What kind of joke is this, asking us to meet at nine in the morning on a weekend?!? Well, whatever kind of joke it is, I guess it's on me, because I'm still pedaling like mad to get to the station on time.
Kitaguchi Station is right at the center of town, because it's an important railway hub. Every weekend the square in front of the station is packed with teenagers and young-adults window-shopping - there's not much to do in this town other than hang out at the mall by the station. Can't anybody find their own entertainment around here?
I carelessly discarded my bicycle somewhere near the bank and ran to the turnstiles at the North Entrance. It was still five minutes to nine, but it looked like everybody else had already arrived.
Haruki pointed imperiously at me.
"You're late! Penalty!"
"It's not... even nine yet..." I panted. Haruki gave me an annoyed look.
"Bah! The last person to arrive is late, and latecomers have to be punished! That is the rule!"
Well, what if it was just you and me, Haruki? Would I still count as a latecomer? I sighed. "Why have I never heard of that rule before?"
"Oh, that. I just made it up now!"
Do you even listen to what you're saying!?
"So, your penalty! You're going to have to treat all of us to drinks!"
"Um, I can pay for-"
Asahina-senpai attempted to cut in, but was quickly overruled. "No ducking out!" Haruki declared, lifting one arm and pointing dramatically at me. Haruki, you're the lowest of the low. Are you seriously asking a girl to pay for your little outing?
Despite his harsh words, Haruki was visibly excited about the SOS Brigade's first out-of-school gathering. He was dressed in a loose white shirt and brown jacket with jeans, and he looked like a typical trendy teenager out for a good time. I pitied any girl who tried to flirt with him today based on that deceptive appearance.
Asahina-senpai was wearing a light pink shirt with a silver necktie and dress pants, looking a bit formal for the occasion. He gave me an apologetic smile as Haruki led the way into a nearby cafe.
Walking along beside me, Itsuko was wearing a white sleeveless top plus a denim shirt and short skirt. Not only did she have the figure to pull it off, she was also taller than me. Even her handbag was stylish and fashionable. It was irritating, but I had to admit that she looked pretty good.
Nagato was walking by himself at the back of the group, as usual. Technically he's part of the Literature club, but I guess he considers himself to be a full-time SOS Brigade underling. I remembered all the weirdness he had spouted the other night, but to look at him you'd never have known that he would even be capable of imagining such nonsense. But why was he still wearing his school uniform, even on the weekend?
As we - the Mystery Five - entered the cafe by the roundabout and sat down in our chairs, the waiter sidled over and began to take down our oders. Haruki added lots of unnecessary extras to his order ("With a lemon! And ice cubes! and-") while Asahina-senpai picked the cheapest drink on the menu ("...water, please"). Nagato picked up the menu and studied it for some time with a serious look on his face, as if his choice of drinks were a matter of life and death.
"...Almond Tea," he said finally, placing the menu neatly back on the table.
It really doesn't matter what you order, since Haruki's forcing me to pay.
-----
Anyway, Haruki gave the following commands:
We were to split into two parties. If any of us found anything mysterious, we were to contact each other by cellphone and meet up to discuss what to do next. Once it was all over, a debriefing would be held to review and prepare for future developments.
That was all.
"Draw lots!"
Haruki grabbed five toothpicks from the toothpick stand, and marked two of them using a pen he'd borrowed from the waiter. He wrapped his hand around them, concealing the 'marked' ends, and thrust his fist out at us to draw.
Please, God, don't let me end up with Haruki....
In the end, I drew a marked one, and so did Asahina-senpai. He glanced at my toothpick, and then began to blush.
Haruki's eyes were full of cold fire.
"Mitsuuru-kun!" he snapped. "This is not a date! This is serious business work, understand!?"
"Y-yes!"
Don't roll over in submission so easily, Asahina-senpai! Stand up to him a bit! Still, I'm relieved. Asahina-senpai is the only one I feel safe walking around with.
"What exactly are we looking for?" Itsuko asked politely, while Nagato slowly drank his tea.
Haruki looked pleased that someone had asked that question. "Anything that looks suspicious! Anybody or anything that looks unusual! Look for portals that seem like they lead into different dimensions, or people who look like aliens disguised as humans!"
I nearly choked on my mint tea. Strangely, Asahina-senpai had nearly the same expression on his face. Nagato, as always, was completely impassive.
"I see, I see..." Itsuko said slowly.
What do you see?
"So then, all we have to do is look for aliens, time-travelers, and espers, and any traces they may have left behind on Earth. I understand completely." Itsuko said cheerfully.
"Precisely! Koizumi-san has it exactly correct! Everyone would do well to learn from her!" Haruki declared, smiling widely. Don't suck up to Haruki so blatantly, Itsuko! Annoyed, I glared at her, but she simply smiled enigmatically at me.
"Alrighty then! Let's roll out!"
Standing abruptly, Haruki shoved the bill towards me and strode proudly out of the café.
Sighing, I reached for my purse, but Itsuko stopped me. "I'll take care of it," she said, winking at me.
"Ah... thank you. I'll pay you back later."
"Don't worry about it," she said, holding a finger to her smiling lips. "Just don't tell Suzumiya-san about this, and we'll call it settled."
Now that was odd. Maybe this is her way of apologizing to me for yesterday?
...Well, I say it a lot. But with good reason. I'll say it again.
“...Yare, yare..”
-----
Haruki threatened Asahina-senpai in graphic detail about what would happen if the search for extra-terrestrial life somehow turned into anything vaguely approaching 'romantic.' He needn't have bothered going that far; Asahina-senpai was shaking in fear after the first few sentences.
Haruki headed off east with Nagato and Itsuko, throwing a few suspicious glances back at us over his shoulder as they departed. Me and Asahina-senpai were supposed to go west. I still didn't know what is it we're supposed to look for.
"What should we do?"
Asahina-senpai looked at me nervously.
My first choice would have been to simply go home, but that was impossible - we were supposed to meet back here for lunch, so there was no way Haruki wouldn't notice. I pretended to think for a bit before I told him "It's pointless to stand around here doing nothing, so let's just take a bit of a walk."
"Alright." Asahina-senpai winked at me, and smiled.
I tried to imagine what we must look like to passers-by as we strolled down a path by the riverbank. Asahina-senpai wasn't really that tall, so we probably matched each other well. Then again, maybe people would think that I was his older sister. Well, if I were to have Asahina-senpai as my little brother, I wouldn't complain; he was probably a lot less annoying than my actual little brother.
If we had come down here about a month ago, we would have been able to see the cherry blossoms blooming, but alas, it was now just a plain riverside walk. Still, it was a popular spot for couples and families, so the place was a little crowded. But me and Asahina-senpai were probably the only people out here on this nice Spring day looking for aliens by the river.
"Oh, there's an ice-cream stand over there!" Asahina-senpai suddenly remarked. He turned to me and blushed a bit. "W-would you like some?"
"Oh, yes please!"
Asahina-senpai paid for the ice-cream, and we walked off licking it as quickly as we could before it melted. "Mmmmm..."
He looked so happy. I guess he really liked sweet things.
"Asahina-senpai... there's a bit of ice-cream on your nose..."
"Oh!" He wiped it off, embarrassed.
He's just like a little kid! But I guess that's what makes him so cute.
We continued walking. I noticed that he kept glancing at me and then looking away rapidly.
“Senpai…?”
“U-um.” He stuttered, and turned away again. “I guess t-this is the first time… I’ve ever walked like this…”
"What do you mean?"
"Together… with a girl. All alone.”
I felt my face go red.
Mitsuuru must have noticed as he began to panic. "Ahh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way!" he babbled, looking extremely flustered. "I'm not suppose to involve myself in a relationship with anyone...! At least not at this time..."
I cupped my hands to my mouth to stifle my giggles. His behaviour was just too cute.
"It's fine..." I said. "Let's just continue our walk."
It might be time to steer our conversation into less dangerous waters. “Heh, you know, it’s kinda funny, this ‘searching for aliens’ thing," I said carefully.
“Hmm? Why?”
“Oh, it’s nothing, really.” I said nonchalantly. “It’s just that, Nagato told me something weird a couple days ago. He said he was an alien. So it'd be kinda funny if--”
Asahina-senpai stopped short and went totally quiet.
“It... were... true?"
I faltered.
"Asahina... senpai?"
"Kyon-nee-chan..." he said softly, just staring at me for a second. Then something like determination flashed in his eyes. Bracing himself, he looked directly into my eyes and said, "...I t-think I have something to t-tell you."
-----
He led me to a bench by the sakura trees and we sat down, but for a long time Asahina-senpai didn't speak. He still looked like he was composing himself for something momentous. I could just make out his voice, muttering to himself. "Where s-should I begin? I'm no good at explaining things... m-maybe she just w-won't believe me..."
Finally he lifted his head and began to talk in a slightly uncomfortable tone. "I'm... not from this time, not from this age." he said, not quite looking directly at me. "I'm a time traveler. From the future. I can't tell you when I arrived from, or from which temporal plane. I wouldn't be able to, anyway, even if I wanted to."
I sat there quietly, listening to him talk. He apparently took this as a sign of encouragement and continued bravely on. "Look - telling anybody from the past about future events is strictly forbidden - before I returned to this time, I had to undergo mental conditioning. If I ever intend to say something that shouldn't be revealed, I'll just run into a mental blank."
Asahina-senpai took a deep breath and continued, "People assume that time is a strict progression from cause to effect... but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly... timey-wimey... stuff. each time frame is made up of different two-dimensional flat planes."
"...you lost me at 'strict progression'" I said.
"Hmmm..." Asahina-senpai looked at me thoughtfully. His stutter seemed to have disappeared, for now. "How 'bout this? Try to imagine it like a cartoon. When we're watching a cartoon, you see the characters within move seamlessly. But you know that's just an illusion created from a series of still images. So time's a bit like that, a digitalized version. If I used a series of still images like that as a description, perhaps it'll help you to understand."
"So between every single time frame and another there are these things called 'temporal fault lines'. They exist, but the frequency of these fault lines is near zero, so there's no continuity between different time frames. Time traveling is the attempt to make a three-dimensional movement between the two-dimensional temporal planes. So for me, because I've arrived from the future into this temporal plane, it's like adding an extra object onto the still images of an animation."
"Even if I were to attempt to change the future," he continued seriously, "nothing would happen in the future that I came from, because of the lack of continuity between time planes. Everything would only change in this temporal frame. So it's like trying to add a few words onto a still image from the hundreds of still images needed for an animation - the overall story doesn't change, right?"
"Time is unlike this river here; it's not analogue, linear progressive events; it's a series of tubes digitalized temporal planes. Do you follow me?"
I hesitated on whether to clamp one hand to my forehead; eventually, I did. Temporal planes? Digitalization? I had no ideas what those terms meant, but... a time traveler?
Asahina-senpai glanced down at his shoes, took another breath, and continued. "Let me explain why I've come to this temporal plane..."
A couple with a young child passed us as Asahina-senpai began to explain. "Three years ago, we detected the occurrence of a huge time quake. It was... around three years ago before today, just as Suzumiya-san entered junior high. But when we attempted to travel back to investigate, we ran into some sort of source wall. We were unable to travel back any further into the past than three years ago."
Why is it three years ago again?
"We came to the conclusion that a massive temporal fault-line had been created, but we had no idea why it only appeared at that specific time-frame. It's only recently that we discovered the reason... recently relative to me, I mean. Sorry-"
"What caused this 'time quake'?" I interrupted. It couldn't be...
"We hypothesize that... that it was Suzumiya Haruki."
God-damnit. The exact words I didn't want to hear.
"He's located right at the nexus of the time-quake. Please don't ask why; the knowledge is forbidden, I can't tell you. But we're certain that it is Suzumiya-san who has blocked access to the past from that point onwards."
"...I don't think Haruki is even capable of doing that." I said, still staring at Asahina-senpai. He shifted uncomfortably.
"Neither did I." he said, not meeting my gaze. "Honestly, it's supposed to be impossible for a normal human to interfere with the temporal planes. It's still an unsolved mystery, and Suzumiya-san himself seems unaware that he is the source of temporal distortions and the time quake... I've been sent here to Suzumiya-san's side so I can better observe the changes to the temporal planes in his presence. Um... I think the best word for it that you currently have is 'surveillance'. Um, yes... I'm on surveillance duty" he finished. "It's also why I'm prohibited from involving myself with anybody. It's too risky."
"..."
I was too speechless to respond.
"You don't believe me, do you?"
"No, no I don’t." I said, placing my hand on my head again. "Why are you telling me all of this this?"
"Because you have been chosen by Suzumiya-san."
Asahina turned to face me. Damnit, Nagato said exactly the same thing the other day.
"I can't go into the details. But, if I've guessed correctly, you're a very important person to Suzumiya-san. There's a reason behind everything that he does."
Yeah, his so-called master plan or whatever...
"Then Nagato-kun and Itsuko are...?" I prompted.
"They are similar to me, but Suzumiya-san is still unaware that he is the one who has gathered us to his side."
"Then do you know what they are?"
"Classified information."
"What would happen if we just leave Haruki alone?"
"Classified information."
"Since you're from the future, you should know what happens next, right?"
"Classified information."
"What if I told Haruki all of this?!"
"Classified information."
He paused.
"I'm sorry, I really can't tell you. Especially right now, when I don't have the authority to do so."
Asahina-senpai looked really apologetic. "It doesn't matter even if you don't believe me; I'd just like to let you know about this."
I remembered hearing almost the same things being said inside a certain dull, quiet apartment.
"I'm sorry."
Seeing me so silent, Asahina-senpai's eyes looked like they were on the verge of tears. "I'm s-sorry, for suddenly t-telling you all of this-"
"It's… okay. Really.”
First there's Nagato, telling me he's a Living Humanoid Interface created by aliens. Now Asahina-senpai is claiming that he's a time-traveling spy, sent from the future. How am I supposed to believe this? Somebody, help me!
------
We stared silently at the river.
Time passed us by.
"Asahina-senpai?"
"Yeah...?"
"Can I just pretend this conversation never happened?" I said, leaning back and sighing. "Whether I believe you or not, let's just put this aside for now, okay?"
"Okay!"
Asahina-senpai smiled, his face lighting up immediately. "I guess this is the best solution, the way things are going at the moment. Please, just treat me as you've always done, Kyon-nee-chan!"
He bowed deeply to me. Hey, hey, that's a bit too formal, don't you think? I guess I should say something to lighten the mood.
"H-hey, can I ask you a question?"
What would be a good one for him? Hmmm...
"What is it?" Asahina-senpai asked, ducking his head down like a little bird and looking at me curiously.
I got it.
"Do you have anyone you like?"
I wasn’t expecting any response, but…
"Classified information!"
Asahina smiled at me again, and winked.
...
So cute!
------
So after that, we took a simple stroll around the streets. Despite Haruki's dire threats and warnings about not going on a date, I figured that simply walking around with Asahina-senpai probably wouldn't incur his wrath. We went window shopping at the fashion stores in the mall, took a peek at the souvenir stalls by the street side... you know, just random stuff to kill time.
Eventually, my cell phone rang. It was Haruki.
"Hey Kyon! We're meeting at noon, at the same place where we met this morning, remember! Don't be late!"
He hung up before I had a chance to reply. I glanced at my watch - it was already eleven fifty. Damnit, there's no way we were going to make it!
"Was that Suzumiya-san? What'd he say?" Asahina-senpai asked, looking worried.
"He 'reminded me' that we need to get back to the station by noon, so we need to hurry!" I said, grabbing his hand. I knew there was no chance to get their by noon unless we ran, so we took off, sprinting as hard as we could. What reaction would Haruki have if he saw us running up hand-in-hand?
I really didn't want to find out!
-----
"Results?" Haruki demanded, as we arrived, panting. We were ten minutes late, and that was the first thing Haruki said when he saw us. He seemed rather pissed off.
"You didn’t find anything?"
"Nope."
"You probably didn’t even look, did you?" he said, getting worked up. "I bet you just walked around aimlessly. What did I tell you, Mitsuuru-kun?!"
Asahina-senpai trembled with utter terror. I’ve got to get Haruki to stop this, now!
"So what did you guys find, then?" I asked, defensively. Upon hearing me, Haruki went silent. Itsuko, standing behind him, played idly with a strand of loose hair, while Nagato, of course, stood motionlessly.
After a few moments of no one saying anything, Haruki growled, "Let's just have lunch first then. We'll continue after that."
What? You still want to continue!?
-----
We had our lunch in a burger shop. Haruki ordered the biggest burger they had for sale, and devoured it and the fries that came with it in about thirty seconds flat. I guess he uses all those calories for his massive burst of energy. He's so fast in every respect...
Haruki said it was time to draw lots again, and drew out some extra toothpicks he'd stolen from the café earlier this morning. He’s well prepared for stuff that he likes, I guess.
“Didn’t I tell you? All part of the plan.”
Koizumi swiftly picked a toothpick. "Unmarked again" she said, gracing us with her elegant smile. Geez, her teeth are white! Guess that’s why she’s always smiling.
"Mine is too."
Asahina-senpai showed me the toothpick he had just drawn.
"And Kyon-nee-chan?”
"Nope, sorry." I said, leaning back. "Mine’s marked."
Haruki's scowled at me and rushed Nagato into drawing a toothpick. I didn't think it was possible for him to be in a fouler mood than he already was, but...
Please not Haruki, please not Haruki, please not Haruki…
In the end, my wish was granted. Nagato drew the marked toothpick and so was grouped with me. Haruki silently glared at the unmarked toothpick as if staring at his mother's murderer, then turned towards me and Nagato (who was rapidly, but neatly, devouring his cheeseburger) and scowled.
Why the heck are you so mad today, Haruki?
"We'll meet in front of the station by four. Find something by then, or else!"
After that fierce statement, he grabbed my Coke, drained it one gulp, and stalked angrily out of the restaurant.
Hey! I was going to drink that!
-----
This time we went south and north, with me and Nagato charged with the duty of investigating the south side. Before we parted, Asahina-senpai waved me goodbye. Good luck, Asahina-senapi! Don't let Haruki and Itsuko force you into strange costumes again!
So it was just me and Nagato standing idly in front of the busy station. "What do you want to do?" I asked, looking up at Nagato.
Nagato said nothing.
"...Let's go."
I strode forward and found that Nagato would begin to follow. Looked like I was starting to get used to hanging around him.
"Nagato-kun, about the stuff you told me the other day..."
"Yes?"
"I'm starting to believe it a little."
"Is that true...?"
"Yeah."
"..."
So under this empty atmosphere we silently walked around the station. I tried to make small talk with Nagato, but…
"Don't you have any casual clothing?"
"..."
"Well, what do you do on holidays?"
"..."
"Are you happy now?"
"..."
And that's how our conversation went for that day.
There wasn't much point just walking around aimlessly, so I suggested to Nagato that we go to the new library by the seaside that had been built around the same time the council developed the land for the station. I'd never been inside before, really, because I rarely borrowed any books. I just thought maybe I could get some rest. But when we got inside, I discovered that every single seat was occupied. I guess these people don't have anywhere else to go in their free time, huh?
I glanced around the library, looking a bit lost, while Nagato had already drifted towards the bookshelves as though in a trance. I guess this must be his personal paradise.
I used to read often. When I was back in elementary school, my dad used to borrow illustrated books from the children's section for me to read. There were all sorts of books, but I did remember that the ones that I'd read were all quite interesting. But I couldn't remember the names of any of those books anymore. When was it that I stopped reading?
When did reading become boring for me?
I randomly picked up a book from the shelf and flipped through a few pages, before putting it back and picking up another book. It would take me forever to find an interesting book in this ocean of literature, if I didn't do any research first. With those kind of thoughts hanging over my head, I wandered aimlessly between the bookshelves.
As I headed to look for Nagato, I found him sitting cross-legged in front of a shelf full of thick hardcover books, reading one large tome particularly intently. I guess these are your favorites, Nagato?
Eventually, a woman reading a fashion magazine stood up and wandered off elsewhere. I went and sat down on her chair, carrying a novel that I had randomly picked. But it's impossible to continue reading a book that I had never intended on reading in the first place, so I found myself getting drowsy... and eventually fell asleep.
At that moment my skirt pocket suddenly vibrated.
"WHA-?!?"
I jumped in astonishment. When I saw everyone frowning at me, I remembered that I was in a library, and immediately rushed out of the library to answer my cell phone, which had been set to silent mode.
"Idiot! What the hell have you been doing!?"
A deafening sound roared through my ear. Haruki's dulcet tones helped me jump straight out of my drowsiness and back to reality.
"Exactly what time do you think it is now?!" he roared through the phone.
"Sorry, I just woke up just now!" I babbled, glancing at my watch. Great, we were at least a quarter of an hour late already!
"What!? Dumbass!"
You are the least qualified person to call me a dumbass!
"Get your ass over here at once! I’m giving you thirty seconds!"
Stop making demands that are impossible to achieve, Haruki!
After Haruki roughly hung up, I shoved my phone back in my pocket and rushed back inside the library. Nagato was still there, reading what looked like a huge encyclopedia.
The following was a little tricky. It took quite some time trying to move Nagato - who seemed almost rooted to the spot - and then we had to go to the counter to fill out a form to borrow the book. And the entire time, my phne was incessantly vibrating - Haruki wouldn't stop calling me.
When we returned to the station, Nagato cradling the thick philosophy book in his arms like it was his first-born child, the three people waiting there all had completely different reactions. Asahina-senpai offered us an exhausted smile, coupled with a sigh of relief; Itsuko simply shrugged her shoulders, while Haruki (predictably) yelled at me as though I was on the other side of a mountain.
"Late again!" he snarled. "Penalty!!!"
...I guess that means I have to treat you guys. I looked over at Itsuko.
“Sorry,” she said, shrugging again. “Not this time. I bought a new top, so...”
Gee, thanks for the help.
-----
Finally, we concluded the day's activities, after wasting all our time and lots of my money. I could have spent today comfortably at home, playing video games...
"I'm tired!" Asahina-san whispered to me as we parted. "Suzumiya-san walked by so fast that I had a tough time keeping up! But thanks for listening to what I had to say today" he said, lowering his head and smiled shyly.
Are all people from the future as stunningly cute as you?
"See-you-later then!" Ashaina said, waving goodbye. As I watched him leave, Itsuko came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.
"Mmmm, today was fun! How should I put this..." she said, looking me in the eyes. "...Suzumiya-san is really quite an interesting person! A pity I couldn't be with you today, though. Next time, maybe, hmmm?"
Itsuko left wearing her trademark grin that was rapidly becoming rather annoying. Turning, I discovered that Nagato had already vanished.
That left Haruki, staring angrily at me.
"What exactly have you been doing all day today?"
"...I could ask myself exactly the same question.”
"What kind of answer is that?!"
He’s really pissed.
"What about you, then? You found something interesting, did you?" I retorted. Haruki said nothing, but started grinding his teeth instead. He’d probably go on until he had no teeth left if I didn’t stop him.
"Well, don't worry," I continued, eventually. "It's not like the mysteries would be so careless as to let you discover them in one day."
Haruki stopped grinding his teeth and turned his gaze away from me. I guess he noticed me trying to lighten the mood.
"...Day after tommorrow, in school. Debriefing! Be there."
Without a single look back, Haruki turned and disappeared into the crowd.
It didn't matter to me. My mind was focused entirely on going home. But when I got back to the bank, I found my bike missing. Replacing it was a small poster on the lamppost which stated that "Your bicycle has been towed away as a result of illegal parking."
...why me?
2008-03-29, 19:59
Artist
