Something was wrong.

I first began to notice on a fine summer day after the Bon Festival.

At the time I happened to be lounging around the living room watching a high school baseball game on TV without being particularly interested. I’d accidentally woken up before noon, so I was pretty bored, though not bored enough to feel like attacking the mountain of summer homework awaiting me.

The game on TV, between schools from the same district, had nothing to do with me, but the spirit of rooting for the underdog made me cheer for the team on the losing end of the 7–0 score. For some unknown reason, I just had a feeling that Haruhi was about to make trouble.

I hadn’t seen Haruhi in a while. I’d taken my little sister to the countryside, where my mom had grown up, to beat the heat and pay our respects to our ancestors, and we’d only returned the day before. This was an annual practice that couldn’t be skipped, but then it was summer vacation, so it was only natural that there really weren’t many chances to run into any SOS Brigade members. Besides, we’d already been through the bizarre happenings when we went to that crazy island, aka the SOS summer camp, back when summer vacation had barely started. I was pretty sure that even Haruhi wouldn’t suggest a second trip. She should have been satisfied by now.

“Anyway.”

I sighed as I tugged my silent cell phone toward me by the strap ever so casually when something happened to make me wonder if there were any hidden cameras in the room.

My phone began to ring with what could only be considered perfect timing. For a moment, I thought I’d become prescient, but I immediately shook my head and abandoned the idea. Idiotic.

“What is it?”

The name displayed on the phone was none other than Haruhi’s.

I waited three rings before slowly pressing the Talk button. I had a feeling that I already knew what she was going to say, which made me want to question my sanity.

“You’re free today, right?”

That was the first thing out of Haruhi’s mouth.

“We’re all meeting up in front of the station at two. You better come.”

And with that, she hung up. No seasonal greeting, not even a simple hello. And she didn’t even check to make sure that I was the one who had answered the phone. Besides, how did she know I was free today? I’m actually quite…well, I suppose I have no plans at all.

The phone rang again.

“What?”

“I forgot to tell you what to bring.”

She quickly rattled off the necessary items.

“You’ll need to come on your bicycle. And have plenty of money. Over.”

She hung up.

I tossed the phone down and tilted my head. Why do I have this funny feeling, like I’m still dreaming?

A soft cheer came from the television and I turned to find that the team I’d mentally designated the opposition had reached double digits. The ringing sound of baseballs against aluminum bats made that very clear.

Summer was almost over.

I could hear a chorus of chirping cicadas from my vantage point in this tightly sealed room with the AC on at full blast.

“Guess I have no choice.”

Still, hadn’t Haruhi been satisfied by the so-called summer camp at the beginning of our break when she took us to that weird island? What are we supposed to do in this suffocating heat? I don’t feel like moving an inch from my nicely air-conditioned room.

And with that thought, I headed to my closet to assemble the required items.

“You’re late, Kyon. You need to show some more effort!”

Haruhi was swinging a vinyl bag around as she jabbed a finger at me with a grumpy look on her face. I see that she never changes.

“Mikuru, Yuki, and Koizumi were all here before I was. Who do you think you are to keep the brigade chief waiting? You get a penalty! A penalty!”

I was the last one to arrive at our meeting place. I came fifteen minutes early, but the other members had moved even more quickly, as though they had been expecting Haruhi’s call. This was why I always ended up having to pay, but I was used to that by now. I was just an ordinary human. I had no chance of jumping the gun on three people with such special backgrounds.

I ignored Haruhi and raised my hand in greeting toward the earnest brigade members.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

The other two aside, there was one person I needed to apologize to. Mikuru Asahina, adorned with a fancy ribboned hat, flashed me a soft smile as she bowed her head.

“It’s okay. I just got here myself.”

Asahina carried a basket in her hands. I had a feeling that there were good things inside, which got me all excited. I wanted to savor that feeling a little longer, but I was interrupted by a voice next to me.

“It’s been a while. Did you go on another trip afterward?”

Itsuki Koizumi revealed his glistening white teeth as he gave me a thumbs-up. His suspicious-looking smile hadn’t changed after over half of summer vacation’s passing. You should have gone on a trip yourself. Why did you instantly respond to Haruhi’s summons? There’s no end to the questions I could ask. Learn how to say no.

I bypassed Koizumi’s phony cheerful face and turned my eyes to the side. Yuki Nagato stood there blankly, as though she were Koizumi’s artificial shadow. She stood in her summer uniform without a drop of sweat to be seen, a very familiar sight. I had to wonder if she even had sweat glands.

“… ”

Nagato looked up at me as though she were staring at a motionless toy mouse and tilted her head slightly. Was that supposed to be a greeting?

“Well, everybody’s here. Let’s get going.”

Haruhi raised her voice. I felt obligated to ask.

“Where to?”

“The public pool, obviously.”

I looked down at the duffel bag in my right hand, which contained a towel and swim trunks. Well, I knew that we would be heading for some pool.

“You’re supposed to do summerlike activities in the summertime. Only swans or penguins would enjoy swimming in the middle of winter.”

They spend the entire year in water, and they don’t particularly seem to enjoy themselves. I’m not the kind of person to accept an irrelevant comparison in an argument.

“Time never comes back once it’s gone. So we have to do this now, during our only summer as freshmen in high school!”

Haruhi was in her usual rhythm with no intention of listening to what anyone else had to say. The other three members never bother wasting their time on offering Haruhi an opinion, which meant that I was the only one whose suggestions went ignored. From a rational point of view, that was pretty unreasonable, but I was the only rational person here, so this was apparently my fate. Not much of a fate.

I began pondering the difference between fate and destiny.

“We’re going to the pool by bicycle.”

Haruhi announced her plan and proceeded to put it into action, despite the fact that nobody had agreed to it.

Upon asking, I learned that Koizumi had also been told to come on his bicycle. The three girls had walked here. I should mention that there were a total of two bicycles. The SOS Brigade had five members. Well, how does she intend to solve this problem?

Haruhi’s answer came in a cheerful voice.

“We can have two ride one bike and three ride the other. Koizumi, you’re carrying Mikuru. Yuki and I will ride behind Kyon.”

And so I found myself frantically pedaling away. I could deal with the sweltering heat and dripping sweat, but something needed to be done about the incessantly yapping voice behind my head that sounded like a speakerphone with a busted volume control.

“C’mon, Kyon! Koizumi’s getting ahead of you! Pedal harder! Pick up the pace! Blow by him!”

Through my hazy vision, I could see Asahina wave shyly at me from her position sitting sideways on the rack of Koizumi’s bicycle. How come Koizumi gets that and I’m stuck with this? I had to wonder if the word “unfair” had originated from the very situation I was in.

My bicycle and legs were struggling to endure this crippling load. Nagato was sitting on the rack while Haruhi was standing on the hub of the back wheel and holding on to my shoulders, a somewhat acrobatic way for three people to ride together. When did the SOS Brigade become a circus?

Incidentally, Haruhi said the following before we departed:

“Yuki’s so small that she’s practically weightless.”

That was, in fact, the case. I don’t know if she set her own weight to zero or used some kind of antigravity trick, but I could feel only Haruhi’s weight as I pedaled away. Well, I wasn’t particularly surprised by the fact that Nagato was manipulating gravity. Hell, I’m more interested in finding out what she isn’t capable of doing.

I wouldn’t have had any complaints if she could also have done something about Haruhi’s weight, but I could still feel her against my back.

I could see Koizumi peering back at me over Asahina’s head while trying to hide that irritating smile of his, leaving me to lament in a Balzacian manner. Like the writer, I pondered how hilariously unjust our world was. Damn, I absolutely have to enjoy the experience of riding with Asahina. I’m sure that my granny bike felt the same way.

The public pool was so shoddy that it might as well have been called a communal pool. After all, there were only a 150-foot pool and a six-inch-deep pond for little kids.

The only high schoolers who would come to swim at this pool were the ones who couldn’t find anywhere else to go, or, in other words, us. There were only kids and their parents—mothers, for the most part—around. I took one look at the crush of kiddies in their swim rings and immediately lost interest. It appeared that Asahina would be the only one to entertain my optical sense.

“Yep, the smell of chlorine. It really brings out the atmosphere.”

Haruhi stood under the sun in a crimson tankini and sniffed at the air with her eyes closed. She exited the changing room with a firm grip on Asahina’s hand. Asahina, with her basket in one arm, was dressed in a childish, frilly one-piece, while Nagato was in some kind of plain racing swimsuit. Haruhi probably chose their swimsuits. She didn’t give a damn about her own attire, but she tended to make a fuss about what other people (especially Asahina) were wearing.

“Anyway, let’s find a place to dump our stuff. Then we can go swim. Let’s race. See who can swim from one end to the other the fastest.”

And after making that juvenile proposition, she jumped into the pool without any stretching. Can’t she read the NO DIVING signs all over the place?

“Hurry it up! The water’s all warm and comfortable!”

I shrugged and exchanged a look with Asahina before walking toward a nearby patch of shade to set down my towel and bag.

There were kids littered across the surface of the water like an outbreak of water striders, making it impossible to swim in a straight line. The brigade members were forced into a fifty-meter freestyle race under these harsh conditions that yielded a surprising result, or not really, I guess. Either way, the first person to reach the other side was Nagato.

Apparently she swam the entire length submerged, without ever coming up for a single breath. She waited at the goal with water dripping from the strands of her short hair that were stuck to her face as she silently watched us arrive. It goes without saying that Asahina was last. She had to stop every time she took a breath and throw back a beach ball that happened to land nearby before finally reaching the other side, after taking ten times as long as Nagato had, by which time she was completely out of breath.

“The idea of using sports to blow off stress is just a sham. Your body and mind are separate. I mean, you don’t have to think for your body to move, but you have to think for your mind to work.”

Haruhi had a look on her face like she’d just said something profound.

“That’s why we should race again. Yuki, I won’t lose this time!”

Didn’t an adult ever teach her that you’re supposed to make sense when you talk? What kind of logic was that? You just don’t want to lose. It’ll be a contest of endurance until you win.

That was why I hoped Nagato would understand the situation as I hauled myself out of the pool. The two of you can race by yourselves. I’ll be sitting by the pool as a spectator. My money’s on Nagato. Anyone want to bet on Haruhi?

Haruhi and Nagato made the fifty-meter swim five more times in both directions before the three female members of the SOS Brigade joined a group of grade-schoolers nearby who happened to be playing with a ball. Koizumi and I, bored out of our minds, could only watch as the girls played in the water, since there was nothing else to do.

“They seem to be enjoying themselves.”

Koizumi continued to watch them as he spoke.

“Quite a pleasant sight. And it feels peaceful. Wouldn’t you agree that Suzumiya is learning to have fun in a normal fashion?”

He seemed to be talking to me, so I responded.

“I wouldn’t consider calling me with no warning and hanging up the second her business was finished a normal way to invite someone.”

“As they say, there’s no time like the present to act on an idea.”

“Has she ever hesitated to act on an idea the second it’s out of her mind?”

Images of the ridiculous baseball game and giant cave cricket flashed through my mind.

Koizumi smiled.

“Nevertheless, this would be considered relatively peaceful. There shouldn’t be any earthshaking events when Suzumiya has such a cheerful smile on her face.”

Sure hope you’re right.

I’m not sure how he interpreted my exaggerated sigh as he chuckled with a snort—

—That was when Koizumi got a weird look on his face. One I wasn’t accustomed to. In other words, he didn’t have that thin smile.

“Hmm?”

Koizumi’s brow creased.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing… ”

Koizumi appeared to be tongue-tied, a rare sight, but he soon recovered his smile.

“Probably just my imagination. I must have become a little oversensitive after everything that’s happened since spring. Ah, they’re coming out of the water.”

I looked in the direction Koizumi was pointing to see Haruhi walking over like an emperor penguin bringing food to its chicks, with a wide smile on her face. Asahina and Nagato trailed after her like servants accompanying a princess who was running away from the castle.

“It’s almost time to eat. Guess what? Mikuru made sandwiches. You could sell them on the street for five thousand yen or auction them off for at least five hundred thousand. But you get to eat them for free, so you should be grateful.”

“Thank you very much,” I said to Asahina.

Koizumi followed my lead and bowed his head.

“How very kind of you.”

“It was nothing.”

Asahina looked down shyly as she fidgeted with her fingers.

“I don’t know if I did a very good job…I apologize if they taste bad.”

That would be impossible. Any food that’s been graced by the touch of Asahina’s hands is guaranteed to taste delicious. In this case, the “who” part of 5W1H would take priority.

Hence, I was so overwhelmed by the privilege of enjoying Asahina’s assorted handmade sandwiches that I wasn’t sure how they tasted. Anything would do at this point. The hot Japanese tea she poured us didn’t go very well with the sandwiches, but that was no problem at all. Even her sweat appeared refreshing to my soul.

Haruhi quickly devoured her portion before standing up like she needed to let out the heat built up in her body.

“I’m going back for another swim. You can all join me when you’re done eating.”

And with that she dived back into the pool.

I’m impressed by how she’s able to swim so smoothly in a place with so many obstacles. The theory about humans originating from the ocean might have some merit. Though I would expect Haruhi’s distant ancestors to be capable of adapting to the moon if they were sent there with only the clothes on their backs.

Sometime later Nagato, still eating slowly in silence, was left behind as the other three of us headed for Haruhi, who was prancing around in the water like a seal seeking a mate. By this point Haruhi was having fun with a group of grade-school girls playing underwater dodgeball.

“Mikuru, get over here!”

“Yes!”

Asahina nodded leisurely before taking a direct hit to the face from Haruhi’s rocket of a beach ball and sinking underwater.

An hour later Koizumi and I climbed out of the water and sat by the pool with cheerful infants screaming in the background.

We were definitely out of place here. What was Haruhi thinking when she chose this public pool? I’m not saying that there had to be a waterslide, but I’m pretty sure there were more appropriate places for a group of high schoolers to go.

I could feel the blazing sunlight rapidly increasing the amount of melanin in my skin. That made me wonder if Nagato could tan, so I looked around for her and found the small, short-haired, reticent girl was sitting back in the shade, her sage eyes staring into space.

The same way she always looked. Nagato was practically a statue, no matter where we went—or so I thought.

“Hmm?”

I was hit by a sense of bafflement before it quickly vanished. There was that strange feeling again. For a moment I could feel that Nagato was bored. Déjà vu. Yeah, and then Haruhi would say the following—

“These two are my brigade members. They’ll do whatever I say, so feel free to ask for anything.”

I turned back to the pool to find that Haruhi had walked over to us with a group of little girls in tow.

Asahina was up to her chin in the water with her eyes closed, probably tired out from having to deal with a bunch of hyper grade-schoolers. Haruhi, who probably had fewer worries than those grade-schoolers, was in top gear as she turned her shining eyes toward Koizumi and me.

“Hey, let’s go have a blast. We’re gonna play underwater soccer. The two guys can be goalies.”

What kind of sport is that and what kind of rules are involved? But before I could ask, that sense of déjà vu disappeared.

“…Yeah.”

I gave her a perfunctory reply as we stood up. Koizumi had a smile on his face as he joined the circle of children.

That strange feeling was gone now.

Hmm. Well, it’s a fairly common phenomenon. To dream about a moment from everyday life. Besides, I came to this pool when I was a kid. It’s possible that a memory or two may have resurfaced. Or there was a slight malfunction in the complex process my brain used to transmit data.

I pushed aside a nearby dolphin-shaped inflatable before chasing after the beach ball Haruhi had just bicycle-kicked.

Once we had had as much fun as we could possibly stand, we left the public pool. On the way back I was one of the acrobatic trio while Koizumi enjoyed a tandem of adolescence incarnate. This is why people snap.

Asahina was sitting elegantly on the rack, her pale skin making the flush in her cheeks more pronounced as the blood rushed to her head. When I saw that one of her arms was wrapped around the waist of the rider on the saddle, I was about ready to pop a vessel. If I concentrated hard enough, I could almost hear the wind howling.

I pedaled away on the bicycle in whichever direction Haruhi pointed and eventually ended up back at our meeting place in front of the station.

Oh, that’s right. I have to pay for everybody.

Once we settled down at the café, I placed a cold, wet towel on my forehead and slumped back in my seat. One second later:

“I came up with a list of activities for us to do. What do you think?”

The sheet of paper made its majestic descent to the table as Haruhi pointed for us to look at it. A letter-sized sheet of paper torn out of a notebook.

“What is this?”

Haruhi responded to my question boastfully.

“An itinerary for how we’re spending what little remains of summer vacation.”

“For who?”

“For us. The SOS Brigade’s Summer Special Series.”

Haruhi drained her glass of water and asked the server for another.

“I just noticed. We only have two weeks of summer vacation left. That left me in a state of shock. Yowzers! It feels like there are so many things I still want to do, but our time is limited. We’ll be kicking it up a notch.”

Haruhi’s handwritten outline said the following.

STUFF WE HAVE TO DO OVER SUMMER VACATION

• Summer camp 
• Pool 
• Bon Dance 
• Fireworks 
• Part-time job 
• Stargazing 
• Batting practice 
• Insect collecting 
• Test of courage 
• Etc. 

Summer fever.

This disease had probably escaped from the jungle somehow. It must have been spread by mosquitoes or some equivalent. I’d have to feel sorry for any mosquito that sucked Haruhi’s blood. Probably end up with food poisoning.

Of the above, “Summer camp” and “Pool” were crossed out with large X’s. I guess that meant they’d been completed.

Which meant that we had to clear this list in less than two weeks? And what was that “Etc.” supposed to mean? There was still more to come?

“If I think of something. For now, this is all. Is there anything else you want to do? What about Mikuru?”

“Um…”

Asahina began thinking in earnest while I tried to make eye contact and send her a message. Don’t suggest anything exotic…

“I’d like to scoop goldfish.”

“Okay.”

Haruhi used her ballpoint pen to add another item to the list.

Haruhi proceeded to ask Nagato and Koizumi if they had any requests, but Nagato shook her head wordlessly while Koizumi declined with a light smile. The correct choice.

“Excuse me for a second.”

Koizumi had quickly finished his iced café au lait and proceeded to snatch the sheet of paper and study it. He appeared to be deep in thought, as though he were trying to track something down. Did this list of events warrant that kind of behavior?

For the next few minutes I watched as Nagato sipped soda through her straw without a sound.

“Thank you.”

Koizumi returned Haruhi’s so-called outline to the table and tilted his head slightly. What’s that supposed to mean?

“We begin tomorrow. Meet up here in front of the station again tomorrow! Is there a Bon Dance going on anywhere nearby tomorrow? Fireworks would also work.”

Look this stuff up before we begin.

“I’ll look into it,” Koizumi volunteered. “I’ll be in touch later. Just Bon Dances for now. Or the location of a fireworks festival, correct?”

“Don’t forget about goldfish-scooping, Koizumi. It’s a rare request from Mikuru.”

“Should I search for a location that combines the Bon Dance with a festival?”

“Yep, please do. We’re counting on you, Koizumi.”

Haruhi was in a good mood as she gulped down the ice cream from her coffee float in one bite and folded up the sheet of notebook paper as though it were a map that led to a treasure island.

While I paid the bill, Haruhi ran off like a jogger practicing for an upcoming race. She may be trying to save her pent-up energy for tomorrow. If she’s going to detonate, I would prefer her to go out with a bang instead of dragging the process out. Wouldn’t have to waste time picking up the pieces that way.

The remaining four brigade members went our separate ways, and once I was sure that the other two were far enough away, I called out to the backside of the remaining one.

“Nagato.”

The organic humanoid clad in a summer sailor uniform turned in response to my voice.

“…”

She stared back at me wordlessly with a neutral expression on her pale face—two artificial-looking eyes that showed neither rejection nor acceptance.

I was bugged by how something felt wrong. Nagato showing no emotions was business as usual, but there was something odd about Nagato today that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

“Well…”

I managed to stop her, but now I was flustered after realizing that I didn’t have anything to say.

“It’s nothing, really. How have you been? Are you doing okay?”

Why am I asking pointless questions?

Nagato blinked slowly before nodding so slightly that you’d need a protractor to tell.

“Okay.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Yes.”

Her rigid face, which barely ever showed any signs of movement, appeared to be even tighter…no, I’ve got it backward. It seems to have loosened up, oddly enough…I have no idea how my eyes could completely contradict themselves. I guess I’ll just say that human perception is limited and leave it at that.

In the end, I couldn’t find anything else to say, so I bid a hasty farewell and turned away from Nagato to make my escape.

For some reason I had a feeling that it was better this way. And so I rode my bicycle back home, ate dinner, took a shower, and watched TV before eventually falling asleep.

The next morning I was woken from my idle slumber by another call from Haruhi.

She’d found a place holding a Bon Dance festival. It’d be this evening at the public grounds.

There you have it.

Found one at the perfect time, huh? As I was appreciating this fact, Haruhi said the following.

“Let’s all go buy summer kimonos.”

That was how today’s schedule would begin, apparently.

“Originally, I’d planned on wearing them for Tanabata, but accidentally forgot. Something must have been wrong with me. The fact that Japanese customs allow for the wearing of summer kimonos two months in a row is a real lifesaver.”

Lives were saved?

I should mention that it was broad daylight. This would explain why we had to meet up so early for a nighttime event. Just like the day before, Haruhi was all on her high horse, Asahina was mellow, Nagato was silent, and Koizumi had that smirk on his face as we gathered in front of the station like clockwork.

“Mikuru and Yuki don’t have summer kimonos. I don’t either. I was passing through the shopping district the other day when I saw a place that sold the whole outfit, sandals and all, for a cheap price. Let’s go there.”

I watched Asahina and Nagato stand there as I pictured the female members in summer kimonos.

Well, it is summer.

Koizumi and I would go in our usual clothes. Save the fancy bathrobes for hotels. I sure don’t want to see a man in a summer kimono.

“That’s true. Koizumi would look good, but in your case?”

Haruhi snorted as she looked me up and down.

“Okay, let’s go.”

She delivered her order as she waved the fan in her hand.

“Off to the kimono store we go!”

Once Haruhi entered the women’s clothing shop, she arbitrarily chose Asahina’s and Nagato’s outfits before stomping over to a changing room.

Nagato was the only one who knew how to put a summer kimono on, so the other two needed the help of a female clerk, which was very time-consuming. Koizumi and I were left to wander the racks of women’s clothing until the three of them finally assembled in front of the mirrors.

Haruhi’s had a flashy hibiscus pattern, Asahina’s had goldfish of all colors, and Nagato’s featured a bunch of plain geometric shapes. Each summer kimono was becoming in its own way, which left me confused about where to look.

The female clerk was glancing at Koizumi and me as if she wanted to know who was whose boyfriend, but too bad for her. Koizumi aside, I was just an escort. Am I supposed to feel disappointed?

Well, I got to see the summer-kimono version of Asahina, so it’s all good. Haruhi and Nagato also looked good in their own ways. Not that this needed to be said out loud.

“Mikuru, you’re…”

Haruhi took one look at Asahina and burst into joy.

“Absolutely adorable! I must be a genius. I knew I had the right idea! The sight of you in a summer kimono will have ninety-five percent of the men in this world fawning over you!”

I asked about the remaining five percent.

“Her charms aren’t going to work on gay men. Five out of every hundred guys are gay. Never forget that.”

I really doubt I’ll ever need that information.

Asahina also seemed rather pleased as she spun around in front of the fitting room mirror and examined her attire.

“So this would be the traditional dress in this country. It’s a bit tight across the chest, but it looks wonderful…”

This was definitely one of the better costumes Haruhi had forced on her. Didn’t show as much skin as the bunny outfit, and felt less exotic than the maid uniform. A costume that was perfectly safe to wear around town this time of year. Like a natural feature of summer. And she looked damn good in it. It was almost like I was looking at my sister in a summer kimono, with the exception of the unbalanced swelling above her sash. Still, if it’s cute, it’s all good. There was a divine aura emitting from Asahina’s entire body that made you willing to forgive anything. She could become the mastermind of a bank robbery and I would willingly plead her case. Don’t know if I could say the same for Haruhi.

Since Haruhi and her lack of time management had forced us to assemble bright and early, we had a sizable amount of time left before the Bon Dance festival. Thus we had no choice but to kill time at the park in front of the station, during which time Haruhi braided Asahina’s and Nagato’s hair. The two of them obediently sat on the bench like dolls as Haruhi kept changing their hairstyles, each one stunning enough that I felt like snapping away with a camera, until the sun finally began to set and we lined up to head for the public grounds.

The Bon Dance festival was already bustling with activity, despite the fact that it was still light out, as people flooded in out of nowhere. I’m surprised by all the people here.

“Wow.”

Asahina was unreserved in expressing her admiration.

“…”

Nagato never reacted to anything.

I’ve never actually seen someone dance at a Bon Dance, and this time was no different. But a Bon Dance, huh? Haven’t seen one in forever—

“Hmm?”

There it is again. A headache with a tinge of déjà vu. Pretty sure I haven’t been to one in years, yet it feels like I just went to one recently. The stage in the center of the grounds and the festival stands around all seem vaguely familiar ghhh…

But then, as though I were grasping at the threads of a spiderweb dangling in the air, that sensation abruptly vanished.

I could hear Haruhi’s voice.

“Mikuru, there’s the goldfish scooping you wanted to do. Scoop all you want. You get an extra two hundred points for a black moor.”

Haruhi made up her own rules as she took Asahina’s hand and dashed over to the tank for scooping goldfish.

“Shall we join them? How about a contest to see who can catch more?”

The game-loving Koizumi made a proposal, and I immediately shook my head. I don’t have a bowl to put goldfish in. Anyway, I’m more interested in the food vendors and the mouthwatering aromas of their wares.

“What about you, Nagato? Wanna grab something to eat?”

She looked at me with cheerless eyes before slowly turning away. Her eyes were focused on a mask vendor. That’s what you’re interested in? I really don’t get her.

“Oh, well. Let’s have a look around.”

The speakers began playing easy-listening festival music. I took Nagato to the mask vendor, with Koizumi being a nuisance and tagging along.

“That was a fine haul, but I only took one, since I didn’t need that many. Mikuru couldn’t catch any, so I gave her one of mine.”

There was a small plastic bag dangling from Asahina’s finger that contained a very plain, small orange fish swimming without a care. The way Asahina tightly gripped the string was adorable to watch. Her other hand held a candy apple, which gave me the idea to buy one to take home for my sister. Can’t hurt to get on her good side every now and then.

Meanwhile, Haruhi was toying with a yo-yo balloon in her left hand while carrying a tray of takoyaki, octopus dumplings, in her right.

“You can have one.”

And with that, she extended the tray. I was savoring the taste of the takoyaki dripping with sauce when—

“Huh? Yuki, what’s with the mask?”

“Bought one,” Nagato said as she stared at the toothpick protruding from her takoyaki. The side of Nagato’s head was adorned by a silver alien. I suppose that she probably felt connected to it in some way, as an alien herself, since she’d gone so far as to extend her paw from her sleeve to point it out.

I had a feeling that I was in Nagato’s debt, so I wouldn’t have had a problem with buying that for her, but Nagato had declined without a word and paid for it herself. That reminds me. What does she do for income?

The stage was surrounded by women in summer kimonos and children swaying to the sounds of traditional music. Felt like I was watching a gathering of associations for old people, women, and children. Anyone who came to a Bon Dance to have fun would never actually dance. Naturally, we weren’t.

Asahina was watching the dancing people with as much fascination as if she had been watching locals do a backward jungle dance in welcome.

“Ooh— Aah—”

She softly expressed her appreciation. They don’t have Bon Dances in the future?

With Haruhi leading our little band, we browsed the festival before the rest of us were eventually reduced to servants trailing after Haruhi as she pointed out foods she wanted to eat or attractions she wanted to try. Haruhi certainly appeared to be enjoying herself, and Asahina did as well, which made this fun for me. I couldn’t tell if Nagato was having fun or not, and I couldn’t have cared less about how Koizumi felt.

Every now and then Koizumi would suddenly fall silent before

quickly smiling again. This guy’s been having mood swings of his own the past couple of days. Though that may be the fate of every person who joins the SOS Brigade.

It was summer. Summer vacation.

As I watched the three girls in their summer kimonos, I had a feeling that those words could excuse anything that might happen.

So when Haruhi said the following:

“Let’s do fireworks, fireworks. We’re already dressed for it. Get it out of the way today.”

I was all for it. We bought a cheap fireworks package for children at one of the stands and headed off to a nearby riverbed, where the summer night sky would only be illuminated by the moon and Mars. On our way there we stopped to buy a hundred-yen lighter and an instant camera. The rest of us followed after Haruhi, who marched along while swinging her yo-yo balloon and waving her fan. She seemed to be even more hyper than usual. For some reason I was reminded of the phrase “The clothes make the (wo)man.”

As I stared at Haruhi’s bouncing hair I couldn’t even bring myself to warn her about taking long strides in a summer kimono. Haruhi is defined by her pep and strength.

For the next hour I took numerous pictures of Asahina staring wide-eyed at a sparkler, Haruhi running around with a fountain firework in each hand, and Nagato staring at a black snake twisting and turning, before the SOS Brigade’s summer activities were over for the day.

Haruhi glanced over at Koizumi, who was placing the remains of the fireworks in a plastic bag after dipping them in the river, before tracing her lips with her finger and speaking.

“We can do insect collecting tomorrow, then.”

It would appear that she intended to clear off every item on her list.

“Haruhi, there’s nothing wrong with having fun, but have you finished your summer homework?”

Not that I was in any position to talk when I hadn’t even touched mine. Haruhi looked puzzled for a moment.

“What’s wrong with you? That little bit of homework only takes three days to finish. I finished mine back in July. That’s how I always do it. Get the painful stuff over with early so you’re free to have fun without any worries. That would be the correct way to enjoy summer vacation.”

Haruhi sincerely believed that it was only a little bit of homework. Why does a girl like her have brains? God did a pretty half-assed job of spreading the wealth.

Haruhi gave us a glare.

“Bring bug-catching nets and insect cages when we assemble. Got it? Yes. We’ll have a contest to see who can collect the most. The winner gets to be brigade chief for a day!”

Who would want that title? So any insect will do?

“Well…they have to be cicadas! Yep, this will be the SOS Brigade Cicada Hunt. The rules are…any type will do. Whoever catches the most wins!”

Haruhi was making decisions and getting excited by herself as she swung her fan around as though she were trying to catch an insect. Net and cage, huh? Think I have those in my closet. From a long time ago.

And when I finally made it back home, I realized that I’d forgotten to buy a candy apple for my sister.

The next day there wasn’t a single cloud in sight, despite the fact that I’d driven a long nail into one of those rainmaking dolls in the hopes that it would pour. The cicadas seemed quite pleased with the hottest summer day so far.

“I wonder if cicadas are edible. They might taste good if we deep-fry them. You know, I’ve been wondering. Does deep-fried stuff taste good because of the batter? If that’s the case, cicadas would work.”

Eat them by yourself.

Don’t you find anything wrong with the sight of a group of five high schoolers carrying nets and cages?

We assembled before noon and made our way toward North High in search of greenery. After all, our high school was in the middle of the mountains, so there were more than enough trees around, and forests were the ideal habitat for insects. I had believed that I lived in a fairly big city, but apparently it wasn’t as barren as I thought.

The area was swarming with crying bugs, as if every tree trunk were covered by cicadas. Plenty for everyone. Even Asahina, stumbling around while flailing with her net, was able to catch a few. The cicadas here apparently fail to recognize that humans are the greatest danger to their existence. Now would be a good time to tell them.

After catching numerous cicadas, I watched as they sat still in the cage. I have no idea how many years they’d spent underground, but I’m pretty sure that they didn’t molt so Haruhi could fry them. Besides, I’d been feeling a little guilty about the decrease in crying insects during the past few summers. Sorry about spreading asphalt everywhere. Please forgive human ignorance.

Haruhi couldn’t possibly have heard my monologue, but nevertheless, she said the following.

“You need to follow the spirit of catch and release. If we let them go, they might return the favor in the future.”

I imagined a human-size cicada knocking on the door to my house. If somebody were to come back and return the favor after being arbitrarily caught and released, he’d be as dumb as a bug. Revenge would make more sense.

Haruhi opened her insect cage and shook it back and forth.

“There! Go back to the mountains!”

Bzzz—A number of cicadas bumped against one another before flying out of the cage and soaring over Asahina, who let out an adorable shriek as she crouched down, and right past the head of Nagato, standing perfectly still, before disappearing into the sunset in spirals and straight lines.

I followed suit. As I watched the cicadas pour out, I almost felt like I was Pandora accidentally opening the box from Hermes. It didn’t occur to me to keep one for myself until the cicadas were all long gone out of sight.

On the next day, there was employment waiting for us.

Haruhi was kind enough to share this part-time job she’d managed to find. Our work for the day consisted of:

“W-welcome—” I could hear Asahina stuttering hesitantly.

“Okay, everybody line up. Ah, ah…don’t push.”

The job that Haruhi had strong-armed us into like a pushy salesman was to bring in customers at a local supermarket’s grand opening sale.

We were assembled without knowing what was going on, stuffed into costumes without knowing what was going on, and forced to promote the supermarket starting at ten in the morning.

I should mention that these were animal mascot costumes.

Seriously, I don’t get it. Why do I have to wear this thing? Isn’t it Asahina’s job to wear different costumes…? Hey, Koizumi and Nagato! You should also complain! Why are you following her orders in silence?

“Please line up. I’m begging you!”

I could hear Asahina, clad in green, stumble over her words as I sweat like a pig.

We were dressed as frogs. And our job was to hand children balloons. Apparently this was a special event that was part of the annual celebration to commemorate the original grand opening. Any customers who brought their families would receive free balloons.

Only kids could ever get excited over a little freebie like this. Hey, brat with the stupid look on your face. I’ll give you this red balloon. There you go.

Asahina the tree frog was especially popular. Incidentally, Koizumi was a black-spotted pond frog and I was a toad. We didn’t have any choice. Nagato, dressed as a Surinam horned frog, used the pump to inflate balloons for the three of us to pass out while Haruhi stayed cool indoors in her regular clothes. There’s gonna be mutiny if she’s paid the same as the rest of us.

Apparently the owner of the store was an acquaintance of Haruhi’s. He’d smiled when Haruhi walked up to him and said, “Hey, old-timer.”

After two hours of hard work, the balloons ran out and everybody besides Haruhi headed to a storeroom-like area to remove the excess garments. Now I know how it feels for a snake to shed its skin. I’ve rarely ever felt so relieved the past few years.

Nagato walked out with an aloof expression, but Asahina, Koizumi, and I were dripping with sweat as we slid out of the frog suits and remained silent for a while.

“Whew—”

I no longer had the energy to carefully observe Asahina in her flimsy tank top and short skirt.

“Good work.”

When Haruhi showed up eating ice cream, I seriously wanted to bury her up to her neck in a hot desert.

And as a finishing blow, our pay came in the form of that tree frog costume. Based on Haruhi’s nonchalant revelation, this had been her goal from the very beginning. She held the thin discarded green frog disguise under her arm as though she were a general who had just been awarded one hundred pounds of gold. Our well-deserved pay never existed to begin with.

“What’s wrong with that? I’ve wanted this for a long time. My wish has been granted. The old-timer said he’d give it to me for Mikuru’s sake. Mikuru, I’ll award you a special handmade medal. I haven’t made it yet though, so hang on.”

One more piece of garbage to add to Asahina’s belongings. It’ll probably be an armband with the word “medal” written on it.

But.

“I’ll stick this frog in the clubroom as a souvenir. Mikuru, feel free to wear this whenever you want. I give you permission!”

I couldn’t bring myself to feel angry after seeing the look on Haruhi’s face.

I was completely exhausted. After constant activity day and night between the pool, insect collecting, and sauna à la giant costume, any perfectly healthy high school boy would be on his last legs.

Thus I was sound asleep that night in a tranquil dreamland until my cell phone began to ring.

Nothing pisses me off more than being woken up in the middle of the night by a pointless phone call. It’s an unreasonable time to call other people, and Haruhi was the only person I knew who was irrational enough to do such a thing, so I was fully prepared to yell at her as I pressed the Talk button on my cell phone half-asleep, only to hear, “…Moan (sniff)…groan (sob)…”

The sound of a girl crying. It sent shivers down my spine. I instantly woke up. This is bad. I just heard something I wasn’t supposed to.

A second before I was about to toss the phone down—

“Kyon…”

I was able to recognize Asahina’s voice through the sobbing.

“Hello, Asahina?”

Don’t tell me that she’s calling to say good-bye forever. This better not be anything like the famous folktale of Princess Kaguya going back to the moon. I realized that the “present time” was only a temporary residence for her. I understood that she would eventually have to return to the future. Had the time come? I won’t accept a farewell over the phone.

However, the lovely lady on the other end of the phone continued.

“I…ah, something terrible has…sob…hic… at this rate…I, waahhh…”

She was making about as much sense as a grade-schooler with her words all slurred together. I was wondering what I was supposed to do when—

“Why hello. This is Koizumi.”

The cheerful voice of a damn man took over.

What? Why are they together at this late hour? Why am I not there? Your head will be separated from your body in five seconds, Koizumi, if you don’t appease me with an answer I can accept.

“We have a bit of a situation on our hands. A particularly difficult one, which was why Asahina contacted me.”

Before contacting me? I’m not very happy about that.

“There wouldn’t have been any point in consulting you…no, excuse me. In fact, I was also unable to provide any help. A perilous predicament.”

I scratched my head furiously.

“Is Haruhi on the verge of ending the world again?”

“Technically, no. In fact, it would be the exact opposite. As things stand at the moment, the world can never end.”

Huh? Am I still dreaming? What is this guy talking about?

Koizumi sensed my confusion and continued.

“I already contacted Nagato. As expected, she was already aware of the situation. The details will become clear if we ask Nagato. Which is why I must ask, would it be possible for us to meet up right now? Minus Suzumiya, naturally.”

Of course it’d be possible. Any person capable of abandoning a weeping Asahina would deserve to be sliced up seven times and more.

“I’ll be right there. Where are you?”

Koizumi told me his location. In front of the usual station. The SOS Brigade’s official meeting place.

And so I got changed, sneaked through the hallway of my house, and took off on my bicycle to find three shadowy figures waiting upon my arrival. The streets weren’t completely deserted, as I’d spotted a few students here and there. As a result, we were able to blend in with the crowd of fools with nowhere to go on a summer night and conduct our dubious meeting without any worries. Though I was definitely starting to nod off.

Asahina, dressed in pastels, was crouching in front of the station with a disheveled Koizumi and Nagato in a sailor uniform flanking her like a pair of decorative pine trees. Asahina must have thrown on whatever was handy because her clothes didn’t match at all. She must have been in a real panic or pressed for time.

The tallest of them apparently noticed me, as he waved me over.

“So what’s going on?”

The faint glow from the lamppost illuminated the soft expression on Koizumi’s face.

“I apologize for calling you out at such a late hour. However, Asahina is rather distraught, as you can see.”

Asahina was squatting down and sobbing like a melting snowman. She looked up at me with a tearful face and dry eyes. Eyes so captivating that I was on the verge of throwing away everything to help her out.

“Wah, Kyon, I…” Asahina sniffed before murmuring to herself.

“I can no longer return to the future…”

“Allow me to summarize. Basically, we are stuck in an infinite time loop.”

Hard to believe something so ludicrous when you have a smile on your face. Did Koizumi have any idea what he was saying?

“Of course. I am fully aware of the implications. I was discussing the matter with Asahina earlier.”

Call me. So I can be part of that discussion.

“As a result, we realized that something was odd about the recent flow of time. You should credit the discovery to Asahina. She was able to confirm my suspicion.”

What suspicion?

“That we are experiencing the same period of time over and over.”

I’ve already heard about that.

“To be precise, it would be the period from August seventeenth to the thirty-first.”

Koizumi’s words sounded rather hollow to me.

“We are currently in the middle of a summer vacation with no end.”

“We’re certainly on summer vacation right now.”

“A literally endless summer. In this world we will never see September, much less autumn. There is no future after August. That is why Asahina cannot return to the future. It all makes sense. It’s only natural that she cannot communicate with the future when the future no longer exists.”

How could the physical lack of a future be natural? Time marches on, regardless of what we do. I stared at the top of Asahina’s head as I spoke.

“Who would ever believe that?”

“I was hoping that you might believe me, since I couldn’t possibly tell Suzumiya.”

Koizumi also looked down at Asahina.

I should mention that Asahina at least tried to explain. To the accompaniment of intermittent sobs.

“Sniff, um…I normally use <classified information> to contact the future…sniff. But after a week without <classified information>, I was starting to wonder if something was wrong. And then <classified information>…I was so surprised that I tried to <classified information> in a rush, but there wasn’t any <classified information>…sob. Hic. What do I do…?”

I have no idea what you should do, but does that <classified information> work like some kind of censor?

“Are we trapped in some kind of weird world created by Haruhi? Like a real-life version of that closed space thing?”

Koizumi had his arms crossed as he leaned against the vending machine and rejected my hypothesis in a light tone.

“The world has not been recreated. Suzumiya has cut off a sector of time. The period from August seventeenth to the thirty-first. Thus, we are currently in a world that only consists of two weeks. Any point before August seventeenth or after August thirty-first has disappeared. This is a world that will never see September.”

He exhaled in what sounded like a failed attempt to whistle.

“There is a process right before midnight on August thirty-first where everything is reset and returned to the seventeenth.”

What about our…I mean, everybody’s memories?

“Those are also reset, as if the two weeks leading up to that point never happened. Everybody starts over from the beginning.”

Somebody must really love to screw with time. Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised when there’s a time traveler among us.

“No, Asahina has nothing to do with this incident. The situation is not as simple as you have deemed.”

How do you know?

“Only Suzumiya would be capable of such a feat. Or did you have somebody else in mind?”

You’d have to be delusional or a chronic daydreamer to have a list of potential psychopaths on hand.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“The matter will be as good as solved when we figure that out.”

Koizumi appeared to be enjoying himself. He certainly didn’t seem to be very worried. Why?

“I finally know the source of the strange sensation I’ve been experiencing the past few days.”

Koizumi revealed the reason why.

“You must have felt the same way. Starting from the day we went to the public pool, there have been intermittent, intense flashes of déjà vu. In retrospect, I would say that they were remnants of the memories from previous loops—for lack of a better way to describe it. We were sensing the parts left over from the reset.”

Could the whole world be feeling the same way?

“I doubt that. You and I are the exceptions. People who are close to Suzumiya appear to have a higher chance of noticing the anomaly.”

“What about Haruhi? Is she aware of what’s going on?”

“It seems that she’s utterly clueless. Though you could say that it’s better this way…”

Koizumi gave Nagato a sideways glance before casually posing a question.

“So then, how many times have we repeated the last two weeks of August?”

Nagato answered with a calm expression on her face.

“This would be the fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-eighth incarnation.”

I felt faint for a moment there.

Fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-eight. That’s over thirty characters written out, while 15,498 feels considerably smaller. Yay for Arabic numerals. I feel like offering a prayer of thanks to whoever it was who came up with the idea. This derailment only serves to show how disturbed I was.

“We have repeated the same two weeks over ten thousand times. If an ordinary person were to be aware of this loop and retain the memories from each incarnation, he would experience a mental breakdown. I believe that Suzumiya’s memories have been completely wiped clean, cleaner than ours,” Koizumi explained.

This is when you turn to the most knowledgeable person around. I checked with Nagato.

“Are you serious about this?”

“Yes.”

Nagato nodded.

So wait, we’ve already done the stuff scheduled for tomorrow in the past? Along with the Bon Dance and goldfish scooping?

“That is not necessarily the case.”

Nagato’s voice wasn’t showing much emotion either.

“Haruhi Suzumiya has not followed the same course of action in each of the previous fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-seven incarnations.”

Nagato gave me an unconcerned look as she spoke in that unconcerned tone.

“Over the course of the previous fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-seven loops, there were two instances without a trip to the Bon Dance. There were four hundred and thirty-seven instances where the trip occurred without goldfish scooping. At the moment, every loop has included a visit to the public pool. There were nine thousand twenty-five instances of working part-time, but there have been six different variations. Aside from distributing balloons, we have also been carrying objects, manning cash registers, passing out flyers, working a call center, and modeling for a photo shoot. Of those, there were six thousand eleven instances of balloon distribution and three hundred sixty instances of two or more jobs performed. The incarnations with multiple jobs can be divided into—”

“Yeah, that’s enough.”

I silenced the alien-made artificial human before putting my thinking cap on.

We’d been through the back half of August fifteen thousand four—oh screw it—15,498 times. Everything was reset on August thirty-first, and we started over from August seventeenth. I had no recollection of this happening, but Nagato did—why?

“Because Nagato, or the Data Overmind, to be precise, is an existence that transcends space-time.”

Koizumi’s smug smirk seemed a bit forced, or maybe it was just the light.

Or whatever, doesn’t matter. Moving on. I understand that Nagato and her boss are capable of such a feat. But that wasn’t my concern. This all meant that…

“So, Nagato. You’ve actually experienced this two-week period fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-seven times?”

“Yes.”

Nagato nodded like it wasn’t a big deal. Yes? Don’t you have anything else to say? Not that I can think of anything else to say. But still…

“Well, you see…”

Hold on. Fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-eight times. Multiplied by two weeks. That comes out to 216,972 days. Uh, around 594 years. She’s gone through centuries, loop after loop, just standing there and watching us impassively? How could anyone not be sick and tired of that? I mean, after 15,498 visits to the public pool?

“Man…”

My mouth remained open as my voice trailed off. Nagato cocked her head like a small bird as she stared at me.

I recalled that feeling I’d had when I saw Nagato sitting by the pool. Guess I might have been correct when I thought that she looked bored. I’d assume that even Nagato would get sick of all that repetition. She never says anything, but she might have clicked her tongue or something while no one was looking—and that was when a sudden thought hit me. I more or less understood the phenomenon we were dealing with, but I didn’t know why this was happening.

“Why is Haruhi doing this?”

“This is merely speculation.”

Koizumi gave a little disclaimer.

“Suzumiya doesn’t want summer vacation to end on a subconscious level. That is why our summer vacation won’t end.”

Because she’s acting like a little brat who doesn’t want to go back to school?

Koizumi absently traced his finger around the rim of his can of coffee.

“I would presume that she feels there still is something left to be done during summer vacation. She can’t begin the new term until that’s been done, or else she’ll have lingering regrets. And when she falls asleep on the night of August thirty-first with that gnawing regret…”

She wakes up to find that the clock has been turned back two weeks. Yeah, I’m just about ready to give up on her. I knew she was capable of doing just about anything, but this takes her lack of common sense to a whole new level.

“What will it take to satisfy her?”

“I haven’t the slightest. Do you know, Nagato?”

“I do not.”

Didn’t take her long to respond. You realize you’re the only one we can depend on here. I attempted to voice that thought.

“Why didn’t you tell us? That we’ve been engaged in an endless two-week-long waltz.”

After a few seconds of silence, Nagato’s thin lips parted.

“My job is to observe.”

“…I see.”

I already knew that, more or less. Nagato had yet to actively involve herself in any of our activities. But she got involved, in the end, almost every time. However, she’s only initiated contact once, when she invited me to her apartment. Barring that exception, Nagato’s merely accompanied us in her extremely vital position.

How could I forget? Yuki Nagato was a humanoid interface created by the Data Overmind. An organic android dispatched to observe Haruhi. There might be a safety mechanism on her ability to feel emotion.

“But none of that matters.”

What mattered was that I considered Yuki Nagato, the book-loving, reticent, petite, and ever-so-reliable classmate, one of us.

If you looked at the SOS Brigade members, Nagato had the most knowledge as well as the ability to apply that knowledge. So I had a few more questions for her.

“When did we first realize this?”

I asked this question on a whim, but Nagato answered as though she’d been expecting it.

“The eight thousand seven hundred sixty-ninth loop. Revelation has become more frequent as of late.”

“Since we are consistently finding ourselves disoriented by déjà vu.”

Koizumi seemed to agree.

“However, during those past sequences, we were unable to correct the flow of time after realizing our situation.”

“Yes,” said Nagato.

Which explained why Asahina was crying right now. Because she now knew the truth. And then, two weeks’ worth of memories, experience, and growth would be reset…and she’d find herself crying after learning the truth again.

And once again, I find myself with the same reaction I’ve had more times than I care to remember since meeting Haruhi back in spring. The same reaction I’ve had every time Haruhi created some kind of godforsaken mess. The same reaction I have right now.

What the hell.

And I’ve had that reaction 8,769 times in the past two weeks.

Seriously…

Chalk up another ridiculous conversation.

We went stargazing the next day.

The location was the roof of Nagato’s apartment. Koizumi brought a bulky telescope that he mounted on a tripod. It was around eight PM.

The sky was dark, and so was Asahina’s mood. She just stood there in a dazed stupor. This really wasn’t the time to be looking at the stars. I wasn’t in much better shape myself.

Koizumi, who seemed to have recovered his composure, busied himself with setting up the telescope with a smile on his face.

“This was a hobby of mine when I was young. I was deeply moved when I saw the moons of Jupiter for the first time.”

Nagato was the same as always, just standing there on the roof.

I looked up at the night sky, but there were only a handful of stars. The polluted air made them difficult to see. You could even say that there was no sky to see. Come winter, the atmosphere would clear and Orion would be visible, at the very least.

The telescope was pointed at Earth’s neighbor. Haruhi was peering through the finder.

“I wonder if any exist.”

“Any what?”

“Martians.”

I’d rather they didn’t. I pictured a bunch of octopus-like monsters wriggling around as they plotted world domination, and it certainly didn’t sound entertaining in the slightest.

“Why? They could be a friendly bunch. Look, there’s nobody on the surface. I’m sure they’re just a really reserved race who live in underground caverns. They’re trying to avoid scaring us Earthlings.”

The Martians in Haruhi’s head sound like residents of Hollow Earth. Can’t you make up your mind? Are we talking Pellucidar or Mars Attacks!? You’ll only make things more complicated if you combine them. Think simple, simple.

“I’m sure they have a plan to pop out and welcome us when the first manned spacecraft lands on Mars. They’ll be like, ‘Welcome to Mars, neighbors, denizens of our neighboring planet!’ I’m sure of it.”

That’d be a bigger scare. Practically an ambush. I have no idea who’s going to be the first to step on Martian soil, but we should probably warn that person. Do I address the letter to NASA?

Time passed as we took turns using the telescope to observe the patterns of Mars and lunar craters. I suddenly noticed that someone was missing and began glancing around before I found Asahina sitting against the rooftop railing and hugging her knees. She had her head bowed down and her eyes were shut. Doubt she got much sleep last night, so I’ll let her rest for now.

Haruhi had apparently grown tired of a night sky that showed no signs of dramatic change.

“Let’s look for UFOs. They’re probably targeting Earth. There must be alien scouts standing by in orbit.”

She cheerfully began turning the telescope this way and that but soon lost interest again. She sat down next to Asahina and leaned against her slender shoulder before falling asleep.

Koizumi turned to me and spoke in a soft voice.

“She must have worn herself out.”

“I don’t see how she would be more tired than the rest of us.”

Haruhi was sound asleep. I was tempted to draw on her face. Still, she looked her best when she was asleep, yeah? If only she would keep her mouth shut. If she swapped personalities with Nagato, that would be perfect. Well, a subdued Haruhi is one thing, but I can’t even begin to imagine a talkative Nagato whose moods swing all over the place.

A night breeze blew by as I watched Haruhi and Asahina sleeping side by side. Haruhi wasn’t surrendering anything to Asahina in terms of looks at the moment. Some might even rank her above. I guarantee it.

“What does she want to do?”

I sighed to myself.

“Have fun with her friends? Something like that.”

“I would assume that is the case. And we would be the friends you mentioned.”

Koizumi looked off into the night sky.

“So then, which fun activity are we supposed to engage in? This won’t end until we figure that out. We will be forced to repeat this two-week period until we determine what Suzumiya desires, which she herself does not know, and grant her wish. I suppose we should be grateful that our memories are being reset. Or else we would have suffered mental breakdowns long ago.”

Fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-eight times.

Seriously? Isn’t Nagato just trying to fool us? Quite frankly, I find

this hard to believe. Still, I could certainly see Haruhi doing something like this, since I’ve seen her power, still an unsolved mystery, do some blockheaded things without her knowing. Doesn’t matter if she’s doing something consciously or unconsciously. The end result can only mean trouble for everybody else. 

And since we continue to faithfully stick with Haruhi, you have to wonder if we’re some kind of overly nice goodwill organization. The SOS Brigade has some really good-tempered members. Though you know that the world’s gone off its rocker when I have a say in its fate.

Besides, people like to assume that the world should be a certain way to which we absolutely must adhere, but in reality, that’s just a bunch of bull that ends up tailored to different ideologies. And since they don’t realize this, we find ourselves with people who blindly force their own ideals on other people. You might want to consider how future generations will view your actions in a thousand years or so.

I was going off on a nice little tangent when Koizumi suddenly interrupted me.

“I don’t know what Suzumiya’s looking for, but why don’t we try this? Embrace her from behind without warning and whisper, ‘I love you’ into her ear.”

“Who’s supposed to do that?”

“Would anyone be more suited for the role than you?”

“I’m vetoing that idea. I pass.”

“Shall I give it a try instead?”

I had no way of seeing the look on my face at that moment, since I didn’t have a mirror handy. However, Koizumi could.

“I merely jest. I wouldn’t be able to fulfill the role. It would only serve to confuse Suzumiya.”

And with that, he began to chuckle in a grating tone.

I fell silent again as I stared up at the radiant moon, the only visible light in a hazy summer sky.

The silver disk, surrounded by engulfing darkness, almost seemed to beckon to me as it reflected brilliant sunlight. Beckon me where? Who knows?

That was all I could think about as I watched Nagato stand perfectly still and look up into the sky.

Summer wasn’t quite over yet, but our summer vacation was about to end. And yet, we couldn’t be entirely sure if it would ever end. Give me a break—seriously.

We might find ourselves going back to August seventeenth. How are we supposed to figure out what’s still “left to be done” in Haruhi’s mind?

What’s left? I haven’t touched the stack of homework that I’m supposed to do over summer vacation, but that shouldn’t have anything to do with Haruhi. Hell, she already finished her homework.

“Where are we headed next?”

“Let’s go to the batting center.”

Haruhi was carrying an aluminum bat. The same beat-up bat she’d swiped from the baseball team way back when. The really old-looking one that seemed more suited for beating people to death than for hitting baseballs. Didn’t realize she still had it.

Our brigade chief tossed back her hair as she flashed a million-dollar smile at all of us and led us to the batting center along the railroad tracks. I’m guessing that the inspiration for this came from watching high school baseball.

I’m also guessing that the brigade members are taking turns being melancholic. Right now we have Asahina, who’s either blue or looking blue. Bad news for me, unfortunately. Guess she still wants to return to her original time.

Nagato and Koizumi were more or less back to their usual selves, Noh-mask girl and smiley-face boy, as they walked behind me. They’re acting like this isn’t any of their responsibility. Could you at least pretend to look serious?

“Sigh.”

I exhaled and focused my eyes ahead on Haruhi’s black hair as it bounced around.

Ever since I met her, ever since the SOS Brigade was formed, someone had decided that it would be my job to babysit Haruhi. No idea who it was, so I’ll have to control my urge to vent, but let me say this at least.

Don’t overestimate me. I’m just your typical average Joe.

Hollow words at this point.

Asahina was a confused mess. Koizumi only ever smiled. Nagato only ever observed.

So I had to do something about Haruhi.

But what was I supposed to do?

Only Haruhi would know the answer, but she didn’t even realize there was a problem.

“Mikuru, you don’t need to swing the bat! Practice bunting. It’s not like you’re going to hit the ball if you swing. You want the ball to roll on the ground after it hits the bat. Ah, don’t pop it up!”

I guess that baseball tournament had left a lasting impression on Haruhi. Don’t tell me that she plans on entering again next year.

Haruhi was hogging the eighty-mph batting cage as she hit one fastball after another. She seemed to be enjoying herself so much that I found myself cheering up. This girl is really something. She must have a higher mitochondrial count than your average person. Wonder where all her energy comes from. If only she would use it for the greater good.

After that, Haruhi moved through her schedule so fast that nobody had time to hit the Pause button, as we were constantly on the move every day.

We even went to see a full-blown fireworks display. Aerial shells launched down by the shore. The three girls got back in their summer kimonos to be delighted (only Haruhi was delighted) by fireworks soaring into the sky before bursting into a fiery bloom, and to laugh at the failed attempts at making caricatures out of fireworks. Haruhi really enjoyed anything that was unnecessarily flashy. She had such an innocent smile when she was having a good time, and it made her look younger than her actual age, so I found myself averting my eyes. If I stare at her too long, I might get some weird ideas. Well, not that I know what those weird ideas might be. Still, I did understand the importance of dressing for the occasion.

On a different day we entered an open goby fishing contest on a river near the district border. We didn’t catch a single goby—we kept reeling in these tiny fish that I’d never seen before—so we weren’t able to participate in the measuring. Haruhi seemed to be interested in the casting motion itself, so we didn’t have to deal with drastic penalties for losing or ego battles. I was very relieved and grateful that I didn’t have to worry about anyone’s accidentally fishing up a coelacanth, leaving me to savor the lunch that had been made by Asahina, who had turned pale upon seeing the worms used for bait and run off into the distance.

By this point Haruhi and I were burned to a crisp, in sharp contrast with Koizumi and Asahina, who had used UV protection. Nagato could probably stand there for days without tanning, which was fine with me, since a brown Nagato would be a surreal sight.

And yes, I realized that this wasn’t the time to be enjoying myself.

The days flashed by as we raced along our set path.

Haruhi was full of energy. I was greatly distressed. Asahina had turned a deeper shade of blue. Koizumi’s forced smile showed that he had resigned himself to this fate. Nagato was the only one who hadn’t changed.

In retrospect, we did a lot of stuff over the past two weeks.

We were approaching the time limit. Today was August thirtieth. Tomorrow would be our last day of summer vacation. I had to do something today or tomorrow, but I had no idea what to do. Summer sun, chirping cicadas—everything related to summer was a source of anxiety. And a high school baseball team had been crowned champion while I wasn’t paying attention. Wish this could all last a little longer.

Until Haruhi was finally satisfied.

Haruhi used the pen in her hand to cross off the items on her list.

Yesterday we waited till the dead of night to head to a large cemetery with candles in hand for our last recreational event, a test of courage. There weren’t any ghosts popping out to greet us or disembodied souls floating around. The only notable highlight was Asahina whimpering timidly in vain.

“We’ve finished our list.”

It was August thirty-first, a little past noon. We were at the usual café in front of the station.

Haruhi was staring at her sheet of paper as if the location of the lost treasures of Tokugawa were written on there in pen. Her expression was a mixture of satisfaction and regret. Under normal circumstances I would have felt a similar regret, since we had only one day of summer vacation left. Under normal circumstances.

I was seriously doubting that summer vacation would actually end. Only natural for me to be skeptical. I’d have to be, after spending months in the SOS Brigade, a ridiculous organization led by an emotionally unstable brigade chief. Makes me wish I were more shallow. Able to assume the simple mind-set that it’s all good if Asahina is around…well, I’ll stop there. It’s possible to have too much of a good thing (the key is to use lingo that isn’t necessarily applicable).

“Hmm. Was this enough?”

Haruhi seemed to be wavering as she used her straw to poke at the vanilla ice cream in her cola float.

“But yeah. I guess that’s all there is. Is there anything else you want to do?”

Nagato made no response as she stared at the lemon slice in her black tea. Asahina had her fists clenched tightly above her knees, looking like a puppy that was being scolded. Koizumi merely smiled as he lifted his cup of Vienna coffee to his lips.

As for me, I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I just sat there sullenly with my arms crossed as I tried to come up with something.

“Oh, well. We managed to get a lot of stuff done this summer. We visited a bunch of places, got to wear summer kimonos, and caught lots of cicadas too.”

It sounded to me like Haruhi was trying to convince herself that we’d done enough. That’s not the case here. It’s not enough. Deep down, Haruhi doesn’t want summer vacation to end yet. She may say it, but that won’t change how she feels on the inside. ’Cause if we dig deep down, way deep down there, she isn’t satisfied yet.

“I guess that’s”—Haruhi handed me the bill—“all for today. I had tomorrow set aside in case, but you can just rest at home. I’ll see you all in the clubroom in two days, then.”

Haruhi stood up and moved away from the table as I started to panic.

I couldn’t let Haruhi leave. That would solve nothing. The two-week repetition, discovered by Koizumi and confirmed by Nagato, will enter its 15,499th iteration.

But what was I supposed to do?

Haruhi was walking away in slow motion.

That was when, out of the blue with no warning at all—

It hit me.

A completely jumbled-up “Wait, I’ve seen this happen before…” kind of thing. However, this comes with a sense of vertigo like none before. An overpowering sensation of déjà vu that’s stronger than anything else so far. I recognize this. Memories from the ten-thousand-plus times we’ve repeated this scene. August thirty-first. One day left.

There should have been some kind of hint in what Haruhi said. What was it, what was it, what was it?

“Is something wrong?”

Someone was talking. Koizumi must have mentioned something as well. Something I was worried about that I kept putting off…

Haruhi was ready to leave the way she’s done thousands of times. I can’t let her leave. Nothing will change. What methods have I tried before? Memories began flashing before my eyes. Everything our predecessors had tried…

And—everything they hadn’t tried.

No time to think. Say something. Make a wild guess.

“My list isn’t finished yet!”

I didn’t need to make a big deal about it, though. Looking back later after I had calmed down, this was the creation of another memory that needed to be erased from my hippocampus. The surrounding patrons and employees, along with Haruhi, turning around from her position in front of the automatic door, focused their attention on me.

Words came pouring out on their own.

“That’s right, my homework!”

Every person in the café was frozen by my sudden outburst.

“What are you talking about?”

Haruhi walked over while looking at me like I was crazy.

“Your list? Homework?”

“I haven’t touched my summer homework. I have to finish that before my summer can end.”

“Are you insane?”

The look she gave me implied that she thought I was. Don’t care right now.

“Hey, Koizumi!”

“Yes, what is it?”

Koizumi also appeared to be taken aback.

“Did you finish yours?”

“No, we’ve been so busy that I’m only halfway through.”

“Then we can do this together. Nagato, you too. You aren’t done yet, right?”

I didn’t give Nagato a chance to respond as I turned to Asahina, whose mouth was hanging open like a puppet’s.

“While we’re at it, I would also like Asahina to come. We’re going to finish our summer list.”

“Huh…?”

Asahina was a second-year, so her homework was different from ours, but that really didn’t matter right now.

“B-but, um, where?”

“We can do this at my house. Bring all your notes and problem sets so we can get them all done. Nagato and Koizumi, let me copy what you have done.”

Koizumi nodded.

“Is that all right with you, Nagato?”

“Yes.”

The head with a pseudo–bob cut nodded slowly before looking up at me.

“Okay. Tomorrow, then. We start tomorrow morning. We’ll make it happen in a single day!”

I pumped my fist in the air.

“Hold it right there!”

Haruhi had her hands on her hips as she stood next to our table.

“Don’t decide everything on your own. I’m the brigade chief. You’re supposed to ask for my opinion first! Kyon, it’s a serious violation of regulations for a brigade member to make an independent decision!”

And with that, Haruhi gave me a glare before shouting at the top of her lungs.

“I’m coming too!”

—The next day, the next morning.

Looks like I guessed right. I woke up in my own bed to find that the ordeal was over.

Because I could remember…That I had returned from the countryside after the Bon Festival. Going to the pool, catching cicadas, and all the other August memories involving Haruhi and everybody else. And best of all, I even remembered what yesterday’s date was.

Yesterday was August thirty-first, and today was September first.

According to my newest memories, there had been an SOS Brigade study session in my room on the last day of summer vacation. I recall being completely exhausted. When you consider the amount of effort it took to copy all the notes in one day, I can’t even imagine how much effort it would have taken to do the work on my own. I can guarantee that my vitality, energy, and spirit gauges were so low when I fell asleep last night that a single little punch would have taken me out.

Yesterday Haruhi came up to my room carrying the mountain of homework she had already finished, gave a look of disdain to Koizumi, Nagato, Asahina, and me, scribbling away with our pencils, and ended up playing with my sister the whole time.

“Don’t copy word for word.”

Haruhi was playing video games with my sister in the room, and she continued talking while jamming away at the controller.

“Like reword stuff and tweak calculations. The teachers aren’t a bunch of idiots. Yoshizaki, the math teacher, is especially tricky. He pays extra attention to those things. Though in my opinion his own solutions aren’t very elegant.”

My room already felt cramped with five people plus my sister, and then my mother kept coming in with juice or lunch or snacks to make it feel even more crowded, but Haruhi, unlike the rest of us, who were engaging in so much wrist movement that carpal tunnel was imminent, appeared to be having a pretty good time. She had such a relaxed smile on her face. The smile you see higher-ups flash at lesser beings. In fact, Haruhi was so relaxed that she started giving Asahina, who was a grade above her, pointers on the essay she was struggling with. If Asahina gets a C on her report it’ll be Haruhi’s fault….

And with those memories firmly lodged in my mind, I got out of bed.

Today was the beginning of a new term. I think.

I’ve never been so glad to see the second term begin.

After the principal’s speech in the gym and a shortened homeroom session, school was over. The current date was September first. I knew this because Taniguchi and Kunikida gave me such condescending looks when I asked them for the date when we were in the classroom.

The vendors and cafeteria weren’t open today, so Haruhi had gone off to the snack shop outside the school gate. Koizumi and I were the only ones in the clubroom.

“Suzumiya excels both academically and athletically. I would assume that’s been the case since she was a child. Which was why she didn’t consider our summer homework to be a burden at all. And there was no chance that she would ever think to share the workload with friends. Since Suzumiya is fully capable of finishing the work by herself.”

As I listened to Koizumi’s explanation, I drew a metal chair next to the window and looked down at the schoolyard. Today was the first day of a new term, so I could have just gone home, but somehow, I ended up coming here and found myself joined by Koizumi. The most unusual thing was the absence of Nagato. She didn’t let it show, but she may have been tired.

There’d been a shift in the local cicada populace from Graptopsaltria nigrofuscata to Meimuna opalifera. Summer vacation was over. That much was certain. However—

“Hard to believe it was real. That we experienced the second half of August fifteen thousand–plus times.”

“It’s only natural to feel that way.”

Koizumi flashed a cheerful smile as he cut the deck.

“At this point we don’t share any memories with the incarnations from the fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-seven other loops. They do not exist on this time axis. For we, the members of the fifteen thousand four hundred ninety-eighth time, were the only ones able to return to the normal flow of time.”

However, I had been given hints. The repeated sensations of déjà vu, especially the ones at the end, may have been gifts from our predecessors. Should I even consider them predecessors, since time was more or less a merry-go-round, like those tigers that ran in circles until they turned into butter.

Still, I am here right now because of the ones who underwent those two weeks before us. I have to look at it that way or their summers, erased by Haruhi, would have been for nothing.

Especially the 8,769 incarnations who knew they were being reset.

“How about some poker?”

Koizumi was shuffling cards like a novice magician. Guess I might as well humor him.

“Sure. What are we playing for? Don’t have any money on me.”

“No betting, then.”

And naturally, when it didn’t count, I scored an insane win. The first time I’ve ever seen a royal flush.

If I ever get an opportunity to redo this day, I’ll remember to place a bet.