Read Online The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Nagaru Tanigawa
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to the vet.”
“
You
did?”
“Yeah, my sister’s the only other one at home right now. She called me.”
“Huh. What’s he sick with?”
“Uh… alopecia areata. Y’know, fur loss.”
Hearing my half-assed answer, for some reason Asahina clamped her hand over her mouth.
“Shamisen’s losing his fur?”
“Yeah. The vet said it was stress-related, so he’s resting at home now.”
“Do cats even
have
stress problems? And doesn’t Shamisen always ‘rest at home’?”
“Well, yeah, but my sister messes around with him too much, apparently. So my room’s been turned into a Shamisen preserve, and my sister’s not allowed to come in.”
“Huh.” Whether or not she bought it, Haruhi sniffed and fell silent before continuing. “Are you with anybody else now?”
“…”
I took the phone away from my ear and stared at the call-time display on the screen.
How did she know? Asahina hadn’t said a word and had even covered her mouth so as to avoid carelessly letting anything slip.
“No, nobody’s here.”
“Oh yeah? Something was weird about your voice, so I was sure somebody was there.”
Her intuition was as sharp as ever.
“It’s just Shamisen. You want to talk to him?”
“Not really. Just tell him I hope he gets better soon. Bye.”
She hung up surprisingly briskly.
I tossed my cell phone onto the bed and looked at the calico cat as it rubbed up against Asahina’s leg. I wondered where I should shave a circular patch of hair off the feline—if Haruhi decided to come visit him, God forbid, I’d be in trouble otherwise.
“So what did Haruhi do after that?”
Asahina made a face as she tried to remember, absentmindedly scratching Shamisen behind the ears. “Umm, we were in the room until after five o’clock, and then we all went home. Suzumiya… seemed kind of quiet. All she’d done in the clubroom was read some magazines…”
It seemed that even Asahina was starting to pick up on Ha-ruhi’s strangely subdued behavior lately.
I wondered about the others. Nagato had surely sensed it.
Drawn in by her scratching, Shamisen put his front paws on Asahina’s skirted lap and purred. Asahina stroked his back as he occupied her lap.
“There wasn’t anything really out of the ordinary… I’m sorry. I don’t remember very well.”
It couldn’t be helped, I guessed. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you about Koizumi’s facial expressions a week ago, myself. If I’d been asked, all I could’ve said was that he seemed normal.
“Was there anything else? Tomorrow or the day after?”
Her eyes downcast, Asahina held the purring Shamisen’s tail lightly. “How far ahead should I go?”
I told her to just give me my future schedule, and I’d do my best to make it happen just like she remembered.
“Um, well, the next day is a holiday, so we all go on a treasure hunt.”
A treasure hunt? I asked.
“Yes. Suzumiya brings a treasure map, and we all go digging.”
Digging? Seriously? I asked.
“Yes. Suzumiya got the map from Tsuruya. She said that when they were organizing things in the family storehouse, this weird map that one of her ancestors had drawn just popped up. Like”—Asahina fluttered her fingers like tiny fish swimming through the air—“A weird old map drawn in ink.”
Tsuruya. She’d gone and given Haruhi another thing we’d all pay for. And really, digging for treasure? It wasn’t like we were in a Heian-era archaeological dig. Where did we go digging, I wanted to know.
“The mountains.” Asahina’s answer was straightforward. “There’s a mountain on Tsuruya’s estate. The round one you can see from the road that goes down the hill on the way home from school.”
Just thinking about it was exhausting. This wasn’t
Onshu no Kanata
, and doing a bunch of exhausting excavation
after
climbing a mountain made about as much sense as going on a longhike to stave off the cold in this freezing February weather. I should say that it came as no
“
You
did?”
“Yeah, my sister’s the only other one at home right now. She called me.”
“Huh. What’s he sick with?”
“Uh… alopecia areata. Y’know, fur loss.”
Hearing my half-assed answer, for some reason Asahina clamped her hand over her mouth.
“Shamisen’s losing his fur?”
“Yeah. The vet said it was stress-related, so he’s resting at home now.”
“Do cats even
have
stress problems? And doesn’t Shamisen always ‘rest at home’?”
“Well, yeah, but my sister messes around with him too much, apparently. So my room’s been turned into a Shamisen preserve, and my sister’s not allowed to come in.”
“Huh.” Whether or not she bought it, Haruhi sniffed and fell silent before continuing. “Are you with anybody else now?”
“…”
I took the phone away from my ear and stared at the call-time display on the screen.
How did she know? Asahina hadn’t said a word and had even covered her mouth so as to avoid carelessly letting anything slip.
“No, nobody’s here.”
“Oh yeah? Something was weird about your voice, so I was sure somebody was there.”
Her intuition was as sharp as ever.
“It’s just Shamisen. You want to talk to him?”
“Not really. Just tell him I hope he gets better soon. Bye.”
She hung up surprisingly briskly.
I tossed my cell phone onto the bed and looked at the calico cat as it rubbed up against Asahina’s leg. I wondered where I should shave a circular patch of hair off the feline—if Haruhi decided to come visit him, God forbid, I’d be in trouble otherwise.
“So what did Haruhi do after that?”
Asahina made a face as she tried to remember, absentmindedly scratching Shamisen behind the ears. “Umm, we were in the room until after five o’clock, and then we all went home. Suzumiya… seemed kind of quiet. All she’d done in the clubroom was read some magazines…”
It seemed that even Asahina was starting to pick up on Ha-ruhi’s strangely subdued behavior lately.
I wondered about the others. Nagato had surely sensed it.
Drawn in by her scratching, Shamisen put his front paws on Asahina’s skirted lap and purred. Asahina stroked his back as he occupied her lap.
“There wasn’t anything really out of the ordinary… I’m sorry. I don’t remember very well.”
It couldn’t be helped, I guessed. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you about Koizumi’s facial expressions a week ago, myself. If I’d been asked, all I could’ve said was that he seemed normal.
“Was there anything else? Tomorrow or the day after?”
Her eyes downcast, Asahina held the purring Shamisen’s tail lightly. “How far ahead should I go?”
I told her to just give me my future schedule, and I’d do my best to make it happen just like she remembered.
“Um, well, the next day is a holiday, so we all go on a treasure hunt.”
A treasure hunt? I asked.
“Yes. Suzumiya brings a treasure map, and we all go digging.”
Digging? Seriously? I asked.
“Yes. Suzumiya got the map from Tsuruya. She said that when they were organizing things in the family storehouse, this weird map that one of her ancestors had drawn just popped up. Like”—Asahina fluttered her fingers like tiny fish swimming through the air—“A weird old map drawn in ink.”
Tsuruya. She’d gone and given Haruhi another thing we’d all pay for. And really, digging for treasure? It wasn’t like we were in a Heian-era archaeological dig. Where did we go digging, I wanted to know.
“The mountains.” Asahina’s answer was straightforward. “There’s a mountain on Tsuruya’s estate. The round one you can see from the road that goes down the hill on the way home from school.”
Just thinking about it was exhausting. This wasn’t
Onshu no Kanata
, and doing a bunch of exhausting excavation
after
climbing a mountain made about as much sense as going on a longhike to stave off the cold in this freezing February weather. I should say that it came as no
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