Unless he has a fanclub. You know, that anime cliche where the club members are to 'only admire from a distance'. Those who step out of line will get it and all that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aebliss
I am suddenly reminded of Sohma Yuki from Fruits Basket and the 'Prince Yuki fanclub', which admired him from afar ... and tried to make sure no one (female) got close enough to admire him from up close on her own. o_o It'd be pretty messed up -- not to mention funny -- if there were a Nagato Yuki Fanclub in this setting, too ... ^^
Spoiler:
I wouldn't have thought that I was really all that famous until one of them approached me.
"You," she said, looking at me like I was some kind of valuable but disgusting insect. "What are you to him?"
When people ask me about "him", they're usually talking about that idiot. "I'm not Suzumiya's keeper," I told her. "If you have a problem with him, go talk to him yourself, and good luck with that."
"Suzumiya? Who's that?"
You mean you're not talking about Haruki? More importantly, you've never heard of that name? I thought his antics would have been world-famous by now. In fact, considering the make-up of our club, his reputation can be said to be truly global, universal, and timeless.
"Oh, you mean that Suzumiya. Why would I bother to ask you about him?"
I could ask you the same question.
"I'm talking about that person, that person! The one you're always with every day in the Literature club room! You're always with him!"
Let's see, every day I attend SOS Brigade activities, if the pointless wasting of time by playing board games and surfing the Internet can be called that, in that room. That means that she's probably talking about one of the other SOS Brigade members. Not Haruki, which leaves either Asahina-sempai or Nagato. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at complicated riddles like this."
"It's Nagato-sama! Nagato Yuuki-sama!"
Even if you paid me money right now, I don't think I could have pretended to be surprised. Haruki has such a poisonous personality that I don't think any girl would dare get near him, but Asahina-sempai and Nagato were fair game. Asahina-sempai isn't supposed to get involved in any relationships at this time, and Nagato probably wouldn't understand the concept in the first place. Incidentally, what's with the "sama" suffix?
"Every day, you go into the Literature club room with him. Tell me now, what relationship do you have with Nagato-sama?"
It's not like I walk in with him hand-in-hand. He's usually just sitting there in the room by the time I arrive, reading a thick book, as a part of the background scenery. If he wasn't there, it would like Hachiko disappeared from Shibuya Station. "We're just friends. It's nothing that serious, honestly."
"There has to be more to it than that," she said insistently. "You're always with him, and you even talk to him. How could you do such a thing?"
What's wrong with talking to Nagato? Apart from the way he sounds like he's just randomly picking words out of an encyclopedia, that is.
"None of us in the Nagato Yuuki fan club have been able to accomplish even that much. All we can do is observe him from afar. And then you... you're not even one of us!"
Nagato has a fan club? There's no way such a cheesy shoujo plot device can exist in real life. But the girl in front of me looked completely serious, so maybe there is such a thing. Is this your doing again, Haruki? Probably not, since I don't think Haruki really cares about Nagato's personal life. Besides, he'd probably have made a Suzumiya Haruki fan club for his own. "What does this fan club do?"
It turns out that it's an unofficial fan club, and there are only a few members in it. All of them swear never to reveal themselves to Nagato Yuuki, but are to observe him and report his activities to the others. Is this a fan club or a stalker gathering? "I was kind of sad when Nagato-sama stopped wearing glasses. He probably switched to contacts for some reason. Still, when Nagato-sama went up on stage during the school festival concert, I was so happy I thought I would die," the girl continued. "Aah, to think that Nagato-sama was so talented! There's nothing he cannot do perfectly!"
The scary thing is that you may be completely right. "Why are you asking me about Nagato anyway? Why don't you talk to the others, like Itsuko?"
"You mean Koizumi-san from 1-9? From what we've observed, Nagato-sama always keeps his conversations with her short and harmless. There's no reason to worry there."
This is so unfair.
"I'm warning you," the girl said, "don't do anything funny with Nagato-sama. I know there's no way I can tell you to stay away from him, and it could be that you really are innocent. But if you dare approach Nagato-sama any closer than you already have, there's no telling what consequences there may be." And with that threat, she walked away, with the air of one satisfied at a job well done.
-
Nagato was, as usual, reading in his corner of the hijacked Literature club room. The only other member of the SOS Brigade present was Itsuko, who gave me a polite nod and greeting while she tried to solve some chess problem from a book. Haruki had cleaning duties, and Asahina-sempai still hadn't arrived yet.
"Nagato," I said, "did you know that you're being watched by a group of girls? They say that they're your fan club or something."
Nagato continued reading his book without raising his head. "Seven of the female students of this school have been making notes of my movements, with the first observation on the twenty-third of April of this year. Thus far they have not witnessed or been party to any incidents triggered by Suzumiya Haruki, and so they have been deemed to be uninvolved bystanders."
"Don't you find it creepy that they've been watching you all this time?"
"Not really."
Looks like that's all.
"That is an interesting development," Itsuko said. "I take it that you have been approached by one of their number?"
"Yeah. They don't seem to be happy with my association with Nagato."
"From an objective point of view, you have indeed been fortunate enough to have seen more of Nagato-san's personal life than many others."
That's true. Not only have I gone to Nagato's apartment alone, I've even slept over there, for three whole years at that. I also helped him make that library card, and stayed in the same mansion with the rest of the SOS Brigade during the summer holiday trip. From an outsider's viewpoint, we're definitely more than simple friends.
Not to mention that easily-misunderstood scene that Taniguchi walked in on right after the incident involving the disappeared Asakura. I should probably thank her one of these days for uncharacteristically not spreading rumours about it all over the school, or that Nagato Yuuki fan club member would have gone straight for my throat.
"Hey, Nagato," I said. "Do you know why the fan club girls are watching you?"
"They believe that the sight of my physical presence is aesthetically pleasing," Nagato said in his usual robotic manner. "The probability of any further developments evolving from the current status quo is extremely low; as such, there is no need to take any further action in the immediate future."
"But what if someone does confess to you?" I wondered.
"That would be inconvenient."
"Are you not allowed to have any relationships too?"
"It will cause inefficiencies in my duties that will be difficult to resolve, but I have not been formally and explicitly interdicted from such."
"So if someone confesses to you, would you automatically turn her down? Or would you at least consider it?"
At this, Nagato turned his head to look at me. Did I say something wrong? I don't think I did, at least not anything that Nagato would take any offense to.
The door opened, and Asahina-sempai stepped in. "Um, hello," he said. "Did I, er, did I interrupt something?"
"Oh, no, it's fine," I reassured him. When I looked back, Nagato was reading his book again, as though nothing had happened.
Itsuko and I waited outside the club room while Asahina-sempai changed into his SOS Brigade uniform. "You should be careful as well," Itsuko said.
"Please, I'm not going to do anything to Nagato. Are you secretly a member of that fan club as well?"
"That would be an exciting plot twist, but in truth the SOS Brigade is enough for me. In any case, I am already observing Nagato-san, as well as Asahina-san, and quite obviously Suzumiya-san, but perhaps not in the manner the Nagato Yuuki fan club is accustomed to." She smiled. "Of course, we're not leaving you out of the observation as well."
No, please leave me out of it. It's scary and creepy. "So why should I be careful? Are the fan club stalkers going to attack me?"
"I would judge that to be very unlikely. However, the source of the problem may be rather closer than you think."
Like I said already, I'm not good with these sorts of complicated riddles.
I wouldn't have thought that I was really all that famous until one of them approached me.
"You," she said, looking at me like I was some kind of valuable but disgusting insect. "What are you to him?"
When people ask me about "him", they're usually talking about that idiot. "I'm not Suzumiya's keeper," I told her. "If you have a problem with him, go talk to him yourself, and good luck with that."
"Suzumiya? Who's that?"
You mean you're not talking about Haruki? More importantly, you've never heard of that name? I thought his antics would have been world-famous by now. In fact, considering the make-up of our club, his reputation can be said to be truly global, universal, and timeless.
"Oh, you mean that Suzumiya. Why would I bother to ask you about him?"
I could ask you the same question.
"I'm talking about that person, that person! The one you're always with every day in the Literature club room! You're always with him!"
Let's see, every day I attend SOS Brigade activities, if the pointless wasting of time by playing board games and surfing the Internet can be called that, in that room. That means that she's probably talking about one of the other SOS Brigade members. Not Haruki, which leaves either Asahina-sempai or Nagato. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at complicated riddles like this."
"It's Nagato-sama! Nagato Yuuki-sama!"
Even if you paid me money right now, I don't think I could have pretended to be surprised. Haruki has such a poisonous personality that I don't think any girl would dare get near him, but Asahina-sempai and Nagato were fair game. Asahina-sempai isn't supposed to get involved in any relationships at this time, and Nagato probably wouldn't understand the concept in the first place. Incidentally, what's with the "sama" suffix?
"Every day, you go into the Literature club room with him. Tell me now, what relationship do you have with Nagato-sama?"
It's not like I walk in with him hand-in-hand. He's usually just sitting there in the room by the time I arrive, reading a thick book, as a part of the background scenery. If he wasn't there, it would like Hachiko disappeared from Shibuya Station. "We're just friends. It's nothing that serious, honestly."
"There has to be more to it than that," she said insistently. "You're always with him, and you even talk to him. How could you do such a thing?"
What's wrong with talking to Nagato? Apart from the way he sounds like he's just randomly picking words out of an encyclopedia, that is.
"None of us in the Nagato Yuuki fan club have been able to accomplish even that much. All we can do is observe him from afar. And then you... you're not even one of us!"
Nagato has a fan club? There's no way such a cheesy shoujo plot device can exist in real life. But the girl in front of me looked completely serious, so maybe there is such a thing. Is this your doing again, Haruki? Probably not, since I don't think Haruki really cares about Nagato's personal life. Besides, he'd probably have made a Suzumiya Haruki fan club for his own. "What does this fan club do?"
It turns out that it's an unofficial fan club, and there are only a few members in it. All of them swear never to reveal themselves to Nagato Yuuki, but are to observe him and report his activities to the others. Is this a fan club or a stalker gathering? "I was kind of sad when Nagato-sama stopped wearing glasses. He probably switched to contacts for some reason. Still, when Nagato-sama went up on stage during the school festival concert, I was so happy I thought I would die," the girl continued. "Aah, to think that Nagato-sama was so talented! There's nothing he cannot do perfectly!"
The scary thing is that you may be completely right. "Why are you asking me about Nagato anyway? Why don't you talk to the others, like Itsuko?"
"You mean Koizumi-san from 1-9? From what we've observed, Nagato-sama always keeps his conversations with her short and harmless. There's no reason to worry there."
This is so unfair.
"I'm warning you," the girl said, "don't do anything funny with Nagato-sama. I know there's no way I can tell you to stay away from him, and it could be that you really are innocent. But if you dare approach Nagato-sama any closer than you already have, there's no telling what consequences there may be." And with that threat, she walked away, with the air of one satisfied at a job well done.
-
Nagato was, as usual, reading in his corner of the hijacked Literature club room. The only other member of the SOS Brigade present was Itsuko, who gave me a polite nod and greeting while she tried to solve some chess problem from a book. Haruki had cleaning duties, and Asahina-sempai still hadn't arrived yet.
"Nagato," I said, "did you know that you're being watched by a group of girls? They say that they're your fan club or something."
Nagato continued reading his book without raising his head. "Seven of the female students of this school have been making notes of my movements, with the first observation on the twenty-third of April of this year. Thus far they have not witnessed or been party to any incidents triggered by Suzumiya Haruki, and so they have been deemed to be uninvolved bystanders."
"Don't you find it creepy that they've been watching you all this time?"
"Not really."
Looks like that's all.
"That is an interesting development," Itsuko said. "I take it that you have been approached by one of their number?"
"Yeah. They don't seem to be happy with my association with Nagato."
"From an objective point of view, you have indeed been fortunate enough to have seen more of Nagato-san's personal life than many others."
That's true. Not only have I gone to Nagato's apartment alone, I've even slept over there, for three whole years at that. I also helped him make that library card, and stayed in the same mansion with the rest of the SOS Brigade during the summer holiday trip. From an outsider's viewpoint, we're definitely more than simple friends.
Not to mention that easily-misunderstood scene that Taniguchi walked in on right after the incident involving the disappeared Asakura. I should probably thank her one of these days for uncharacteristically not spreading rumours about it all over the school, or that Nagato Yuuki fan club member would have gone straight for my throat.
"Hey, Nagato," I said. "Do you know why the fan club girls are watching you?"
"They believe that the sight of my physical presence is aesthetically pleasing," Nagato said in his usual robotic manner. "The probability of any further developments evolving from the current status quo is extremely low; as such, there is no need to take any further action in the immediate future."
"But what if someone does confess to you?" I wondered.
"That would be inconvenient."
"Are you not allowed to have any relationships too?"
"It will cause inefficiencies in my duties that will be difficult to resolve, but I have not been formally and explicitly interdicted from such."
"So if someone confesses to you, would you automatically turn her down? Or would you at least consider it?"
At this, Nagato turned his head to look at me. Did I say something wrong? I don't think I did, at least not anything that Nagato would take any offense to.
The door opened, and Asahina-sempai stepped in. "Um, hello," he said. "Did I, er, did I interrupt something?"
"Oh, no, it's fine," I reassured him. When I looked back, Nagato was reading his book again, as though nothing had happened.
Itsuko and I waited outside the club room while Asahina-sempai changed into his SOS Brigade uniform. "You should be careful as well," Itsuko said.
"Please, I'm not going to do anything to Nagato. Are you secretly a member of that fan club as well?"
"That would be an exciting plot twist, but in truth the SOS Brigade is enough for me. In any case, I am already observing Nagato-san, as well as Asahina-san, and quite obviously Suzumiya-san, but perhaps not in the manner the Nagato Yuuki fan club is accustomed to." She smiled. "Of course, we're not leaving you out of the observation as well."
No, please leave me out of it. It's scary and creepy. "So why should I be careful? Are the fan club stalkers going to attack me?"
"I would judge that to be very unlikely. However, the source of the problem may be rather closer than you think."
Like I said already, I'm not good with these sorts of complicated riddles.
"We shall see."
LOL @ cheesy shoujo plot device. Let us begin the founding of the fanclubs.
I wouldn't have thought that I was really all that famous until one of them approached me.
"You," she said, looking at me like I was some kind of valuable but disgusting insect. "What are you to him?"
When people ask me about "him", they're usually talking about that idiot. "I'm not Suzumiya's keeper," I told her. "If you have a problem with him, go talk to him yourself, and good luck with that."
"Suzumiya? Who's that?"
You mean you're not talking about Haruki? More importantly, you've never heard of that name? I thought his antics would have been world-famous by now. In fact, considering the make-up of our club, his reputation can be said to be truly global, universal, and timeless.
"Oh, you mean that Suzumiya. Why would I bother to ask you about him?"
I could ask you the same question.
"I'm talking about that person, that person! The one you're always with every day in the Literature club room! You're always with him!"
Let's see, every day I attend SOS Brigade activities, if the pointless wasting of time by playing board games and surfing the Internet can be called that, in that room. That means that she's probably talking about one of the other SOS Brigade members. Not Haruki, which leaves either Asahina-sempai or Nagato. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at complicated riddles like this."
"It's Nagato-sama! Nagato Yuuki-sama!"
Even if you paid me money right now, I don't think I could have pretended to be surprised. Haruki has such a poisonous personality that I don't think any girl would dare get near him, but Asahina-sempai and Nagato were fair game. Asahina-sempai isn't supposed to get involved in any relationships at this time, and Nagato probably wouldn't understand the concept in the first place. Incidentally, what's with the "sama" suffix?
"Every day, you go into the Literature club room with him. Tell me now, what relationship do you have with Nagato-sama?"
It's not like I walk in with him hand-in-hand. He's usually just sitting there in the room by the time I arrive, reading a thick book, as a part of the background scenery. If he wasn't there, it would like Hachiko disappeared from Shibuya Station. "We're just friends. It's nothing that serious, honestly."
"There has to be more to it than that," she said insistently. "You're always with him, and you even talk to him. How could you do such a thing?"
What's wrong with talking to Nagato? Apart from the way he sounds like he's just randomly picking words out of an encyclopedia, that is.
"None of us in the Nagato Yuuki fan club have been able to accomplish even that much. All we can do is observe him from afar. And then you... you're not even one of us!"
Nagato has a fan club? There's no way such a cheesy shoujo plot device can exist in real life. But the girl in front of me looked completely serious, so maybe there is such a thing. Is this your doing again, Haruki? Probably not, since I don't think Haruki really cares about Nagato's personal life. Besides, he'd probably have made a Suzumiya Haruki fan club for his own. "What does this fan club do?"
It turns out that it's an unofficial fan club, and there are only a few members in it. All of them swear never to reveal themselves to Nagato Yuuki, but are to observe him and report his activities to the others. Is this a fan club or a stalker gathering? "I was kind of sad when Nagato-sama stopped wearing glasses. He probably switched to contacts for some reason. Still, when Nagato-sama went up on stage during the school festival concert, I was so happy I thought I would die," the girl continued. "Aah, to think that Nagato-sama was so talented! There's nothing he cannot do perfectly!"
The scary thing is that you may be completely right. "Why are you asking me about Nagato anyway? Why don't you talk to the others, like Itsuko?"
"You mean Koizumi-san from 1-9? From what we've observed, Nagato-sama always keeps his conversations with her short and harmless. There's no reason to worry there."
This is so unfair.
"I'm warning you," the girl said, "don't do anything funny with Nagato-sama. I know there's no way I can tell you to stay away from him, and it could be that you really are innocent. But if you dare approach Nagato-sama any closer than you already have, there's no telling what consequences there may be." And with that threat, she walked away, with the air of one satisfied at a job well done.
-
Nagato was, as usual, reading in his corner of the hijacked Literature club room. The only other member of the SOS Brigade present was Itsuko, who gave me a polite nod and greeting while she tried to solve some chess problem from a book. Haruki had cleaning duties, and Asahina-sempai still hadn't arrived yet.
"Nagato," I said, "did you know that you're being watched by a group of girls? They say that they're your fan club or something."
Nagato continued reading his book without raising his head. "Seven of the female students of this school have been making notes of my movements, with the first observation on the twenty-third of April of this year. Thus far they have not witnessed or been party to any incidents triggered by Suzumiya Haruki, and so they have been deemed to be uninvolved bystanders."
"Don't you find it creepy that they've been watching you all this time?"
"Not really."
Looks like that's all.
"That is an interesting development," Itsuko said. "I take it that you have been approached by one of their number?"
"Yeah. They don't seem to be happy with my association with Nagato."
"From an objective point of view, you have indeed been fortunate enough to have seen more of Nagato-san's personal life than many others."
That's true. Not only have I gone to Nagato's apartment alone, I've even slept over there, for three whole years at that. I also helped him make that library card, and stayed in the same mansion with the rest of the SOS Brigade during the summer holiday trip. From an outsider's viewpoint, we're definitely more than simple friends.
Not to mention that easily-misunderstood scene that Taniguchi walked in on right after the incident involving the disappeared Asakura. I should probably thank her one of these days for uncharacteristically not spreading rumours about it all over the school, or that Nagato Yuuki fan club member would have gone straight for my throat.
"Hey, Nagato," I said. "Do you know why the fan club girls are watching you?"
"They believe that the sight of my physical presence is aesthetically pleasing," Nagato said in his usual robotic manner. "The probability of any further developments evolving from the current status quo is extremely low; as such, there is no need to take any further action in the immediate future."
"But what if someone does confess to you?" I wondered.
"That would be inconvenient."
"Are you not allowed to have any relationships too?"
"It will cause inefficiencies in my duties that will be difficult to resolve, but I have not been formally and explicitly interdicted from such."
"So if someone confesses to you, would you automatically turn her down? Or would you at least consider it?"
At this, Nagato turned his head to look at me. Did I say something wrong? I don't think I did, at least not anything that Nagato would take any offense to.
The door opened, and Asahina-sempai stepped in. "Um, hello," he said. "Did I, er, did I interrupt something?"
"Oh, no, it's fine," I reassured him. When I looked back, Nagato was reading his book again, as though nothing had happened.
Itsuko and I waited outside the club room while Asahina-sempai changed into his SOS Brigade uniform. "You should be careful as well," Itsuko said.
"Please, I'm not going to do anything to Nagato. Are you secretly a member of that fan club as well?"
"That would be an exciting plot twist, but in truth the SOS Brigade is enough for me. In any case, I am already observing Nagato-san, as well as Asahina-san, and quite obviously Suzumiya-san, but perhaps not in the manner the Nagato Yuuki fan club is accustomed to." She smiled. "Of course, we're not leaving you out of the observation as well."
No, please leave me out of it. It's scary and creepy. "So why should I be careful? Are the fan club stalkers going to attack me?"
"I would judge that to be very unlikely. However, the source of the problem may be rather closer than you think."
Like I said already, I'm not good with these sorts of complicated riddles.
I wouldn't have thought that I was really all that famous until one of them approached me.
"You," she said, looking at me like I was some kind of valuable but disgusting insect. "What are you to him?"
When people ask me about "him", they're usually talking about that idiot. "I'm not Suzumiya's keeper," I told her. "If you have a problem with him, go talk to him yourself, and good luck with that."
"Suzumiya? Who's that?"
You mean you're not talking about Haruki? More importantly, you've never heard of that name? I thought his antics would have been world-famous by now. In fact, considering the make-up of our club, his reputation can be said to be truly global, universal, and timeless.
"Oh, you mean that Suzumiya. Why would I bother to ask you about him?"
I could ask you the same question.
"I'm talking about that person, that person! The one you're always with every day in the Literature club room! You're always with him!"
Let's see, every day I attend SOS Brigade activities, if the pointless wasting of time by playing board games and surfing the Internet can be called that, in that room. That means that she's probably talking about one of the other SOS Brigade members. Not Haruki, which leaves either Asahina-sempai or Nagato. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at complicated riddles like this."
"It's Nagato-sama! Nagato Yuuki-sama!"
Even if you paid me money right now, I don't think I could have pretended to be surprised. Haruki has such a poisonous personality that I don't think any girl would dare get near him, but Asahina-sempai and Nagato were fair game. Asahina-sempai isn't supposed to get involved in any relationships at this time, and Nagato probably wouldn't understand the concept in the first place. Incidentally, what's with the "sama" suffix?
"Every day, you go into the Literature club room with him. Tell me now, what relationship do you have with Nagato-sama?"
It's not like I walk in with him hand-in-hand. He's usually just sitting there in the room by the time I arrive, reading a thick book, as a part of the background scenery. If he wasn't there, it would like Hachiko disappeared from Shibuya Station. "We're just friends. It's nothing that serious, honestly."
"There has to be more to it than that," she said insistently. "You're always with him, and you even talk to him. How could you do such a thing?"
What's wrong with talking to Nagato? Apart from the way he sounds like he's just randomly picking words out of an encyclopedia, that is.
"None of us in the Nagato Yuuki fan club have been able to accomplish even that much. All we can do is observe him from afar. And then you... you're not even one of us!"
Nagato has a fan club? There's no way such a cheesy shoujo plot device can exist in real life. But the girl in front of me looked completely serious, so maybe there is such a thing. Is this your doing again, Haruki? Probably not, since I don't think Haruki really cares about Nagato's personal life. Besides, he'd probably have made a Suzumiya Haruki fan club for his own. "What does this fan club do?"
It turns out that it's an unofficial fan club, and there are only a few members in it. All of them swear never to reveal themselves to Nagato Yuuki, but are to observe him and report his activities to the others. Is this a fan club or a stalker gathering? "I was kind of sad when Nagato-sama stopped wearing glasses. He probably switched to contacts for some reason. Still, when Nagato-sama went up on stage during the school festival concert, I was so happy I thought I would die," the girl continued. "Aah, to think that Nagato-sama was so talented! There's nothing he cannot do perfectly!"
The scary thing is that you may be completely right. "Why are you asking me about Nagato anyway? Why don't you talk to the others, like Itsuko?"
"You mean Koizumi-san from 1-9? From what we've observed, Nagato-sama always keeps his conversations with her short and harmless. There's no reason to worry there."
This is so unfair.
"I'm warning you," the girl said, "don't do anything funny with Nagato-sama. I know there's no way I can tell you to stay away from him, and it could be that you really are innocent. But if you dare approach Nagato-sama any closer than you already have, there's no telling what consequences there may be." And with that threat, she walked away, with the air of one satisfied at a job well done.
-
Nagato was, as usual, reading in his corner of the hijacked Literature club room. The only other member of the SOS Brigade present was Itsuko, who gave me a polite nod and greeting while she tried to solve some chess problem from a book. Haruki had cleaning duties, and Asahina-sempai still hadn't arrived yet.
"Nagato," I said, "did you know that you're being watched by a group of girls? They say that they're your fan club or something."
Nagato continued reading his book without raising his head. "Seven of the female students of this school have been making notes of my movements, with the first observation on the twenty-third of April of this year. Thus far they have not witnessed or been party to any incidents triggered by Suzumiya Haruki, and so they have been deemed to be uninvolved bystanders."
"Don't you find it creepy that they've been watching you all this time?"
"Not really."
Looks like that's all.
"That is an interesting development," Itsuko said. "I take it that you have been approached by one of their number?"
"Yeah. They don't seem to be happy with my association with Nagato."
"From an objective point of view, you have indeed been fortunate enough to have seen more of Nagato-san's personal life than many others."
That's true. Not only have I gone to Nagato's apartment alone, I've even slept over there, for three whole years at that. I also helped him make that library card, and stayed in the same mansion with the rest of the SOS Brigade during the summer holiday trip. From an outsider's viewpoint, we're definitely more than simple friends.
Not to mention that easily-misunderstood scene that Taniguchi walked in on right after the incident involving the disappeared Asakura. I should probably thank her one of these days for uncharacteristically not spreading rumours about it all over the school, or that Nagato Yuuki fan club member would have gone straight for my throat.
"Hey, Nagato," I said. "Do you know why the fan club girls are watching you?"
"They believe that the sight of my physical presence is aesthetically pleasing," Nagato said in his usual robotic manner. "The probability of any further developments evolving from the current status quo is extremely low; as such, there is no need to take any further action in the immediate future."
"But what if someone does confess to you?" I wondered.
"That would be inconvenient."
"Are you not allowed to have any relationships too?"
"It will cause inefficiencies in my duties that will be difficult to resolve, but I have not been formally and explicitly interdicted from such."
"So if someone confesses to you, would you automatically turn her down? Or would you at least consider it?"
At this, Nagato turned his head to look at me. Did I say something wrong? I don't think I did, at least not anything that Nagato would take any offense to.
The door opened, and Asahina-sempai stepped in. "Um, hello," he said. "Did I, er, did I interrupt something?"
"Oh, no, it's fine," I reassured him. When I looked back, Nagato was reading his book again, as though nothing had happened.
Itsuko and I waited outside the club room while Asahina-sempai changed into his SOS Brigade uniform. "You should be careful as well," Itsuko said.
"Please, I'm not going to do anything to Nagato. Are you secretly a member of that fan club as well?"
"That would be an exciting plot twist, but in truth the SOS Brigade is enough for me. In any case, I am already observing Nagato-san, as well as Asahina-san, and quite obviously Suzumiya-san, but perhaps not in the manner the Nagato Yuuki fan club is accustomed to." She smiled. "Of course, we're not leaving you out of the observation as well."
No, please leave me out of it. It's scary and creepy. "So why should I be careful? Are the fan club stalkers going to attack me?"
"I would judge that to be very unlikely. However, the source of the problem may be rather closer than you think."
Like I said already, I'm not good with these sorts of complicated riddles.
"We shall see."
Awesome writing is awesome. I now have ppl in the lib staring at me.
I wouldn't have thought that I was really all that famous until one of them approached me.
"You," she said, looking at me like I was some kind of valuable but disgusting insect. "What are you to him?"
When people ask me about "him", they're usually talking about that idiot. "I'm not Suzumiya's keeper," I told her. "If you have a problem with him, go talk to him yourself, and good luck with that."
"Suzumiya? Who's that?"
You mean you're not talking about Haruki? More importantly, you've never heard of that name? I thought his antics would have been world-famous by now. In fact, considering the make-up of our club, his reputation can be said to be truly global, universal, and timeless.
"Oh, you mean that Suzumiya. Why would I bother to ask you about him?"
I could ask you the same question.
"I'm talking about that person, that person! The one you're always with every day in the Literature club room! You're always with him!"
Let's see, every day I attend SOS Brigade activities, if the pointless wasting of time by playing board games and surfing the Internet can be called that, in that room. That means that she's probably talking about one of the other SOS Brigade members. Not Haruki, which leaves either Asahina-sempai or Nagato. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at complicated riddles like this."
"It's Nagato-sama! Nagato Yuuki-sama!"
Even if you paid me money right now, I don't think I could have pretended to be surprised. Haruki has such a poisonous personality that I don't think any girl would dare get near him, but Asahina-sempai and Nagato were fair game. Asahina-sempai isn't supposed to get involved in any relationships at this time, and Nagato probably wouldn't understand the concept in the first place. Incidentally, what's with the "sama" suffix?
"Every day, you go into the Literature club room with him. Tell me now, what relationship do you have with Nagato-sama?"
It's not like I walk in with him hand-in-hand. He's usually just sitting there in the room by the time I arrive, reading a thick book, as a part of the background scenery. If he wasn't there, it would like Hachiko disappeared from Shibuya Station. "We're just friends. It's nothing that serious, honestly."
"There has to be more to it than that," she said insistently. "You're always with him, and you even talk to him. How could you do such a thing?"
What's wrong with talking to Nagato? Apart from the way he sounds like he's just randomly picking words out of an encyclopedia, that is.
"None of us in the Nagato Yuuki fan club have been able to accomplish even that much. All we can do is observe him from afar. And then you... you're not even one of us!"
Nagato has a fan club? There's no way such a cheesy shoujo plot device can exist in real life. But the girl in front of me looked completely serious, so maybe there is such a thing. Is this your doing again, Haruki? Probably not, since I don't think Haruki really cares about Nagato's personal life. Besides, he'd probably have made a Suzumiya Haruki fan club for his own. "What does this fan club do?"
It turns out that it's an unofficial fan club, and there are only a few members in it. All of them swear never to reveal themselves to Nagato Yuuki, but are to observe him and report his activities to the others. Is this a fan club or a stalker gathering? "I was kind of sad when Nagato-sama stopped wearing glasses. He probably switched to contacts for some reason. Still, when Nagato-sama went up on stage during the school festival concert, I was so happy I thought I would die," the girl continued. "Aah, to think that Nagato-sama was so talented! There's nothing he cannot do perfectly!"
The scary thing is that you may be completely right. "Why are you asking me about Nagato anyway? Why don't you talk to the others, like Itsuko?"
"You mean Koizumi-san from 1-9? From what we've observed, Nagato-sama always keeps his conversations with her short and harmless. There's no reason to worry there."
This is so unfair.
"I'm warning you," the girl said, "don't do anything funny with Nagato-sama. I know there's no way I can tell you to stay away from him, and it could be that you really are innocent. But if you dare approach Nagato-sama any closer than you already have, there's no telling what consequences there may be." And with that threat, she walked away, with the air of one satisfied at a job well done.
-
Nagato was, as usual, reading in his corner of the hijacked Literature club room. The only other member of the SOS Brigade present was Itsuko, who gave me a polite nod and greeting while she tried to solve some chess problem from a book. Haruki had cleaning duties, and Asahina-sempai still hadn't arrived yet.
"Nagato," I said, "did you know that you're being watched by a group of girls? They say that they're your fan club or something."
Nagato continued reading his book without raising his head. "Seven of the female students of this school have been making notes of my movements, with the first observation on the twenty-third of April of this year. Thus far they have not witnessed or been party to any incidents triggered by Suzumiya Haruki, and so they have been deemed to be uninvolved bystanders."
"Don't you find it creepy that they've been watching you all this time?"
"Not really."
Looks like that's all.
"That is an interesting development," Itsuko said. "I take it that you have been approached by one of their number?"
"Yeah. They don't seem to be happy with my association with Nagato."
"From an objective point of view, you have indeed been fortunate enough to have seen more of Nagato-san's personal life than many others."
That's true. Not only have I gone to Nagato's apartment alone, I've even slept over there, for three whole years at that. I also helped him make that library card, and stayed in the same mansion with the rest of the SOS Brigade during the summer holiday trip. From an outsider's viewpoint, we're definitely more than simple friends.
Not to mention that easily-misunderstood scene that Taniguchi walked in on right after the incident involving the disappeared Asakura. I should probably thank her one of these days for uncharacteristically not spreading rumours about it all over the school, or that Nagato Yuuki fan club member would have gone straight for my throat.
"Hey, Nagato," I said. "Do you know why the fan club girls are watching you?"
"They believe that the sight of my physical presence is aesthetically pleasing," Nagato said in his usual robotic manner. "The probability of any further developments evolving from the current status quo is extremely low; as such, there is no need to take any further action in the immediate future."
"But what if someone does confess to you?" I wondered.
"That would be inconvenient."
"Are you not allowed to have any relationships too?"
"It will cause inefficiencies in my duties that will be difficult to resolve, but I have not been formally and explicitly interdicted from such."
"So if someone confesses to you, would you automatically turn her down? Or would you at least consider it?"
At this, Nagato turned his head to look at me. Did I say something wrong? I don't think I did, at least not anything that Nagato would take any offense to.
The door opened, and Asahina-sempai stepped in. "Um, hello," he said. "Did I, er, did I interrupt something?"
"Oh, no, it's fine," I reassured him. When I looked back, Nagato was reading his book again, as though nothing had happened.
Itsuko and I waited outside the club room while Asahina-sempai changed into his SOS Brigade uniform. "You should be careful as well," Itsuko said.
"Please, I'm not going to do anything to Nagato. Are you secretly a member of that fan club as well?"
"That would be an exciting plot twist, but in truth the SOS Brigade is enough for me. In any case, I am already observing Nagato-san, as well as Asahina-san, and quite obviously Suzumiya-san, but perhaps not in the manner the Nagato Yuuki fan club is accustomed to." She smiled. "Of course, we're not leaving you out of the observation as well."
No, please leave me out of it. It's scary and creepy. "So why should I be careful? Are the fan club stalkers going to attack me?"
"I would judge that to be very unlikely. However, the source of the problem may be rather closer than you think."
Like I said already, I'm not good with these sorts of complicated riddles.
I wouldn't have thought that I was really all that famous until one of them approached me.
"You," she said, looking at me like I was some kind of valuable but disgusting insect. "What are you to him?"
When people ask me about "him", they're usually talking about that idiot. "I'm not Suzumiya's keeper," I told her. "If you have a problem with him, go talk to him yourself, and good luck with that."
"Suzumiya? Who's that?"
You mean you're not talking about Haruki? More importantly, you've never heard of that name? I thought his antics would have been world-famous by now. In fact, considering the make-up of our club, his reputation can be said to be truly global, universal, and timeless.
"Oh, you mean that Suzumiya. Why would I bother to ask you about him?"
I could ask you the same question.
"I'm talking about that person, that person! The one you're always with every day in the Literature club room! You're always with him!"
Let's see, every day I attend SOS Brigade activities, if the pointless wasting of time by playing board games and surfing the Internet can be called that, in that room. That means that she's probably talking about one of the other SOS Brigade members. Not Haruki, which leaves either Asahina-sempai or Nagato. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at complicated riddles like this."
"It's Nagato-sama! Nagato Yuuki-sama!"
Even if you paid me money right now, I don't think I could have pretended to be surprised. Haruki has such a poisonous personality that I don't think any girl would dare get near him, but Asahina-sempai and Nagato were fair game. Asahina-sempai isn't supposed to get involved in any relationships at this time, and Nagato probably wouldn't understand the concept in the first place. Incidentally, what's with the "sama" suffix?
"Every day, you go into the Literature club room with him. Tell me now, what relationship do you have with Nagato-sama?"
It's not like I walk in with him hand-in-hand. He's usually just sitting there in the room by the time I arrive, reading a thick book, as a part of the background scenery. If he wasn't there, it would like Hachiko disappeared from Shibuya Station. "We're just friends. It's nothing that serious, honestly."
"There has to be more to it than that," she said insistently. "You're always with him, and you even talk to him. How could you do such a thing?"
What's wrong with talking to Nagato? Apart from the way he sounds like he's just randomly picking words out of an encyclopedia, that is.
"None of us in the Nagato Yuuki fan club have been able to accomplish even that much. All we can do is observe him from afar. And then you... you're not even one of us!"
Nagato has a fan club? There's no way such a cheesy shoujo plot device can exist in real life. But the girl in front of me looked completely serious, so maybe there is such a thing. Is this your doing again, Haruki? Probably not, since I don't think Haruki really cares about Nagato's personal life. Besides, he'd probably have made a Suzumiya Haruki fan club for his own. "What does this fan club do?"
It turns out that it's an unofficial fan club, and there are only a few members in it. All of them swear never to reveal themselves to Nagato Yuuki, but are to observe him and report his activities to the others. Is this a fan club or a stalker gathering? "I was kind of sad when Nagato-sama stopped wearing glasses. He probably switched to contacts for some reason. Still, when Nagato-sama went up on stage during the school festival concert, I was so happy I thought I would die," the girl continued. "Aah, to think that Nagato-sama was so talented! There's nothing he cannot do perfectly!"
The scary thing is that you may be completely right. "Why are you asking me about Nagato anyway? Why don't you talk to the others, like Itsuko?"
"You mean Koizumi-san from 1-9? From what we've observed, Nagato-sama always keeps his conversations with her short and harmless. There's no reason to worry there."
This is so unfair.
"I'm warning you," the girl said, "don't do anything funny with Nagato-sama. I know there's no way I can tell you to stay away from him, and it could be that you really are innocent. But if you dare approach Nagato-sama any closer than you already have, there's no telling what consequences there may be." And with that threat, she walked away, with the air of one satisfied at a job well done.
-
Nagato was, as usual, reading in his corner of the hijacked Literature club room. The only other member of the SOS Brigade present was Itsuko, who gave me a polite nod and greeting while she tried to solve some chess problem from a book. Haruki had cleaning duties, and Asahina-sempai still hadn't arrived yet.
"Nagato," I said, "did you know that you're being watched by a group of girls? They say that they're your fan club or something."
Nagato continued reading his book without raising his head. "Seven of the female students of this school have been making notes of my movements, with the first observation on the twenty-third of April of this year. Thus far they have not witnessed or been party to any incidents triggered by Suzumiya Haruki, and so they have been deemed to be uninvolved bystanders."
"Don't you find it creepy that they've been watching you all this time?"
"Not really."
Looks like that's all.
"That is an interesting development," Itsuko said. "I take it that you have been approached by one of their number?"
"Yeah. They don't seem to be happy with my association with Nagato."
"From an objective point of view, you have indeed been fortunate enough to have seen more of Nagato-san's personal life than many others."
That's true. Not only have I gone to Nagato's apartment alone, I've even slept over there, for three whole years at that. I also helped him make that library card, and stayed in the same mansion with the rest of the SOS Brigade during the summer holiday trip. From an outsider's viewpoint, we're definitely more than simple friends.
Not to mention that easily-misunderstood scene that Taniguchi walked in on right after the incident involving the disappeared Asakura. I should probably thank her one of these days for uncharacteristically not spreading rumours about it all over the school, or that Nagato Yuuki fan club member would have gone straight for my throat.
"Hey, Nagato," I said. "Do you know why the fan club girls are watching you?"
"They believe that the sight of my physical presence is aesthetically pleasing," Nagato said in his usual robotic manner. "The probability of any further developments evolving from the current status quo is extremely low; as such, there is no need to take any further action in the immediate future."
"But what if someone does confess to you?" I wondered.
"That would be inconvenient."
"Are you not allowed to have any relationships too?"
"It will cause inefficiencies in my duties that will be difficult to resolve, but I have not been formally and explicitly interdicted from such."
"So if someone confesses to you, would you automatically turn her down? Or would you at least consider it?"
At this, Nagato turned his head to look at me. Did I say something wrong? I don't think I did, at least not anything that Nagato would take any offense to.
The door opened, and Asahina-sempai stepped in. "Um, hello," he said. "Did I, er, did I interrupt something?"
"Oh, no, it's fine," I reassured him. When I looked back, Nagato was reading his book again, as though nothing had happened.
Itsuko and I waited outside the club room while Asahina-sempai changed into his SOS Brigade uniform. "You should be careful as well," Itsuko said.
"Please, I'm not going to do anything to Nagato. Are you secretly a member of that fan club as well?"
"That would be an exciting plot twist, but in truth the SOS Brigade is enough for me. In any case, I am already observing Nagato-san, as well as Asahina-san, and quite obviously Suzumiya-san, but perhaps not in the manner the Nagato Yuuki fan club is accustomed to." She smiled. "Of course, we're not leaving you out of the observation as well."
No, please leave me out of it. It's scary and creepy. "So why should I be careful? Are the fan club stalkers going to attack me?"
"I would judge that to be very unlikely. However, the source of the problem may be rather closer than you think."
Like I said already, I'm not good with these sorts of complicated riddles.
I wouldn't have thought that I was really all that famous until one of them approached me.
"You," she said, looking at me like I was some kind of valuable but disgusting insect. "What are you to him?"
When people ask me about "him", they're usually talking about that idiot. "I'm not Suzumiya's keeper," I told her. "If you have a problem with him, go talk to him yourself, and good luck with that."
"Suzumiya? Who's that?"
You mean you're not talking about Haruki? More importantly, you've never heard of that name? I thought his antics would have been world-famous by now. In fact, considering the make-up of our club, his reputation can be said to be truly global, universal, and timeless.
"Oh, you mean that Suzumiya. Why would I bother to ask you about him?"
I could ask you the same question.
"I'm talking about that person, that person! The one you're always with every day in the Literature club room! You're always with him!"
Let's see, every day I attend SOS Brigade activities, if the pointless wasting of time by playing board games and surfing the Internet can be called that, in that room. That means that she's probably talking about one of the other SOS Brigade members. Not Haruki, which leaves either Asahina-sempai or Nagato. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at complicated riddles like this."
"It's Nagato-sama! Nagato Yuuki-sama!"
Even if you paid me money right now, I don't think I could have pretended to be surprised. Haruki has such a poisonous personality that I don't think any girl would dare get near him, but Asahina-sempai and Nagato were fair game. Asahina-sempai isn't supposed to get involved in any relationships at this time, and Nagato probably wouldn't understand the concept in the first place. Incidentally, what's with the "sama" suffix?
"Every day, you go into the Literature club room with him. Tell me now, what relationship do you have with Nagato-sama?"
It's not like I walk in with him hand-in-hand. He's usually just sitting there in the room by the time I arrive, reading a thick book, as a part of the background scenery. If he wasn't there, it would like Hachiko disappeared from Shibuya Station. "We're just friends. It's nothing that serious, honestly."
"There has to be more to it than that," she said insistently. "You're always with him, and you even talk to him. How could you do such a thing?"
What's wrong with talking to Nagato? Apart from the way he sounds like he's just randomly picking words out of an encyclopedia, that is.
"None of us in the Nagato Yuuki fan club have been able to accomplish even that much. All we can do is observe him from afar. And then you... you're not even one of us!"
Nagato has a fan club? There's no way such a cheesy shoujo plot device can exist in real life. But the girl in front of me looked completely serious, so maybe there is such a thing. Is this your doing again, Haruki? Probably not, since I don't think Haruki really cares about Nagato's personal life. Besides, he'd probably have made a Suzumiya Haruki fan club for his own. "What does this fan club do?"
It turns out that it's an unofficial fan club, and there are only a few members in it. All of them swear never to reveal themselves to Nagato Yuuki, but are to observe him and report his activities to the others. Is this a fan club or a stalker gathering? "I was kind of sad when Nagato-sama stopped wearing glasses. He probably switched to contacts for some reason. Still, when Nagato-sama went up on stage during the school festival concert, I was so happy I thought I would die," the girl continued. "Aah, to think that Nagato-sama was so talented! There's nothing he cannot do perfectly!"
The scary thing is that you may be completely right. "Why are you asking me about Nagato anyway? Why don't you talk to the others, like Itsuko?"
"You mean Koizumi-san from 1-9? From what we've observed, Nagato-sama always keeps his conversations with her short and harmless. There's no reason to worry there."
This is so unfair.
"I'm warning you," the girl said, "don't do anything funny with Nagato-sama. I know there's no way I can tell you to stay away from him, and it could be that you really are innocent. But if you dare approach Nagato-sama any closer than you already have, there's no telling what consequences there may be." And with that threat, she walked away, with the air of one satisfied at a job well done.
-
Nagato was, as usual, reading in his corner of the hijacked Literature club room. The only other member of the SOS Brigade present was Itsuko, who gave me a polite nod and greeting while she tried to solve some chess problem from a book. Haruki had cleaning duties, and Asahina-sempai still hadn't arrived yet.
"Nagato," I said, "did you know that you're being watched by a group of girls? They say that they're your fan club or something."
Nagato continued reading his book without raising his head. "Seven of the female students of this school have been making notes of my movements, with the first observation on the twenty-third of April of this year. Thus far they have not witnessed or been party to any incidents triggered by Suzumiya Haruki, and so they have been deemed to be uninvolved bystanders."
"Don't you find it creepy that they've been watching you all this time?"
"Not really."
Looks like that's all.
"That is an interesting development," Itsuko said. "I take it that you have been approached by one of their number?"
"Yeah. They don't seem to be happy with my association with Nagato."
"From an objective point of view, you have indeed been fortunate enough to have seen more of Nagato-san's personal life than many others."
That's true. Not only have I gone to Nagato's apartment alone, I've even slept over there, for three whole years at that. I also helped him make that library card, and stayed in the same mansion with the rest of the SOS Brigade during the summer holiday trip. From an outsider's viewpoint, we're definitely more than simple friends.
Not to mention that easily-misunderstood scene that Taniguchi walked in on right after the incident involving the disappeared Asakura. I should probably thank her one of these days for uncharacteristically not spreading rumours about it all over the school, or that Nagato Yuuki fan club member would have gone straight for my throat.
"Hey, Nagato," I said. "Do you know why the fan club girls are watching you?"
"They believe that the sight of my physical presence is aesthetically pleasing," Nagato said in his usual robotic manner. "The probability of any further developments evolving from the current status quo is extremely low; as such, there is no need to take any further action in the immediate future."
"But what if someone does confess to you?" I wondered.
"That would be inconvenient."
"Are you not allowed to have any relationships too?"
"It will cause inefficiencies in my duties that will be difficult to resolve, but I have not been formally and explicitly interdicted from such."
"So if someone confesses to you, would you automatically turn her down? Or would you at least consider it?"
At this, Nagato turned his head to look at me. Did I say something wrong? I don't think I did, at least not anything that Nagato would take any offense to.
The door opened, and Asahina-sempai stepped in. "Um, hello," he said. "Did I, er, did I interrupt something?"
"Oh, no, it's fine," I reassured him. When I looked back, Nagato was reading his book again, as though nothing had happened.
Itsuko and I waited outside the club room while Asahina-sempai changed into his SOS Brigade uniform. "You should be careful as well," Itsuko said.
"Please, I'm not going to do anything to Nagato. Are you secretly a member of that fan club as well?"
"That would be an exciting plot twist, but in truth the SOS Brigade is enough for me. In any case, I am already observing Nagato-san, as well as Asahina-san, and quite obviously Suzumiya-san, but perhaps not in the manner the Nagato Yuuki fan club is accustomed to." She smiled. "Of course, we're not leaving you out of the observation as well."
No, please leave me out of it. It's scary and creepy. "So why should I be careful? Are the fan club stalkers going to attack me?"
"I would judge that to be very unlikely. However, the source of the problem may be rather closer than you think."
Like I said already, I'm not good with these sorts of complicated riddles.
"We shall see."
It has to be said again. Awesome. Written in record time too.
Yay, another part. I cut if off short because I wanted to do the whole Asakura scene in one go.
Spoiler for Chapter 5 part 3: Shoe Locker Letter:
Yet, from this moment onwards, strange things were beginning to get into motion. Because it wasn’t such a big deal yet, no one else had noticed, but I'd been thinking about it all day, ever since homeroom.
You see, while I was talking to Haruki, my mind was dwelling on something else. It all began with a note that was left in my shoe locker this morning.
The note said "After school when everyone else has left, come to the 1-5 classroom."
The handwriting was angular and archaic-looking. It was probably a guy’s handwriting.
------
What the hell is this about? The differing opinions in my mind decided to hold an emergency meeting.
The first said, "This has happened before," but the handwriting was different from the one on the bookmark. Nagato, who claims to be a “Living Humanoid Interface” for the aliens, has handwriting so perfect it’s like a computer typed it out , yet this note, although written with good penmanship, isn’t so flawless. Besides, Nagato wouldn’t be so direct as to stick a note in my shoe locker.
The second said, "Could it be Asahina-senpai?" No, if it's Asahina-senpai, I doubt he’d just tear off a piece of paper and throw it in my locker without at least putting a time on it. He seems the sort of person who’d use an envelope, too.
Moreover, it was strange that the location is my classroom. "It can't be Haruki!?" said the third opinion. That's even more impossible. If Haruki had anything to say to me, he’s probably just carry me off shouting Washoi! Washoi!to the staircase and tell me directly.
Based on the same reasoning, I eliminated Itsuko from the equation as well.
Finally, a fourth opinion, stronger and louder than all the others, said, "Could it be a love letter from some stranger?" It makes sense. The writer specified that I should come “after everyone else is gone” and it was stuffed in my shoe locker, exactly the place you’d normally put a confession note .
Still, in all my years of school, I’ve never gotten one of these. Why should they start coming now? I don’t think I’m any better looking than I was in junior high.
It could just be a prank by Taniguchi and Kunikida. Yeah, that sounds more realistic. Taniguchi would play a stupid joke on me like that, but I think she would have written more.
While thinking about all this, I wandered aimlessly around the school. After class, Haruki said he was going to go home and “punch something”. Chance!
[Editor’s note: Feel free to change that last. I just figured I’d make a small reference to FLCL.]
I decided to go to the clubroom first, as I’d look like an idiot waiting for ages in the classroom for some unknown stranger to show up. If all of a sudden Taniguchi suddenly came in and said, "Hey, you’re still waiting? I can't believe you'd fall for that, you’re so naive!" I'd be really pissed. Kill some time first, go and have a peek in the classroom, and then go in after making sure no one is around. Yeah, that’s the perfect strategy.
I arrived at the clubroom entrance. This time, I remembered to knock.
"Please come in." Once I heard Asahina-senpai's voice, I opened the door. Regardless of how wrong it may be, he still looks cute in that maid costume.
"Took you awhile to arrive… where's Suzumiya-san?" he said, pleasantly
Looks like he’s brewing tea again.
"He went home. Actually, he seemed pretty tired. If you want to get some revenge, I’d do it now."
Asahina-senpai looked flustered. "I-I wouldn’t d-do anything like that!"
I was only joking, Asahina-senpai.
We sat face to face and drank our tea in the room with Nagato reading. We are, without Haruki, a Brigade with no clear aim or goal in mind.
"Itsuko still hasn't arrived?" I asked.
"Koizumi-san came earlier, but she said she’s got her part time job today, so she already left."
What kind of part-time job, exactly? Well, at least now I can confidently cross out Itsuko and Haruki from my suspect list on who wrote the note.
Since I had nothing to do but wait, I played some Othello with Asahina-senpai and chatted with him. After winning three games, I stopped playing and went to surf the internet to read the news, and at this moment, Nagato closed his book. Recently, we've taken this action of his as a sign that it's time to call it a day for club activities (though what those are is still unclear), and we all began to pack and leave.
"I need to change, so you go on first." After Asahina-senpai said that, I left the room and proceeded to my classroom.
The clock says half past five, so I guess there shouldn't be anyone left in the classroom. Even if it were a prank by Taniguchi, she’d have gone home after getting bored from waiting for so long. Despite that, I still ran up the two flights of stairs to the top floor, just to make sure. I mean, what if it really is a confession?
I breathed deeply in the silent corridor. The classroom doors have stained windows, so I couldn’t see anything inside. All I could see is that the sunset has stained the room a pretty orange-red color. Casually, I opened the 1-5 classroom door and stuck my head inside.
If I may be so bold as to suggest to the danchou-sama; commission the artists for a character lineup picture.
Commission the artists? What kind of influence do you think I have?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon
Yay, another part. I cut if off short because I wanted to do the whole Asakura scene in one go.
Spoiler for Chapter 5 part 3: Shoe Locker Letter:
Yet, from this moment onwards, strange things were beginning to get into motion. Because it wasn’t such a big deal yet, no one else had noticed, but I'd been thinking about it all day, ever since homeroom.
You see, while I was talking to Haruki, my mind was dwelling on something else. It all began with a note that was left in my shoe locker this morning.
The note said "After school when everyone else has left, come to the 1-5 classroom."
The handwriting was angular and archaic-looking. It was probably a guy’s handwriting.
------
What the hell is this about? The differing opinions in my mind decided to hold an emergency meeting.
The first said, "This has happened before," but the handwriting was different from the one on the bookmark. Nagato, who claims to be a “Living Humanoid Interface” for the aliens, has handwriting so perfect it’s like a computer typed it out , yet this note, although written with good penmanship, isn’t so flawless. Besides, Nagato wouldn’t be so direct as to stick a note in my shoe locker.
The second said, "Could it be Asahina-senpai?" No, if it's Asahina-senpai, I doubt he’d just tear off a piece of paper and throw it in my locker without at least putting a time on it. He seems the sort of person who’d use an envelope, too.
Moreover, it was strange that the location is my classroom. "It can't be Haruki!?" said the third opinion. That's even more impossible. If Haruki had anything to say to me, he’s probably just carry me off shouting Washoi! Washoi!to the staircase and tell me directly.
Based on the same reasoning, I eliminated Itsuko from the equation as well.
Finally, a fourth opinion, stronger and louder than all the others, said, "Could it be a love letter from some stranger?" It makes sense. The writer specified that I should come “after everyone else is gone” and it was stuffed in my shoe locker, exactly the place you’d normally put a confession note .
Still, in all my years of school, I’ve never gotten one of these. Why should they start coming now? I don’t think I’m any better looking than I was in junior high.
It could just be a prank by Taniguchi and Kunikida. Yeah, that sounds more realistic. Taniguchi would play a stupid joke on me like that, but I think she would have written more.
While thinking about all this, I wandered aimlessly around the school. After class, Haruki said he was going to go home and “punch something”. Chance!
[Editor’s note: Feel free to change that last. I just figured I’d make a small reference to FLCL.]
I decided to go to the clubroom first, as I’d look like an idiot waiting for ages in the classroom for some unknown stranger to show up. If all of a sudden Taniguchi suddenly came in and said, "Hey, you’re still waiting? I can't believe you'd fall for that, you’re so naive!" I'd be really pissed. Kill some time first, go and have a peek in the classroom, and then go in after making sure no one is around. Yeah, that’s the perfect strategy.
I arrived at the clubroom entrance. This time, I remembered to knock.
"Please come in." Once I heard Asahina-senpai's voice, I opened the door. Regardless of how wrong it may be, he still looks cute in that maid costume.
"Took you awhile to arrive… where's Suzumiya-san?" he said, pleasantly
Looks like he’s brewing tea again.
"He went home. Actually, he seemed pretty tired. If you want to get some revenge, I’d do it now."
Asahina-senpai looked flustered. "I-I wouldn’t d-do anything like that!"
I was only joking, Asahina-senpai.
We sat face to face and drank our tea in the room with Nagato reading. We are, without Haruki, a Brigade with no clear aim or goal in mind.
"Itsuko still hasn't arrived?" I asked.
"Koizumi-san came earlier, but she said she’s got her part time job today, so she already left."
What kind of part-time job, exactly? Well, at least now I can confidently cross out Itsuko and Haruki from my suspect list on who wrote the note.
Since I had nothing to do but wait, I played some Othello with Asahina-senpai and chatted with him. After winning three games, I stopped playing and went to surf the internet to read the news, and at this moment, Nagato closed his book. Recently, we've taken this action of his as a sign that it's time to call it a day for club activities (though what those are is still unclear), and we all began to pack and leave.
"I need to change, so you go on first." After Asahina-senpai said that, I left the room and proceeded to my classroom.
The clock says half past five, so I guess there shouldn't be anyone left in the classroom. Even if it were a prank by Taniguchi, she’d have gone home after getting bored from waiting for so long. Despite that, I still ran up the two flights of stairs to the top floor, just to make sure. I mean, what if it really is a confession?
I breathed deeply in the silent corridor. The classroom doors have stained windows, so I couldn’t see anything inside. All I could see is that the sunset has stained the room a pretty orange-red color. Casually, I opened the 1-5 classroom door and stuck my head inside.
I wouldn't have thought that I was really all that famous until one of them approached me.
"You," she said, looking at me like I was some kind of valuable but disgusting insect. "What are you to him?"
When people ask me about "him", they're usually talking about that idiot. "I'm not Suzumiya's keeper," I told her. "If you have a problem with him, go talk to him yourself, and good luck with that."
"Suzumiya? Who's that?"
You mean you're not talking about Haruki? More importantly, you've never heard of that name? I thought his antics would have been world-famous by now. In fact, considering the make-up of our club, his reputation can be said to be truly global, universal, and timeless.
"Oh, you mean that Suzumiya. Why would I bother to ask you about him?"
I could ask you the same question.
"I'm talking about that person, that person! The one you're always with every day in the Literature club room! You're always with him!"
Let's see, every day I attend SOS Brigade activities, if the pointless wasting of time by playing board games and surfing the Internet can be called that, in that room. That means that she's probably talking about one of the other SOS Brigade members. Not Haruki, which leaves either Asahina-sempai or Nagato. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good at complicated riddles like this."
"It's Nagato-sama! Nagato Yuuki-sama!"
Even if you paid me money right now, I don't think I could have pretended to be surprised. Haruki has such a poisonous personality that I don't think any girl would dare get near him, but Asahina-sempai and Nagato were fair game. Asahina-sempai isn't supposed to get involved in any relationships at this time, and Nagato probably wouldn't understand the concept in the first place. Incidentally, what's with the "sama" suffix?
"Every day, you go into the Literature club room with him. Tell me now, what relationship do you have with Nagato-sama?"
It's not like I walk in with him hand-in-hand. He's usually just sitting there in the room by the time I arrive, reading a thick book, as a part of the background scenery. If he wasn't there, it would like Hachiko disappeared from Shibuya Station. "We're just friends. It's nothing that serious, honestly."
"There has to be more to it than that," she said insistently. "You're always with him, and you even talk to him. How could you do such a thing?"
What's wrong with talking to Nagato? Apart from the way he sounds like he's just randomly picking words out of an encyclopedia, that is.
"None of us in the Nagato Yuuki fan club have been able to accomplish even that much. All we can do is observe him from afar. And then you... you're not even one of us!"
Nagato has a fan club? There's no way such a cheesy shoujo plot device can exist in real life. But the girl in front of me looked completely serious, so maybe there is such a thing. Is this your doing again, Haruki? Probably not, since I don't think Haruki really cares about Nagato's personal life. Besides, he'd probably have made a Suzumiya Haruki fan club for his own. "What does this fan club do?"
It turns out that it's an unofficial fan club, and there are only a few members in it. All of them swear never to reveal themselves to Nagato Yuuki, but are to observe him and report his activities to the others. Is this a fan club or a stalker gathering? "I was kind of sad when Nagato-sama stopped wearing glasses. He probably switched to contacts for some reason. Still, when Nagato-sama went up on stage during the school festival concert, I was so happy I thought I would die," the girl continued. "Aah, to think that Nagato-sama was so talented! There's nothing he cannot do perfectly!"
The scary thing is that you may be completely right. "Why are you asking me about Nagato anyway? Why don't you talk to the others, like Itsuko?"
"You mean Koizumi-san from 1-9? From what we've observed, Nagato-sama always keeps his conversations with her short and harmless. There's no reason to worry there."
This is so unfair.
"I'm warning you," the girl said, "don't do anything funny with Nagato-sama. I know there's no way I can tell you to stay away from him, and it could be that you really are innocent. But if you dare approach Nagato-sama any closer than you already have, there's no telling what consequences there may be." And with that threat, she walked away, with the air of one satisfied at a job well done.
-
Nagato was, as usual, reading in his corner of the hijacked Literature club room. The only other member of the SOS Brigade present was Itsuko, who gave me a polite nod and greeting while she tried to solve some chess problem from a book. Haruki had cleaning duties, and Asahina-sempai still hadn't arrived yet.
"Nagato," I said, "did you know that you're being watched by a group of girls? They say that they're your fan club or something."
Nagato continued reading his book without raising his head. "Seven of the female students of this school have been making notes of my movements, with the first observation on the twenty-third of April of this year. Thus far they have not witnessed or been party to any incidents triggered by Suzumiya Haruki, and so they have been deemed to be uninvolved bystanders."
"Don't you find it creepy that they've been watching you all this time?"
"Not really."
Looks like that's all.
"That is an interesting development," Itsuko said. "I take it that you have been approached by one of their number?"
"Yeah. They don't seem to be happy with my association with Nagato."
"From an objective point of view, you have indeed been fortunate enough to have seen more of Nagato-san's personal life than many others."
That's true. Not only have I gone to Nagato's apartment alone, I've even slept over there, for three whole years at that. I also helped him make that library card, and stayed in the same mansion with the rest of the SOS Brigade during the summer holiday trip. From an outsider's viewpoint, we're definitely more than simple friends.
Not to mention that easily-misunderstood scene that Taniguchi walked in on right after the incident involving the disappeared Asakura. I should probably thank her one of these days for uncharacteristically not spreading rumours about it all over the school, or that Nagato Yuuki fan club member would have gone straight for my throat.
"Hey, Nagato," I said. "Do you know why the fan club girls are watching you?"
"They believe that the sight of my physical presence is aesthetically pleasing," Nagato said in his usual robotic manner. "The probability of any further developments evolving from the current status quo is extremely low; as such, there is no need to take any further action in the immediate future."
"But what if someone does confess to you?" I wondered.
"That would be inconvenient."
"Are you not allowed to have any relationships too?"
"It will cause inefficiencies in my duties that will be difficult to resolve, but I have not been formally and explicitly interdicted from such."
"So if someone confesses to you, would you automatically turn her down? Or would you at least consider it?"
At this, Nagato turned his head to look at me. Did I say something wrong? I don't think I did, at least not anything that Nagato would take any offense to.
The door opened, and Asahina-sempai stepped in. "Um, hello," he said. "Did I, er, did I interrupt something?"
"Oh, no, it's fine," I reassured him. When I looked back, Nagato was reading his book again, as though nothing had happened.
Itsuko and I waited outside the club room while Asahina-sempai changed into his SOS Brigade uniform. "You should be careful as well," Itsuko said.
"Please, I'm not going to do anything to Nagato. Are you secretly a member of that fan club as well?"
"That would be an exciting plot twist, but in truth the SOS Brigade is enough for me. In any case, I am already observing Nagato-san, as well as Asahina-san, and quite obviously Suzumiya-san, but perhaps not in the manner the Nagato Yuuki fan club is accustomed to." She smiled. "Of course, we're not leaving you out of the observation as well."
No, please leave me out of it. It's scary and creepy. "So why should I be careful? Are the fan club stalkers going to attack me?"
"I would judge that to be very unlikely. However, the source of the problem may be rather closer than you think."
Like I said already, I'm not good with these sorts of complicated riddles.
"We shall see."
... o.o ... ... ... Thank you very, very much for that, Dkellis. I enjoyed it immensely and am going to keep it somewhere to read again!
2008-04-08, 14:38
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