The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (17 page)

I’m pretty hungry. I should go back to the classroom.

“…”

Nagato entered the room with the usual look of cryopreservation on her face. But she wasn’t wearing glasses. In the absence of that glass barrier, her eyes bored directly into me.

“Yo. Did you see someone that looked a lot like Asahina on your way here?”

I was just joking when I said that, but Nagato responded.

“Mikuru Asahina’s time-divergent variant. I met her this morning.”

I couldn’t even hear Nagato’s clothes rustle as she sat down in a metal chair and opened up a book on the table.

“She is no longer here. She has vanished from this timespace.”

“Could it be that you can also travel through time? And that Overmind thing, too.”

“I cannot. But time travel is not very difficult. The humans of this epoch are simply unaware of the process. Time is similar to space. Travel is a simple matter.”

“Maybe you can tell me how it’s done.”

“Words would be insufficient for conveying the concept and you would not understand.”

“Oh, really?”

“Really.”

“Guess that’s settled.”

“Settled.”

I felt like I was trying in vain to talk to an echo. I once again prepared to head back to the classroom. I wondered if there was still time to eat.

“Nagato, thanks for yesterday.”

The unnatural look on her face changed ever so slightly.

“There is no need to thank me. Ryoko Asakura’s abnormal behavior was my responsibility. My incompetence.”

Forelocks of hair swayed gently.

Did she just lower her head?

“You really do look better without glasses.”

There was no reply.

I raced back to the classroom where my lunch awaited, figuring I could eat super fast and at least wolf down a few bites. Unfortunately, I ran into this obstacle known as Haruhi right in front of the classroom and was forced to miss lunch. It must have been fate. I’d already resigned myself to whatever might come.

Apparently, Haruhi had been waiting for me in the hallway. She looked irritated.

“Where did you go?! I waited to eat since I thought you’d be back soon!”

“Could you say that again, except this time sounding like an old friend just pretending to be angry?”

“Stop babbling like an idiot and come with me!”

Haruhi used some judo technique to firmly lock my arm in hers, and I was dragged up to that dimly lit staircase landing.

Anyway, I was hungry.

“I just asked Okabe over in the faculty office. Nobody knew about Asakura transferring until today. First thing this morning, a person claiming to be Asakura’s father called and said they had to move abruptly. And guess where to? Canada! Does that even make sense? It sounds so made-up!”

“Really, now?”

“Then I asked for her contact information in Canada. I said I wanted to stay in touch.”

You never even held a conversation with her.

“And guess what they said? They didn’t even have that information! You would normally leave your new contact information, right? Something has to be up here!”

“How about, no?”

“Since I was there, I asked for Asakura’s old address. We’ll go check it out after school. We might learn something.”

As always, she didn’t listen to anyone but herself. Well, I wasn’t going to bother stopping her. She was the one wasting her time, not me.

“You’re coming with me!”

“Why?”

Haruhi squared her shoulders, took a deep breath like a monster about to breathe fire, and shouted loud enough that people in the hallway could probably hear her.

“And you call yourself a member of the SOS Brigade?!”

In accordance with Haruhi’s proclamation, I scampered off with my tail between my legs. I returned to the club room to let Nagato know that Haruhi and I wouldn’t be here today, and also to let Asahina and Koizumi know if they stopped by after school. But if I only gave the silent alien the message, it might end up turning into a game of telephone, so I took one of the extra paper flyers and wrote
SOS BRIGADE, SELF-ACTIVITY DAY WITH HARUHI
in magic marker and stuck it on the door with a thumbtack.

I didn’t really give a damn about Koizumi, but I should at least save Asahina the trouble of having to change into her maid outfit.

And as a result, I heard the bell signaling the beginning of fifth period on a completely empty stomach. I ate during the next break, though.

Going home from school with a girl is pretty normal in school drama TV shows and I’d be lying if I said I’d never dreamed about that happening to me. And presently, I was living out my dream. I wonder why I was not the least bit happy about it.

“Did you say something?”

That was Haruhi, walking in long strides with a memo in one hand. I figured she meant “Got a problem?” with that line.

“No, nothing.”

We quickly descended the hill and walked along the railroad tracks. A little further and we’d reach Kouyou Park Station.

I had been thinking about how we were getting close to Nagato’s apartment when Haruhi actually turned in that direction and stopped in front of a familiar, newly-built condominium.

“It looks like she lived in apartment 505 in this building.”

“I see.”

“See what?”

“No, nothing. Anyway, how are you planning on getting inside? The front door’s locked.”

I informed her of the number pad next to the intercom.

“Entering a number should open the door. Do you know the code for that?” I asked.

“No. It’ll be a battle of attrition.”

Against what?

Never mind. It didn’t take very long. A lady apparently on her way out to do some shopping opened the door from the inside. She gave a look of disgust at the two of us trying to look innocent before leaving. Before the door could close, Haruhi slipped the tip of her foot in as a stopper.

She wouldn’t be winning any smart criminal awards any time soon.

“Hurry up.”

After being dragged in, I stood in the entrance hall. We then got on the elevator that happened to be waiting on the first floor. Normal elevator etiquette would require us to stare silently at the floor number display.

“About Asakura.”

Looks like Haruhi doesn’t give a damn about etiquette.

“There’s something else afoot. Apparently, Asakura didn’t come to North High from one of the city middle schools.”

Well, I’d assume she didn’t.

“I did some snooping and found out that she transferred in from a middle school in the suburbs. Something’s definitely up with that. It’s not like North High’s a good school for getting into college. It’s just your typical prefectural high school. Why would she bother coming here?”

“I dunno.”

“But her residence is so close to school. And it’s a condo. Not just some rented apartment. Great location, too. Must be expensive. Did she commute to middle school in the suburbs from this place?”

“I said I dunno.”

“Looks like we’ll need to find out when Asakura began living here.”

We reached the fifth floor and stood in front of apartment 505 for a while, just staring at the door without saying anything. There may have been a doorplate at one point, but it was gone now, a silent indicator that the place was empty. Haruhi jiggled the knob, but naturally, the door didn’t open.

Haruhi stood with her arms crossed, contemplating if there was a way to get inside. I stood next to her, trying to stifle my yawn. This was a waste of time, even for me.

“Let’s go to the manager’s office,” said Haruhi.

“I doubt he’ll let you borrow a key.”

“Not that. I’m going to ask him when Asakura began living here.”

“Learning that information won’t accomplish anything. Just give up and go home.”

“No, I won’t.”

We took the elevator back down to the first floor and headed for the manager’s office at the side of the entrance hall. There wasn’t anyone on the other side of the glass door, but a while after ringing the bell on the wall, a little old man with tufts of white hair slowly stepped out.

Before the old man could say anything, Haruhi declared, “We’re friends of a former resident, Ryoko Asakura. She suddenly moved and we don’t know how to contact her. Did you happen to hear where she moved to? And I was wondering if you could tell me when Asakura came to this place.”

I was marveling at the fact that Haruhi could sound like a normal person as the manager, apparently hard of hearing, kept going, “Eh? Eh?” for a period of time. Haruhi was able to successfully learn that the manager had also been surprised by the Asakuras’ sudden move (“I was shocked when I found the room empty when I hadn’t seen any movers come by”), that Asakura moved here three years ago (“I remember since the lovely young lady brought me a box of candy”), and that she hadn’t needed a loan, but instead paid a lump sum up front in cash (“I supposed she was filthy rich”). She should become a detective.

The old man looked like he was enjoying this chance to talk with a young girl. “That’s right. I saw the young lady a number of times, but I don’t recall ever meeting her parents—

“Her name’s Ryoko? She was a good-natured, kind girl—

“She could have at least said goodbye. What a pity. By the way, you’re a fine-looking girl yourself—”

The old man was apparently running out of things to ramble about. Haruhi must have determined that he didn’t have any more information to offer.

“Thank you very much for your help.” She delivered an exemplary bow before motioning to me. No need to motion. I was already following Haruhi out of the building.

“Lad. That young lady will definitely grow up to be a beauty. Don’t let her get away—”

I really didn’t need to hear that parting line from the old guy. Pretty sure Haruhi was also within hearing range. I was nervously awaiting Haruhi’s reaction, but she kept on walking without a word. I chose to follow her lead in keeping my mouth shut. A few steps out the entrance we ran into Nagato carrying a convenience store plastic bag and her bookbag. She usually stayed in the club room until the school closed, but if she was here right now, she must have left soon after we did.

“Oh? Do you live here, too? What a coincidence,” said Haruhi.

Nagato nodded with her pale complexion. It was obviously not a coincidence.

“Then did you hear anything about Asakura?” Nagato gestured a negative response.

“I see. If you learn anything about Asakura, let me know. Okay?” She motioned an affirmative response.

As I stared at the plastic bag containing canned goods and daily staples, I came to a conscious realization that Nagato ate food after all.

“What happened to your glasses?” asked Haruhi.

Nagato just stared at me without answering the question. She was making me uncomfortable. It looked like Haruhi wasn’t expecting an answer anyway. She shrugged her shoulders and started off again without looking back. I waved goodbye to Nagato. As I walked past her, she spoke in a soft voice only I could hear.

“Be careful.”

Be careful of what this time? I turned around to ask, but Nagato had already disappeared into the building.

I stayed two or three steps behind Haruhi as we walked along the local railroad tracks with no destination in mind. I was just getting further and further away from home. I tried asking Haruhi where she was going.

“It doesn’t matter.”

That was her response. I continued staring at the back of her head.

“Can I go home now?”

She stopped so suddenly she almost fell forward. She turned to me with a pale face devoid of emotion, like Nagato’s.

“Have you ever realized how insignificant your existence is on this planet?”

What are you talking about?

“I have. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Haruhi began to speak as we stood on the sidewalk of the small road along the railroad tracks.

“During elementary school, when I was in sixth grade, my whole family went to watch a baseball game at the stadium. I wasn’t particularly interested in baseball, but I was shocked once we got there. There were people everywhere I looked. The ones on the other side of the stadium looked like squirming grains of rice packed together. I wondered if every last person in Japan attended this game. And so, I asked my dad, exactly how many people were in the stadium? His answer was that a sold-out game meant around fifty thousand people. After the game, the path to the train station was flooded with people. The sight stunned me. So many people around me, yet they only made up a fraction of the people in Japan. Once I got home, I got a calculator and did the math. I had learned in social studies that the Japanese population was a hundred million and some. Divide fifty thousand into that and you only get one two-thousandth. I was stunned again. Not only was I just one little person in that sea of people in that stadium, but that sea of people was merely a drop in the ocean. I had thought myself to be a special person up until that point. I enjoyed being with my family, and most of all, I thought that my class in school had the most interesting people in the world. That was when I realized it wasn’t like that. The things that happened in what I believed to be the most enjoyable class in the world could be found happening in any school in Japan. Everyone in Japan would find them to be ordinary. Once I realized this, I found that my surroundings were beginning to lose their color. Brush my teeth and go to sleep at night. Wake up and eat breakfast in the morning. People do those things everywhere. When I realized that everyone did all these things on a daily basis, everything started to feel so boring. And if there were so many people in the world, there had to be someone living an interesting life that wasn’t ordinary. I was sure of it. Why wasn’t that person me? That’s all I could think about until I graduated from elementary school. And in the process, I realized something. Nothing fun will happen if you sit around waiting. So I figured I would change myself in middle school. Let the world know that I wasn’t a girl content with sitting around and waiting. And I did exactly what I wanted to do. But in the end, nothing ever happened. Before I knew it, I was in high school. I thought something would have changed by now.”