Read Online The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Nagaru Tanigawa
Ads: Link
Asahina are trying our best to dissuade her from.
Right now, we’re just praying that our brigade chief will turn her antennae toward something besides filmmaking for the next school festival.
But try as we might, no matter what she does, the same fate surely awaits, and that’s assuming the SOS Brigade still even exists by that point.
… Will it? I wondered.
I decided I should ask the time traveler. I quietly hoped the information wasn’t classified.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
It all began with a phone call.
Just like every other year, the festive Christmas spirit had vanished as soon as the date had passed, and as we counted down the last few days until the new year, for which Haruhi would no doubt have all sorts of plans, I was afforded a few days of peace.
At the time, I had postponed all the house cleaning that needed to be finished before the new year and was instead wrestling with Shamisen in my room.
“Quit struggling! Just hold still; it’ll be over in a second!”
“Meow—”
Ignoring his protests, I held the tiny predator with his newly grown winter coat under my arm.
Ever since he’d turned my favorite denim jacket into scrap, my human-average memory suggested I should take the lesson to heart, and I made sure to regularly trim his claws. Shamisen’s feline-average memory was good enough, however, that he would sprint desperately away whenever he saw me holding the clippers.
Catching him was a terrible hassle, and holding down thescratching, kicking, biting calico while I trimmed each of his claws to a reasonable length meant that by the time I was finished, both of my hands were covered in countless scratches. But flesh wounds would heal, unlike the embroidery on my denim jacket, so I had to stay vigilant. It made me long for the days when he could understand and use human speech. You were so cooperative then, Shamisen—what happened?
But if he started talking again, that was an ill omen of another sort, so perhaps it was better if he just meowed like a normal cat.
Just as I was finishing his right paw and moving on to his left—
“Kyon! Phone for you!”
My younger sister burst into the room, holding the cordless phone. She grinned as she saw the struggle for dignity currently taking place between human and feline.
“Oh, Shami! Are you getting your nails clipped? I’ll do it!”
Shamisen looked away as if to say “No thanks,” sniffing in a very humanlike way. I’d let my sister clip his claws once. I’d held him down while she did the clipping, but an eleven-year-old fifth grader doesn’t have much sense for clipping nails, and she’d cut Shamisen’s to the quick, annoying him enough to put him off his feed. While I was definitely preferable to her, he still fought me every time. I guess a cat’s brain isn’t very big, in the end.
“Who is it?”
I traded the nail clippers for the telephone receiver. Shamisen saw his chance and twisted free, pushing off my knee and dashing out of the room.
Holding the nail clippers happily, my sister answered.
“Um, a boy. I don’t know who he is. But he said he was your friend.”
With that, she ran out into the hallway in pursuit of Shamisen. I looked at the phone.
Who could it be? If it was a boy, that ruled out Haruhi and Asahina, and if it was Koizumi, my sister would’ve recognizedhim. My other friends, like Taniguchi or Kunikida, would’ve called my cell phone, not my home landline. I punched the talk button on the receiver, muttering that I wasn’t going to fall for any stupid surveys or sales scams.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Kyon! It’s me! Long time no talk!”
I furrowed my brow at the throaty voice.
Who the hell is this? I couldn’t pretend I had any recollection of the voice.
“It’s me, man! We were in the same class in junior high, remember? Did you forget already? I’ve been sighing over you for months!”
Now that was downright creepy.
“Tell me your name,” I said. “Who
are
you?”
“Nakagawa! Can’t
Right now, we’re just praying that our brigade chief will turn her antennae toward something besides filmmaking for the next school festival.
But try as we might, no matter what she does, the same fate surely awaits, and that’s assuming the SOS Brigade still even exists by that point.
… Will it? I wondered.
I decided I should ask the time traveler. I quietly hoped the information wasn’t classified.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
It all began with a phone call.
Just like every other year, the festive Christmas spirit had vanished as soon as the date had passed, and as we counted down the last few days until the new year, for which Haruhi would no doubt have all sorts of plans, I was afforded a few days of peace.
At the time, I had postponed all the house cleaning that needed to be finished before the new year and was instead wrestling with Shamisen in my room.
“Quit struggling! Just hold still; it’ll be over in a second!”
“Meow—”
Ignoring his protests, I held the tiny predator with his newly grown winter coat under my arm.
Ever since he’d turned my favorite denim jacket into scrap, my human-average memory suggested I should take the lesson to heart, and I made sure to regularly trim his claws. Shamisen’s feline-average memory was good enough, however, that he would sprint desperately away whenever he saw me holding the clippers.
Catching him was a terrible hassle, and holding down thescratching, kicking, biting calico while I trimmed each of his claws to a reasonable length meant that by the time I was finished, both of my hands were covered in countless scratches. But flesh wounds would heal, unlike the embroidery on my denim jacket, so I had to stay vigilant. It made me long for the days when he could understand and use human speech. You were so cooperative then, Shamisen—what happened?
But if he started talking again, that was an ill omen of another sort, so perhaps it was better if he just meowed like a normal cat.
Just as I was finishing his right paw and moving on to his left—
“Kyon! Phone for you!”
My younger sister burst into the room, holding the cordless phone. She grinned as she saw the struggle for dignity currently taking place between human and feline.
“Oh, Shami! Are you getting your nails clipped? I’ll do it!”
Shamisen looked away as if to say “No thanks,” sniffing in a very humanlike way. I’d let my sister clip his claws once. I’d held him down while she did the clipping, but an eleven-year-old fifth grader doesn’t have much sense for clipping nails, and she’d cut Shamisen’s to the quick, annoying him enough to put him off his feed. While I was definitely preferable to her, he still fought me every time. I guess a cat’s brain isn’t very big, in the end.
“Who is it?”
I traded the nail clippers for the telephone receiver. Shamisen saw his chance and twisted free, pushing off my knee and dashing out of the room.
Holding the nail clippers happily, my sister answered.
“Um, a boy. I don’t know who he is. But he said he was your friend.”
With that, she ran out into the hallway in pursuit of Shamisen. I looked at the phone.
Who could it be? If it was a boy, that ruled out Haruhi and Asahina, and if it was Koizumi, my sister would’ve recognizedhim. My other friends, like Taniguchi or Kunikida, would’ve called my cell phone, not my home landline. I punched the talk button on the receiver, muttering that I wasn’t going to fall for any stupid surveys or sales scams.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Kyon! It’s me! Long time no talk!”
I furrowed my brow at the throaty voice.
Who the hell is this? I couldn’t pretend I had any recollection of the voice.
“It’s me, man! We were in the same class in junior high, remember? Did you forget already? I’ve been sighing over you for months!”
Now that was downright creepy.
“Tell me your name,” I said. “Who
are
you?”
“Nakagawa! Can’t
Similar Books
