The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya (22 page)

Haruhi’s mind appeared to be elsewhere as she spoke.

A murder in a sealed room on a remote island during a storm.
What were the chances of such a thing happening during our trip? However, we were the SOS Brigade, not an occult society or a mystery novel association. Though according to Haruhi, the core principle of the SOS Brigade was to search for the supernatural. Our present circumstances somewhat matched that principle, though I have to say that it’s a totally different story once you’re actually experiencing something happening.

Did this happen because Haruhi desired so?

“Hmm. This isn’t good…”

Haruhi got up from the bed and began pacing around the room.

She reminded me of a mischievous boy after an April Fool’s prank gone wrong. Like a person joking around about something bad happening and then it actually happened. I didn’t feel too good myself.

Well, what to do?

I would have loved to go to sleep next to Asahina, but it wouldn’t be very productive to escape reality. We needed to come up with a way to deal with this. I wonder what Koizumi planned on doing.

“Yeah, I can’t just sit around waiting,” Haruhi said in a firm voice as she stood before me.

I suppose I should have expected this. Haruhi had a serious expression on her face as she shot me a challenging look.

“I need to check something. Kyon, you come with me.”

“I don’t want to leave Asahina here like this.”

“Yuki’s with her so she’ll be fine. Yuki, you lock the door and don’t open it for anyone. Got it?”

Nagato coolly stared at Haruhi.

“Yes.”

She responded in a monotone voice.

Her lifeless eyes met mine for a brief instant. She nodded ever so slightly at an angle where only I would notice—I think.

I doubted that anything dangerous would happen to Haruhi and me. If something were to happen to worsen this situation, Nagato wouldn’t be sitting there silently. As proof I recalled the memory of when we went to the computer society president’s room a short while back.

“Let’s go, Kyon.”

Haruhi grabbed my wrist before stepping out of the room and into the hallway.

“So where are we going?”

“Keiichi’s room. I didn’t have time to look around earlier so I want to check the scene again.”

I recalled Keiichi lying on the floor with a knife in his chest and the dried blood sticking to his white shirt and hesitated for a moment. That’s not something you want to stare too closely at.

Haruhi continued to talk as she walked.

“And we need to find out where Yutaka went. He may still be in the building. Besides…”

We caused quite a commotion. If Yutaka had nothing to do with the murder, it would be quite odd for him not to show himself. There could be only two possible reasons for his absence.

I spoke up as Haruhi dragged me up the stairs.

“Either Yutaka was the culprit and already escaped the villa or Yutaka was also a victim… right?”

“Yep. But things could get ugly if Yutaka isn’t the culprit.”

“I’d say that they’re already ugly enough regardless of who the culprit is…”

Haruhi gave me a sideways glance.

“Hey, Kyon. Excluding the Tamaru brothers, the only people in this manor would be Arakawa, Mori, and the five of us. That would mean the culprit is one of those people. I don’t want to suspect my own brigade members or turn them over to the police.”

She sounded awfully solemn.

I see. She’s worried that one of us was the killer. I hadn’t even considered that possibility. Asahina was out of the question and Nagato would have done a better job. As for Koizumi… Now that I think about it, Koizumi had been the closest one to Tamaru. He’d mentioned being a relative. That would make him much more relevant than complete strangers like the rest of us.

“No.”

I poked myself in the head.

Koizumi wasn’t an idiot. He wouldn’t purposely commit such borderline acts in this kind of situation. I doubt that he would be crazy enough to commit a murder just because we happened to be in a closed circle.

Haruhi’s the only crazy person we need around here.

Arakawa the butler was standing erect in front of Keiichi’s room on the third floor.

“I contacted the police and was instructed not to allow anyone inside.”

He bowed respectfully. The doorway was still open since we’d broken down the door, and we could see Keiichi’s toes through the space under Arakawa’s arms.

“When will the police get here?”

Arakawa responded politely to Haruhi’s question. “It depends on when the storm passes. According to the forecast, the weather will have improved by tomorrow afternoon, so I suppose they will arrive sometime in that vicinity.”

“Hmm.”

Haruhi kept glancing into the room. “I have a few questions.”

“What would you like to know?”

“Did Keiichi and Yutaka not get along?”

Arakawa shifted slightly from his perfect butler posture.

“To be honest, I do not know. For I have only been working here for the past week.”

“The past week?” Haruhi and I asked.

Arakawa slowly nodded. “That would be correct. I am, in fact, an actual butler, though I was merely hired to be a part-time, temporary butler. Our contract was for a brief two weeks during this summer.”

“So it was just for this villa? You weren’t previously employed by Keiichi?”

“That would be correct.”

Arakawa the butler was only serving as Keiichi’s butler while they were on this island. That opens up some possibilities.

It appeared that Haruhi had the same question I did.

“Does the same go for Mori? Was she also a temporarily hired maid?”

“It is just as you say. She was hired at the same time.”

That’s rather bold. Keiichi hired a butler and maid solely for this summer vacation. I have a feeling that wasn’t the best way to spend his money. Still, a butler and maid, huh…

A minuscule doubt was tugging at the edge of my mind and on the verge of falling off. I scooped it back up. And then I took a careful look at Arakawa’s face. All I could see was an old gentleman who was the definition of sincere. That was probably the correct judgment call, but still…?

I kept my mouth shut and smothered that doubt. I’ll have to toss this question to that guy when I see him later.

“I see. So there can be permanent and temporary servants. That information should be very helpful.”

Helpful for what? Haruhi nodded as though she’d just figured something out.

“There’s nothing for us to do here if we can’t go in the room. Kyon, let’s move on.”

She took my arm again and stomped off.

“Where are we going this time?”

“Outside. To check if the boat’s there.”

I can’t say I’m very inclined to walk through the middle of a hurricane with Haruhi.

“You see, I only believe what I see with my own eyes. Information that’s passed around through hearsay tends to be distorted. Understood? Kyon. It’s critical to obtain information from a primary source. Information from secondary sources that have gone through other hands cannot be trusted.”

Yeah, I suppose that’s a reasonable view, but you’ll end up unable to trust anything outside your own little world.

While I considered the usefulness of information media, Haruhi dragged me to the first floor, where we ran into Sonoh Mori.

“Are you going outside?” Mori asked Haruhi and me.

Haruhi responded, “Yep. We’re going to check if the boat is there.”

“I don’t believe it is.”

“Why?”

Mori smiled thinly before answering.

“It was last night. Master Yutaka appeared to be in a hurry as he headed for the entrance.”

Haruhi and I exchanged glances.

“So you’re saying that Yutaka took the boat and left the island?”

Mori continued smiling thinly as her lips moved.

“I only happened to pass him in the hallway and never actually saw Master Yutaka go outside. However, that was the last time I saw Master Yutaka.”

“What time was it?” asked Haruhi.

“I believe it was around one
AM
.”

We would have been inebriated and sound asleep at the time.

Was this confirmation that the suit-clad Keiichi had collapsed on the floor around the same time?

We opened the door, to be pelted by raindrops. Once we managed to squeeze past the door, which barely budged because of the gale force winds, Haruhi and I were completely soaked within a matter of seconds. Guess I should have just worn my swimsuit.

The gray cloudy sky looming over our heads with no end in sight reminded me of being in closed space. I guess I’m just not very fond of the concept of a monochrome world.

“Let’s go.”

Haruhi gallantly advanced through the rain with her hair and T-shirt sticking to her body because of it. I had no choice but to follow. Haruhi’s hand was still gripped around my wrist.

We would probably be launched into the air by this wind if we had wings. Helpless against the pouring rain, we made our way until we could see the wharf. There was the possibility of falling off the cliff if we weren’t careful. Even I was starting to feel the danger in this situation. I didn’t want to fall by myself so I grabbed Haruhi’s wrist in return. I figured that I’d have a higher chance of surviving a fall if I was with her.

We finally reached the top of the stairs.

“Can you see, Kyon?”

Haruhi’s words were almost carried away by the wind. I nodded in response.

“Yeah.”

The wharf was practically submerged as giant wave after giant wave crashed against the bank.

“The boat’s gone. If it wasn’t washed away, somebody took it and left.”

Our only means of getting off this island. I looked across the sea but the fancy cruiser was nowhere to be seen.

Golly gee.

And so, we were now stranded on this remote island.

We returned to the villa at the same snail’s pace. By the time we made it inside the door, we were both completely wet.

“Please use these.”

Mori had apparently been waiting thoughtfully as she handed us towels before continuing in a reserved voice.

“Did you find anything?”

“It was just like you said.”

Haruhi had a disappointed look on her face as she dried her black hair.

“The cruiser was gone. We don’t know when it disappeared, though.”

Mori continued to smile like the glow of a firefly. Not sure if that was just how she naturally looked. If she was upset by the death of Keiichi Tamaru, it was hidden underneath her calm and professional demeanor. Though I suppose this would be the normal reaction from a temporarily hired maid.

As we apologized to Mori for dripping water all over the hallway, Haruhi and I returned to our respective rooms for a change of clothes.

“Come to my room when you’re finished,” Haruhi said on our way up the stairs.

“It’s better to stay together in these situations. I’ll worry if I don’t have my eyes on everyone. Besides, on the off chance that…”

Haruhi shut her mouth as she was about to say something. Somehow, I had a feeling that I knew what she was going to say, so I didn’t say anything.

We reached the second floor to find Koizumi standing in the hallway.

“We appreciate you going out in this weather.”

Koizumi had his usual smile on his face as he nodded in our direction. We were in front of Haruhi’s room.

“What are you doing?”

Koizumi’s smile grew strained as he shrugged in response to Haruhi’s question.

“I came to Suzumiya’s room to discuss what we would do next, but Nagato wouldn’t let me in.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t have the slightest idea.”

Haruhi pounded on the door.

“Yuki, it’s me. Open the door.”

After a brief moment of silence, we heard Nagato’s voice through the door.

“I was told not to open the door for anyone.”

It would seem that Asahina was still unconscious. Haruhi fiddled with the towel draped around her neck.

“It’s okay now. Yuki, open up.”

“That would require me to violate the order to not open the door for anyone.”

Haruhi looked at me with her jaw dropped before turning back to the door.

“Okay, Yuki. When I said anyone, I meant anyone besides us. Kyon, Koizumi, and I don’t count. We’re all in the SOS Brigade together, right?”

“That was never mentioned. I have interpreted the order to mean that I should not open the door for anybody at all.”

Nagato’s soft voice sounded like a priestess reading an oracle to a scribe.

“Hey, Nagato.”

I couldn’t put up with this any longer so I cut in.

“Haruhi’s order has been rescinded. Or here, I’ll override her order. Just open the door. Please.”

Nagato spent a few seconds thinking on the other side of the wooden door. Then there was a click as the door unlocked and slowly opened.

“…”

Nagato’s eyes passed over the area above us before she silently retreated into the room.

“Geez! Yuki, you need to be more flexible. You should be able to understand what I mean.”

Haruhi told Koizumi to wait for her to get changed before entering the room. I was also dying for some dry clothes. I’ll back off for now.