Disclaimer: No disrespect is intended with the posting of this story. Situations and characters are property of Nagaru Tanigawa, and are used here without permission. His stuff; we're just borrowing it for a wee bit. Additionally, some tinting (characters and settings) are borrowed from Higurashi, which is the property of Ryukishi07; the gaggle of cousins that appear are covered by the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Note: Takes place after novel eight and ignores novels nine through eleven. Welcome to a divergent AU! This is not a proper crossover; just using some established characters due to laziness.
After Haruhi's dismissal, I go home and am too irritated by the amounts of homework that are building up to think about much else. Other than the welcome distraction of helping my little sister take care of her own homework, there wasn't anything else to worry about, anyway.
Thinking those thoughts, my eyes pass across the cover of the book Haruhi had expected me to read.
Lucid dreaming, huh? I admit some vague familiarity with the concept, thanks to internet searches in distant years -- right next to astral projection as something interesting, but which I expected most normal people could not accomplish.
I have to wonder, though ... if I could control my dreams, would that mean that I could reshape the dreaming world as I saw fit? Just like Haruhi could reshape the waking world, though doesn't know it?
A strange thought....
I awaken the next morning remembering no dreams whatsoever. Strangely, that's almost my first thought upon waking: to wonder what I'd experienced in my subconscious mind. In other words, I find myself emerging from the cocoon of sleep and immediately wondering if I'd missed something.
For this reason, I attempt to burrow back into my bedding and chase the elusive spectre of slumber. The dreaded little-sister-elbow-drop crushes that hope, leaving me grumbling and contemplative until I leave for school. I remember so few of my dreams anyway, I shouldn't be surprised....
Really, I didn't feel I had any other options to discuss when Haruhi mentioned dreams. Was it maybe ... too much? Mostly, I felt like I had to test to find out if she still remembered, since it was the only real 'dream' related topic I felt we had in common. It was a gamble that she wouldn't call me on that final detail, though.
Haruhi can be difficult to read, but I feel I've developed something of an understanding of her moods. I'm not positive, but I suspect that she still remembers, too. Certainly, I'd be treading on dangerous ground if I told her the last piece. Even so, for a heartbeat, I thought she might call my bluff and ask how it ended. I'm not about to forget that any time soon, and it seems that she isn't, either.
Those thoughts occupy me until I reach the bottom of the hill leading to school.
I begin the Sisyphean trudge up the slope, burdened only by the stone of wondering why Haruhi isn't more upset about things. As if my thoughts of Greek figures summoned the wrath of their legendary gods, a messenger of despair appears by my side. He accompanies me on the walk and shows none of the effort I put into it, keeping up with me without a trace of strain.
"Koizumi," I greet him, grudgingly, when we reach a corner and need to wait for the signal to change.
"Good morning," he says brightly, glancing around to ensure no one is too near once we cross the street with the light. When he's confident that no one's in earshot he remarks, "It's strange ... but Suzumiya-san does not seem to be as agitated as I would expect over your announcement."
"Maybe she's growing up a bit," I counter, frowning.
It's not like Haruhi hasn't shown increasing maturity as time has gone on -- really, I have to confess that my greater annoyance is that I finally established a plan for a Brigade activity that wasn't crazy, only to find out I couldn't even participate. It's fairly rare when my ideas make it to being genuinely considered by our chief, so achieving another 'win,' and not even being there to see the results?
"Or maybe she'll use the time I'm gone to devise some 'more interesting' plan," I sigh, a little disappointed at the thought she'd forget about it without me there.
"Possibly," Koizumi allowed. "All the same, I think it would be for the best if you were to focus on your assigned task. Even if you cannot succeed, surely Suzumiya-san will expect some record of your efforts?"
I sigh once more and tug at the collar of my summer uniform, grateful at least that this week I haven't had to wear the heavier winter gear in the warming sun.
When I don't say anything, Koizumi continues, "Even though I give that suggestion, I must agree with the concept of Suzumiya-san calming down lately. It has been some time since there was an incident requiring my intervention, for example."
I didn't ask, Koizumi. Though I suppose, thinking about it, I am actually a bit glad for the esper that he doesn't have to put up with that so much anymore.
"Well, thank you, but it was never truly that bad-- As I've told you before, the primary difficulty was simply getting to the place where the closed spaces appeared."
"Well, there's that, at least," I agree, relieved to have defeated the hill once more.
After an otherwise unremarkable day of class, I turn around to see that Haruhi's already storming out the door without a backward glance. I suppose that means she's preoccupied with something, but with the Brigade not meeting, my feet find themselves flowing like water along the path of least resistance.
After avoiding Taniguchi and Kunikida, I clear the school gate, enjoying the much easier down-hill walk. Almost immediately around the corner of the gate, however, I spot a pair of familiar heads of hair.
"Asahina-san, Tsuruya-san," I call in greeting, waving at the duo.
"Haha, Kyon-kun!" Tsuruya-san chirps as I catch up. "Good to see you!"
"Hello, Kyon-kun," Asahina-san echoes more faintly, both of them turning me bright smiles.
The thought of asking Asahina-san for help on this, and then the memory of what her usual answer is.... To say nothing of the upperclassman at her side, anyway. I don't really know what Tsuruya-san knows, but best not to give anything away.
"You looks like you've got a question!" Tsuruya-san adds, smirking knowingly, her eyes piercing right through me, like Haruhi's gaze sometimes does.
"Eh, well," I mumble, looking away, unable to meet that stare for long. "It's nothing important," I deflect, shaking my head with a rolling shrug of my shoulders.
"Is that so?"
Then again, there's no real reason to hide this, so I admit: "Well.... Haruhi's got me trying to learn lucid dreaming, but as far as I can tell, the first step is to remember your dreams. I don't often remember mine, so ... I suppose I was just wondering if you two often remember your dreams?"
"Er, um," Asahina-san begins, looking suddenly flustered. "That's cla-- Um, I mean, secret...."
The girl at her side doesn't skip a beat. "Me? Well, only sometimes!" Tsuruya-san says brightly, bobbing her head energetically. "Hm! The last time I had Mikuru overnight, I dreamed about--"
"T-Tsuruya-san," Asahina-san protests, her face flushing crimson.
Tsuruya-san's grin widens, and she grabs onto Asahina-san's arm, holding her tight as she continues, "I dreamed about smoked cheeses! A whole worlds made of nothing but delicious smoked cheeses, just like in that story I wrotes for Haru-nyan!"
"Ah," Asahina-san frets, looking inexplicably ashamed at this, her ability to protest somehow restrained by Tsuruya-san's semi-embrace.
I can't help but wonder what it's about, and Tsuruya-san's grin widens even further as she gleefully exclaims, "And when I woke up, my pillows was gone!"
It's impossible to keep from laughing at the fanged upperclassman's jokes, even one this simple, so a chuckle escapes me while Asahina-san looks even more embarrassed.
"True story!" Tsuruya-san adds, waggling her eyebrows. Then, releasing the other girl's arm, she leans closer to me and in a conspiratorial whisper adds, "Mikuru stole my pillows in her sleep~!"
"Augh," Asahina-san whimpers, one hand covering her face as she blushes even more deeply. "I-- I didn't mean to!" she whimpers. "I'm so, so very sorry, Tsuruya-san! I...it was an accident!"
The grinning upperclassman belts out a laugh and shakes her head as quickly as she had bobbed it -- whipping her hair around her in a green cloud for a moment before it settles. "Don't be!" she cheers. "It's a great story!"
Then, even Asahina-san begins to laugh. Then we're all pretty much unable to speak, and it takes effort to keep my eyes from tearing at the hilarity, thinking of that story that Tsuruya-san wrote. After a minute of that, we reach the corner where they will turn away to reach Tsuruya-san's home.
"Ah, but--" Tsuruya-san pauses to chuckle again. "Don't worries about it, Kyon-kun! If Haru-nyan thinks you can do it, I'm sure you cans!"
"Thanks," I manage belatedly, waving to the pair.
"Don't forget to study, too, though," she says in a friendly tone, giving me a wink before she turns away. "I had to quits the calligraphy club for more study time, this years! Take care, Kyon-kun!"
"Y...yes, good luck, Kyon-kun," Asahina-san echoes, giving me an abbreviated bow, still blushing a bit from Tsuruya-san's teasing. "Um, I think you'll do just fine!" she adds, before passing beyond earshot.
And with that, most of my worries are alleviated.
When I awaken the next morning for both a half-day of school -- and the trip out to the country -- I find I am immediately searching my hazy recollections for a dream. The last thing I remember is wondering if I'd remember my dreams before I drifted off to sleep.
Then, naturally, my little sister uses the less lethal blanket-strip-away maneuver. I get up before she can follow it with a more martial technique, and she giggles and runs away, leaving me in the cool morning air. At least it's not as frigid as it was just a few short months ago.
This is why Spring is my favorite season, generally.
I spent most of the last night doing my homework and packing for the trip, so today's lethargy is more justified. Even so, I hasten to school, eyeing the Olympus-like summit of the dreaded hill once more. Today's task feels somewhat less Heraculean, thanks to the lack of someone at my side showing no effort at the pace--
Until Nagato rounds a corner, blinking at me once before falling into step at my side.
I glance at her sidelong, stopping further up the street at the same corner where Koizumi caught up to me yesterday. The temptation to ask her for an additional reassurance is resisted, barely. It's seemingly in reach, but unlike Tantalus, I don't grasp for it; instead, I reflect back to how I had resolved to rely on her less.
That thought in mind, I say, "Good morning, Nagato."
She turns a cool gaze toward me, and after a heartbeat, gives a single nod of agreement.
"Are you looking forward to the vacation?" I ask, as the light changes and we step into the crosswalk, surrounded by the small crowd of other students on their way to class.
After a pause, she allows, in her tiny, almost inaudible voice, "A little bit."
Well.... "Did you have anything planned for your day off, before the Brigade's trips start?" I prompt.
"Not really," is her quiet response.
"Hmm." I can't really like the thought of not participating, somehow. It's strange, but I think I've been involved in more activities with that group than Haruhi has. Given that, why should it bother me that I'm the one excluded this time?
Except that thinking about it, I have to admit how much I'd rather be with them than being stuck in the country. One shouldn't think of their family in such a way, but that is the source of my accursed nickname, and my once-beloved 'nee-chan' isn't there anymore.
A morose sigh escapes my lips instead of a triumphant cry when we crest the hill, and the school gates appear before us. Nagato blinks at me, but says nothing -- so I offer her a mild smile and a shrug.
What else can I do?
With a half-day of lessons to ignore and, and things to think about, I realize what it is that I can do. When the chime to end classes sounds, I'm prepared, and charge out straight after Haruhi, startling her when I pace her for a few steps.
She stops and skids to a halt, her shoes sliding across the floor as she slips a bit, managing to regain her balance flawlessly and shooting me a hooded gaze. "Well?" she prompts, when I don't say anything immediately, trotting slightly past her for a more sedate stop.
For some reason, as Sakanaka is passing us, she giggles, shaking her head like she knows something I don't.
Since the other departing students are watching us, I shake my head irritably. "You should know that when I'm out in the mountains, cell phone reception is really bad," I tell her. "I thought -- if there was an emergency, or something -- you might want the phone number for my aunt's place."
A hint of some unreadable expression flickers across her face briefly, but she unhesitatingly whips out her cell phone, pummeling it for a few moments before thrusting it into my hands. "Where the heck does your family live, anyway?" she grouses, as I accept the device and program in my aunt's number. "The depths of Hokkaido?"
"It's still on Honshu," I say, a bit defensively, confirming the entry and handing Haruhi's phone back to her. "It's a place called Hinamizawa. Near the north end of the island, but definitely on this side of the Tsugaru Strait, in a valley not far from the slopes of Mt. Iwaki."
"At least Hokkaido would be interesting in being remote," she grumbles. "So-- Say I do call for an emergency? What's this aunt's name, anyway?"
"Sonozaki Mion," I answer. "It's also possible you'd get my uncle, Sonozaki Keiichi."
"Alright," she allows, nodding. "Hey, walk with me and tell me about this place a bit?"
"I--" I check the time on my own phone and wince. "I have to run," I apologize. "If we miss our train, my parents are going to kill me!"
For a heartbeat, she looks like she's ready to reach out and grab my tie to hold me in place, but she restrains herself. Shaking her head as I dash away, she shouts after me, "At least take good pictures, or something!"
That chases me out of the school, and then I hustle home as quickly as I can. I remembered to pack, of course, but for all my foresight, my little sister did not plan so thoroughly. When I get there, my parents are running around, trying to gather things up. Little sister, naturally, hasn't even gotten the first articles of her clothing ready.
"Help me, Kyon-kun!" she demands, as I set down my own bags. Miyokichi -- her family is staying in town, and taking care of Shamisen for us -- stands in the hall holding our cat. He watches in seeming amusement, saying nothing as my little sister grabs my wrist and begins hauling me into her room.
I help get her bags down from the closet, and then help her pack -- a little.
I may be her older brother, but my responsibilities have limits, and there are some things that I just won't do. Specifically: "Pack your own underwear!"
She pouts, looking toward Miyokichi for support. The more maturely behaved girl (even though they are the same age), shakes her head slightly, looking apologetic. Her pout only increasing, my little sister goes to pack her own underthings, while I retreat from such matters to handle my own luggage.
Thinking about recent events, I remember at the last minute to send my sister to my room to retrieve the book that Haruhi insisted I read, seeing as I'm burdened with bags for the pair of us already.
I'm too preoccupied handling all the luggage to do much beyond ensuring nothing is lost, leaving my sister to look deceptively cute and remain idle. Despite a vague sensation of being watched at the train station, I don't actually see anything except my younger sister giggling at something she must have thought was funny.
Well, in any case ... farewell for now ... Nishinomiya.
Still being myself, given the choice between working on my homework on the train, or following the Brigade chief's latest assignment, well....
I don't think she can complain that I did my Golden Week assignments first. I learned a lesson about putting it off last year during the summer break, so ignore my mother's far-too-pleased encouragement, and my father's joking suspicions that I've been replaced by some sort of doppelganger.
If it weren't for Haruhi's help studying, I wouldn't have been able to do it. Considering the annoyance of our transfers, moving from train to train.... Nearly eight hours after we started our trip, when we leave the train stations behind, I'm done with my homework.
It's late, we're tired, and we get to enjoy another two hours in a cramped bus, not actually reaching the stop nearest Hinamizawa until near midnight. My little sister is asleep, carried by my mother as my father and I split the luggage between us once we disembark.
Fortunately, it's not far from the bus terminal to the parking lot, and from there my uncle greets us with a huge grin. "Heya!" he calls. "I'm sorry Mion-chan couldn't be here; the kids couldn't stay up this late, and she's watching over them."
"That's fine, An-chan," my mother says quietly, shifting the slumbering little sister in her arms. "We're just worn out from the trip."
"Always taking the late bus," Uncle Keiichi chides my mother, opening the doors to his car and then taking my sister from her arms as my father and I load things into the trunk. At this point, even though vacation has officially started, I haven't begun working on Haruhi's assignment. The bus didn't have good lighting, and most of the ride to Hinamizawa I was dozing off.
Once we make it to Aunt Mion's house, Uncle Keiichi escorts us inside, my little sister waking up enough to fumble her way into a futon in one of the guest bedrooms. I set her luggage down and stagger into my own guest bedroom, too tired to even think of dreaming.
For a change of pace, I'm woken not by my little sister, but a flood of cousins -- not just Aunt Mion and Uncle Keiichi's children, but some of their friends', as well. This means I get the full course -- the deadly blanket-strip-away (and it is colder here in the mountains), the dreaded excited-cousin-tackle-grapple, and probably the most dangerous hazard of them all--
"Kyon-nii-sama!"
--my aunt Rika's nine-year-old daughter and her crush on me.
I couldn't possibly have troubled nee-chan like that, could I?
It's a chilling thought; almost as cold as the mountain air in the room.
Aunt Mion pokes her head through the doorway as I blearily sit up and blink the sleep from my eyes. She can't help but chuckle at the sight of her children -- the twins, Naota and Makoto -- as they manage to drag my unresisting form clear of the futon. Matsuri, Aunt Rika's daughter, is the one who's glomped onto my leg with her best attempt at a death-grip, her dusty purple hair shadowing her eyes as she looks up at me.
"Come along, now," the older woman chides. Before I can even take them all in, they reluctantly let me go, trooping away behind the green-haired head of the Sonozaki household. It hadn't occurred to me until just now, but I suppose if someone were to try and combine Asahina-san and Tsuruya-san, they'd get Aunt Mion -- though she only wears kimono, now, Uncle Keiichi tells me she used to act and dress in a very tomboyish manner.
Usually just before he gets teasingly swatted upside the head.
I shake my head and climb to my feet, running a hand through my hair and glancing out the window. Early morning sunlight steams in, and outside I can see the slope of the mountain that Aunt Mion's house is on. She owns this whole mountain, after all, and a few of the surrounding ones, too.
"How are you doing this morning, Kyon-kun?" she asks, once she returns without any of the children.
"Fine," I answer, stifling a yawn. "Why are all the cousins here?"
Saying that, they aren't actually cousins by blood, outside of Aunt Mion's children, but in a village this small, Aunt Mion and Uncle Keiichi's friends are also considered aunts and uncles.
"Why wouldn't they be?" she counters. "Rena-chan's husband wanted all of us poor parents to gather for a brief reprieve from handling all of the children."
I think I can see where this is going, and I don't particularly like it. I try and steer my path away from the dark fate I sense waiting ahead of me. "A reprieve, you say?" I ask cautiously. "That sounds like fun-- I haven't visited with my aunts and uncles in a while!"
She gives me a grin as though to say, 'Nice try,' and shakes her head. "Once you've gotten up, how do you feel about leading an expedition up into the hills for a picnic with your cousins?"
I think I actually miss the walk to school in the light of this. "Are.... Are they all here?" I can't help but ask, the first hints of true fear rising within my stomach.
"Hmm," Aunt Mion muses thoughtfully, one hand rising to her chin, her long green ponytail swaying behind her as she contemplates. "You've got my twins, Naota and Makoto. Rika-chan's Matsuri and her younger brother Shutaro are here too, and then Rena-chan's Yurie-chan, Satoko-chan's Eiko-chan...."
She trails off with a thoughtful look as I resign myself to the task of watching over the cousins. At least I don't have to deal with--
"Oh! And my sister's children, too! Can't forget Azusa-chan and Yoko-chan!"
"Not the Houjou twins," I groan, before I can restrain myself.
She snorts at me and chides, "Well, if you take them up by the dam for a picnic, they couldn't possibly have set pit traps up there already."
"So that's the plan?" I ask, shaking my head, feeling my relaxing vacation slipping away, buried beneath a tide of rambunctious cousins.
"That's the plan," she agrees. "Oh! But Rena-chan made breakfast, so you can at least have that!"
I manage a smile at the reminder of the fact that among all of our parents, my mother is regarded as the worst cook -- something she herself doesn't like to have pointed out. "There's that, at least," I sigh.
Aunt Mion snorts. "Take a few minutes to wake up and get ready -- the bath is free," she advises.
"Alright," I agree, as she turns around, leaving me alone.
Given a minute to reorient, I glance around the room, which has a futon for me on the floor and is otherwise bare. My luggage is stacked in one corner, since I was too exhausted to put it in the closet, but I go to the window that was left open and put my elbows on the sill, looking outside.
Aunt Mion's home has a great view over the village below. The population is below five thousand, but from my vantage it actually looks smaller. Before the 'heart' of the village, a pair of secondary roads crossing the main route, there are farms. I remember playing in those rice fields in the past, but I have to admit, after leaving the city, the archaic, thatch-style roofs give everything a much more rustic, homely feel.
Have I become so used to the city? I suppose I shouldn't resent the time I spend with my family, I just wish that I could have....
Anyway, my eyes go to my bags, and I contemplate Haruhi's instructions ... but I somehow think that I shouldn't risk taking that with me when I have the responsibility of watching over my cousins. It's only then that I belatedly realize -- I didn't remember a trace of a dream, again.
Rounding up my cousins, all of them dressed (in my mind) for weather much warmer than it is, I lead the force of them up the path along the river to the dam. I recall some mention of political issues, now long-buried in the village's past, that almost prevented its creation. In fact, somewhere beneath the lake on the other side of that retaining structure lie the frames and empty houses of other village residents before their relocation.
Of course, even when I've gone to that body of water and gazed deep into it, it's always been far too murky to make out any hints of that place. It's as mythical, and as far out of my reach, as Atlantis.
We stop on the bank of the river below the dam's outflow. There's a flat area that probably was used for staging equipment during construction a log time ago. Now it's mostly overgrown, so my little sister manages to help me convince the unruly twins (both pair) to set out the picnic blankets. Thankfully, it's mostly grass and a few shrubs, so we don't have to fight the greenery that much to prepare.
The cousins, of course, like to pretend it's much more severe, and we're a group of bold adventurers forging into the unknown depths of a primeval forest. I can't help but think that Haruhi might be pleased by that thought.
For an 'untouched wilderness,' there's one significant structure, which the children quickly dub 'the evil fortress'. The unattended dam doesn't quite loom, but is still several meters tall, aged concrete with rust stains marring its surface regularly. Perhaps implying a gate or other entrance, there's an even rustier metal grate, centered like gritted teeth at the bottom, frothing with the river's outflow.
Once the blankets and bento are all set out, there's no real free time for me to relax. Observing my 'troops,' I need to keep an eye on Shutaro especially -- if he toddles too close to the river, that could be trouble. Certainly, I don't want any of the cousins trying to break into the 'fortress' through that grate in the river.
I should probably be pleased that the collective parents find me responsible enough to watch over my cousins. Instead, I feel like Heracles once more, completing his first set of Labors by defeating the hill, only to be assigned another after his arduous quest.
"Shutaro," I announce, before he can wander off, "you're going to be second-in-command."
"'kay," he replies, nodding eagerly at the other cousins, all of which are older than him. "I'm a boss!" he adds, attaching himself to my side with a grim, solemn nod.
"That's right," I agree, as his older sister puffs her cheeks out angrily. "Matsuri," I tell her, before she can throw a fit, "help Shutaro and me pass out the bento."
"Okay, Kyon-nii-sama!" she chirps, instantly reversing mood. "But call me 'Matsu-chan'!"
"Icky," her younger brother counters, the pair of them working together as assigned despite that. The Houjou and Sonozaki twins line up obediently, Yurie and Eiko on either side of an uncomfortable-looking Naota, my little sister just behind them.
"Lunch!" Azusa demands, holding her hands out expectantly. Matsuri picks up a bento and hands it to the small blonde, and she steps away, her sister immediately taking her place. Shutaro manages to hand the next bento over to Yoko, and the pair obediently takes turns under my supervision.
Matsuri hands a bento over to the green-haired Makoto, who sniffs pointedly at her brother. Shutaro's dusty mop of purple hair shakes as he hands Naota a bento, reprimanding once more, "Icky."
Naota looks glum, unable to escape the watchful eyes of Eiko and Yurie as they go through the line next -- another blonde and a brunette respectively. I shouldn't reduce my cousins so, but when there are so many of them....
After that, I hand my sister her bento myself, and we all sit in a circle, so I can keep an eye on everyone. I pass on the games they want to play, more from a legitimate sense of concern -- hide and seek this close to the river? -- than any other reason. I'm so intent on watching them I don't notice the incoming cloud cover until it's almost upon us.
I can blame at least some of that on the steep walls of the valley, hiding much of the sky. This is, after all, the natural place to build the dam, but the weather cuts our expedition short. As I'm rounding them all up to pack up the remains of our picnic and retreat back to the Sonozaki house, Matsuri falls and skins her knee on a rock hidden in the tall grasses on our retreat.
Splitting up the now empty bentos among the other cousins, I let her climb onto my back, and we all march back, getting to the house just ahead of an unexpected downpour. The assembled parents are already waiting outside, on the verge of coming after us, and then for a little while, I'm overwhelmed by uncles pounding me on the back and telling me that I'm growing up just fine--
And my aunts' comments that some day I'll make some woman a good husband.
Where do they come up with that?
Still-- The cousins are confined indoors because of the rain, Matsuri grumbling over her mother tending her injury instead of me. Not that I was unwilling to help, but Aunt Rika is more experienced in such matters. She's not a doctor or a nurse, but her role as the village's much-beloved shrine maiden has given her a practical knowledge of how to handle all the small cuts and bruises that children might get -- as I recall myself.
Let's not go into her strange habit of speaking out sound-effects to describe things when she gets excited, and what it has to do with my nickname.
After that, once the cousins settle down a bit, there's ... really not much to do. Aunt Mion doesn't have a free computer -- Uncle Keiichi does, but he uses it for his job as a lawyer, and there's no broadband internet anyway. Amazingly enough, he does it all on dial-up.
Once the cousins are distracted with some anime I don't recognize in the other room, attended by Aunt Satoko and her husband, I settle down and break open the textbook-sized hardcover.
I can't help but wince at the size of the thing -- except for the title, it'd fit in a stack of my school books unnoticed. As tired as I am, I manage to get through the first chapter, though I only bother with the first page of the introduction.
From there, it mostly matches my expectations. In order to start out, I need to work on remembering my dreams, just like I thought.
I doubt this is something most normal people are capable of. Of course, Haruhi expects me to pull it off somehow. I wonder how severe my penalty will be if I can't do it?
Then again, given what happened last summer ... this assignment, I will not put off until the final day of vacation. Thanks to having to bring my other school supplies I grab an empty notebook to use as a dream journal and set it by my futon before going to bed. If I do remember anything, well....
When I wake up, the fragmentary dream bits are already slipping from my mind-- but I grab my journal and jot down what I can remember, anyway. The only part I can recall with any real clarity is a re-enactment of the hike to the picnic site, except that the journey was also the same annoying hill I walk every day to school.
That says something about me, I suppose.
When I climb to my feet and open the window, I see it's still raining outside. Not quite as heavy, but it's coming down pretty steadily.
Shaking my head, I listen to the sounds of the other cousins in the distant reaches of Aunt Mion's home-- It's huge, but still nothing compared to Tsuruya-san's house. The thump of approaching steps warns me of an imminent attack, so I brace myself.
A heartbeat after that, Matsuri flings the door open and charges at me, trying to tackle me even as her mother chases her, calling, "Matsu-chan! You have to take your raincoat off first!"
Then, of course, I've got a dripping child clamped onto my leg. "Kyon-nii-sama!" she cheers. "Let's take a bath!"
Perhaps in response to my horrified facial expression, Aunt Rika clicks her tongue and with a single expert motion -- I have no idea how she does this -- Matsuri is separated from me and propelled down the hall. "You'll take a bath with Nono-chan and the others," she chastises, somewhat sternly. "Honestly! And when you're done, you're mopping up the mess you made!"
"I want to be with Kyon-nii-sama!" Matsuri whines in futile protest, vanishing toward the bath with her mother.
Meanwhile, one leg of my pajamas is now soaked, and evidently the bath is occupied by the girls.
Once Matsuri is shuffled away, Aunt Mion walks down the hall and -- looking amused at my plight -- tells me I can use the shower in the master bedroom. I take what mercy I can find. By the time that and breakfast are squared away, I'm surprised to realize I'd have completely forgotten my dream if I hadn't written something down.
Sitting inside the house, cooped up because of the rain, I claim a small chair in the family room and press on with my assignment.
"Whatcha readin', Kyon-nii-sama?" Matsuri asks, breaking into my boring trudge through chapter two -- more about controlling dreams than remembering them.
"Just an assignment," I answer with a shrug. For all that I'm doing it, I'm not about to advertise to my family what I'm undertaking. I'm sure at best I'd get a few chuckles. At worst, I'd get a lot of chuckles, and another story equal to that of the one concerning my nickname. My cousins probably can't read the more complex kanji of the title anyway, so I should be safe.
She pouts, putting her hands on my arm and trying to tug me away from my seat. I had intentionally chosen a chair small enough that she couldn't squeeze in next to me. "Let's sit at the kotatsu!" she demands. The other cousins are caught up in a board game, along with Uncle Keiichi. It's a big table, but it'll still be crowded with nine children, myself, and my uncle.
I can't say I find the stuff that interesting to read, but it is somehow strangely compelling. Still, it'll make a nice change of pace from just reading; my head feels like it's about to explode. Kind of the way I feel when Haruhi drills instructions or important facts into my head during study sessions, actually.
"Is this game almost over?" I ask.
"Eiko-chan or Yurie-chan are going to win in a few rounds, probably," Uncle Keiichi agrees, while my sister stares intently at her cards.
I rise from the chair, trying to ignore Matsuri-- But of course, Aunt Rika, as though able to sense Matsuri's behavior through walls, appears carrying a large plastic bag, a few drops of moisture on it betraying that she'd been outside somewhere.
"Matsu-chan," she warns, clicking her tongue as Eiko and Yurie begin playing cards against one-another rapid-fire, competing to win like Olympic-level board-game athletes. The only people who can play more viciously than them are their mothers.
My little sister ekes out second place, sneaking around Yurie's final maneuver, as Aunt Rika sets the bag down and clears her throat. Once she's got everyone's attention, she suggests, "Why don't we make some teruterubouzu, and try and send away the rain -- saaa, saaa? I grabbed some extra cotton from the shrine~!"
This seems as agreeable an activity as any -- I take Uncle Keiichi's place as he goes to check his e-mail, and help hand out strings, scraps of white cotton fabric, and balls of loose cotton. Aunt Rika takes the place next to me, with Matsuri restrained to her far side.
I expect that if Nagato can't do it without side-effects, Hinamizawa's kami aren't about to change the weather, either. Despite that, I show Shutaro how to stuff and bundle the cloth, then help him tie the string off on his little 'shine shine monk.'
"Why's it called that?" he asks, while the other cousins labor away at their own.
"You remember, right, Kyon-kun?" Aunt Rika prompts, helping Eiko with her project.
"Well, there was a story about a monk who promised to make the rain go away," I agree, "though, that story started long after they'd come into use. Really, they call it 'bouzu', because when you wrap the cloth around the ball of cotton," I demonstrate, crafting one as he watches, "it's round, like the bald head of a monk."
"And 'teruteru' because we want the sun to shine again!" Shutaro realizes.
"That's right," I agree, while Matsuri pouts at not being closer to me. "Now, we hang them out where they can see the rain, and it's a prayer for the rain to stop tomorrow."
"And if the rain goes away," Eiko adds knowingly, "then we put eyes and smiles on them!"
"But if they're hung upside down, then it's a prayer for more rain," Yurie contributes, nodding.
"Exactly," Aunt Rika completes, beaming the cousins a smile. "Now, Matsu-chan, if you finish making yours, maybe you can ask Kyon-kun to lift you up to hang it up outside, hmm?"
That's enough to send the purple-haired girl into a teruterubouzu-crafting frenzy.
After a relatively uneventful evening, I wake up and blearily turn straight to my newly-created dream journal, jotting down what I can recall of the last night's dream. Should I have more than one?
I only recall the one, getting most of the details down on paper before it slips away -- Koizumi taking me aside on a tediously long bus-ride to tell me that he turned into a teruterubouzu.
Admittedly, the image of Koizumi, unchanged except for his completely bald head and a puffy white shirt very like the skirt of a teruterubouzu is somewhat hilarious. Though ... what exactly prompts dreaming about him?
For no particular reason, I attempt one of the exercises I recall reading in the book -- closing my mouth and trying to breathe through it anyway. I can't, which tells me I'm awake ... even though I was fairly certain of that already. As I step into the hall, I see my little sister already dashing toward Makoto's room, and Aunt Mion watching her while slowly shaking her head.
When she spots me, the woman smiles, suggesting, "Why don't you gather up your laundry after you take a bath? It seems that there may be a break in the rain; hopefully we can put some things up to dry when that happens."
I personally doubt the cold mountain air is good for 'drying' anything, but am looped into a seemingly innocuous chain of chores almost immediately after emerging from the bath. Judging by my mother's self-satisfied look, this was her suggestion, and not Aunt Mion's.
It's not the worst way to spend the day, and the tasks are less grueling then those that Haruhi would assign me.... My cousins and little sister take to giggling about something right at the edges of my hearing, but I focus on the chores assigned to me, even when the last is the most unpleasant--
Marching down to Aunt Rena's house in the rain to chop some wood beneath the awning attached to her woodshed.
I try and complain about it, but Aunt Rika, as though sensing my irritation before I can voice it, just happens to muse, in her 'wise shrine-maiden' way: "When a young man came to the monastery and joined, he asked an elder monk:
"'How do I achieve enlightenment?'
"The elder monk replied, 'Before achieving enlightenment: cut wood, carry water.'
"'And after?' the initiate asked.
"The elder monk replied in the same voice, 'After achieving enlightenment: cut wood, carry water.'"
My blank stare speaks volumes, so the woman clicks her tongue and clarifies, "Mindfulness in all things, Kyon-kun!"
I can't even begin to guess what that's supposed to mean. I suppose I'll have plenty of time to think about it, though.
"Mindfulness in all things," Aunt Rika reiterates. "When you get to Rena-chan's, after she and Yurie-chan have made you tea, be sure to ask for her for a real axe -- not that billhook she's always trying to use. That makes it easier to chop -- choki, choki!" she concludes, making a 'chopping' sound, either in excitement or to be cute.
Of course....
I'm still mulling over the point of Aunt Rika's thought exercise just as I'm finishing the physical one. Even in the cold, once I'm beneath the awning outside Aunt Rena's woodshed, I end up stripping down to my undershirt from the effort. A proper axe is pretty heavy, but I am without a doubt cutting wood.
I suppose with the moisture in my clothes, I'm already carrying water without fetching buckets of it from the river. I'll have to sadly file my experience in my 'pre-enlightenment' phase, though. I do at least manage to work my reality-check -- breathing in through my mouth when it's closed -- into a bit more regular habit, assisted by the repetition of the work and Aunt Rika's story.
It may not be enough to satisfy a master yogi, but for myself, it's adequate.
Once I finish stacking the cut wood and stumble to Aunt Rena's house to inform her, she insists that I take a relaxing soak in the bath -- safely away from Matsuri's antics. No complaints on my part, and afterwards, a very enjoyable lunch.
The only real downside after that is escorting cousin Yurie to the Sonozaki house afterwards, as Aunt Rena and her husband are meeting my parents for a partners game of mahjong at a tournament in Okinomiya, the next town over. The little brown-haired girl, looking like a cross between my younger sister and ... a girl I knew in middle-school, is as inquisitive as her mother -- the other cousins call her 'great detective' because of her intuition.
She spots one of my reality-checks on the way back to the house and gives me a curious, thoughtful look, but says nothing. That kid is sharp. Maybe I should introduce her to that kid Haruhi tutors? Or maybe I should check with Asahina-san and find out if that's what's supposed to happen.
Where did she get so sharp, anyway? I suppose it's something she must have learned from her mother, but she's eagerly willing to help me against the rest of the assembled cousins when we get to Aunt Mion's and find they've decided to hide all of my textbooks to make me play with them.
"Really?" I can't help but wonder, looking at Matsuri's smug expression.
"Play with us, Kyon-nii-sama!" Matsuri demands, echoed immediately by my younger sister, and then the Houjou twins. There really is no escape, is there?
"Cousin Kyon-kun's books are all hidden!" Eiko declares proudly, crossing her arms over her chest and bobbing her short, golden hair with each nod of her head. "And his phone, too!"
"It's them against us," Yurie deduces almost instantly, causing Matsuri to squeal in indignation at realizing she's set herself against me. "Now, are they hidden somewhere they won't get damaged, I wonder, I wonder?"
"They'd better be," Aunt Rika calls from the next room. "Unless a certain shrine-maiden-in-training wants a spanking!"
Matsuri pouts deeply, before Naota contributes, "They're all hidden in safe places -- but no calling your phone to find it! That's cheating!"
Not that it would work with this reception anyway....
Well, it is me versus a group of children, but Yurie knows them well enough that her help makes a substantial difference. Thanks to the brown-haired child prodigy, reminding me more and more of certain older girls with hair the same color through her insight, I only spend a few hours looking for my books and phone. Nothing as dismal as spending my entire vacation looking for them -- like happened last year.
Certainly, it keeps me busy. Once I retrieve my books -- naturally, the one Haruhi gave me being the last to be found -- I put them back away, pausing to turn my phone off and hide it at the very bottom of my bags. I could deal with the books being gone, mostly, but losing that phone would be terrible; I have some very important files saved there.
I checked to make sure they hadn't been tampered with before Matsuri hid it (of all places) inside a pair of Makoto's folded socks. After browsing through a few less interesting pictures, I flip to one of Haruhi -- completely by coincidence. How many days has it been since I've seen her, anyway?
Thinking about that ... I resolve to actually try harder at this lucid dream thing. As improbable as it seems, I am making progress, aren't I? Maybe even a normal human like me really can pull this off.
I'm not sure how I got there, and everything feels a bit fuzzy, but I realize I'm standing in the hall of Aunt Mion's home-- only, now it's even larger. Through the Western-style bay windows I don't recall Aunt Mion having, I can see the rocky shore of the island, waves crashing against the snow-capped stones covering the beach.
Koizumi remarks, "I do hope that Suzumiya-san finds the search for your textbooks interesting. Really, it's the best I could come up with on such short notice."
Blinking, I turn to regard him, realizing he's standing in the hall next to me, wearing a yukata -- just like I am. It takes a moment for me to realize what's happening, and I press my lips together and inhale.
And breathe anyway.
I blink again, staring at my hands in fascination. I'm still me, human and all. Koizumi continues on his discussion as my cousins stream past in a giggling, indistinct blur, my little sister shifting into Yurie, and then Makoto, and then....
So, this is a dream?
Being aware of it being a dream while I'm in it -- I'm so stunned by my success that I exclaim, "I did it!" just like an ancient Grecian philosopher leaping naked from his bath in realization.
I'm as humiliated as I suspect he should have been to then almost immediately find myself tangled in my bedding, feeling an odd sense of almost complete disorientation, my limbs feeling out of place from where I think they should have been. By the time I manage to get things sorted out and fumble my way to a sitting position, I see Aunt Mion peering around the door frame in consternation.
"Did what?" she asks, cocking her head to one side, offering a curious smile.
"I-- I was having a dream," I offer, my mind shifting at the sudden realization that this -- everything around me -- is significantly more detailed than my dreaming mind devised. My aunt's eyebrows rise as I press my lips together and try and breathe again.
Not a dream.
"A good one?" she asks.
"Too short," I answer, fumbling for the dream journal I've decided to hide from my cousins beneath one of the tatami mats of the guest bedroom. I can't help but be vastly annoyed that as soon as I started to get a grasp of the exercise, I immediately screwed it up.
If Haruhi asks for a report, I think officially that won't have happened. Keeping that and Aunt Rika's admonition in mind, I try and reinforce the habit of reality-checking periodically.
Since it feels like I'm making far more progress than originally anticipated, I let myself relax a bit during the day -- the teruterubouzu haven't worked yet, despite Matsuri insistently leading another round of crafting them. I suspect that was more to try and get me to lift the cousins up high enough to hang them than any real care for the rain on her part, though. For the other cousins, Naota and Shutaro are beginning to get mopey about the lack of opportunity to play 'zombie tag' or have a 'life-or-death' squirt-gun battle.
Instead, I spend a few hours appeasing them by losing at card games, board games, and then experience mild humiliation when I recycle the plot of Koizumi's winter mystery. I deliver it as a script instead of bothering to act it out, since the situation is less than ideal; my sister provides a trove of interesting, but irrelevant details.
Together, Eiko and Yurie crack that case almost as quickly as Haruhi and Tsuruya-san, though my little sister is still as lost as I felt back then.
I excuse myself to take a break, wandering into the kitchen.
Today is Wednesday, which means the vacation is about half over. Not that I haven't enjoyed it, but....
The phone rings abruptly, jarring me from my thoughts; usually the calls are to Uncle Keiichi's private line, in his office. "I'll get it~!" my sister chirps, her small feet pounding down the hallway before she snatches the phone up. "Hello?" I hear her ask. "Oh! Nee-chan!"
Wait, really? Well-- I suppose at this point, the bigger surprise is that Haruhi hasn't called to demand a progress report earlier.
I pad out of the kitchen, pausing to set a dish of Aunt Mion's cookies on the table. Like circling piranha, the cousins will reduce it to a bare plate by the time I return, I'm sure. As I round the corner to the hall with the phone, my sister shouts, "Kyon-kun, phone!"
"I heard," I tell her, tousling her hair, unable to keep a slight smile from my face as I hold a hand out for the phone.
"It's a girl," she adds unnecessarily, as Matsuri materializes at my side with a look of dismay, her face covered with cookie-crumbs.
Aunt Rika sweeps her away before she can do more than squeak out an irate, "Kyon-nii-sama--"
My little sister, giggling, runs after her cousin the second she hands the phone over to me.
Wondering what Haruhi's doing -- how the Brigade's trips have been going -- I can't help but smile as I greet her with a cautious, "Hello?"
"Hello," a calm, quiet, and decidedly non-Haruhi voice returns.
"Ah," I manage, frowning, a little off-balanced by this. "Er-- Nagato, it's good to hear from you. Is everything alright?"
"A space that waking humans cannot access is being created that spans the distance between your current location and that of Suzumiya Haruhi," she tells me quietly.
I freeze in alarm, feeling my heart quicken in my chest. "Excuse me?" I ask, more calmly than I feel.
"This space is not well understood, but is not anticipated to be dangerous."
For the first time in a long while, I wish Koizumi were around to translate for me.
"This-- You're saying that it's harmless?" I press.
"Yes," she agrees.
There's nothing but silence across the line for a long while, before I remember that this is long distance ... if that actually bothers Nagato. "Um," I start, shaking my head, "so ... she's, what, trying to somehow bridge the distance between us?"
"This is the current hypothesis," Nagato agrees.
"And it's not dangerous?"
"I will protect you," she says, as quietly as she did when I asked what would happen if another interface were to attack me.
I ... suppose that's reassuring, then. It's strange, and if Nagato can't figure it out, then I've got no hope of understanding what she's really doing-- But then, it's not like Haruhi really did anything on purpose here, is it?
"Okay," I allow, shaking my head. "Um, thanks for letting me know about that, Nagato." There's another pause before I think to ask, "So, how have you been?"
"I am fine," she returns, the tiniest hint of ... is that amusement? Cheer? There's something in her voice, though. Then, uncharacteristically, she says, "Take care," and disconnects.
"Who is she?" Matsuri explodes, evidently having broken free from Aunt Rika's restraining grip and rushing back in the hall to try and aim the progenitor of all unhappy childish pouts at me.
I sigh and shake my head as Aunt Rika returns and chides, "Matsu-chan, let Kyon-kun talk to his girlfriend in peace."
"Icky!" Shutaro shouts in counterpoint from the family room.
The little girl's face turns red and she scowls at me as I hang up the phone. "Kyon-nii-sama is cruel! How could you?" She tries to turn and run away in tears, but her mother catches her with a weary sigh before she can flee.
"That's quite enough of that," Aunt Rika says flatly. "A time-out for you, young lady, until you can behave properly!"
"It.... It wasn't a girlfriend," I mumble halfheartedly, though neither of them are listening to me by that point.
When I find myself in the clubroom after reading more of that book -- remembering the passages on 'how to avoid breaking yourself out of the dream' -- I handle it a little better. For one thing, every time I blink, the information on the page seems to change. Keeping in mind what I'd learned, I try and be calm and relaxed about it. The clubroom seems right, if empty except for myself.
Time for a reality-check: I close my mouth and breathe in.
It's a dream, alright.
Instead of pushing too hard right away, I think about what I want to appear -- something simple to start. When bring my focus down to the table from the ceiling, there's a steaming cup of tea before me, as though freshly made and placed there by Asahina-san herself. The book has vanished, somewhere, not that it was making much sense in the dream, anyway.
...though, thinking of Asahina-san, and this being a dream, I can't help but wonder if maybe I can-- That thought is interrupted with the door being kicked open energetically.
I can actually feel some part of my subconscious reacting, and barely cling to the dream as I slowly turn to look at the intruder.
Wearing an unbuttoned long black coat, a powder-blue skirt, and a yellow top, Haruhi grins at me, holding up one white-gloved hand, clenching it into a fist. "Another one, eh?" she muses, staring at me.
I can swear to you now -- this is not something my conscious mind pulled up. I cannot vouch for my traitorous subconscious, here, but this was not my intent.
I blink again, taking in the crimson armband reading, 'Legendary Dreamer,' in stark black kanji.
"I'm tired of these fakes," she declares, lowering her fist and pointing two fingers at me, before suddenly snapping them. I feel my clothing shift as she demands, "Dance for me, cheerleader!"
I've not worn a skirt before, and I don't ever intend to in the waking world, but quite abruptly, I'm wearing a male-sized version of the same outfit I last saw on Haruhi and Asahina-san at the baseball game.
A bit annoyed at my subconscious for drawing up such a being, I flatly return, "No," and make the same gesture back at her, concentrating and looking away for a moment. When I snap my fingers and look back, Haruhi's jaw has dropped wide, and she's staring at the maid outfit she's now wearing in shock. The same one Asahina-san wears, though it occurs to me a moment later I could have gone for something more exotic.
"You promised you'd wear that once, and never have. Now, some tea wouldn't be amiss," I reprimand gently, unable to keep a smile off my face at the image of Haruhi in that outfit. I'd never tell her, but she's actually almost even cute like that.
She looks up at me sharply. "Wait," she says, shaking her head quickly, passing her right hand over her left upper arm, incidentally leaving another copy of her 'Legendary Dreamer' armband in that hand's wake. "You're-- You're the real Kyon, not another dream Kyon?" Her face lights up in a brilliant smile, her eyes wide. "You must be! And the maid fetish proves it!"
Shaking her head abruptly, she casts about the room, her grin diminishing slightly. "I did expect a bit more, but I guess this is alright to start," she allows.
...wait. Could it be that ... the space Nagato mentioned that waking humans couldn't enter....
Did Haruhi decide that she was going to be the girl of my dreams? Literally?
"This is the most detailed version of this room I've seen since I've started," she says in an admiring voice, ignoring me and going to the costume rack, where a duplicate of the maid costume she's still wearing hangs.
She did! She really did!
Oh, brother-- Talk about never being able to get out from underneath your Brigade Chief's thumb, even in your dreams!