Parachasers 9
Title: Parachasers OR The Unnatural Interests of Suzumiya Haruhi
Rating: PG-13 for creepy situations and Nagato actually doing something.
Summery: Haruhi finds a new hobby, bad things happen to Kyon.
9.
Haruhi's depression was really starting to get on my nerves by Thursday. I did my best to ignore her sighs and moans in class, although it wasn't easy. She spent most of the day flopped over her desk in a pitiful state. Honestly, Haruhi, you're a high school student, you should be able to handle the toll of daily life by now. I can't believe someone as strange and badly-adjusted as you has those... abilities. Whatever they are.
Although, now that I think about it, what would happen if someone perfectly normal had Haruhi's… powers? Would anyone even notice? There wouldn't be any aliens or time travelers hanging around, that's for sure. A normal person would probably just seem extremely lucky rather than Godlike. Too bad I couldn't be around that person instead of Haruhi.
I didn't actually have to deal with Haruhi for very long that day. She left our classroom as soon as the lunch bell went off and didn't come back. Geez, skipping class again? I know you never get in trouble for it, but you sure have missed a lot of school lately. If I did that my grades would suffer terribly.
The rest of the day went much faster without Haruhi sighing in melancholy behind me. When the bell rang, I didn't feel like rushing to the club room right away, so I wandered the school instead. There were still a few students hanging around for cleanup duty, but for the most part the halls were blissfully empty. Just in case, I kept a look-out for Haruhi as I walked. I didn't really expect to find her though. She probably went to the Arts building to screw around. Maybe Koizumi finally gave her the sound recording from Monday and she went to listen to it.
While I was thinking, I walked full circle through the Freshman hall and came back to where I had begun at the main stairwell. I started up the stairs then, thinking vaguely of doing laps on each floor of the building. Before I even reached the Sophomore floor landing though, I heard something. From above me, near the top of the staircase, there came the echoing sound of a girl's voice. She was yelling something.
It sounded like my name.
"Haruhi?" I asked, heading up the stairs towards the voice. Had that been her? It had sounded kind of strange... but who else would be calling me?
I climbed all the way up the last flight of stairs to the fourth floor landing. I seem to be coming up here a lot these days.
The dim space on the fourth floor was completely empty. It didn't look like anyone had been up there in days. The huge paintings I had seen last week were still arranged around the walls, along with various other art projects, making it look like an extremely neglected art gallery. I checked behind all the Art Club's canvases and papier-mâché creations, but found only dust. Just to be certain, I walked to the back of the landing and tried the roof door. It was locked.
I was feeling rather uncomfortable at that point. I kept wanting to look over my shoulder to make sure the empty corners behind me were still unfilled.
I did my best to think skeptical thoughts as I turned back to the stairs. No use getting all worked up. I probably just heard someone outside yelling through a window. Yeah, it didn't really sound like my name anyway.
My whole spine was starting to crawl with the urge to run by then. I wriggled my shoulders, but I couldn't shake out the tension.
Come on, stop it. There's no need to run off, nothing strange or scary up here. It's just an empty landing and my imagination.
As I reached the first stair, a slight noise came from behind me. My rational state of mind did nothing to stop me from jolting in terror. Was that a shoe scuffling over the floor?
I spun around wildly, and started again in surprise.
There was a girl kneeling on the floor in the center of the landing.
Her head was bowed, causing her black hair to fall forward in a curtain that obscured her face. Something about the way she was holding her arms folded and pressed against her stomach made me think she was in pain.
"H- how did- wha?" I asked eloquently. Where the hell had she come from?
Her school uniform was wrong, an informative part of my mind noted, gray and red instead of blue and white. I tried to make out the insignia on her skirt, but it was too dark to see clearly.
"I, uh, didn't notice you were...um," I said, dropping my head a little to try and get a look at her face. She let out a thin, papery sigh in response and rocked forward.
I took a step back, putting one foot on the stairs. "Well, uh, bye then."
As I backed away from her, she unwound her arms from their tight grip on her middle. Her clothing clung to her skin as she reached out, peeling away to reveal a dark wetness. When she turned her hands palm up, I saw clearly that it was not water on her shirt.
Her left wrist had a deep gash running from the base of her palm nearly down to her elbow.
I moved back again, scraping the side of my shoe on the first step and sliding down several stairs until I caught my balance. "Wait! I'll get help!" I said, stumbling again as I started down the steps.
"Help," I said softly as I ran down, taking two stairs at a time. It came out louder on my second try. "Help!"
As I neared the first floor, someone emerged on the landing below, a familiar male student with a broom in one hand. Dammit, of all the people...
"Koizumi!" I said, sliding to a stop in front of him. "Upstairs! She's bleeding!"
Koizumi made a concerned face and raised his head to look up the stairwell. He started going up, holding the broom before him like a weapon.
I followed after. "Wait! A phone! We need to call a teach- no, an ambulance!"
Koizumi continued climbing up while I trailed behind out of breath and panting. He reached the top of the fourth floor landing ahead of me and came to an abrupt stop.
"You see," I yelled, catching up with him, "she needs... help..."
The landing was empty.
"She was right here?" Koizumi asked.
I nodded in confusion. Where could that girl have gone? It hadn't even been two minutes since I left. She would have been dripping blood all over the place… but there's no blood on the stairs. There's no blood anywhere actually.
What the hell just happened?
Koizumi walked to the wall where the Art Club's over-sized canvases were. He knocked several over with his broom, searching behind each one thoroughly. "What did she look like?"
"Just a student. Not from here though. Her wrist was slashed." As I spoke, I went to the last painting still standing, a dark sketch of a prone figure. I kicked it over so it landed face down.
"Suicide?" Koizumi asked. He went to the roof door and tested it as I had earlier.
I shrugged. "Koizumi, did I just see- I mean, was that a...?"
"Most likely," he said, turning toward the stairs. "I think we'd best find Nagato."
"Wait," I said as I followed him back down, "is this what Nagato was talking about yesterday? Data artifacts?"
"That's just her over-elaborate term for ghosts."
"Oh. So this is Haruhi's fault? She's started attracting ghosts now?"
Koizumi nodded and gave me a quick smile over his shoulder. I looked away. It felt kind of awkward silently trialing after Koizumi like this. I did my best not to dwell on it.
Anyway, why am I always the one who winds up dealing with the products of Haruhi's desires? First aliens, time travelers and espers, now ghosts. I wouldn't mind all this weirdness so much if Haruhi cleaned up her own messes. Or was at least aware of the messes she made.
When we entered the courtyard in front of the Arts building, Nagato was standing under a tree, waiting. "I have detected an incident," she announced.
"Yes," Koizumi said, "Kyon saw it, but it's gone now." That's a rather bland way of describing my terrifying experience, but whatever.
Nagato nodded, "The data was removed as soon as my detection program made me aware of its presence."
Koizumi frowned and glanced around the courtyard. "In that case, why did the, well, 'paranormal' activity occur at all."
"Detection is difficult," Nagato explained, "human beings process and store information in a relatively fragmented form that is nearly indistinguishable from artifact data. My filters are effective, but there is an unavoidable margin of error. Sometimes problem data can only be detected after an event is triggered." I could have sworn Nagato looked embarrassed when she mentioned her "margin of error." It was something about the way her eyes unfocused and dropped slightly.
Koizumi put his hands in his pockets and considered Nagato's entirely incomprehensible explanation. "I see," he said. See what?
"Am I correct in assuming that you could use our help?" Koizumi asked, ignoring my confusion. You could at least paraphrase her main points for me before moving on!
Nagato nodded.
"Okay then, Kyon and I will get the equipment and meet you in the main building." Hey, don't just volunteer me for some mission I don't understand!
Koizumi started to leave, then stopped and turned to ask the motionless Nagato one more question. "Do we have a plan for Haruhi?"
"It's been taken care of, Asahina is already occupying her," Nagato said, not bothering to face him. Oh, crap. There aren't many things Asahina could be occupying Haruhi with; I don't even want to think about what she's doing. Well, maybe a little.
Before I followed Koizumi, I decided to try clearing up at least some of my confusion. "Nagato, when you talk about these 'data artifacts,' do you mean actual, uh, ghosts? Do such things really exist?"
Nagato looked at me thoughtfully, perhaps searching for the simplest words in her vocabulary to explain. "No," she said, hesitating, "it is only… incompletely deleted information. Small things, a memory, a thought, an image."
Well, I guess that sort of makes sense. Eh, whatever. All I really need to know is that Haruhi has brought more weirdness into my life.
I waved goodbye to Nagato, and caught up with Koizumi in the Arts building. Part of me was kind of glad that a minor crisis had occurred. I still didn't particularly want to see Koizumi, but at least now we had impersonal business to keep us busy.
"So," I said, "um, did you actually understand all of what Nagato said?"
"I think I understood about 75% of it," Koizumi said, sounding amused. "Which probably means I only understood about 5% of the actual situation. I'm sure Nagato simplifies her ideas a great deal before sharing them with dim-witted humans like us."
Yeah, that's probably true. I wonder if it's difficult for Nagato to be around humans all the time, rather than highly advanced data-integrated-whatsits. I like to think that Nagato has developed some affection for us lately (and that maybe she even considers me a friend) but in reality I have no idea what goes on in her head.
I came out of my thoughts when we arrived at the door to the Literature Club. "Hey, wait a minute, why are we coming back here? Haruhi might realize something weird is happening if she sees us."
Koizumi paused with his hand on the door knob and shrugged, "Unfortunately, we have little choice. We're going to need some equipment to finish this quickly. We'll just have to trust Asahina to be very distracting."
With that, he opened the door, and we both got an extremely good look at Asahina's distraction.
She was standing on the center table dressed in nothing but a school swimsuit and socks. As soon as the door opened, Asahina gasped and tried to cover herself up, cringing while Haruhi circled around the table snapping pictures.
"Oh, my," Koizumi said, politely averting his eyes, "sorry to interrupt, we'll both be leaving shortly."
I gave Asahina an apologetic look and then turned away as well. Such a brave girl, I can't find words to express how touched I am by her sacrifice. Don't worry, Mikuru-chan, I'll take those pictures away from Haruhi as soon as possible!
Haruhi herself was completely undeterred by our arrival and continued taking photos of the whimpering Asahina. "Hello, Koizumi, did you know that the sophomores begin swim lessons next week?"
"Ah, no, I had no idea," Koizumi said as he went to Haruhi's desk and picked up the combination EMF detector and ambient thermometer. "I hope your photo shoot goes well. Unfortunately Kyon and I can't stay..."
Haruhi excused us with a wave of her hand, not bothering to look up from the camera's viewfinder.
"I'm surprised Haruhi didn't ask what you were doing with that thing," I said once we were back in the hall.
"I suspect that Haruhi has begun to tire of the paranormal. I gave her the recording from the other day this morning, but she hasn't listened to it yet."
"How do you know she hasn't listened to it? She was only in class for half the day, you know."
"No, if she had listened to it, she would have asked me why half the tape had been erased."
Erased? Huh? Why had he-
Oh, shit. I felt my face reddening as I realized what would have been on that tape. Koizumi had turned on the recorder when we arrived at the abandoned hospital building.... and left it running the entire time he and I were there. So when that had happened on the roof... Oh God.
Well, it's erased now so there's no reason to dwell on it. Still, how awful, having one of the most embarrassing moments of my life recorded and nearly saved... ack!
Koizumi was fiddling with the EMF remote now, waving it back and forth across the hallway. I studied him as he tapped at the number readout. Koizumi had been acting very... cold to me. He was treating me with an exaggerated, business-like politeness. Someone overhearing us might think we were co-workers rather than classmates.
Granted, Koizumi normally uses politeness as a cover for his aloof attitude, but usually he wasn't this grim about it. He can't have smiled at me more than once today.
I mean, it's not that I want him to smile at me. It's just unusual for him, that's all.
"Hey, Koizumi," I started. He turned to look at me and I immediately regretted the impulse to speak
"Um, uh, that is..." A painful moment stretched out as I searched for something to say. "You know, uh, those EMF detectors, they can be thrown off real easily. Wires in the walls, computers, even people and animals can set them off. I read about it on the internet. Even if we find something, it's doubtful it will be a ghost."
Koizumi looked at the EMF remote, turning it over in his hands. "That may be true, but I think it will detect the paranormal for us. Haruhi expects it to work in this manner, so that is how it will work." Hmp, that's a nice theory, I guess.
At this point, we arrived back in the courtyard. Nagato was standing motionless exactly where we had left her beneath a cherry tree.
"We're all set, Nagato," Koizumi said, showing her the EMF detector.
Nagato nodded and began walking toward the main school building. Koizumi followed her and I followed him.
As we entered the building, Koizumi began swinging the EMF remote about. Nagato watched him with what might have been interest, but made no comment.
Wait a minute, are we seriously going to walk around searching for ghosts this way? That'll take forever! Besides, this method hasn't worked any of the other times we've tried it with Haruhi, why the hell would it work now?
"Um, Nagato," I said, falling back from where Koizumi was searching, "you mentioned something earlier about a 'trigger?'"
Nagato blinked and then said simply, "Catalyst."
I took that as confirmation. "What acts as a trigger or catalyst then? Is there anything specific we can do?"
She nodded, "Artifact data can strengthen itself from the energy released by organic beings. Most often from the energy generated by emotion."
"Emotion... okay, so earlier when I was upstairs-before anything even happened-I was a little bit, well, scared. So probably my emotions were acting as a trigger? My nervous feelings made it possible for the ghost to show itself, right?"
"In all probability."
At that point, Koizumi finally lost interest in brandishing the EMF detector and turned towards us. "Do you have an idea, Kyon?" he asked, walking closer.
"Maybe," I said, "I'm not sure it will work though."
"Do you want us to try and scare you?" Koizumi asked.
"Something like that. Just wait a minute while I try and work myself up a bit. Don't know if it will work though."
I closed my eyes and clenched my fists. I'm the kind of person who is, well, not overemotional, but I'm not exactly in control of my emotions either. My feelings tend to run away from me once they get started. If I could just get in the right state of mind, I'm sure I can attract all kinds of ghosts.
I tried retracing my steps from earlier, imagining I was back on the fourth floor landing in that oppressive atmosphere.
I did start to get a little nervous as I pictured the dead girl reaching out to me, but it was hard to really get scared with Nagato and Koizumi both standing nearby.
Okay, she just said "emotion," it doesn't have to be fear. Come on, think. What's pissed me off today? Well, lots of thing (as usual), but mostly Haruhi (also as usual).
No, that's no good. Annoyance isn't going to be enough. Come on, something distressing that's happened lately…
I glanced at Koizumi.
He was fiddling with the EMF detector again, frowning as he turned it off and on several times. As I watched, Koizumi glanced up and met my eyes. He gave me a quick tight lipped smile and then looked back down at his hands.
I could already feel my face starting to burn. I had been trying so hard not to think about it. To dismiss it from my mind. But here I was replaying it again.
Back on the roof and, oh, it was a nice day. The rain had just stopped but you could still smell the storm in the air. Pleasant, and warm, and sure I had been irritated earlier, but the day was ending now and it really did turn into a nice evening, didn't it? Not a bad day after all, not a bad day at all.
Then he was smiling and I smiled back and why? Why did I smile back? I had just felt good and it seemed okay and who would have thought…
Had I missed something? Some signal or sign or warning that announced in big letters "Kiss Imminent?" Had I sent some sign? No, no way. I was just in a good mood, that's all. Just feeling friendly. It happens sometimes. I can be nice to people. Sometimes even people I'm not sexually attracted to. I'm all about platonic friendship, thank you very much. In fact I have vast depths of friendly, platonic feelings for my fellow man. Nope, definitely wasn't sending any signals.
So what the hell had happened? It was just so sudden. What happened? I still don't get it. Is that… is it normally like that? You lean over to kiss some girl (or whatever) and then shock and horror and, "Hey! Hey! What was that about?" Is it always this embarrassing and abrupt? It never is in the movies. Forget sex then, I deal with enough humiliation and shame as it is.
What the hell? Seriously, what the hell?
I opened my eyes, wishing I had never thought up this stupid idea. "Anything?" I asked. I rubbed at my face which felt extremely warm.
Koizumi shook his head. Damn, such a stupid idea.
Without saying anything I turned and walked away, aiming for the bathroom that was down the hall.
The men's room was empty, to my relief. I splashed water on my face and stared in the mirror, trying to pull myself back together.
Geez, I hate the way my nose gets all blotchy when I get emotional. I reached across the sink and took a few paper towels from the dispenser to dry my face. Eh, I also hate these rough towels they have. Can't the school afford anything better? As I crumpled the towel and turned to throw it away, I glanced in the mirror again.
There was a man behind me, standing just over my shoulder.
I jerked, twisting around and sideways. No one was there.
I looked back in the mirror, but, of course, it was empty. He had definitely been there, a middle aged man in a brown business suit. Yes, the image was too clear to have been an illusion.
Holy shit. Well, maybe it was worth it after all.
"Um, guys?" I called out, "Nagato? Koizumi? You should really come in here…"
Almost immediately, Koizumi burst inside. Were you listening at the door or something? Nagato followed him, apparently unconcerned about entering the Men's restroom.
"It happened again," I said, "there was something here. Someone."
Koizumi nodded, holding the EMF detector up so I could see the meter. "5.5 and rising."
"Okay, now what, Nagato?" I asked.
In answer, she raised her hand in a gesture I had come to know and dread. She looked a little like a very serious traffic cop warning cars to "stop." Once in position, Nagato opened her mouth and made a sound that would have been more appropriate coming from a fax machine.
The room around us changed.
The dirty walls of the bathroom vanished and were replaced by a blank, grey grid. Almost immediately, the room changed again as if a strobe light had gone off. Nagato and Koizumi were suddenly next to me in the gird. Another flash and a strange mist appeared before us, floating near the top of the grey ceiling.
Nagato spoke again, her lips moving in a blur that contrasted with the utter stillness of her body.
The white mist in front of us trembled and flashed. For a moment, I though I could make out the image of a person inside it, a middle aged man in brown, but then the cloud began to separate and drift apart. Wisps of white fog spread out and faded into the grey walls that had once been the bathroom.
I blinked as a tendril of mist moved toward my face. I had been expecting a brush of cold air, but instead I felt nothing at all. When I opened my eyes again, the bathroom had returned to normal.
I leaned heavily against the sink behind me. "Is it over?"
Nagato dropped her hand in response.
"Two down," Koizumi said, "An unknown number to go."
"I had anticipated between two and three unfiltered errors," Nagato said.
I scrubbed my hand across my face. I kind of wanted to splash some more water on it, but I didn't feel like looking in the mirror again just yet. "Between two and three? So the two today might have been it?"
Nagato nodded.
"Well, I say we clear out then." I said. "That's plenty of work for one day and it's not like the third ghost is going anywhere even if it is here."
My motion passed unanimously and we headed back to the club room. I wanted to relieve Asahina of her distraction duties as soon as possible. If we were gone too long, Haruhi might decide to try a nude photo shoot.
Not that I would mind walking in on that.
Better late than never. Computer is still all screwed. We hatess it.
Rating: PG-13 for creepy situations and Nagato actually doing something.
Summery: Haruhi finds a new hobby, bad things happen to Kyon.
9.
Haruhi's depression was really starting to get on my nerves by Thursday. I did my best to ignore her sighs and moans in class, although it wasn't easy. She spent most of the day flopped over her desk in a pitiful state. Honestly, Haruhi, you're a high school student, you should be able to handle the toll of daily life by now. I can't believe someone as strange and badly-adjusted as you has those... abilities. Whatever they are.
Although, now that I think about it, what would happen if someone perfectly normal had Haruhi's… powers? Would anyone even notice? There wouldn't be any aliens or time travelers hanging around, that's for sure. A normal person would probably just seem extremely lucky rather than Godlike. Too bad I couldn't be around that person instead of Haruhi.
I didn't actually have to deal with Haruhi for very long that day. She left our classroom as soon as the lunch bell went off and didn't come back. Geez, skipping class again? I know you never get in trouble for it, but you sure have missed a lot of school lately. If I did that my grades would suffer terribly.
The rest of the day went much faster without Haruhi sighing in melancholy behind me. When the bell rang, I didn't feel like rushing to the club room right away, so I wandered the school instead. There were still a few students hanging around for cleanup duty, but for the most part the halls were blissfully empty. Just in case, I kept a look-out for Haruhi as I walked. I didn't really expect to find her though. She probably went to the Arts building to screw around. Maybe Koizumi finally gave her the sound recording from Monday and she went to listen to it.
While I was thinking, I walked full circle through the Freshman hall and came back to where I had begun at the main stairwell. I started up the stairs then, thinking vaguely of doing laps on each floor of the building. Before I even reached the Sophomore floor landing though, I heard something. From above me, near the top of the staircase, there came the echoing sound of a girl's voice. She was yelling something.
It sounded like my name.
"Haruhi?" I asked, heading up the stairs towards the voice. Had that been her? It had sounded kind of strange... but who else would be calling me?
I climbed all the way up the last flight of stairs to the fourth floor landing. I seem to be coming up here a lot these days.
The dim space on the fourth floor was completely empty. It didn't look like anyone had been up there in days. The huge paintings I had seen last week were still arranged around the walls, along with various other art projects, making it look like an extremely neglected art gallery. I checked behind all the Art Club's canvases and papier-mâché creations, but found only dust. Just to be certain, I walked to the back of the landing and tried the roof door. It was locked.
I was feeling rather uncomfortable at that point. I kept wanting to look over my shoulder to make sure the empty corners behind me were still unfilled.
I did my best to think skeptical thoughts as I turned back to the stairs. No use getting all worked up. I probably just heard someone outside yelling through a window. Yeah, it didn't really sound like my name anyway.
My whole spine was starting to crawl with the urge to run by then. I wriggled my shoulders, but I couldn't shake out the tension.
Come on, stop it. There's no need to run off, nothing strange or scary up here. It's just an empty landing and my imagination.
As I reached the first stair, a slight noise came from behind me. My rational state of mind did nothing to stop me from jolting in terror. Was that a shoe scuffling over the floor?
I spun around wildly, and started again in surprise.
There was a girl kneeling on the floor in the center of the landing.
Her head was bowed, causing her black hair to fall forward in a curtain that obscured her face. Something about the way she was holding her arms folded and pressed against her stomach made me think she was in pain.
"H- how did- wha?" I asked eloquently. Where the hell had she come from?
Her school uniform was wrong, an informative part of my mind noted, gray and red instead of blue and white. I tried to make out the insignia on her skirt, but it was too dark to see clearly.
"I, uh, didn't notice you were...um," I said, dropping my head a little to try and get a look at her face. She let out a thin, papery sigh in response and rocked forward.
I took a step back, putting one foot on the stairs. "Well, uh, bye then."
As I backed away from her, she unwound her arms from their tight grip on her middle. Her clothing clung to her skin as she reached out, peeling away to reveal a dark wetness. When she turned her hands palm up, I saw clearly that it was not water on her shirt.
Her left wrist had a deep gash running from the base of her palm nearly down to her elbow.
I moved back again, scraping the side of my shoe on the first step and sliding down several stairs until I caught my balance. "Wait! I'll get help!" I said, stumbling again as I started down the steps.
"Help," I said softly as I ran down, taking two stairs at a time. It came out louder on my second try. "Help!"
As I neared the first floor, someone emerged on the landing below, a familiar male student with a broom in one hand. Dammit, of all the people...
"Koizumi!" I said, sliding to a stop in front of him. "Upstairs! She's bleeding!"
Koizumi made a concerned face and raised his head to look up the stairwell. He started going up, holding the broom before him like a weapon.
I followed after. "Wait! A phone! We need to call a teach- no, an ambulance!"
Koizumi continued climbing up while I trailed behind out of breath and panting. He reached the top of the fourth floor landing ahead of me and came to an abrupt stop.
"You see," I yelled, catching up with him, "she needs... help..."
The landing was empty.
"She was right here?" Koizumi asked.
I nodded in confusion. Where could that girl have gone? It hadn't even been two minutes since I left. She would have been dripping blood all over the place… but there's no blood on the stairs. There's no blood anywhere actually.
What the hell just happened?
Koizumi walked to the wall where the Art Club's over-sized canvases were. He knocked several over with his broom, searching behind each one thoroughly. "What did she look like?"
"Just a student. Not from here though. Her wrist was slashed." As I spoke, I went to the last painting still standing, a dark sketch of a prone figure. I kicked it over so it landed face down.
"Suicide?" Koizumi asked. He went to the roof door and tested it as I had earlier.
I shrugged. "Koizumi, did I just see- I mean, was that a...?"
"Most likely," he said, turning toward the stairs. "I think we'd best find Nagato."
"Wait," I said as I followed him back down, "is this what Nagato was talking about yesterday? Data artifacts?"
"That's just her over-elaborate term for ghosts."
"Oh. So this is Haruhi's fault? She's started attracting ghosts now?"
Koizumi nodded and gave me a quick smile over his shoulder. I looked away. It felt kind of awkward silently trialing after Koizumi like this. I did my best not to dwell on it.
Anyway, why am I always the one who winds up dealing with the products of Haruhi's desires? First aliens, time travelers and espers, now ghosts. I wouldn't mind all this weirdness so much if Haruhi cleaned up her own messes. Or was at least aware of the messes she made.
When we entered the courtyard in front of the Arts building, Nagato was standing under a tree, waiting. "I have detected an incident," she announced.
"Yes," Koizumi said, "Kyon saw it, but it's gone now." That's a rather bland way of describing my terrifying experience, but whatever.
Nagato nodded, "The data was removed as soon as my detection program made me aware of its presence."
Koizumi frowned and glanced around the courtyard. "In that case, why did the, well, 'paranormal' activity occur at all."
"Detection is difficult," Nagato explained, "human beings process and store information in a relatively fragmented form that is nearly indistinguishable from artifact data. My filters are effective, but there is an unavoidable margin of error. Sometimes problem data can only be detected after an event is triggered." I could have sworn Nagato looked embarrassed when she mentioned her "margin of error." It was something about the way her eyes unfocused and dropped slightly.
Koizumi put his hands in his pockets and considered Nagato's entirely incomprehensible explanation. "I see," he said. See what?
"Am I correct in assuming that you could use our help?" Koizumi asked, ignoring my confusion. You could at least paraphrase her main points for me before moving on!
Nagato nodded.
"Okay then, Kyon and I will get the equipment and meet you in the main building." Hey, don't just volunteer me for some mission I don't understand!
Koizumi started to leave, then stopped and turned to ask the motionless Nagato one more question. "Do we have a plan for Haruhi?"
"It's been taken care of, Asahina is already occupying her," Nagato said, not bothering to face him. Oh, crap. There aren't many things Asahina could be occupying Haruhi with; I don't even want to think about what she's doing. Well, maybe a little.
Before I followed Koizumi, I decided to try clearing up at least some of my confusion. "Nagato, when you talk about these 'data artifacts,' do you mean actual, uh, ghosts? Do such things really exist?"
Nagato looked at me thoughtfully, perhaps searching for the simplest words in her vocabulary to explain. "No," she said, hesitating, "it is only… incompletely deleted information. Small things, a memory, a thought, an image."
Well, I guess that sort of makes sense. Eh, whatever. All I really need to know is that Haruhi has brought more weirdness into my life.
I waved goodbye to Nagato, and caught up with Koizumi in the Arts building. Part of me was kind of glad that a minor crisis had occurred. I still didn't particularly want to see Koizumi, but at least now we had impersonal business to keep us busy.
"So," I said, "um, did you actually understand all of what Nagato said?"
"I think I understood about 75% of it," Koizumi said, sounding amused. "Which probably means I only understood about 5% of the actual situation. I'm sure Nagato simplifies her ideas a great deal before sharing them with dim-witted humans like us."
Yeah, that's probably true. I wonder if it's difficult for Nagato to be around humans all the time, rather than highly advanced data-integrated-whatsits. I like to think that Nagato has developed some affection for us lately (and that maybe she even considers me a friend) but in reality I have no idea what goes on in her head.
I came out of my thoughts when we arrived at the door to the Literature Club. "Hey, wait a minute, why are we coming back here? Haruhi might realize something weird is happening if she sees us."
Koizumi paused with his hand on the door knob and shrugged, "Unfortunately, we have little choice. We're going to need some equipment to finish this quickly. We'll just have to trust Asahina to be very distracting."
With that, he opened the door, and we both got an extremely good look at Asahina's distraction.
She was standing on the center table dressed in nothing but a school swimsuit and socks. As soon as the door opened, Asahina gasped and tried to cover herself up, cringing while Haruhi circled around the table snapping pictures.
"Oh, my," Koizumi said, politely averting his eyes, "sorry to interrupt, we'll both be leaving shortly."
I gave Asahina an apologetic look and then turned away as well. Such a brave girl, I can't find words to express how touched I am by her sacrifice. Don't worry, Mikuru-chan, I'll take those pictures away from Haruhi as soon as possible!
Haruhi herself was completely undeterred by our arrival and continued taking photos of the whimpering Asahina. "Hello, Koizumi, did you know that the sophomores begin swim lessons next week?"
"Ah, no, I had no idea," Koizumi said as he went to Haruhi's desk and picked up the combination EMF detector and ambient thermometer. "I hope your photo shoot goes well. Unfortunately Kyon and I can't stay..."
Haruhi excused us with a wave of her hand, not bothering to look up from the camera's viewfinder.
"I'm surprised Haruhi didn't ask what you were doing with that thing," I said once we were back in the hall.
"I suspect that Haruhi has begun to tire of the paranormal. I gave her the recording from the other day this morning, but she hasn't listened to it yet."
"How do you know she hasn't listened to it? She was only in class for half the day, you know."
"No, if she had listened to it, she would have asked me why half the tape had been erased."
Erased? Huh? Why had he-
Oh, shit. I felt my face reddening as I realized what would have been on that tape. Koizumi had turned on the recorder when we arrived at the abandoned hospital building.... and left it running the entire time he and I were there. So when that had happened on the roof... Oh God.
Well, it's erased now so there's no reason to dwell on it. Still, how awful, having one of the most embarrassing moments of my life recorded and nearly saved... ack!
Koizumi was fiddling with the EMF remote now, waving it back and forth across the hallway. I studied him as he tapped at the number readout. Koizumi had been acting very... cold to me. He was treating me with an exaggerated, business-like politeness. Someone overhearing us might think we were co-workers rather than classmates.
Granted, Koizumi normally uses politeness as a cover for his aloof attitude, but usually he wasn't this grim about it. He can't have smiled at me more than once today.
I mean, it's not that I want him to smile at me. It's just unusual for him, that's all.
"Hey, Koizumi," I started. He turned to look at me and I immediately regretted the impulse to speak
"Um, uh, that is..." A painful moment stretched out as I searched for something to say. "You know, uh, those EMF detectors, they can be thrown off real easily. Wires in the walls, computers, even people and animals can set them off. I read about it on the internet. Even if we find something, it's doubtful it will be a ghost."
Koizumi looked at the EMF remote, turning it over in his hands. "That may be true, but I think it will detect the paranormal for us. Haruhi expects it to work in this manner, so that is how it will work." Hmp, that's a nice theory, I guess.
At this point, we arrived back in the courtyard. Nagato was standing motionless exactly where we had left her beneath a cherry tree.
"We're all set, Nagato," Koizumi said, showing her the EMF detector.
Nagato nodded and began walking toward the main school building. Koizumi followed her and I followed him.
As we entered the building, Koizumi began swinging the EMF remote about. Nagato watched him with what might have been interest, but made no comment.
Wait a minute, are we seriously going to walk around searching for ghosts this way? That'll take forever! Besides, this method hasn't worked any of the other times we've tried it with Haruhi, why the hell would it work now?
"Um, Nagato," I said, falling back from where Koizumi was searching, "you mentioned something earlier about a 'trigger?'"
Nagato blinked and then said simply, "Catalyst."
I took that as confirmation. "What acts as a trigger or catalyst then? Is there anything specific we can do?"
She nodded, "Artifact data can strengthen itself from the energy released by organic beings. Most often from the energy generated by emotion."
"Emotion... okay, so earlier when I was upstairs-before anything even happened-I was a little bit, well, scared. So probably my emotions were acting as a trigger? My nervous feelings made it possible for the ghost to show itself, right?"
"In all probability."
At that point, Koizumi finally lost interest in brandishing the EMF detector and turned towards us. "Do you have an idea, Kyon?" he asked, walking closer.
"Maybe," I said, "I'm not sure it will work though."
"Do you want us to try and scare you?" Koizumi asked.
"Something like that. Just wait a minute while I try and work myself up a bit. Don't know if it will work though."
I closed my eyes and clenched my fists. I'm the kind of person who is, well, not overemotional, but I'm not exactly in control of my emotions either. My feelings tend to run away from me once they get started. If I could just get in the right state of mind, I'm sure I can attract all kinds of ghosts.
I tried retracing my steps from earlier, imagining I was back on the fourth floor landing in that oppressive atmosphere.
I did start to get a little nervous as I pictured the dead girl reaching out to me, but it was hard to really get scared with Nagato and Koizumi both standing nearby.
Okay, she just said "emotion," it doesn't have to be fear. Come on, think. What's pissed me off today? Well, lots of thing (as usual), but mostly Haruhi (also as usual).
No, that's no good. Annoyance isn't going to be enough. Come on, something distressing that's happened lately…
I glanced at Koizumi.
He was fiddling with the EMF detector again, frowning as he turned it off and on several times. As I watched, Koizumi glanced up and met my eyes. He gave me a quick tight lipped smile and then looked back down at his hands.
I could already feel my face starting to burn. I had been trying so hard not to think about it. To dismiss it from my mind. But here I was replaying it again.
Back on the roof and, oh, it was a nice day. The rain had just stopped but you could still smell the storm in the air. Pleasant, and warm, and sure I had been irritated earlier, but the day was ending now and it really did turn into a nice evening, didn't it? Not a bad day after all, not a bad day at all.
Then he was smiling and I smiled back and why? Why did I smile back? I had just felt good and it seemed okay and who would have thought…
Had I missed something? Some signal or sign or warning that announced in big letters "Kiss Imminent?" Had I sent some sign? No, no way. I was just in a good mood, that's all. Just feeling friendly. It happens sometimes. I can be nice to people. Sometimes even people I'm not sexually attracted to. I'm all about platonic friendship, thank you very much. In fact I have vast depths of friendly, platonic feelings for my fellow man. Nope, definitely wasn't sending any signals.
So what the hell had happened? It was just so sudden. What happened? I still don't get it. Is that… is it normally like that? You lean over to kiss some girl (or whatever) and then shock and horror and, "Hey! Hey! What was that about?" Is it always this embarrassing and abrupt? It never is in the movies. Forget sex then, I deal with enough humiliation and shame as it is.
What the hell? Seriously, what the hell?
I opened my eyes, wishing I had never thought up this stupid idea. "Anything?" I asked. I rubbed at my face which felt extremely warm.
Koizumi shook his head. Damn, such a stupid idea.
Without saying anything I turned and walked away, aiming for the bathroom that was down the hall.
The men's room was empty, to my relief. I splashed water on my face and stared in the mirror, trying to pull myself back together.
Geez, I hate the way my nose gets all blotchy when I get emotional. I reached across the sink and took a few paper towels from the dispenser to dry my face. Eh, I also hate these rough towels they have. Can't the school afford anything better? As I crumpled the towel and turned to throw it away, I glanced in the mirror again.
There was a man behind me, standing just over my shoulder.
I jerked, twisting around and sideways. No one was there.
I looked back in the mirror, but, of course, it was empty. He had definitely been there, a middle aged man in a brown business suit. Yes, the image was too clear to have been an illusion.
Holy shit. Well, maybe it was worth it after all.
"Um, guys?" I called out, "Nagato? Koizumi? You should really come in here…"
Almost immediately, Koizumi burst inside. Were you listening at the door or something? Nagato followed him, apparently unconcerned about entering the Men's restroom.
"It happened again," I said, "there was something here. Someone."
Koizumi nodded, holding the EMF detector up so I could see the meter. "5.5 and rising."
"Okay, now what, Nagato?" I asked.
In answer, she raised her hand in a gesture I had come to know and dread. She looked a little like a very serious traffic cop warning cars to "stop." Once in position, Nagato opened her mouth and made a sound that would have been more appropriate coming from a fax machine.
The room around us changed.
The dirty walls of the bathroom vanished and were replaced by a blank, grey grid. Almost immediately, the room changed again as if a strobe light had gone off. Nagato and Koizumi were suddenly next to me in the gird. Another flash and a strange mist appeared before us, floating near the top of the grey ceiling.
Nagato spoke again, her lips moving in a blur that contrasted with the utter stillness of her body.
The white mist in front of us trembled and flashed. For a moment, I though I could make out the image of a person inside it, a middle aged man in brown, but then the cloud began to separate and drift apart. Wisps of white fog spread out and faded into the grey walls that had once been the bathroom.
I blinked as a tendril of mist moved toward my face. I had been expecting a brush of cold air, but instead I felt nothing at all. When I opened my eyes again, the bathroom had returned to normal.
I leaned heavily against the sink behind me. "Is it over?"
Nagato dropped her hand in response.
"Two down," Koizumi said, "An unknown number to go."
"I had anticipated between two and three unfiltered errors," Nagato said.
I scrubbed my hand across my face. I kind of wanted to splash some more water on it, but I didn't feel like looking in the mirror again just yet. "Between two and three? So the two today might have been it?"
Nagato nodded.
"Well, I say we clear out then." I said. "That's plenty of work for one day and it's not like the third ghost is going anywhere even if it is here."
My motion passed unanimously and we headed back to the club room. I wanted to relieve Asahina of her distraction duties as soon as possible. If we were gone too long, Haruhi might decide to try a nude photo shoot.
Not that I would mind walking in on that.
Better late than never. Computer is still all screwed. We hatess it.