front of the rest of us like a horse racing ahead of the herd. I could see that she was having a hard time containing her anticipation as she licked her lips. Asahina was fussing over her hair in an adorable fashion so she would make a good first impression. Nagato, as usual, stood completely still without any visible signs of sweating, like one of those lucky cat statues.

Koizumi looked back at us before smiling thinly and coolly pressing the button on the intercom next to the door.

Someone answered and Koizumi responded with a greeting. After we waited for about half a minute, the door slowly opened.

Needless to say, the man standing in front of us wasn’t wearing an iron mask or a ski mask with sunglasses and he didn’t suddenly attack us or yell obscure gibberish to confuse us. He was just a normal-looking middle-aged man.

“Welcome.”

The man who was supposed to be Keiichi Tamaru was allegedly a self-made millionaire, but he looked to be a normal old guy in a golf shirt and cargo pants as he beckoned us over with one hand.

“We’ve been waiting for you, Itsuki. And your friends as well. Quite frankly, this is a terribly boring place. You’ll be sick of it by the third day. The only other person who accepted my invitation was Yutaka. Oh!”

Keiichi’s gaze glided past me to reach Asahina, Haruhi, and Nagato in that order.

“Well, well. You have some lovely friends, Itsuki, I see. They’re just as beautiful as I’ve heard. They’ll add some color to this dreary island. That’s just splendid.”

Haruhi smiled, Asahina bowed, and Nagato stood still. The three of them reacted in different ways as they looked at Keiichi offering a warm welcome, the way you would look at a music teacher showing up for history class. Eventually, Haruhi stepped forward.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your invitation today. I truly appreciate the opportunity to stay in such
a wonderful mansion. On behalf of everyone here, I offer our thanks.”

She sounded like she was reading off a script an octave higher than her normal voice. Does she intend to keep pretending to be a nice girl for the rest of the trip? She should drop that flimsy act before she lets her true nature slip.

Keiichi Tamaru apparently agreed.

“Are you Suzumiya? My, you sure are different from what I’ve heard. According to Itsuki, you were… Uh, what was it again, Itsuki?”

Everyone’s attention suddenly turned to Koizumi, who responded without any sign of losing his composure.

“A frank person, I believe. That’s what I remember telling you.”

“We’ll go with that then. Yes, I’d heard that you were more of a frank girl.”

“Oh, really?”

Haruhi promptly dropped the invisible good girl mask. Then she flashed that brilliant smile she rarely showed outside the club room.

“Nice to meet ya, big guy! Moving right along, have any strange incidents happened in this mansion? And do the locals have a special name for the island or any ominous legends about the place? I happen to be interested in that kind of stuff.”

Don’t reveal your eccentric tastes to somebody you’re meeting for the first time. And yeah, you shouldn’t be telling the owner of the house that you want something bad to happen. What if he turns us away?

However, Keiichi Tamaru merely laughed generously.

“I happen to share your interests, but nothing has happened yet, since the building was only completed a few days ago. And I don’t know anything about the history of the island. Though
I haven’t heard anything particularly sinister about the place. After all, it was a deserted island.”

And after that magnanimous gesture of kindness, he motioned for us to go inside.

“Let’s not stand here and talk. Please come inside. This is a Western-style house so feel free to leave your shoes on. I suppose we should start by showing you to your rooms. Normally, I would ask Arakawa to serve as your guide, but he appears to be busy carrying stuff in. Guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

And with that, Keiichi led us inside.

Well, I’d like to provide a diagram of the interior of the villa that showed room assignments, but I learned that I had no talent for drawing back during the early years of grade school, so I’ll refrain. Simply put, the rooms were staying in were on the second floor while Keiichi’s bedroom and Yutaka’s guest room were on the third floor. Perhaps that tells you how close they were. Arakawa the butler and Mori the maid were staying in smaller rooms on the first floor…

And that should cover everyone.

“Does this house have a name of some sort?”

Keiichi smiled wryly in response to Haruhi’s question.

“It was just completed so we haven’t thought of one yet. We’re open to any good ideas.”

“Yes. How does House of Tragedy or House of Fear sound? And you can name each room with names like Bloodsucking Hall or Cursed Room.”

“Oh, that sounds great. I’ll have nameplates made up for next time.”

I really don’t want to sleep in a room with a name that’ll give me nightmares.

Our group passed through the lobby and up the stairs made of high-grade wood to reach the second floor. The hallway was lined with doors as though this were a hotel.

“The rooms should all be the same size, though. There are single and double rooms. Feel free to use whichever one you want.”

Well, what to do? I wouldn’t mind sharing a room, though with five of us, somebody’s going to be left over, and logic dictates that Nagato would be the odd one out. Of course, I could offer to be Nagato’s roommate and she probably wouldn’t mind, but I’d end up instantly dying from an offhand punch by Haruhi.

“Well, we can each stay in our own room.”

That was Koizumi’s final conclusion.

“Since we’ll only be in our rooms when we’re sleeping anyway. And we’re free to move between rooms. By the way, do the doors lock?”

“Of course.”

Keiichi Tamaru smiled as he nodded.

“The keys are on the sideboard in each room. The doors don’t lock automatically so you won’t be locked out of your room if you forget the key, but I’d appreciate it if you didn’t lose it.”

I won’t even need a key. I’ll leave the door unlocked when I’m sleeping. Since Asahina might sneak in for some reason after everybody else has fallen asleep. And I don’t have anything worth stealing with me. Nobody’s going to commit theft in a situation with such a short suspect list. And if somebody did, it would obviously be Haruhi.

“Then I’ll go check on Arakawa and Mori. Feel free to use this opportunity to explore the premises. Don’t forget to check where the emergency exits are located. I’ll be going then.”

And with that, Keiichi returned downstairs.

Here was Haruhi’s impression of Keiichi Tamaru.

“The absence of anything suspicious about him makes him a suspicious character.”

“Then what if he looked suspicious?”

“There you go. He’d obviously be a suspicious character.”

So as far as she’s concerned, nothing in this world can be considered free of suspicion. Standards so strict the International Organization for Standardization would be surprised. She should work for the Japan Advertising Review Organization, Inc., in the future. She’d be busy with work every day.

We randomly chose rooms and unloaded our belongings before meeting up in the double room Haruhi had taken. Occupying a double room by herself definitely fell into the category of Haruhi-like behavior. In other words, her personality doesn’t allow for any restraint or modesty.

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