... Damn I wish I had something to offer to try and lighten the mood a little... this page has been really depressing so far...
*e* Oh hey... post count is a palindrome...
__________________
WARNING: Kogetsu Shirogane cannot be held accountable for any actions taken by someone else. Potential side effects of communicating with this user include headaches, mild confusion, insanity, delirium, and jumping into fires. Do not expose this user to sunlight or water or feed this user after midnight.
This is a startling, even frightening moment, but we should not see it as innately depressing. One of our own has shared with us an event of Earth-shaking importance in his life. Be shocked, be worried, but don't be depressed. Rather, appreciate the trust in which we have all been taken, and try to reciprocate as best you can.
I have none of the major symptoms like headaches or seizures... and I only started being nauseous AFTER I read up on the symptoms. -_-
I do, however, have everything else; inability to concentrate, lack of muscular control, rising cranial pressure (the big one), perpetual dizziness, drowsiness... and I've had the feeling that something is wrong with my head for the past few months, though the other symptoms only really started getting bad recently.
It's probably nothing major, since I've read that these symptoms can be caused by anything... except the rising internal cranial pressure in the back of my head...
Thanks for the moral support, guys. I'll probably know for sure if I can get that MRI in a couple weeks...
Yeah, guys, don't be depressed, there's no way he has anything more than just a headache. It can't happen to people right next to us!
Right?
Right??
(Please, my hypothetical powers of coincidence, make a coincidence where Kaisos turns out to be okay. Like the next time I visit this topic, it will be same time he'll post that he's okay.)
*e* (Dang he just coincidentally posted when I was writing, that's not the right time!)
It's probably nothing major, since I've read that these symptoms can be caused by anything... except the rising internal cranial pressure in the back of my head...
Agreed. Thinking up the worst thing is pretty common when you start doing amateur self diagnosis. It's probably not anything big.
At the same time, get to that damn doc on Thursday.
I don't think anyone's pegged "three years ago" as being 2009...
__________________
WARNING: Kogetsu Shirogane cannot be held accountable for any actions taken by someone else. Potential side effects of communicating with this user include headaches, mild confusion, insanity, delirium, and jumping into fires. Do not expose this user to sunlight or water or feed this user after midnight.
WARNING: Kogetsu Shirogane cannot be held accountable for any actions taken by someone else. Potential side effects of communicating with this user include headaches, mild confusion, insanity, delirium, and jumping into fires. Do not expose this user to sunlight or water or feed this user after midnight.
Spoiler for Suzumiya Haruki no Seitenkan, part 21. Thought and Gang.:
Apart from Taniguchi being an idiot for Tsuruya-sempai and my having to keep my little brother under control, the first rehearsal actually went much better than I had anticipated. That is, until everyone decided that yes, they would like to stay for dinner at my place.
Dad was quite the gracious host, giving my brother and myself money to go buy some of that special ramen for everyone. Said chore was made slightly more trying by the fact that Nagato mutely insisted on accompanying us … I’m not sure what motivated him, since he didn’t say a single word the whole trip, despite my little brother’s attempts to engage him in conversation about the mock battle part of the ‘play’. Maybe he wanted to carry the bags, since that is what he did.
Back at the house, dinner was … livelier than usual. Mom was very surprised when she came home and found dad setting the table for a house full of high school students, but Tsuruya-san charmed her as easily as he had dad. Perhaps even more easily; the ‘little gift’ Tsuruya-san had brought for me turned out to be a small box of luxury chocolates, the kind lovers of sweets always ogle in the sweets shops, but never dare to buy. Mom was impressed, for some reason unfathomable to me at the time.
She was also really happy when she heard that I had invited all these people over for the purpose of staging a play.
“Well, isn’t that nice?” she said, hugging me around the shoulders. “I’m glad to see you doing things, you don’t talk enough about what your club at school does.”
There are good reasons for that, which I have no intention of sharing with my parents. In the words of Asahina-sempai, “that is classified information”.
In any case, dinner was a lively event, but not in any momentous kind of way.
Mom had a lovely chat with Kunikida, who she hadn’t seen in a while. I was just slightly uncomfortable when their conversation touched on Sasaki, but fortunately they soon abandoned that topic to discuss the play.
Meanwhile, dad and Tsuruya-san were really hitting it off, with only occasional interference from Taniguchi. She kept trying to break into the conversation, despite the fact that she didn’t seem to know too well what they were talking about … Oh, well. If it makes her happy.
Itsuko was very obligingly keeping my little brother busy, smiling all the while and occasionally making him laugh out loud as they discussed this and that. So, as should probably be expected, the only person remaining quiet was Nagato. Occasionally, when I surfaced from conversations that the others drew me into, I would notice him stoically eating his dinner.
I’m not completely sure whether you’re enjoying yourself or not, Nagato …
After dinner, we (meaning the actors and I) made arrangements to meet at Tsuruya-san’s place the next day after classes. Taniguchi was practically dancing in place at the thought, but no one was rude enough to comment on this fact. Everyone started to trickle away (or got into a limousine and drove off, in Tsuruya-san’s case), except for those two shady characters I spend so much time with.
“Well, this was certainly entertaining,” Itsuko said, smiling in an enthusiastic manner that was mildly off-putting. “I anticipate us all doing much better tomorrow.”
Nagato said nothing, but adjusted the drum he was carrying. Itsuko had the bag of clothing with her; she had graciously offered to make all necessary alterations for tomorrow’s rehearsal. By which I assumed she meant she would have some expert of the Organization’s make all necessary alterations for her. Being a member of a secret society definitely has its perks, doesn’t it?
“I will not deny it,” Itsuko replied, her smile dimpling her cheeks. “For instance, I was privileged to enjoy my dinner at your family’s lovely home today, rather than spending it alone in front of the television.”
Well. Um. Well, sure. I suppose it wasn’t all terrible to have you here.
“Should I then assume I am free to come again?” Itsuko asked in a sly manner, her eyes twinkling merrily.
Like you’ll entrap me that easily! I quickly turned to Nagato.
“Maybe you should let Koizumi carry that thing as well, Nagato,” I suggested, pointing at the drum. “That way, she can keep all the props together.”
Itsuko winced slightly at the suggestion; she was already having trouble balancing the clothes bag with the props bag, which contained my little brother’s staff and Tsuruya-san’s ceremonial equipment, among other things.
“Unnecessary,” was Nagato’s only reply. He blinked at me, nodded incrementally, then turned around and started to walk away.
“I believe I shall leave as well,” Itsuko told me, smiling as always.
At this very moment, a taxi drew up to my house and slowed down. You’re cheating at life, Itsuko, I want you to know that.
“More than likely, this is the case,” she admitted gracefully, then turned a strange expression on me. “Then again, my life is not at all what I had envisioned it to be when I initially set out, now is it? In a way, I feel that your current predicament brings us a little closer to one another.”
Please explain in a way that will not give me nightmares.
“I mean, very simply,” Itsuko replied, “that both our lives have been torn from their usual track by a being of vast supernatural might, which can not be blocked or defeated, only placated and hopefully turned aside by careful application of stimuli. In your case, the stimuli are a little easier to induce.”
For a moment or two, I stood there, blinking and incapable of forming appropriate words. Itsuko gave me another Mona Lisa smile, gently wished me a good evening and encouraged me to get a proper night’s rest. Then she walked to the taxi; the driver got out without having to be asked to do so, and opened the door to her. Under different circumstances, I might ask whether Itsuko thought she was an ojou-sama from a well-to-do family, to get such treatment. Just then, however, I found myself incapable of the thought.
As I crawled into bed, I tried to bemoan the stiffness in my limbs and the slight burn in my throat, both of which were the consequence of today’s rehearsal. There was no real fire in my complaints, though.
My thoughts kept returning to Itsuko’s parting words. I couldn’t believe I’d never wondered about what kind of person Itsuko had been before Haruki saddled her with psychic powers and the Organization recruited her. Where had she lived? Did she use to have a dream for the future? Maybe friends she was forced to leave behind? Was her family aware of what she did in the name of the Organization and for the wellbeing of the world?
By extension, I had to wonder about Asahina-sempai and Nagato. The former had more or less admitted he was a trainee time traveller, but what kind of missions would he have served on if Haruki hadn’t created a huge fault in time? (I was deliberately ignoring Itsuko’s idea that the time travellers and aliens only exist because Haruki wishes for them.) As for Nagato … The ITDE was inhuman, bodiless. What kind of strange experiences would the thing that was now the Nagato I knew have been having, if not for Haruki?
I tried to envision Asahina-sempai travelling through time, studying the distant past, while alien Nagato floated bodiless through space and absorbed data from the far ends of the cosmos. It was trickier than it sounds; I have grown so used to them just being in the SOS-dan.
Next, I had to wonder: Granted that I would feel a lot happier if there were no Makuro to threaten me with a ghoulish end if I didn’t give her what she wanted, and even happier than that if there also weren’t any Mashiro, would my comrades in the SOS-dan be happier if there were no Suzumiya Haruki to demand their time and attention?
I wasn’t completely sure. Of course Haruki does stupid things that get us all in a lot of trouble, but I have experienced things in the SOS-dan that I wouldn’t want to have missed for all the gold in Fort Knox.
Hadn’t Itsuko once entrusted to me that she felt more closely allied to the SOS-dan than she did to the Organization? The other two … I just wasn’t completely sure.
Life would be a lot easier for Asahina-sempai if he weren’t Haruki’s favourite toy and ‘apprentice in manliness’, of that I am certain, but even he must be having some worthwhile experiences in this time frame. Asahina-san (big) managed to look back on his time in the brigade with some fondness, as I recall. And there was his friend Tsuruya-san, whom he couldn’t have met back in his own time. (I wouldn’t trust Tsuruya-san not to hop back in time, spook me and say hello with a charming smile on his face, if someone gave him access to time travelling technology.)
Nagato … You might be happier as part of the ITDE, drifting among the stars and gathering knowledge about the working of the universe. Ignore Makuro, with her contempt for the knowledge your people (is that the correct term) are gathering from all over. She’s the kind of creature that is content to sleep in a big hill, provided people feed and entertain her when she wakes up. Really, you don’t need to listen to her.
But would you be happier if you were free to depart the Earth? I felt a tiny, fearful twinge in my chest at the thought of Nagato just disappearing, never to return, but I suppressed it.
Thoughts like these swirled through my mind as I slowly nodded off. I was sure I’d only just closed them when my alarm clock started blaring. My eyes snapped open and
I was lying on a rough, wooden surface. The lighting was dim, and the genteel sounds of chewing and slurping filled the air. I rose to my feet and recognized the dream stage.
“We’re almost ready,” I promised the audience, invisible in the glare of stage lights pointing at me.
Itsuko, again dressed as a ballerina, was gracefully turning pirouettes. My little brother was nearby, frozen in a pose that showed him to be spiritedly wrestling something not unlike an upright-walking Tasmanian devil.
Behind me, Taniguchi and Kunikida were dancing with each other, with their eyes looking over their partner’s shoulders, looking for something. Their feet didn’t miss a beat as they glided across the stage.
Tsuruya-san was standing next to Nagato in his samurai armour. He himself was wearing something looser, like the meditation vestments of a priest.
“Yes, we are almost ready,” I said again, feeling a grim satisfaction rise from the very pit of my stomach.
The munching and slurping – grew quieter. More so. Until the sound disappeared completely.
Behind the glare, I saw a small figure sitting in a chair about two sizes too big for her. Laugh all you like, Makuro, but you are going to get your honours, and then you are overdue for a nice, long nap!
Behind the glare, I thought I saw the figure steeple its fingers and grin derisively.
My eyes snapped open of their own accord, and I looked around my dark room for a few moments. Feeling better about sleep than I had in a few days I turned over again and went down into more wholesome dreams. The little Oni might sneer, but she hadn’t said I was doing things wrong.
This was going to work …!
The next day, I felt vitalized. I marched right up the hill (not even cursing the hot weather or the sweat running down my back; it was that kind of morning). I marched into the classroom, wished Haruki a calm ‘good morning’ when he started to open his mouth, and smartly sat down behind my desk.
“Hey, Kyon,” Haruki said, foregoing social niceties for the sake of his own imperatives. “What are you trying to pull behind my back?”
My spine turned into a pillar of solid ice, obliging me to swivel around in my chair to talk back at him. What are you talking about?
“You, Taniguchi and Kunikida, of course,” Haruki replied, frowning at what he apparently considered an attempt at faking memory loss or some such.
My mind was feverishly considering how Haruki might have found out about the rehearsals, and also how I might best dissuade him from involving himself. As my mind raced, my eyes drifted, spotting Taniguchi and Kunikida for the first time today.
Eyes and thoughts froze, suppressed by a surge of blind panic. “Those idiots!” I heard myself curse, then nothing more as I considered the best response I could give.
“So, Kyon,” Haruki wheedled. “Is this your uniform? What are you all planning to do?”
Uniform? What are you talking about?
“I’m asking whether the three of you are in a girl gang or something, wearing exactly the same hair ornaments like those,” he explained, tapping my Oni horn headband.
I could just hear Taniguchi talk to a male classmate who was admiring said ‘accessory’: “Ahaha, yes, I got it from a dear friend, a dear friend. She said it would bring out my naughty side, you know.”
I never said that! I said to wear the headband so you’d get used to it!
“If you really are starting some kind of gang without my consent,” Haruki growled, an eerie smile on his face, “you are ten lightyears too early! Start talking, Kyon, your brigade commander demands it!”
Well, that’s just … super.
Your opinions, please! I'd thought that tonight's chapter would be the last, but all sorts of things stopped me from writing the finish.
Spoiler for Suzumiya Haruki no Seitenkan, part 21. Thought and Gang.:
Apart from Taniguchi being an idiot for Tsuruya-sempai and my having to keep my little brother under control, the first rehearsal actually went much better than I had anticipated. That is, until everyone decided that yes, they would like to stay for dinner at my place.
Dad was quite the gracious host, giving my brother and myself money to go buy some of that special ramen for everyone. Said chore was made slightly more trying by the fact that Nagato mutely insisted on accompanying us … I’m not sure what motivated him, since he didn’t say a single word the whole trip, despite my little brother’s attempts to engage him in conversation about the mock battle part of the ‘play’. Maybe he wanted to carry the bags, since that is what he did.
Back at the house, dinner was … livelier than usual. Mom was very surprised when she came home and found dad setting the table for a house full of high school students, but Tsuruya-san charmed her as easily as he had dad. Perhaps even more easily; the ‘little gift’ Tsuruya-san had brought for me turned out to be a small box of luxury chocolates, the kind lovers of sweets always ogle in the sweets shops, but never dare to buy. Mom was impressed, for some reason unfathomable to me at the time.
She was also really happy when she heard that I had invited all these people over for the purpose of staging a play.
“Well, isn’t that nice?” she said, hugging me around the shoulders. “I’m glad to see you doing things, you don’t talk enough about what your club at school does.”
There are good reasons for that, which I have no intention of sharing with my parents. In the words of Asahina-sempai, “that is classified information”.
In any case, dinner was a lively event, but not in any momentous kind of way.
Mom had a lovely chat with Kunikida, who she hadn’t seen in a while. I was just slightly uncomfortable when their conversation touched on Sasaki, but fortunately they soon abandoned that topic to discuss the play.
Meanwhile, dad and Tsuruya-san were really hitting it off, with only occasional interference from Taniguchi. She kept trying to break into the conversation, despite the fact that she didn’t seem to know too well what they were talking about … Oh, well. If it makes her happy.
Itsuko was very obligingly keeping my little brother busy, smiling all the while and occasionally making him laugh out loud as they discussed this and that. So, as should probably be expected, the only person remaining quiet was Nagato. Occasionally, when I surfaced from conversations that the others drew me into, I would notice him stoically eating his dinner.
I’m not completely sure whether you’re enjoying yourself or not, Nagato …
After dinner, we (meaning the actors and I) made arrangements to meet at Tsuruya-san’s place the next day after classes. Taniguchi was practically dancing in place at the thought, but no one was rude enough to comment on this fact. Everyone started to trickle away (or got into a limousine and drove off, in Tsuruya-san’s case), except for those two shady characters I spend so much time with.
“Well, this was certainly entertaining,” Itsuko said, smiling in an enthusiastic manner that was mildly off-putting. “I anticipate us all doing much better tomorrow.”
Nagato said nothing, but adjusted the drum he was carrying. Itsuko had the bag of clothing with her; she had graciously offered to make all necessary alterations for tomorrow’s rehearsal. By which I assumed she meant she would have some expert of the Organization’s make all necessary alterations for her. Being a member of a secret society definitely has its perks, doesn’t it?
“I will not deny it,” Itsuko replied, her smile dimpling her cheeks. “For instance, I was privileged to enjoy my dinner at your family’s lovely home today, rather than spending it alone in front of the television.”
Well. Um. Well, sure. I suppose it wasn’t all terrible to have you here.
“Should I then assume I am free to come again?” Itsuko asked in a sly manner, her eyes twinkling merrily.
Like you’ll entrap me that easily! I quickly turned to Nagato.
“Maybe you should let Koizumi carry that thing as well, Nagato,” I suggested, pointing at the drum. “That way, she can keep all the props together.”
Itsuko winced slightly at the suggestion; she was already having trouble balancing the clothes bag with the props bag, which contained my little brother’s staff and Tsuruya-san’s ceremonial equipment, among other things.
“Unnecessary,” was Nagato’s only reply. He blinked at me, nodded incrementally, then turned around and started to walk away.
“I believe I shall leave as well,” Itsuko told me, smiling as always.
At this very moment, a taxi drew up to my house and slowed down. You’re cheating at life, Itsuko, I want you to know that.
“More than likely, this is the case,” she admitted gracefully, then turned a strange expression on me. “Then again, my life is not at all what I had envisioned it to be when I initially set out, now is it? In a way, I feel that your current predicament brings us a little closer to one another.”
Please explain in a way that will not give me nightmares.
“I mean, very simply,” Itsuko replied, “that both our lives have been torn from their usual track by a being of vast supernatural might, which can not be blocked or defeated, only placated and hopefully turned aside by careful application of stimuli. In your case, the stimuli are a little easier to induce.”
For a moment or two, I stood there, blinking and incapable of forming appropriate words. Itsuko gave me another Mona Lisa smile, gently wished me a good evening and encouraged me to get a proper night’s rest. Then she walked to the taxi; the driver got out without having to be asked to do so, and opened the door to her. Under different circumstances, I might ask whether Itsuko thought she was an ojou-sama from a well-to-do family, to get such treatment. Just then, however, I found myself incapable of the thought.
As I crawled into bed, I tried to bemoan the stiffness in my limbs and the slight burn in my throat, both of which were the consequence of today’s rehearsal. There was no real fire in my complaints, though.
My thoughts kept returning to Itsuko’s parting words. I couldn’t believe I’d never wondered about what kind of person Itsuko had been before Haruki saddled her with psychic powers and the Organization recruited her. Where had she lived? Did she use to have a dream for the future? Maybe friends she was forced to leave behind? Was her family aware of what she did in the name of the Organization and for the wellbeing of the world?
By extension, I had to wonder about Asahina-sempai and Nagato. The former had more or less admitted he was a trainee time traveller, but what kind of missions would he have served on if Haruki hadn’t created a huge fault in time? (I was deliberately ignoring Itsuko’s idea that the time travellers and aliens only exist because Haruki wishes for them.) As for Nagato … The ITDE was inhuman, bodiless. What kind of strange experiences would the thing that was now the Nagato I knew have been doing, if not for Haruki?
I tried to envision Asahina-sempai travelling through time, studying the distant past, while alien Nagato floated bodiless through space and absorbed data from the far ends of the cosmos. It was trickier than it sounds; I have grown so used to them just being in the SOS-dan.
Next, I had to wonder: Granted that I would feel a lot happier if there were no Makuro to threaten me with a ghoulish end if I didn’t give her what she wanted, and even happier than that if there also weren’t any Mashiro, would my comrades in the SOS-dan be happier if there were no Suzumiya Haruki to demand their time and attention?
I wasn’t completely sure. Of course Haruki does stupid things that get us all in a lot of trouble, but I have experienced things in the SOS-dan that I wouldn’t want to have missed for all the gold in Fort Knox.
Hadn’t Itsuko once entrusted to me that she felt more closely allied to the SOS-dan than she did to the Organization? The other two … I just wasn’t completely sure.
Life would be a lot easier for Asahina-sempai if he weren’t Haruki’s favourite toy and ‘apprentice in manliness’, of that I am certain, but even he must be having some worthwhile experiences in this time frame. Asahina-san (big) managed to look back on his time in the brigade with some fondness, as I recall. And there was his friend Tsuruya-san, whom he couldn’t have met back in his own time. (I wouldn’t trust Tsuruya-san not to hop back in time, spook me and say hello with a charming smile on his face, if someone gave him access to time travelling technology.)
Nagato … You might be happier as part of the ITDE, drifting among the stars and gathering knowledge about the working of the universe. Ignore Makuro, with her contempt for the knowledge your people (is that the correct term) are gathering from all over. She’s the kind of creature that is content to sleep in a big hill, provided people feed and entertain her when she wakes up. Really, you don’t need to listen to her.
But would you be happier if you were free to depart the Earth? I felt a tiny, fearful twinge in my chest at the thought of Nagato just disappearing, never to return, but I suppressed it.
Thoughts like these swirled through my mind as I slowly nodded off. I was sure I’d only just closed them when my alarm clock started blaring. My eyes snapped open and
I was lying on a rough, wooden surface. The lighting was dim, and the genteel sounds of chewing and slurping filled the air. I rose to my feet and recognized the dream stage.
“We’re almost ready,” I promised the audience, invisible in the glare of stage lights pointing at me.
Itsuko, again dressed as a ballerina, was gracefully turning pirouettes. My little brother was nearby, frozen in a pose that showed him to be spiritedly wrestling something not unlike an upright-walking Tasmanian devil.
Behind me, Taniguchi and Kunikida were dancing with each other, with their eyes looking over their partner’s shoulders, looking for something. Their feet didn’t miss a beat as they glided across the stage.
Tsuruya-san was standing next to Nagato in his samurai armour. He himself was wearing something looser, like the meditation vestments of a priest.
“Yes, we are almost ready,” I said again, feeling a grim satisfaction rise from the very pit of my stomach.
The munching and slurping – grew quieter. More so. Until the sound disappeared completely.
Behind the glare, I saw a small figure sitting in a chair about two sizes too big for her. Laugh all you like, Makuro, but you are going to get your honours, and then you are overdue for a nice, long nap!
Behind the glare, I thought I saw the figure steeple its fingers and grin derisively.
My eyes snapped open of their own accord, and I looked around my dark room for a few moments. Feeling better about sleep than I had in a few days I turned over again and went down into more wholesome dreams. The little Oni might sneer, but she hadn’t said I was doing things wrong.
This was going to work …!
The next day, I felt vitalized. I marched right up the hill (not even cursing the hot weather or the sweat running down my back; it was that kind of morning). I marched into the classroom, wished Haruki a calm ‘good morning’ when he started to open his mouth, and smartly sat down behind my desk.
“Hey, Kyon,” Haruki said, foregoing social niceties for the sake of his own imperatives. “What are you trying to pull behind my back?”
My spine turned into a pillar of solid ice, obliging me to swivel around in my chair to talk back at him. What are you talking about?
“You, Taniguchi and Kunikida, of course,” Haruki replied, frowning at what he apparently considered an attempt at faking memory loss or some such.
My mind was feverishly considering how Haruki might have found out about the rehearsals, and also how I might best dissuade him from involving himself. As my mind raced, my eyes drifted, spotting Taniguchi and Kunikida for the first time today.
Eyes and thoughts froze, suppressed by a surge of blind panic. “Those idiots!” I heard myself curse, then nothing more as I considered the best response I could give.
“So, Kyon,” Haruki wheedled. “Is this your uniform? What are you all planning to do?”
Uniform? What are you talking about?
“I’m asking whether the three of you are in a girl gang or something, wearing exactly the same hair ornaments like those,” he explained, tapping my Oni horn headband.
I could just hear Taniguchi talk to a male classmate who was admiring said ‘accessory’: “Ahaha, yes, I got it from a dear friend, a dear friend. She said it would bring out my naughty side, you know.”
I never said that! I said to wear the headband so you’d get used to it!
“If you really are starting some kind of gang without my consent,” Haruki growled, an eerie smile on his face, “you are ten lightyears too early! Start talking, Kyon, your brigade commanded demands it!”
Well, that’s just … super.
Your opinions, please! I'd thought that tonight's chapter would be the last, but all sorts of things stopped me from writing the finish.
The first half of the installment felt pleasant, and notably realistic for a large family/friend gathering. I liked how you had various pairs and trios of people separate off into their own little discussions and activities; that is frequently what happens at such gatherings given my own personal experience. Your choices for who to be in the pairs and trios made good sense too.
Kyonko's narration is very nice and solid for the most part. I like the respectfulness and tone of her narration. In fact, she reads as a more reliable narrator than Kyon himself does.
The final scene between Haruki and Kyonko was pretty funny. It brought a grin to my face.
I don't think anyone's pegged "three years ago" as being 2009...
That would make the novels start in 2012. Disappearance would count as a major world event that would take place around (but not on) that date. Yes, it could work.
Spoiler for Suzumiya Haruki no Seitenkan, part 21. Thought and Gang.:
Apart from Taniguchi being an idiot for Tsuruya-sempai and my having to keep my little brother under control, the first rehearsal actually went much better than I had anticipated. That is, until everyone decided that yes, they would like to stay for dinner at my place.
Dad was quite the gracious host, giving my brother and myself money to go buy some of that special ramen for everyone. Said chore was made slightly more trying by the fact that Nagato mutely insisted on accompanying us … I’m not sure what motivated him, since he didn’t say a single word the whole trip, despite my little brother’s attempts to engage him in conversation about the mock battle part of the ‘play’. Maybe he wanted to carry the bags, since that is what he did.
Back at the house, dinner was … livelier than usual. Mom was very surprised when she came home and found dad setting the table for a house full of high school students, but Tsuruya-san charmed her as easily as he had dad. Perhaps even more easily; the ‘little gift’ Tsuruya-san had brought for me turned out to be a small box of luxury chocolates, the kind lovers of sweets always ogle in the sweets shops, but never dare to buy. Mom was impressed, for some reason unfathomable to me at the time.
She was also really happy when she heard that I had invited all these people over for the purpose of staging a play.
“Well, isn’t that nice?” she said, hugging me around the shoulders. “I’m glad to see you doing things, you don’t talk enough about what your club at school does.”
There are good reasons for that, which I have no intention of sharing with my parents. In the words of Asahina-sempai, “that is classified information”.
In any case, dinner was a lively event, but not in any momentous kind of way.
Mom had a lovely chat with Kunikida, who she hadn’t seen in a while. I was just slightly uncomfortable when their conversation touched on Sasaki, but fortunately they soon abandoned that topic to discuss the play.
Meanwhile, dad and Tsuruya-san were really hitting it off, with only occasional interference from Taniguchi. She kept trying to break into the conversation, despite the fact that she didn’t seem to know too well what they were talking about … Oh, well. If it makes her happy.
Itsuko was very obligingly keeping my little brother busy, smiling all the while and occasionally making him laugh out loud as they discussed this and that. So, as should probably be expected, the only person remaining quiet was Nagato. Occasionally, when I surfaced from conversations that the others drew me into, I would notice him stoically eating his dinner.
I’m not completely sure whether you’re enjoying yourself or not, Nagato …
After dinner, we (meaning the actors and I) made arrangements to meet at Tsuruya-san’s place the next day after classes. Taniguchi was practically dancing in place at the thought, but no one was rude enough to comment on this fact. Everyone started to trickle away (or got into a limousine and drove off, in Tsuruya-san’s case), except for those two shady characters I spend so much time with.
“Well, this was certainly entertaining,” Itsuko said, smiling in an enthusiastic manner that was mildly off-putting. “I anticipate us all doing much better tomorrow.”
Nagato said nothing, but adjusted the drum he was carrying. Itsuko had the bag of clothing with her; she had graciously offered to make all necessary alterations for tomorrow’s rehearsal. By which I assumed she meant she would have some expert of the Organization’s make all necessary alterations for her. Being a member of a secret society definitely has its perks, doesn’t it?
“I will not deny it,” Itsuko replied, her smile dimpling her cheeks. “For instance, I was privileged to enjoy my dinner at your family’s lovely home today, rather than spending it alone in front of the television.”
Well. Um. Well, sure. I suppose it wasn’t all terrible to have you here.
“Should I then assume I am free to come again?” Itsuko asked in a sly manner, her eyes twinkling merrily.
Like you’ll entrap me that easily! I quickly turned to Nagato.
“Maybe you should let Koizumi carry that thing as well, Nagato,” I suggested, pointing at the drum. “That way, she can keep all the props together.”
Itsuko winced slightly at the suggestion; she was already having trouble balancing the clothes bag with the props bag, which contained my little brother’s staff and Tsuruya-san’s ceremonial equipment, among other things.
“Unnecessary,” was Nagato’s only reply. He blinked at me, nodded incrementally, then turned around and started to walk away.
“I believe I shall leave as well,” Itsuko told me, smiling as always.
At this very moment, a taxi drew up to my house and slowed down. You’re cheating at life, Itsuko, I want you to know that.
“More than likely, this is the case,” she admitted gracefully, then turned a strange expression on me. “Then again, my life is not at all what I had envisioned it to be when I initially set out, now is it? In a way, I feel that your current predicament brings us a little closer to one another.”
Please explain in a way that will not give me nightmares.
“I mean, very simply,” Itsuko replied, “that both our lives have been torn from their usual track by a being of vast supernatural might, which can not be blocked or defeated, only placated and hopefully turned aside by careful application of stimuli. In your case, the stimuli are a little easier to induce.”
For a moment or two, I stood there, blinking and incapable of forming appropriate words. Itsuko gave me another Mona Lisa smile, gently wished me a good evening and encouraged me to get a proper night’s rest. Then she walked to the taxi; the driver got out without having to be asked to do so, and opened the door to her. Under different circumstances, I might ask whether Itsuko thought she was an ojou-sama from a well-to-do family, to get such treatment. Just then, however, I found myself incapable of the thought.
As I crawled into bed, I tried to bemoan the stiffness in my limbs and the slight burn in my throat, both of which were the consequence of today’s rehearsal. There was no real fire in my complaints, though.
My thoughts kept returning to Itsuko’s parting words. I couldn’t believe I’d never wondered about what kind of person Itsuko had been before Haruki saddled her with psychic powers and the Organization recruited her. Where had she lived? Did she use to have a dream for the future? Maybe friends she was forced to leave behind? Was her family aware of what she did in the name of the Organization and for the wellbeing of the world?
By extension, I had to wonder about Asahina-sempai and Nagato. The former had more or less admitted he was a trainee time traveller, but what kind of missions would he have served on if Haruki hadn’t created a huge fault in time? (I was deliberately ignoring Itsuko’s idea that the time travellers and aliens only exist because Haruki wishes for them.) As for Nagato … The ITDE was inhuman, bodiless. What kind of strange experiences would the thing that was now the Nagato I knew have been doing, if not for Haruki?
I tried to envision Asahina-sempai travelling through time, studying the distant past, while alien Nagato floated bodiless through space and absorbed data from the far ends of the cosmos. It was trickier than it sounds; I have grown so used to them just being in the SOS-dan.
Next, I had to wonder: Granted that I would feel a lot happier if there were no Makuro to threaten me with a ghoulish end if I didn’t give her what she wanted, and even happier than that if there also weren’t any Mashiro, would my comrades in the SOS-dan be happier if there were no Suzumiya Haruki to demand their time and attention?
I wasn’t completely sure. Of course Haruki does stupid things that get us all in a lot of trouble, but I have experienced things in the SOS-dan that I wouldn’t want to have missed for all the gold in Fort Knox.
Hadn’t Itsuko once entrusted to me that she felt more closely allied to the SOS-dan than she did to the Organization? The other two … I just wasn’t completely sure.
Life would be a lot easier for Asahina-sempai if he weren’t Haruki’s favourite toy and ‘apprentice in manliness’, of that I am certain, but even he must be having some worthwhile experiences in this time frame. Asahina-san (big) managed to look back on his time in the brigade with some fondness, as I recall. And there was his friend Tsuruya-san, whom he couldn’t have met back in his own time. (I wouldn’t trust Tsuruya-san not to hop back in time, spook me and say hello with a charming smile on his face, if someone gave him access to time travelling technology.)
Nagato … You might be happier as part of the ITDE, drifting among the stars and gathering knowledge about the working of the universe. Ignore Makuro, with her contempt for the knowledge your people (is that the correct term) are gathering from all over. She’s the kind of creature that is content to sleep in a big hill, provided people feed and entertain her when she wakes up. Really, you don’t need to listen to her.
But would you be happier if you were free to depart the Earth? I felt a tiny, fearful twinge in my chest at the thought of Nagato just disappearing, never to return, but I suppressed it.
Thoughts like these swirled through my mind as I slowly nodded off. I was sure I’d only just closed them when my alarm clock started blaring. My eyes snapped open and
I was lying on a rough, wooden surface. The lighting was dim, and the genteel sounds of chewing and slurping filled the air. I rose to my feet and recognized the dream stage.
“We’re almost ready,” I promised the audience, invisible in the glare of stage lights pointing at me.
Itsuko, again dressed as a ballerina, was gracefully turning pirouettes. My little brother was nearby, frozen in a pose that showed him to be spiritedly wrestling something not unlike an upright-walking Tasmanian devil.
Behind me, Taniguchi and Kunikida were dancing with each other, with their eyes looking over their partner’s shoulders, looking for something. Their feet didn’t miss a beat as they glided across the stage.
Tsuruya-san was standing next to Nagato in his samurai armour. He himself was wearing something looser, like the meditation vestments of a priest.
“Yes, we are almost ready,” I said again, feeling a grim satisfaction rise from the very pit of my stomach.
The munching and slurping – grew quieter. More so. Until the sound disappeared completely.
Behind the glare, I saw a small figure sitting in a chair about two sizes too big for her. Laugh all you like, Makuro, but you are going to get your honours, and then you are overdue for a nice, long nap!
Behind the glare, I thought I saw the figure steeple its fingers and grin derisively.
My eyes snapped open of their own accord, and I looked around my dark room for a few moments. Feeling better about sleep than I had in a few days I turned over again and went down into more wholesome dreams. The little Oni might sneer, but she hadn’t said I was doing things wrong.
This was going to work …!
The next day, I felt vitalized. I marched right up the hill (not even cursing the hot weather or the sweat running down my back; it was that kind of morning). I marched into the classroom, wished Haruki a calm ‘good morning’ when he started to open his mouth, and smartly sat down behind my desk.
“Hey, Kyon,” Haruki said, foregoing social niceties for the sake of his own imperatives. “What are you trying to pull behind my back?”
My spine turned into a pillar of solid ice, obliging me to swivel around in my chair to talk back at him. What are you talking about?
“You, Taniguchi and Kunikida, of course,” Haruki replied, frowning at what he apparently considered an attempt at faking memory loss or some such.
My mind was feverishly considering how Haruki might have found out about the rehearsals, and also how I might best dissuade him from involving himself. As my mind raced, my eyes drifted, spotting Taniguchi and Kunikida for the first time today.
Eyes and thoughts froze, suppressed by a surge of blind panic. “Those idiots!” I heard myself curse, then nothing more as I considered the best response I could give.
“So, Kyon,” Haruki wheedled. “Is this your uniform? What are you all planning to do?”
Uniform? What are you talking about?
“I’m asking whether the three of you are in a girl gang or something, wearing exactly the same hair ornaments like those,” he explained, tapping my Oni horn headband.
I could just hear Taniguchi talk to a male classmate who was admiring said ‘accessory’: “Ahaha, yes, I got it from a dear friend, a dear friend. She said it would bring out my naughty side, you know.”
I never said that! I said to wear the headband so you’d get used to it!
“If you really are starting some kind of gang without my consent,” Haruki growled, an eerie smile on his face, “you are ten lightyears too early! Start talking, Kyon, your brigade commanded demands it!”
Well, that’s just … super.
Your opinions, please! I'd thought that tonight's chapter would be the last, but all sorts of things stopped me from writing the finish.
Kyonko just realizes that things are starting to go according to plan...and then Taniguchi blabbing reveals that Kyonko's up to something. Not being content to let anyone do anything weir behind their back, Haruki decides to stick his nose in and muck about.
Awesome. I can imagine Haruki taking one look at the script and deciding to "improve" it. That may be enough to induce a heroic BSOD from Kyonko.
I find it interesting that Kyonko's parents didn't make any commentary about Tsuruya. They seemed very taken by him...just like they were taken by Haruki.
"So dear...you've been bringing allot of handsome young men home recently...please remember to not take to long before picking one."
"It's not like that!"