The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (15 page)

I’ll kill you and see how Haruhi Suzumiya responds.

Haruhi again? You sure are popular, Haruhi.

“I should have done this from the beginning.”

With those words, I became aware of the fact that I couldn’t move my body. You can do that? I cry foul play.

My legs were rooted like a tree to the floor without the slightest movement. I couldn’t lift my arms. It was like they’d been hardened by paraffin. Actually, I couldn’t even move a finger. Frozen in a downward position, I could only watch as Asakura’s shoes entered the top of my field of vision.

“If you die, Suzumiya is certain to take some sort of action. I’ll probably be able to observe a considerable explosion of data. A golden opportunity.”

I don’t care.

“Now die.”

I sense Asakura raising her knife. What will she aim for? My carotid artery? My heart? If I knew where she would aim, I could at least ready myself. At least I could close my eyes… or not. What a riot.

I felt the rush of air. The knife descended toward me.

That was when it happened.

The sound of the ceiling collapsing accompanied a mound of rubble falling down. Fragments of concrete fell on my head. That hurt, damn it! The pouring shower of white stone coated my body. With this much of it, Asakura should also be covered. But when I moved to check, my body wouldn’t… Huh? I can move now.

I raised my head to look. What did I see?

The point of the knife was almost touching the back of my neck. The expression of surprise was stuck on Asakura’s face as she stood frozen, gripping the knife underhand. And there was a small figure of a person holding the blade of the knife with her bare hand—her bare hand, man!—Yuki Nagato.

“Your individual programs were too weak.”

That was Nagato in her usual expressionless tone.

“The spatial lockdown and data blockade in the ceiling sector were too weak. That is why I was able to detect you. Why intrusion was granted.”

“You’re going to get in my way?”

Asakura was every bit as composed.

“If this human is killed, Haruhi Suzumiya is certain to act. That’s the only way to obtain more data.”

“You are supposed to be my backup.”

Nagato spoke in a flat voice, sounding like she was chanting sutra.

“Independent action has not been authorized. You are supposed to obey me.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

“I will nullify your data link.”

“Go ahead and try. I have the advantage in this place. This classroom is now located within space under my data jurisdiction.”

“I am requisitioning the nullification of your data link.”

The second that was out of her mouth, the edge of the knife she was holding began to sparkle. It then fell apart into microscopic crystals, the way a sugar cube dissolves in red tea.

“!”

Asakura released the knife and suddenly jumped about five meters back. As I watched her do that, I silently pondered.

Ah, they really aren’t human. A rather laid-back realization.

After instantly increasing the distance between her and Nagato, Asakura made a soft landing in the back of the classroom. She was still smiling.

There was a soft distortion in space. That’s the only way I can describe it. Asakura, the desks, the ceiling, and the floor all shook and appeared to transfigure like liquid metal. I can’t really explain it.

All I knew was that space seemed to be condensing into what resembled a spear. But the second that thought crossed my mind, a number of crystals began exploding before Nagato’s outstretched palm. At least, that’s all I could see.

In the next instant, explosions of crystallized powder began floating down one after the next. The spears created from frozen space attacked us at imperceptible speeds. I didn’t realize that Nagato was intercepting all of them at a similar speed until a while later.

“Stay close.”

As Nagato fended off Asakura’s attack with one hand, she used the other to pull on my necktie. Nagato leaned down, dragging me with her, and I ended up on my knees, positioned behind her.

“Gah!”

Something I couldn’t see flew past my head and smashed the blackboard.

Nagato glanced up. In that instant, icicles shot out of the ceiling and rained down above Asakura. She moved so fast you could only see afterimages. Dozens of icicles were thrust into the ground, forming a forest.

“You can’t defeat me while we’re in this space,” Nagato stated.

Asakura stood still, looking completely composed. She faced Nagato across a distance of several meters. As for me, sad to say, I was hugging the ground, unable to get up.

Nagato stepped over my head and stood up. It’s just like her to have gone overboard and diligently written her name on her shoes. Nagato was muttering something in the tone someone would use when reading a novel aloud. It sounded like this.

“SELECT serial_code FROM database WHERE code=data ORDER BY offensive_data_combat HAVING terminate_mode = ‘Personal name: Ryoko Asakura’; Judged to be hostile. Nullifying concerned target’s connection to organic life form.”

The interior of the classroom could no longer be considered normal space. It was just a swirl of distorted geometric shapes, characters, and patterns dancing together. Looking at it started making me dizzy. The visual effect made me feel like I was riding through a fun house. I felt faint.

“You’ll cease functioning before that happens.”

I had no idea where Asakura’s voice was coming from, since she was hidden somewhere in that colorful mirage.

A whirring sound cut through the air.

Nagato swung her heel into me hard and sent me flying.

“What are you…”

… doing, was what I was trying to say, but an invisible spear shot past my nose and was swallowed by the floor.

“I wonder how long you can last while protecting that thing. Then how about this?”

The next moment, Nagato was standing in front of me, impaled on a dozen light brown spears.

“…”

Asakura had attacked both Nagato and me at the same time from multiple directions. While some spears had been crystallized and thus disabled, a few that hadn’t been intercepted flew toward me, and Nagato used her own body to protect me. That’s how it happened. Of course, at the time, I had no way of knowing that.

Nagato’s glasses fell from her face and softly bounced to the floor.

“Nagato!”

“There is no need for you to move,” Nagato said softly, after taking one glance at the dense cluster of spears protruding from her chest and abdomen.

A small pool of blood began forming around Nagato’s feet.

“I am fine.”

No, you don’t look fine at all.

Nagato pulled out one of the spears sticking out of her body without batting an eye and dropped it to the floor. The blood-stained spear hit the floor with a muted sound. A few minutes later, it transformed into a desk. So that’s what the spear actually was?

“Now that you’ve suffered so much damage, you won’t be able to interfere with other data. I’ll end this now.”

I could faintly see Asakura hidden on the other side of this shaking space. She was smiling. She silently raised her two arms, if I saw correctly, and her arms, from shoulder to fingertip, became enveloped in a dazzling light that extended two arm lengths. No, not just two arm lengths—

Asakura’s arms extended even further, shooting out like wriggling tentacles, and attacked from both left and right. “Die.”

Unable to move, Nagato’s small body shuddered…. Warm, red liquid splashed against my face.

Asakura’s left arm thrust through Nagato’s right side. Her right arm shot through Nagato’s left upper chest. Her arms then exited through Nagato’s back before finally burying themselves in the classroom wall.

The blood gushing from Nagato’s body flowed down her pale legs to widen the pool of blood.

“Finished,” Nagato said softly as she seized a tentacle. Nothing was happening.

“What’s finished?” Asakura sounded like she was sure of victory. “The three years of your brief life?”

“No.”

Even with all those serious injuries, Nagato sounded like there was nothing wrong at all.

“Commence nullification of data link.”

It happened suddenly.

My first thought was that everything in the room was shining. But a second later, it all began crumbling into glittering sand. The desk next to me also disintegrated into a gathering of tiny particles before collapsing.

“Impossible…”

Asakura stood showered by a rain of crystal grains. This time, she was the one who appeared shocked.

“You are exceptionally skilled,” said Nagato. The spears stuck in her body also turned into sand. “That is why it took so long to force a program into this space. But it is finished now.”

“You prepared entropy factors before you infiltrated this space. That would explain why you seemed too weak. You had already expended your offensive data before we began….” Asakura spoke resignedly as she watched her two arms also begin to crystallize. “Ah, what a pity. I suppose I was only ever a backup. And I thought it would be a good chance to end this stasis.”

Asakura turned to me. She was back to her classroom face.

“I’ve lost. Lucky you. You get to live a while longer. But you’d best be careful. As you can see, the Overmind has its dissenting voices. Well, humans are the same way. Another agent from the radical faction may come one day. Or perhaps Nagato’s master may switch views.”

Asakura was already covered from chest to toe with shining crystals.

“Enjoy your time with Suzumiya until then. Bye.”

Asakura disintegrated into a small sandpit without a sound. The grains of crystal grew finer and finer before finally dissolving, eventually becoming invisible to the eye.

As the crystals rained down like rustling fine glass, the female student known as Ryoko Asakura was eradicated from this school.

There was a soft thud. I twisted my head in its direction. Finding that Nagato had collapsed, I hurriedly stood up.

“Hey! Nagato, hang in there! I’ll call an ambulance.”

“No need.”

Nagato’s eyes were open and staring at the ceiling.

“My body did not suffer significant injury. This space is what must be normalized first.”

The avalanche of sand came to a halt.

“I will remove foreign substances and reconstruct the classroom.”

And before my eyes, classroom 1-5 turned back into the familiar 1-5, back the way it was. Yes. Like watching a tape rewind, it reverted back into the usual classroom.

The blackboard, the teacher’s desk, and the students’ desks were born from the white sand. Everything was arranged the way it had been when I left the room after school. What am I supposed to say after seeing this? If I hadn’t seen it happen with my own eyes, I would think that it was just well-made CGI.

Window frames projected from what was only a wall and sections then turned transparent to become glass windows. The setting sun colored Nagato and me a shade of red. Just to make sure, I checked inside my desk. Everything that was supposed to be in there was, just the way I had left it. And all that blood from Nagato that had splattered onto my body had disappeared while I wasn’t paying attention. Impressive. This had to be magic.

I knelt down next to Nagato, who was still lying on the floor.

“Are you really OK?”

I had to admit that I couldn’t see a single scratch on her. And you would expect her uniform to be riddled with holes after being impaled on all those spears, but there wasn’t a single one.

“Processing power was redirected to data manipulation and transformation. The regeneration of this interface was placed in queue. It is currently running.”

“Need help?” I asked.

Unexpectedly, Nagato obediently accepted my outstretched hand. I helped her sit up when…

“Ah.” Her mouth opened slightly. “I forgot to reconstruct my glasses.”

“I’d say you look cuter without them. And I’m not really a glasses man.”

“What is a glasses man?”

“Nothing. I’m just babbling.”

“I see.”

This wasn’t the time for idle conversation. I would later regret not leaving the room as soon as possible, even if it meant leaving Nagato behind.

The door noisily slid open.

“For-got my stuff, forgot my stuff—”

The person who entered the room, singing some song he had made up, was Taniguchi of all people.

I doubt Taniguchi expected there to be anyone in the classroom at this hour. When he noticed our presence, he froze in his tracks, which was followed by him opening his mouth wide open like an idiot.

At that moment, I had just begun the process of helping Nagato up. If you looked at that particular still-frame, my position would suggest that I was actually pushing her down.

“My bad.”

That was Taniguchi in a serious voice I’d never heard him use before. He then stepped back like a crayfish and ran off without shutting the door. I didn’t even get a chance to chase him.

“An interesting person,” said Nagato.

I let out a huge sigh.

“What do we do…?”

“Leave it to me.” Nagato said this as she rested in my arms, motionless. “I specialize in data manipulation. I have made it so Ryoko Asakura has transferred out of this school.”

That’s your concern?!

This wasn’t the time to be joking around. I suddenly shook in astonishment. Now that I stopped to think about it, I had just gone through an incredible experience, hadn’t I? This was no longer about whether or not I believed that wild story, that winding freak-talk of Nagato’s the other day. Though I still found it hard to believe. I was about ready to piss my pants during the incident just now. I really thought I was going to die. If Nagato hadn’t crashed through the ceiling, Asakura would definitely have sent me to meet my maker. After seeing that distorted classroom, Asakura turning into some kind of monster, and Nagato somehow expressionlessly eradicating her, it had been beaten into my mind that everything was real.

Didn’t that mean that I had no choice but to accept that Nagato was genuinely connected to aliens or whatever?

On top of that, I was going to end up constantly involved in crazy events at that rate. As I said in the beginning, I just wanted to be a bystander who gets caught up in strange situations. A supporting role would be good enough. But didn’t the current situation make me the main character? I can’t deny that I had wanted to be a character in one of those stories where things like aliens show up. But it was different now that I actually was such a character.