- Chapter 2: The Journey -

The next day Nagato showed, and told Haruhi who she was bringing along on the camping trip.

"Tetsuya Yanami," she said.

I'd never been properly introduced to the guy, but the name rang a bell. He was a member of the Computer Society. A week or so ago, right before White Day, Nagato told me that a book she was reading had been loaned to her by him. I asked Nagato if she was into him, and she couldn't give me a straight "yes" or "no". Maybe it was stupid for me to worry just because a guy loaned her a book, but the camping trip invite was making it look more like my worries might be justified. The fact that he agreed to come made it even more suspicious. Those guys in the Computer Society don't seem like the outdoorsmen type.

"Oh, yeah," Haruhi nodded. "You introduced me to him. He seems like too much of a wimp to want to go on a camping trip, but I guess you never can tell. Okay, you can bring him."

Damn it. I thought she'd get on Nagato's case about why this guy wanted to come, or at least question what her relationship with him is. Why can't Haruhi's suspicious nature work in my favor for once?

"Mikuru! Did Tsuruya agree to come?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Actually, um, she said she wished we'd told her sooner that we were making plans, since she could have arranged for us to stay at this campsite her family owns."

"Great!" Haruhi said, apparently not hearing that second part. "Kyon, do you have that list of supplies I asked for?"

"Huh? Oh, sure." I dug it out of my bag and handed it over.

"Perfect! You've really been on top of things lately. Keep it up!"

...Huh?

"Koizumi, have you got a mystery scenario ready for the trip?"

"Hmm?" He was hard at work sewing, and looked startled by the question. "I was not aware that you wanted one, Miss Suzumiya."

"You thought we would just let a classic mystery setting like a campground go to waste?" She shook her head. "I expect better initiative from you, Koizumi."

Is today opposite day, or something?

Come Friday afternoon, we all gathered at Haruhi's house so that she wouldn't have to carry the supplies she bought all by herself. Of course, she had no problem with me having to carry the supplies I had provided all by myself. Luckily, I was able to smooth talk Taniguchi into coming by my place and helping me out. And by "smooth talk", I mean threaten to not let him come on the trip if he didn't give me a hand.

"Everyone, may I present Mr. Shingen Chisuga." Koizumi held out his hand towards a ruddy-faced boy of medium height and muscular build. He had on a camping backpack the size of a small refrigerator, and looked like he could handle it even if it were filled to the brim. It should have occurred to me before, but I was now wondering if this guy really was just a fellow thespian, as Koizumi claimed.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," Chisuga said, bowing to each of us in turn as Koizumi introduced us to him. "I am looking forward to both the camping and the fashion show."

Fashion show rehearsal, actually.

"And this is Yui!" Haruhi announced, wrapping an arm around her companion's shoulders to pull her towards us. "She's studying to be a tomb raiding adventurer!"

Yui smiled nervously. "Archaeologist, actually."

"You say toh-may-toh, I say toh-mah-toh. My SOS Brigade underlings are pretty exciting too, but you have all weekend to find out about them! Oh, and they're under orders from me to do anything you tell them."

Great.

Actually, Yui Ishigaki looked like the sort of girl it wouldn't be so bad to play servant to. Her hair was short, but straight and neatly cut, forming an elegant hood for her lively face. She had elegant cheeks, soft eyes, and a stature similar to Haruhi's, though her breasts were less prominent. Mind you, I normally don't pay any attention to Haruhi's chest, but when (as now) she was wearing a light casual shirt, it was impossible not to notice she was more than adequately developed, though I had the common decency not to stare. Anyway, Ishigaki's looks of course paled next to Miss Asahina's, but I could see why Taniguchi might be interested.

And now she and Haruhi were whispering to each other. Not in a cute, gossipy way, but in a furtive, "We have a problem here" way. Maybe she was just having second thoughts about going on a weekend trip with a danger-loving guide like Haruhi, but their whispering was making me very uncomfortable.

"Ah, Miss Nagato," Koizumi cut through the tension. "I believe it is your turn to introduce your guest."

Nagato blinked and said: "Tetsuya Yanami," without changing her pose in the least.

"That's, uh, me," the scrawny youth said, waving awkwardly. He was puny, just barely taller than Nagato himself. It wasn't just lack of physical mass, though. His whole bearing seemed to shrink in on himself. Except for his dorky mushroom cut, which seemed to just invite bullies to punch him. I watched him for some clue of what his intentions were with regard to Nagato, but the two of them maintained perfectly neutral attitudes toward each other. If I didn't know better, I'd think they were just two strangers waiting at a bus stop.

Which, in fact, is where we were headed. When Haruhi and I went to Lake Tenapa before, we'd taken my bike, but all the supplies we had this time made that impractical, so we were taking the bus. Oh, and three guesses who was paying everyone's fare. I got to Haruhi's house 20 minutes before the appointed time, Taniguchi with me, and Tsuruya after me, but I was still regarded as "late".

The bus pulled up to the stop not ten seconds after we got there. "Koizumi, pay the fare, will you?" Haruhi said as she got on board.

Wait, what?

"Oh, ah, of course," Koizumi said, looking as startled as myself. "I suppose it is my turn."

"Kyon's a bit short of money today," she explained. "We'll have him pay his penalty some other way."

...That's oddly considerate, for Haruhi. Maybe she has something diabolically creative planned for my penalty.

The SOS Brigade members mostly sat with their guests; Tsuruya with Miss Asahina, Chisuga with Koizumi, Yanami with Nagato. However, Taniguchi managed to nab the seat next to his beloved Miss Ishigaki, so by the time I got on and dumped my heavily-loaded backpack in with the luggage, the only available seat (unless I wanted to sit by myself, or next to an old man mumbling to himself) was next to Haruhi.

She said nothing as I slid in next to her. "So, what were you and Miss Ishigaki whispering about?"

Haruhi scowled. "Prying into other people's private conversations is rude, you know."

Aren't you the one who's always saying we shouldn't have private conversations at SOS Brigade events in the first place?

"Hmmph." Her expression grew more discontented. "Well, I guess I should tell you anyway, since the problem is your fault. She was saying she wouldn't have come if she'd known Taniguchi was going to be here."

I glanced over at the two of them. Taniguchi was avidly chatting Ishigaki up, while she just sat there answering in monosyllables and looking distinctly uncomfortable. At first I'd taken it for shyness, but now that Haruhi brought it up, she did seem more uninterested than shy. "So why did you let him sit with her, then?"

"We're all going to be camping together for two days and two nights. We might as well learn to all get along as soon as possible."

"Seems sensible." Even so, I turned my eyes back towards the front of the bus. Watching Taniguchi completely bomb out was too much for my sympathetic nature.

"It's still a nuisance. And don't think you can talk your way out of taking responsibility."

"How could I possibly be responsible? No one told me she had a problem with Taniguchi." Not that I was really surprised, given that he'd repaid her Valentine's Day obligation chocolates with love chocolates on White Day. Any girl would find that at least a little creepy. But having just recently gotten on Haruhi's good side, I wasn't going to accept responsibility for any mistakes if I didn't have to.

Haruhi folded her arms. "You should have known he would be a problem. Look at the way he carries on. He's an idiot."

"Hey. I don't call your friends idiots, do I?"

"Of course not, because they aren't idiots. You'd have to be dumber than your friend over there to call someone like Yui or Tsuruya an idiot."

Good grief. "That's not the point. If you go around telling everyone that their friends are idiots, they'll get offended, and then before long you won't have any friends of your own."

"Well, obviously. I don't go around telling everyone that their friends are idiots, just -"

She suddenly shut her mouth.

"Just what?" I prodded.

"Forget it. You'd just misunderstand."

Well, that certainly made things less comfortable. I wondered if Tsuruya would be willing to trade seats.

"Go ahead and ask her."

I blinked. "What?"

"Go back there and ask Tsuruya if she wants to trade seats with you. I'd like to catch up with her anyways."

Did I really just say that out loud, or is Haruhi a better mind reader than I thought? "I, uh..."

"Just go already. You shouldn't say you'd rather be with someone else if you aren't planning to actually go and be with someone else. That's the difference between being courageously honest and despicably rude."

Alright already. I got up and headed back to where Miss Asahina and Tsuruya were sitting.

As soon as I left my seat, though, something utterly bizarre happened: I started to regret my decision.

It wasn't that I didn't want to sit with Miss Asahina. In fact... I wanted to finish my conversation with Haruhi. I wanted to tell her that if she wanted to sit with Tsuruya, then she should get up off her butt and work out the seat exchange herself, because I wasn't budging. And then maybe bicker with her a bit about her calling me "late" when I was 20 minutes early. Not knowing what sort of crazy rebuttals she would have come up with was frustrating, like never being able to see the ending of a favorite anime.

Too late now, though. Turning back and retaking my seat would be hugely awkward, and knowing Haruhi she wouldn't stand for such fickleness anyway. I reached the happily chattering girls and cleared my throat. "Um, Miss Tsuruya? Haruhi was wondering if you would trade seats with me. She'd like to catch up with you."

"Oh, yeah?" Tsuruya grinned, and elbowed Miss Asahina. "I guess we haven't had a good long talk in a while. How about it, Mikuru? Would you be okay with me abandoning you here with Kyon?"

"Hmm?" Miss Asahina was smiling dreamily. "Oh yes, that's fine!"

Tsuruya hopped out of her seat and, giving me a wink, said in a voice that wasn't nearly quiet enough to not be overheard by Miss Asahina, "Take good care of her, sport."

Right. I sat down next to our clubroom angel. We smiled at each other. "Are you looking forward to the trip?" she asked me.

"Oh, uh... yeah, sure." I couldn't pay too much attention to what she was saying. I was too busy looking at her. See, that common decency I mentioned before was a lot harder to practice with Miss Asahina. She was wearing a white blouse with buttons at the top which were all done up, but spaced out far enough that the slightest bit of slack would cause the two sides of fabric to part and yield a gaping hole revealing the feminine glories beneath.

What made it all the harder to resist temptation was that, while Haruhi would have beat me senseless if she ever caught me peaking at her assets, Miss Asahina seemed to either not notice or not care. "I'm still a little nervous about the fishing," she said. "But I guess I need to learn to overcome my fear of things like that. Otherwise, how can I ever be brave in the face of real danger?"

"Uh huh..." The two of them seemed outright too big for her body. It was really quite astounding.

"The fashion show is what I'm really looking forward to. We came up with some great designs. I can't wait to see what our guests think of them!"

"I'm afraid you won't get much of a baseline reading when you're modeling them. You look amazing in just about anything."

She didn't look flattered by the compliment. "No, it's only since Miss Suzumiya took over my wardrobe that I've looked particularly good in anything. In the era I come from, women's clothes are much more modest."

Huh. The elder Miss Asahina never seemed all that modestly dressed. Then again, she was probably wearing 21st century clothes so that she wouldn't stand out.

"And the North High uniform..." She closed her eyes. "It's never suited me the way it does Miss Tsuruya and Miss Suzumiya. Really, I've never heard people say I look good in anything until Miss Suzumiya started picking out my clothes."

"That's crazy. You're the most beautiful girl at North High. Just ask Taniguchi." Of course, if she really did walk up to him and ask him that, especially in front of Miss Ishigaki, he'd probably flip out. But that could be fun to watch.

"That's... that's nice of you to say." This time she looked down and blushed. "But that's not what I mean. It's, um... It's not a question of my looks of themselves, but the way they... compliment or clash with certain clothes. I mean, you could say I'm pretty while I'm wearing my North High uniform, but you wouldn't say that I look good in my North High uniform." She paused, seeming to run her words back in her head. "Did that make any sense?"

"Absolutely." Actually, I was too busy watching the way her breasts shifted when she looked down and looked up again to give what she was saying much thought. I'm not ordinarily a creep, but that space between her buttons was just too much to ignore.

"Anyway... um... It's nice to see your friend paying attention to other girls."

This time I managed to elevate my eyes from her cleavage to her face. In all fairness, her face was pretty pleasant to look at too, but believe me, I was sincerely trying to be a civilized human being here. "Oh, yeah... I guess usually when I bring him along, he spends most of his time ogling you. Not that I blame – ah, I mean..."

"It's...It's okay," she flushed. "He was never a bother, it's just... Sometimes it feels like I have boys staring at me all the time."

"Yeah, that can be annoying..."

It seemed I just couldn't get past the awkward turn the conversation had taken. But then, I suppose that's how it always was between me and Miss Asahina: both of us nervous and blushing like crazy. It was uncomfortable, but that was the way it was supposed to be between a boy and girl who liked each other, wasn't it?

Thinking of it that way made me feel a bit calmer, not only about myself and Miss Asahina, but about myself and Haruhi. I'll admit, I'd been worried a bit about Koizumi's suggestion that this trip was a way for Haruhi to relaunch a romance with me. This reminded me of exactly why that idea made no sense. Haruhi and I were never awkward talking to each other. Even when we first met, before I found out how bossy and unscrupulous she was, talking to her always felt easy and natural. We never made each other feel shy, or embarrassed, or turned on. There was no tension between us whatsoever.

Miss Asahina, on the other hand... I couldn't even bring myself to reach over and hold her hand. That's how nervous I was.

"I've been wondering about Mr. Chisuga," she was saying. "My superiors haven't told me anything about him. Do you think he really is just a friend?"

"Who knows?" I shrugged. "...Actually, I could just ask Koizumi who he is. Koizumi's not the most forthright guy, but he's always honest with me about who the people working with him are, like the Student Council President."

"Mmm... You think so?" Mikuru lightly touched her chin with an index finger. "I've always found Koizumi a little too secretive. Nagato's people are difficult to deal with in their own way, but at least they don't deliberately hide things from us."

Hold it. "Koizumi deliberately hid something from you? What?"

"Classified information."

Right. Well, anyway, it wouldn't hurt to ask Koizumi about Chisuga.

I ventured a glance over at Nagato and Yanami. They were behaving themselves so far; Nagato was just reading a book she'd brought, and Yanami was quietly dickering on a laptop. Not a word passed between them.

Still, Nagato wouldn't have invited him along unless they had more interesting interactions with each other. I needed to keep an eye out for it. Nagato was smart, but she didn't have experience in human relations. It would be all too easy for an unscrupulous guy to take advantage of her.

"Last stop!" Haruhi bellowed as the bus scraped to a halt. "Everybody off!"

A number of passengers turned and stared at her in understandable confusion. The fact that there are people in the world other than her and her underlings (people who might, say, be getting off the bus at other stops) sometimes eluded Haruhi.

Fortunately, aside from the SOS Brigade and their invited friends, no one was so confused as to actually follow Haruhi off the bus. We grabbed our packs and headed for our final march into insanity.

"This way, everyone!" Haruhi extended a finger as though pointing to the peak of Mount Everest. "It's just a mile or two to the campgrounds!"

My feet are aching already.

As we started walking, Taniguchi came up alongside me. "Hey, does she actually have any idea where she's going?"

"She's been there before," I answered, then changed the subject before he could inquire further. "Why aren't you still talking to your crush?"

"Hah! I'm taking a break. You may enjoy sitting in front of Suzumiya all day, hanging out in her little club after class, and doing whatever you two do alone after that, but us normal humans like to have time away from our girls now and then."

"Believe me, any time Haruhi allows me to take a break from her, I seize the opportunity." I wasn't fooled by Taniguchi's excuse either; Ishigaki had probably managed to ditch him. As we spoke she was pulling close to Haruhi. Smart move. Taniguchi was too afraid of Haruhi to try hitting on Ishigaki in front of her.

"Oh, yeah?" For once, Taniguchi looked like he was reconsidering something. "Maybe that's your problem. You and Suzumiya don't spend enough time apart from each other. If you had, the two of you would have gone all the way by now."

Taniguchi was obviously thinking I have a lot less control over my hormones than I do, but that aside, I had to admit he had something of a point. I still remembered how wonderful it was to hear Haruhi berating me again after I restored the world to normal (or rather, changed it back from normal to weird). And since then, it had rapidly become harder and harder to keep in mind that I do actually like Haruhi. Maybe having her in my face day after day made it harder to appreciate her, just as her disappearing for three days had made it easy to appreciate her.

It probably worked the other way around, too. Haruhi had gotten a lot happier since I first met her, but she'd also gotten more irritable and annoyed with me. Her attitude towards me had definitely improved when I woke from my coma, and again when I gave her her White Day present, but in both cases she'd gone back to being annoyed with me after just a few days. And just now, she'd told me to go sit with Miss Asahina instead of her. Maybe, even though she was the one who forced me to be around her a lot, Haruhi was fed up with having me always around.

Wait. Maybe...

"A little distance is especially important at this phase," Taniguchi continued to rationalize. "When you're getting to know a girl, you've got to keep a little mystery around yourself, you know? You want her to be curious and asking people about you."

Trust me, you do not want Ishigaki hearing what other people have to say about you.

...Agh, dammit Taniguchi, you made me lose my train of thought. Where was I? ...Maybe distancing is the real reason for this trip. More specifically, the reason Haruhi had each of us bring a friend. Having twice as many people gives more of a buffer between us, more of an opportunity to spend time with other people. It's not a bad idea, honestly.

Haruhi is looking to reboot our relationship, but not the way Koizumi thought.

Fortunately, Taniguchi seemed to have quieted down and was just focused on walking (and occasionally groaning) for the time being. I couldn't help but notice that while the others were mingling with the whole group, Nagato and Yanami continued to stick with each other. They still weren't talking (Nagato continued to read her book as she walked along, while Yanami was playing a game on his phone) but that just made their sticking together all the more ominous. If they weren't even having a conversation, why did they need to be so close?

I didn't approve of Nagato's attire, either. She was wearing shorts and a flimsy, summery blouse with ruffles, and sleeves which left her shoulders bare, despite the fact that this was technically still March. Granted, it was a pretty warm and sunny day... Haruhi's doing? Now that I thought about it, SOS Brigade activities had never been rained out. But if Haruhi were controlling the weather on a regular basis, wouldn't that screw up the climate to the point where Koizumi would be concerned? Maybe she could get away with it on special occasions, though. Anyway... The point is, Nagato's outfit was a little too flirty for her to be wearing in the company of a male friend.

What had been going on during Nagato's visits to the Computer Society? I wish I'd been more inquisitive about that.

Meanwhile, Ishigaki was whispering something to Haruhi, who responded by turning and giving me sour looks.

Great. Ordinarily a little argument like the one we had on the bus would be forgotten two minutes later, but now Haruhi has friends to tell her how completely wrong it is for me to say things like that to her. Now she'll probably be throwing that argument in my face for weeks to come.

I mean, I'm glad Haruhi has been making actual friends. Really, I am. I just wish they wouldn't talk to her about me.

For that matter... I wish they'd give me a hand with the gear. My shoulders are killing me.

A half hour or so later, I was about ready to fall to my knees from exhaustion. It would also be a good position from which to pray to Kwannon for some relief from this hell. Not that I actually believed in Kwannon, but Haruhi might be amused enough by the spontaneous display of spirituality to let me just rest there for ten seconds or so.

On top of having to lug two tons of camping equipment on my back, the blessing of the day's sunniness became a curse as I was forced to trudge under its unrelenting heat. I was willing to bet that my shirt was permanently plastered to my back from sweat.

Infuriatingly, though Taniguchi, Koizumi, Chisuga, and Haruhi were also carrying camping equipment, I was the only one who looked on the brink of collapse. Haruhi was cheerful and hadn't even broken a sweat, but you can chalk that up to the fact that her bag wasn't half as loaded as mine. Naturally the brigade leader couldn't be a common pack mule. The same went for Koizumi, except that he was sweating a little and his default smile was looking strained. Taniguchi and Chisuga, though, I just couldn't explain. They were straining, certainly, but they weren't giving up.

I was, though. "Ugh," I grunted, squatting down for a breather.

Not on Haruhi's watch, of course. "Come on, Kyon. No slacking off now. We're almost there."

Could have sworn that's what you said 20 minutes ago.

"No, I said we were just a short ways from the campsite. Which we were."

Right, stupid me for reading into things. But almost there or not, my body is out of gas.

"The problem is you don't believe in yourself." She thrust a finger forward. "But you're wrong! As brigade chief, I make it my business to know my subordinates' capabilities. You can do this, Kyon! I know you can! Now get back up and show us all what you're made of! Up! Up!"

Good grief. Fine, I'll push myself to the point of collapse, just so you'll stop with the motivational speeches. You can blame yourself for ruining the camping trip by making me faint from exhaustion.

Like a fanciful illustration of mankind's evolution, I rose from my slouched position and strode forward.

"See, I knew you could do it!" Haruhi grinned with the brightness of a hundred suns. "You're a rugged, tireless warrior! Why do you always pretend to be so weak?" She turned her back to me and resumed her trek, still smiling.

I would have been flabbergasted at this unusual show of praise from my slave driver, but I had something even stranger to be flabbergasted about. It was like I had gotten a second wind, but it was beyond any second wind I'd ever gotten before. The brick-weighted pack on my back suddenly felt like nothing. It was as if someone had just emptied out everything but the disposable chopsticks. It didn't even matter anymore what Haruhi's definition of "almost there" meant; I felt like I could go ten more miles with this thing on my back.

It was crazy. The sort of thing I would have once explained away, reasoning that it was my change in mood which seemed to make the pack lighter. But now that Haruhi was a fact of my life, the amazing and the ridiculous became possible. I thought of how Koizumi said that Haruhi's powers seemed to get wilder in response to positive emotions. She certainly seemed to be on a surge of positive emotion right now. So I wondered. Could Haruhi's powers have reduced the weight of my backpack?

If so, not a big problem of itself. But if this kept up... on a trip with several SOS Brigade outsiders present...

I had the bad feeling that this weekend I was going to be run ragged covering up Haruhi's supernatural shenanigans.