Chapter Five
Great Big White World
The rest of the flight was uneventful, except for Asakura and Koizumi pressing me to apologize. Twenty minutes before we landed, we got into the winter gear that was provided for us. Thermal shirts, thick pants, heavy jackets, boots and goggles were passed around, surprisingly everyone found something that fit. I really wish all this stuff wasn't necessary, it's a pain to put on. And everyone has the same rusty orange color. Bleh! After landing, I swallowed another piece of gum as we all filed out of the plane and waited for the chopper Haruhi said would arrive.
Dear god it was cold! If Jack Frost were to nip at my nose any harder, it would fall off!
Everywhere I looked was nothing but snow, it was a blank, white void.
There was nothing of interest to be seen, except for the small station and a few other buildings in the distance.
The cold oblivion around me got me so bored that I started to reflect on my journey so far, but all I could think of was that little outburst I had with Haruhi. I felt guilty for yelling at her over the whole ear piercing thing, Miss Asahina had apparently wanted her ears pierced and Haruhi even payed for it! That was incredibly generous of her, I should feel guilty, I bet I just cut her off from developing a really pleasant personality...
I braved the cold and went to go talk to Haruhi. placing a hand on her shoulder I said, "Hey Haruhi-"
"I'm Tsuruya, silly Kyon!"
oh my mistake. Everyone looks the same when their bundled up in all this stuff.
I found her this time and began to apologize,
"Hey Haruhi, I'm sorry about earlier" that's all I said, what more do you want? A poem? It was good enough for her, so back off!
"Huh? Oh, that's fine, it was a misunderstanding. Dammit it's cold out here!"
You're telling me. Wait, did you just accept my apology?
"Yeah, don't worry about it, you were right okay? Can you get off my case now?"
I backed away a foot.
"Yeah, sure, so when's the chopper coming?"
Haruhi pointed at the white horizon at a black dot coming closer to us.
"That answer you're question?"
Yep.
I left to go talk to Koizumi and the other espers, something just didn't seem right about all this.
"Hey do you guys notice anything weird? Something seems off."
"I don't sense anything, I'm afraid"
"Oh, well I guess that's a good thing huh?"
I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he wasn't smiling.
"No... you misunderstand, I don't sense anything at all, not even Miss Suzumiya's emotions"
"Mister Arakawa, Miss Mori, is that true for you too?"
Mr. Arakawa didn't say anything but nodded his head, that's the thing about these two, their kind of like Nagato and don't really say much unless they have to.
"I'm afraid so" Miss Mori said.
"Kyon?" Asakura and Nagato were right behind me.
Don't sneak up on me like that!
"I'm sorry I scared you, but my data manipulation abilities aren't working either, I'm afraid I'm powerless..."
What could she possibly mean? Why aren't anyone's powers working?
"the powers of everyone present are being suppressed due to the southern pole's strong magnetic fields, however, powers may be restored temporarily at random intervals depending on the intensity of the magnetism"
Of course something like this would happen. I hope we don't run into any danger... I don't think I can be reliant on Nagato for it. Surely her powers wouldn't be effected like Asakura's though?
"What about you, Nagato?" I asked nervously.
"My abilities are severely limited"
Damn! I bet Miss Asahina can't contact her superiors either, she'd probably tell me if she could get away from Tsuruya.
"So what do we do?" I asked.
It was Koizumi who answered,
"I'm afraid I don't know, wait it out I guess"
I don't have much faith in that answer, but We've always come out on top when situations look grim.
The helicopter had finally landed and it was packed, this many people should never be able to fit in one! I was squished between Asakura and Koizumi as Haruhi handed the pilot the coordinates for wherever the hell it was we were going. It seems like she got all the info she needed in the mail. This is all way too convenient...
Asakura looked out the window in wonder at our frozen Hell as the pilot got ready to pick up. She looked as if she had never seen so much snow before.
I watched her for a few moments, she seemed so innocent, but I've been fooled by her before.
I'll be nice to her, but I won't be letting my guard down any time soon...
A few minutes had passed by and the blades began to rotate faster and faster, I guess they have to warm up before the chopper could get going.
I really wasn't feeling very secure. Flying again was bad enough, but being so packed that people had to sit on the floor just couldn't be safe!
I looked towards our mysterious pilot, who was wearing a helmet and turned away from us, so I never really got a good idea of what he looked like.
"Hey pilot!" I yelled over the sound of the engines.
He didn't say anything but handed me a headset, I guess that's how people communicate over this god-awful racket.
I was greeted by a low rough voice that took me by surprise,
"Just call me R.J. So what's up?"
"Well I was wondering, R.J., Is it really safe to have this many people in here?"
R.J. Pressed a few buttons and the chopper took off into the frozen wasteland.
"don't worry kid, I've handled heavier things in this bird, everything will be A-ok!"
Well he's awful cheery for somebody who works in this miserable place.
"If you say so" I took the headset off and handed it back to him.
You might be wondering how I could talk to him at all, on account that he speaks English. In Japan, they teach us English as a mandatory class, don't know why, that's just what they do. But damn is it convenient to know a second language sometimes.
It was then, that I noticed a frightened look on Koizumi and the other espers, Koizumi tried to tell me something but I couldn't hear him over the chopper blades.
This can't be good.
Koizumi pulled out his phone and began texting something. As he showed it to me I felt my heart sink.
It said:
The pilot isn't real! He's a projection from Miss Suzumiya's powers!