The Assassination of Haruhi Suzumiya

Chapter 13: Waking Up Sleeping Beauty

The amount of shock experienced by myself alone felt like an electrocution aimed directly at my heart. Questions that my head demanded to be answered wandered aimlessly in my mind as I felt like I had lost the ability to speak. I must have become pale as a ghost as I felt for a wall behind me in case I felt the urge to faint.

Haruhi had somehow done it... she had pieced it together. No wonder she warned me first, because despite knowing what she was doing, I have never ever seen Haruhi look like she was secretly wishing she would be wrong. Why couldn't this be the time?!

Tsuruya was cackling like a witch. "Well? This is what you wanted, isn't it? My sweet Mikuru has done a fantastic job of keeping an eye on it for me."

I saw Miss Asahina react to the stare I had been giving her in a panic. "K-Kyon... Why are you staring at me like that?... I didn't do anything bad did I?"

It was as if she had quickly realised something terrible, that under these suffocating circumstances had now caused her to be on the verge of weeping. "Oh no... I'm so sorry we didn't mean to..."

I didn't understand. Something about the way Tsuruya was acting compared to Asahina was off. The two almost contradicted each other. This wasn't right.

Getting the sense that Haruhi was ready to charge forward at Tsuruya, I quickly grabbed her wrist firmly and held it tight. She gave me a puzzled expression that made it almost seem like she was questioning my motives. I get that she's angry and probably hurt and seeking vengeance, but please... Just be calm a moment so I can fully comprehend the situation properly. Let's not all be rash here.

I felt Nagato's shoulder brush up against mine. Her eyes quivered, as if struggling against an internal force to exclaim something to me, yet however, remained as composed as a porcelain doll. Once she had my full attention, her lips quickly against restraint parted to allow her words to murmur out.

"They are not the same."

I beg your pardon? What could you possibly mean? What's not the same?!

She took the slightest of breaths in, in the process of potentially elaborating further until Nagato's expression unexpectedly changed. It was like witnessing someone unplug a television while it had still been running. Nagato was never that emotive, yet now, I could tell something was gravely wrong.

I heard a piercing scream spill from Asahina almost instantly. By the time I was aware of her panic, she had already begun to call Nagato's name in a weeping fashion.

Not even seconds apart, Haruhi now had a grip on my arm with both hands- a grip that seemed to be becoming weaker in each passing moment.

It was too fast. It was all too fast.

My blurry, unfocused eyes suddenly registered the image it was seeing. The colour crimson slowly dyed Nagato's school uniform originating from her lungs. The pale delicate hand that she had placed on the affected area of her body became sticky with flowing blood.

Nagato had been shot.

It was as if time had slowed itself down in that moment, as if replicating a piece of video footage that had been slowed down so significantly that the image itself became pixelated. My disbelief at the unfolding events made everything became blurry and distorted- it was both too fast and too slow, that I suddenly felt out of touch with reality.

My first instinct was to turn towards the person who had possession of the gun in a hot rage and from that, not even I knew what I was going to do. It baffled me to see Tsuruya suddenly with both arms raised above her head in a panicked surrender.