Okay, so you must thinking, "Finally, it's here!" Well, I'm currently thinking "Finally, it's done!" Anyway, we'll finally find out what's going to happen Saturday. I hope you enjoy the chapter. I've wanted to do this one for quite a while.
BTW, the music monster referred to in this chapter comes from the drama CD, Sound Around. I recommend that you listen to it. You can find a translation of it on YouTube.
Chapter 13
Okay, you're probably wondering where the hell we are right now. Actually, it's likely impossible that you've been wondering that, as you'd only just found out that we're anywhere. What's more likely, however, is that you're wondering who I was referring to when I said "we".
To answer that first, I'm currently standing next Koizumi and Nagato. And as for the question of where we were…that was a little harder to explain. Was it closed space? Well according to Koizumi and Nagato, no. At least, this place didn't remind me of any closed space I had seen before.
I guess if I had to describe it, I would say that it's the storeroom to the grocery store…except it's not. I don't know; it was weird. Everything in it had a bluish tint to it, including myself, Koizumi and Nagato. And it was all fuzzy, like looking at a poorly taken photograph. I had briefly looked at my hands. They were so blurry that I couldn't make out the lines and bumps on my palms, but if I touched my hand I could feel them. Nagato and Koizumi were equally blurry to me as well.
Anyway, none of this is important because, unfortunately for us, we were not alone. On the other side of the room we were in, there was the anomaly Asahina-san had told me about the other night. And it looked every bit as dangerous as her warning had foretold.
What exactly was the anomaly? Well, it's going to be a pain to describe, but I'll try. I guess the words that summarize it best would be a tentacle beast, but that would likely give you the wrong idea. It wasn't one of those tentacle beasts. There was more to it than that. It had numerous red eyes that floated about inside its body, some of which would move up and down its tentacles. The dark slits in each of them dilated and shrunk in an almost pulsating fashion. It also had countless mouths, each of which would also move randomly around its body. Some were attached to the ends of the tentacles. All of them had sharp, pointed teeth. There was one mouth in particular, though, that stood out the most. It was the largest one, and it was directly in the middle of the monstrosity. Unlike the other mouths, this one seemed to extend out, as if it had a pair jaws. It had no tongue, strangely enough. It did however have a row of sharp, jagged teeth on the top and bottom, chaotically arranged in a way only something as disgusting as this thing would have. In no way, shape or form did this thing even come close to anything from normal reality. Strangely, it was the one thing within this space that wasn't blurry.
"Think it certainly fits in with the kinds of thoughts Suzumiya-san san must've had when she created this thing," said Koizumi. "It truly is a creature of pure chaos."
Chaos, definitely describes this…thing in every imaginable way.
"Suzumiya-san must've put all of her negative, chaotic thoughts into the form of this entity and sent it over a week ago to this location. Perhaps, subconsciously, she thought it would be better contained within the confines of this space rather than inside her mind where it continued to wreak havoc in her psyche."
What else could we expect from Haruhi? Everything she creates or is otherwise involved with is some kind of horrible, nightmarish creature. First, there were the blue giants that wrecked closed space. Then we have the camel cricket thing that Haruhi helped accidentally wake up from hibernation. Then there was the giant music monster that was making us have that stupid song she created stuck in our heads. And now, this thing…
Why can't Haruhi ever create something cute, fuzzy, and cuddly for a change? Sure, I know it's not her style, but just once I'd like to meet up with one of her creations and not feel like my life was in imminent doom.
"So…all we got to do is kill this thing and we're done, right?" I asked, definitely losing a bit of my nerve.
"Yes…" responded Nagato.
"Very well," said Koizumi. "I suppose it's time that we got this over with. It would be nice to have this whole mess we've been through come to an end." He then created one of those reddish balls of energy that he seems able to weald in these places. "I could access enough of my powers here to transform, but doing so would be very inefficient."
"Just kill it already!" I yelled as I began to back off a bit behind the both of them. The two of them were the picture of complete calmness during this whole event.
In the back of my mind I had to think, however. Why couldn't this have been a normal mystery?
To explain what I meant about that, I'd have to back track to the beginning of today. To my very fortune, I was once again able to wake up again without the "assistance" of Haruhi. I quickly got up and made my way into the bathroom. I looked into the mirror once again to check the progress of my healing. When I discovered that my black eye and bruises were completely gone, I couldn't help but have mixed feelings about it. Sure, it was great to look normal, but the ability to feel so damn refreshed in the morning was definitely something I was going to miss. Good bye, nano-machines. You've done your job well.
After taking my shower, I exited the bathroom and quickly got dressed. I tried to find something close to professional to wear, but when I remembered that we were nothing more than a high school "club", I realized that it was probably best not to overdo it. I settled on a yellow shirt with short, blue sleeves and a pair of blue jeans.
When I exited my room, I found Haruhi just getting out of her room. I noticed she had very slight bags underneath her eyes as she yawned while heading towards me.
"Good morning, Haruhi. How are you feeling?"
"Anxious," she said while rubbing out the sleep from her eyes. "I barely slept at all last night."
"That's too bad."
She narrowed her eyes at me when she realized I was already set to go. "Obviously you don't seem all that worried. Looks like you slept like a baby."
Oh I was worried all right. I was up most of the night too, but thanks to Nagato, I didn't need a full night's sleep to be rested.
Haruhi pointed a finger directly at my face. "I mean it when I say that I want you to take this one hundred percent seriously. You should behave like your life depends on solving this mystery."
The sad thing is that it literally does. Even if it doesn't look like it, I had planned to take this very seriously.
Haruhi took a deep breath and walked past me. Just before she entered, though, she looked back at me one last time. "Oh, and Kyon. I want you to wear your armband during this meeting. I ordered all my Brigade members to wear them while we try to solve this mystery."
"Sure thing." As ridiculous as the armbands were, I guess I was okay with wearing mine if everyone else had to as well.
So now, every one of the members of the SOS Brigade had finally arrived. Haruhi had decided to have the kotatsu set up in the living room during the meeting (Which meant that I had to be the one to carry it in there). Haruhi sat at the end of it, as expected. Koizumi and I sat on one side and Asahina-san and Nagato sat on the other. Everyone was wearing their own armbands, even Nagato, whom Haruhi had just made an armband for today. Down the line we had Haruhi the Supersleuth, Koizumi the Vice-Chief, Asahina-san the Deputy Vice-Chief, myself as Brigade Member #1, and Nagato as Brigade Member #2. There was one other thing I had to mention. Koizumi had arrived wearing an extremely formal suit to the occasion. Dammit, he's such a kiss ass. It really pisses me off.
Oh and there was one other person sitting with us as well. And that was Naru-san. She sat next to Asahina-san and near Haruhi. While sitting near the kotatsu, I could see her fidgeting with excitement. It looked like she could barely contain herself. If it were possible for people to spontaneously explode, I would have been running from her for sure.
Haruhi was a bit uncomfortable with her mother sitting with the rest of Brigade. "Uh…mom?"
"Yes?" spoke Naru-san, responding within a millisecond after Haruhi spoke. Her innocent smile was a clear indicator that she was unaware that she was kind of out of place sitting with us.
Haruhi stared at her mother for a second before sighing in exasperation. "Never mind…" Perhaps she didn't want to ruin everything by upsetting her mother, or maybe she just didn't have the heart to break up her mother's enthusiasm.
And enthusiasm was definitely something Naru-san had a lot of. "I can't wait for this meeting to start! I hope this turns out like one of those detective mystery novels! Maybe we'll solve a burglary or a murder! Oh, and I want one of those armbands! Can I have one? Can I have one?!"
No, Naru-san. Burglaries and murders are things best left to the police. And we've already had two fake murder mysteries that we've solved. I'd rather not have to do another one. And I highly doubt Haruhi is going to give you an armband.
Naru-san then turned towards Asahina-san. "And just look at her! She's adorable!" Naru-san then went and grabbed Asahina-san and gave her a huge hug. "She's cute and sweet and soft and huggable!" She then began to shake Asahina-san back and forth, causing Asahina-san to whimper nervously, obviously not the type that likes being touched by people she didn't know. Nevertheless, staring at the two of them like this…it's…too much moe, too much moe, too much moe, too much moe, too much…!
I felt a foot suddenly hit my leg, and I was forced to regain my train of thought. I looked at Haruhi, who was giving me a nasty scowl.
Naru-san eventually released Asahina-san and turned to Koizumi. "And look at you. You're so charming and handsome!"
"Well, thank you very much, Naru-san," said Koizumi while rubbing the back of his head modestly. "I must say that I find you equally charming and beautiful, as well."
Naru-san giggled from the praise she received. She then leaned forward to get a look at Nagato. "And even she is a cutie. So quiet and mysterious. Oh wow, I had no idea everyone in your club was so handsome and pretty!"
Everybody? Does everybody include me?
I felt another kick to my shins. "Ow, what the hell?"
"Quit day dreaming, Kyon!" yelled Haruhi with a finger in my face. "We're here to work, not goof off!"
Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason why you kicked me.
"By the way, when's the client getting here?" I asked.
Haruhi looked at the clock on the wall with a bit of worry. "He should be here any minute. I just talked to him half an hour ago."
By the way, in case you were wondering, Oruki was standing off to the corner of the room, watching us like a hawk. He had his arms crossed and was leaning back against the wall, indicating that he was prepared to scrutinize every detail that came out during this whole meeting. If he found even the slighting thing didn't seem right, he would pounce like a leopard on his prey. He was also starting to look impatient. Man, he was bothering the hell out of me.
Fortunately, the door bell finally rang. Haruhi forced me to answer the door.
"Good morning, Morimura-san."
Morimura bowed graciously when he saw me. It had been raining today, and so he had to put away his umbrella before entering. "Thank you so much for your time. You have no idea how much I appreciate it."
"No problem. Although I'd save your appreciation until after we solve the mystery."
Morimura-san nodded his head while I took his coat and umbrella. "I truly hope you can. You're my last hope."
You've got to be kidding me. I mean, who in their right mind would come to us if they're in a situation that desperate?
When Morimura-san entered the living room, Haruhi had every one of the other Brigade member stand up as well as herself. They all gave a polite bow as she greeted him. "It's good to see you again Morimura-san. Please make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?" I was reminded once again as to how formal and polite Haruhi usually was around most other adults.
Morimura-san shook his head. "I'm fine, thank you."
"Kyon, go get some drinks for the rest of us."
Of course your majesty. I got up from the table and walked to the refrigerator. I collected a few cans of soda and made my way back to the living room. While doing so, I passed by Oruki.
"This better be good," he said.
I smiled back at him. "You'll see."
After I had given everyone a can of soda, Haruhi addressed Morimura once more. "If you don't mind, could you introduce yourself to those of us here who don't know you?"
Morimura-san nodded and began to introduce himself. "My name is Kiyosumi Morimura. I own a grocery store down town. I met Suzumiya-san and her friends a while ago when they came to me looking for a sponsor for their movie. She told me about her club and that she wanted to promote it with a film during her school's culture festival. I told her I would be happy to as long as they helped promote my store."
Which was why Asahina-san was forced to stand outside the store wearing that skimpy bunny girl costume in the movie. As embarrassing as that was, I couldn't help but have wonderfully fond memories of Asahina-san wearing the wonderful costume. Wait, better focus before Haruhi kicks me again.
Haruhi picked up and pen and notebook. "So tell us what the problem is."
Morimura was sighed in obvious despair before he started. "It all began last Friday."
Oh great. It figures. Dammit, I hate it sometimes when I'm right. My eyes quickly darted to Asahina-san. She gave me one of those slightly nervous looks, a clear indication that what she told me two nights ago indeed had something to do with this. Joy…
"I had just received a new shipment of produce that I was planning to sell the next day. I had everything placed in the storeroom in my store, ready for when I would put it on display for the next day. However, when I returned the next day. I found that the entirety of all my produce had spoiled."
Haruhi blinked in surprise. "Spoiled? In one day? How spoiled could produce possibly get in one day?"
"It was as if they had been sitting in there for weeks. I don't get it. They were perfectly fine when I left."
Haruhi chewed on the end of her pen for a bit, trying to envision what may have happened. "Did you order another shipment of produce?"
Morimura-san nodded. "I did later that day. When the produce arrived the next day, I was sure to stay to see what might have happened." Morimura-san swallowed hard before continuing. "It was horrible. I watched as my produce literally rotted away right before my eyes. Within hours, it was completely ruined."
Everyone in the room was silent. I tried to envision what the sight of food rotting before one's very eyes would look like. No doubt it must have been a very disturbing sight.
Haruhi continued her battery of questions. "Have you had anyone inspect your storeroom?"
"Yes. I've had pest control inspect it last Monday. I also had it inspected for any other possible contaminants the day after. Neither inspectors were able to determine the cause of the problem. They were completely baffled."
"Have you talked to your supplier?"
"I have. They didn't appear to know anything. They insisted that there was nothing wrong with the produce they were shipping me."
"Were you able to contact anyone else that also received produce from your supplier?"
"I knew of one other store that also received produce from them. I contacted them to find out if they too were having problems with their produce. They told me that they weren't having any problems with their produce at all."
The more we heard about what was happening, the more bizarre this mystery became. What the hell could cause someone's produce to rot away within hours? I had a suspicion that it had something to do with whatever this anomaly Asahina-san told me about the other night. Of course, I had to pretend that I didn't know anything. I looked at Naru-san, who appeared completely engrossed with what was happening. I then looked at Oruki, who appeared rather impressed with how his daughter was handling herself. That's a pretty good sign.
"Was there anything else that was affected? Such as your meat."
Morimura-san shook his head. "No. All of my meats, canned goods and other non-perishables were completely unaffected. It's only the produce."
"This is weird," said Haruhi as she lied down on her back to think, pen protruding out of her mouth. She moved her lips about while she lied there, causing the pen to move about in random directions. She suddenly sat up again when she thought of another question. "Have you contacted the authorities yet?"
I was beginning to wonder when she was going to ask that question. Why come to us rather than the police?
Morimura-san put his hands on his face before answering. "I can't do it. If I did, the entire public would find out about what's happening, and the reputation of my store would be ruined. I've already been struggling to compete with the Wal-mart that opened a couple years ago, and I haven't been able to have my store open since Saturday. If this keeps up, I'll lose everything." I could see now that he was on the verge of tears. I couldn't help but feel really bad for him. He was the victim of unfortunate circumstance. "You're my only hope. If you can't figure it out, I'm done for."
The room was silent again. I looked at everyone for their reaction. Naru-san and her husband appeared incredibly intrigued. The other three Brigade members remained silent, as if they were trying to feign reflection. I had a feeling that they already knew what might be happening. Haruhi, however, was definitely in deep reflection. She continued to mull over the details while randomly doodling something on her notebook. Eventually, she put her pen down and looked at Koizumi. "What do you think? You have any ideas?"
Koizumi put his hand under his chin, giving the impression of deep thinking. "This is certainly quite a bizarre mystery. I'm having a hard time figuring out what could possibly cause produce to decay so quickly. I think we should consider the three most likely candidates for what could do this. It's either something bacterial, fungal, or chemical in natural."
"What bacteria or fungus could cause fruits and vegetables to rot in only a few hours?" I asked.
"True, so our best guess at this point is that whatever is causing this is in fact chemical in nature."
"But Morimura-san here already inspected the place for chemical contamination, right?" asked Haruhi.
"That is also true, but we cannot be sure that whoever inspected the storeroom did their job properly. It is entirely possible that they overlooked something. Unfortunately, we cannot know for sure unless we investigate the storeroom ourselves."
"I agree," said Haruhi as she began to get up. "We can stay here and make useless guesses and conjectures all day, but we'll never get to the bottom of this until we go to the scene of the crime itself."
What crime? We don't even know if it's a crime yet.
Haruhi turned to Morimura-san. "Is it alright if we all go there?"
After Morimura-san nodded, everyone began to make their way outside, being sure to grab their coats and umbrellas since it was still raining. Haruhi, Asahina-san and I went into Oruki's car with himself and his wife while Koizumi and Nagato went in Morimura-san's car. I was forced to sit in the back seat in between Haruhi and Asahina-san. The car wasn't huge, so it was very cramped with the three of us. This meant that I was in very close contact with the both of them, and I'd be lying if I wasn't enjoying it a little…never mind that.
Shortly after we left, Naru-san spoke, her voice still ringing with enthusiasm. "Oh my, this is turning out to be way more exciting than I thought it would. I can't wait to find out what happened!"
Haruhi had a look of sudden confidence on her face. "I bet I know what happened. It must be a massive government conspiracy. I bet the government created some secret chemical agent design to destroy crops and thus cripple the food supply of the enemy!"
Why the hell would the Japanese government create anything like that? We haven't even had a military since World War II.
"Somehow, some of this chemical agent must have gotten into Morimura's store by negligence or maybe even purposeful intent!"
"Of course!" yelled Naru-san while pounding her right hand onto her left palm. "That has to be it! It makes perfect sense!"
No it doesn't. That's not even remotely plausible. If this was the American government we were talking about, maybe, but how would something developed by them make its way to some lowly grocery store in the middle of Japan. Please tell me you thought of this.
"Stupid, Kyon!" yelled Haruhi. "Work with me here. There must be some kind of explanation!"
I looked at Oruki. He continued to drive, acting like his wife and daughter hadn't said a thing. You just tune this out, don't you? I bet after all these years of listening to the both of them, it doesn't even faze you anymore. Or maybe you're just better at hiding your exasperation from their ridiculous statements than I am.
Eventually, all of us finally arrived at the store where the whole mess was happening at. Morimura let us all inside and lead us all to the storeroom in the back. Even before we entered the door, we could smell the horrific stink of something rotten. When we finally went through the door, we saw a large pile of completely rotten produce. The smell was overwhelming.
"Oh man, it stinks!" yelled Haruhi while holding her nose.
Every one of us with the exception of Nagato were holding our noses to reduce to horrible scent from entering our noses.
"I'm very sorry for this," said Morimura-san. "But I thought if I left the produce lying here, it might give you a clue as to what may be causing it to rot."
What possible good could come from subjecting us to this awful site and smell? It's almost too much to bear.
We began to look around the storeroom for anything that might look out of order. The storeroom was quite cool, so it seemed unlikely that faulty refrigeration was the cause of the rotting. That wouldn't account for the food rotting so fast anyway. We tried to find any other possible indicator of what might cause the food to rot, but we couldn't find anything.
It was then that Haruhi came up with an absolutely wonderful idea. "Kyon, I want you to dig through that pile of produce to look for clues."
"What? Are you kidding me? Forget it!"
"Are you disobeying a direct order from your Brigade Chief? You will go in there and dig through it right now, or you will receive a penalty so great it will make hell itself cringe from it!"
"But what if there's something in there that could make me sick or worse?"
"All the more reason why you must be the one to do it. You're nothing more than a bottom feeder in rank."
"Isn't Nagato the same rank as me? Why can't she help?"
"You would dare let a lady go through something that disgusting? What kind of man are you? Where are your balls?"
Realizing that I wasn't going to get out of this, I hung my head in defeat as I slowly approached the god-awful mess in front of me. I slowly reached my hand out and picked up a piece of lettuce…at least I think it was a piece of lettuce. I wasn't so sure now that I thought about it. I looked it over quickly and then tossed it to the side. I then went and picked another…thing.
Haruhi grew impatient with my progress. "Quit being a baby, Kyon! Just dig your hands in there and really start looking! No more excuses!"
I swear to the heavens that one of these days I will get even with you, Haruhi. Even if it's the last thing I do.
I looked at the pile one last time before closing my eyes, taking a deep breath, and plunging both hands into it. Oh my god is this the most disgusting sensation ever. It's even worse than when I had to clean the gutters a week and a half ago. I had to hold my breath since I couldn't hold my nose during all this. I turned towards the others to see their reaction while I was doing this. Everyone except for Nagato and Oruki were showing mild signs of disgust as I continued to dig into this crap. Oruki himself was actually chuckling while he watched me suffer. You're enjoying this, aren't you? You really are a sadist.
I knew from the beginning that there was no point to this. All I was doing was covering my hands in slime and gunk while my clothes got ruined. It was when I got my hands on a tomato that I started to lose it. I watched as its insides oozed out from its skin in a brown, fetid liquid. I couldn't hold it any longer. I began to gag, and I quickly had to rush to the closest garbage can and hurl. I spent the next minute completely unable to move as I continued to puke into the garbage can. Eventually, I was at the point where I was dry heaving as there was nothing left to puke out. It was only after finally stopped heaving that I spoke again. "I can't do this anymore."
Haruhi huffed a bit after I spoke. "Fine. It doesn't look like we'll find anything of value in there anyway."
How wonderful that you had to wait until I was reduced to this before you finally moved on.
Haruhi eventually decided that a proper investigation of the storeroom meant that we had to remove everything out of the storeroom, including all of the meats, canned foods and anything else not currently contaminated. This of course meant that I had to once again work my ass off. I was only given enough time to clean my hands and mouth off before I was once again forced to carry everything out.
"Why can't Koizumi help me?" I asked with a grunt as I carried a box of cans out of the room.
"You see how well dressed he is," said Haruhi. "I can't in good conscience make him work and ruin his suit."
Man I'm really starting to hate you and Koizumi right now. I am now completely dead set on the fact that solving mysteries is no longer fun. I hate this crap! I hate it!
Okay, so maybe I didn't really mean that, but right now I was really starting to lose my patience with all the abuse I was taking today.
While I was slaving away clearing the storeroom, Asahina-san began to complain to Haruhi. "Suzumiya-san, it's really stinky in here. I can't take it anymore."
"That's okay, Mikuru-chan," said Haruhi as she opened her purse. "I have something I want you to do while we wait on Kyon. I want you to go to the closest store you can find and buy an apple, okay?" She then handed Asahina-san a five-hundred yen coin. Asahina-san nodded cooperatively and hurried off, likely to escape the smell as soon as possible.
It took me almost an hour to finally clear out the storeroom. By the time I had finished, Asahina-san had finally returned with the apple in hand. Haruhi took it from her and placed on the shelf. "I want to see for myself what would happen if we brought in a fresh apple from another store. I had a hunch that it's probably something in the storeroom and not previous contamination that is causing the produce to rot. If I'm right, it shouldn't take long before this apple starts to become mushy, too."
"That's a wonderful idea, Haru-chan!" praised Naru-san. "You really are so incredibly smart!"
I was actually quite surprised to find that Koizumi hadn't praised her first, but when I looked at him, I noticed that he no longer had a smile on his face. I waited until everyone was distracted watching the apple before I approached him. "Is something up?"
"Yes," said Koizumi, trying to keep his voice low. "I wasn't able to pick it up at first due to the overpowering smell of the decaying produce, but now that my senses have adjusted, I've been able to pick up something else. This room has a smell to it."
"Like close space? Or that other place where we met the camel cricket?"
"It's different from either. I have a feeling Nagato-san might know more."
I turned to Nagato, who was standing close by. "Is that true?"
"Yes…"
"What's going on?"
"Multi-level data disruption."
"What?"
Koizumi moved closer to me, coming far too close to my face. "I think it's best that we try to get the others out of here before we continue on."
That great, but could you tell me that without getting so close to my face. You'd think that by now that you would've figured out that I hate it when you do that!
"Look! It's happening!" yelled Haruhi while pointing at the apple. Just as she said, the apple was already showing signs that it was beginning to rot away. It was showing small brown spots that were growing with every passing minute. Watching this, combined with everything that Koizumi, Nagato and Asahina-san had told me, there was no longer any doubt that whatever was causing this rapid decay was supernatural in origin. I had to think of a way to get Haruhi, her parents, and Morimura-san out of here so we could do something about it.
"Um…Haruhi?"
"What is it, Kyon? Do you know something?"
"I was thinking…do you think it might be a good idea to check out the supplier as well?"
"Why should we have to?" asked Haruhi as she pointed to the apple which still continued to rot. "It's obvious that whatever is happening to the produce is coming from this room."
"Yes, but it still may be possible that the original contaminant came from the supplier. I was thinking that you should probably go down there and question the people in charge of the place. I know you're good at getting answers from people. Maybe they know something that they just didn't want to tell Morimura-san."
Haruhi had started to stare at me suspiciously until Koizumi intervened. "I have to agree with Kyon-kun. We cannot conduct a proper investigation without also checking up on the supplier."
Haruhi thought over what we had said before finally deciding. "Excellent idea, Koizumi!"
Hey, wait a minute. It was my idea.
"I'll go down to the supplier and see if I can get those guys over there to talk." She then grabbed Asahina-san. "Maybe I can bribe them into talking by offering Mikuru-chan's body to them!"
Asahina-san whimpered in fear at the thought of being used as a bribe. "B…but…I…"
"Sounds good," said Koizumi. "Myself, Nagato, and Kyon-kun will continue our investigation here. We'll keep you posted if we find anything."
"Okay," said Haruhi as she then walked up to Morimura-san. "Can you lead me to the location of your supplier?"
Morimura-san nodded compliantly. "Absolutely. I'll drive you there myself."
"Great!" yelled Haruhi as she began to drag Asahina-san out of the store. "Let's go!"
"But I don't want to offer them my body!" screamed Asahina-san uselessly as Morimura followed the both of them outside. I'm sorry, Asahina-san. At least, you won't have to face whatever it is that's causing all these problems for Morimura-san.
I then went up to Oruki. "I think it might be a good idea if you followed them. I'm worried your daughter might get herself into trouble."
Oruki narrowed his eyes at me before he shrugged. "Whatever." He then began to walk out of the store. "Let's go, Naru-san."
Naru-san pouted in disappointment. "But I want to stay here."
"We'll come back later. I'd rather not have my daughter get herself thrown in jail or something."
Naru-san sighed deeply before listening to her husband's orders. She and her husband finally left the building, leaving only Koizumi, Nagato and myself left in the building. I breathed a sigh of relief when everyone was gone. That was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
I then turned to Koizumi and Nagato. "Care to explain what the hell is going on here?"
Nagato was the first to speak. "I have detected multiple disturbances in the data layers between standard analog and super-analog."
I stared at Nagato for a minute, completely lost after hearing what she said. "What?"
Nagato continued her explanation. "The disturbance between these layers have caused a corruption of all objects within the area that contain large amounts of cellulose. The cellulose inside all of the plant matter inside this room has broken down into its most simple components, causing the plant matter to rapidly decompose."
Can I get that in laymen's terms?
As usual, Koizumi was happy to take the role as Nagato translator. "I think what she's trying to say is that whatever is contained within this room exists in a form that's not detectable to us, but is fully capable of interacting with objects within this room. For whatever reason, it seems to have an affect on the cell walls contained in every cell within all plant matter. When the cell walls for the plant are destroyed, that result is the rapid decay of the plant. Since all produce are derived from plants, they too are affected."
"Okay, but what the hell did she mean when she said 'standard analog' and 'super-analog'?"
Nagato once again spoke. "Multiple layers exist between the analog and digital spectrum."
"Ah, I understand now," said Koizumi.
What did you understand?
"What Nagato-san is trying to say is that reality in our world exists in several different spectrums. The ones we are most familiar with are analog and digital. For example, we ourselves and everything we can see exist in the analog spectrum, while other objects and lifeforms exist in the digital spectrum, such as those data lifeforms we came across a few months ago or even the Entity that Nagato-san herself serves. Nagato-san herself is in fact a halfway point between the two. She is a being that exists in both the analog and the digital spectrum simultaneously. However, there are deeper layers on both spectrums than analog and digital. Moving further along on either side, we come across what are known as super-analog and super-digital spectrums. Am I correct?"
"Correct," said Nagato.
"Excellent," said Koizumi before continuing. "Anyway, whatever it is that we're dealing with, it is every bit as invisible to us as the digital lifeforms that we dealt with before, but the properties of this lifeform are very different. For example, I remember that the data lifeforms were strongly attracted to lifeforms such as dogs, attaching to them and causing them to become ill. Perhaps this super-analog lifeform is attracted to plant matter in the same way. Do you understand?"
Nope. Didn't understand a word you said. You may as well have been speaking Latin to me.
"Forget the explanation," I said. "Is there anyway you can just freeze whatever it is that is killing off the produce, Nagato?"
"No," responded Nagato. "I was designed to be able to interact with digital and analog data. I cannot interact with super-analog data without converting this space, including ourselves, into super-analog. After conversion, we will have to deal with the lifeform in a more direct manner."
So we're going to have to fight this thing, huh? Well it's a good thing you two are here.
"Conversion from standard analog to super-analog will takes some time. May I begin?"
It appeared Nagato was asking if I was ready, perhaps remembering the last few times she went and messed with stuff that I kinda freaked out. How very courteous of her.
Before I could answer, though, my cell phone went off. I picked it up to find that it was Haruhi.
"What's up?"
"I wanted to let you know that we're almost to where the supplier is."
"Okay, is that all?"
"No, there was something else. My parents aren't following us anymore."
At first, I became worried when she said this. "Do you know what happened?"
"I watched as my dad turned the car around and drove off. He then called me on his cell phone and told me he'd seen enough and that he was going home."
I sighed deeply in relief when I heard that. "Really? Does that mean we're off the hook?"
Haruhi sounded unsure. "He didn't say. I'm not sure what he was thinking."
I'm just glad that he's out of the way. I'm sure Naru-san was disappointed to have to leave before the mystery was resolved. "I guess all we need to worry about now is solving this mystery."
"Yup. We're here now. I'll call back soon if we find anything."
"See ya," I said as I shut the phone. I almost felt bad for the people who worked for the supplier. I already knew by now that all Haruhi was going to do was make their lives miserable.
I looked at Koizumi and Nagato. "Haruhi's parents went home. Sounds like we convinced them."
"That's good to hear," said Koizumi. "Now all we have to do is deal with whatever is inside this room while we still have time. We need to finish this before Suzumiya-san returns."
"Right," I said as I looked at Nagato. "Go ahead and do whatever you need to do. I'm ready."
With that said, Nagato put her hand out and began to chant. As always, the things she was saying came out with such blinding speed that it was impossible to make out what she was saying. Despite this, it took almost a minute before she finally finished doing whatever it is that she was doing. All of a sudden, a bright, bluish light overtook us, and I was momentarily blinded.
Fast forward to where we were now. The three of us stared down this disgusting mess of tentacles, mouths and eyes, preparing to face off against it…or at least those two were. This "super-analog lifeform", which shall henceforth be referred to as "The Tentacle Beast", stared us down with growing hostility. Not wanting to find out what this thing was capable of, I was quick to voice my desires to Koizumi, who was way too busy talking.
"Just kill it already!"
"Very well," said Koizumi as he launched the ball of energy into the air and smacked it as it came down. I still maintained the belief that it was a really stupid attack. "Fumoffu!" The ball of energy shot forward like a missile, smashing into the creature with tremendous force. The explosion hit it with monstrous impact, leaving a large dust cloud. After about a minute, the dust cloud settled, revealing that the creature was in fact completely unharmed.
"It's more resilient than I had anticipated," said Koizumi, still looking ever so calm.
The Tentacle Beast responded to the attack by transforming six tentacles into what appeared to be insect-like legs. The legs smashed into the cement below, cracking and penetrating it. It then began to lift itself off the ground with those legs. Finally, the mouth in the center gave an absolutely deafening roar that shook the ground around us. The only conclusions I could make out of this was that it was pissed and about to attack.
It was then that I heard a voice scream out. "What the hell is that thing?!"
I paused to try and figure out the source of the voice. It wasn't Koizumi and it definitely wasn't Nagato. I know I didn't say it. Who the hell said it then? I noticed both Koizumi and Nagato had turned their heads toward something behind us. I then turned around to find a site more frightening than even the monster we were facing.
No…NO! It can be! That's not possible! How did they get in here?!
Before me, standing right at the door to the storeroom, were both of Haruhi's parents…
It's official…I'm evil. Oh so incredibly evil. And I love it!
Perhaps I should take a break for a week before writing the next chapter, just to mess with you guys.
Just kidding…or am I?