“Every question you asked was extremely apt.”
I just said what I felt.
“Are you sure you don’t have the whole thing solved?”
You think way too highly of me. My hunches aren’t as accurate as Haruhi’s, and if I had figured everything out, I ain’t a good enough actor to pretend I hadn’t.
“I’ll take your word for it.”
That’s easier than expected.
“There’s a category of orthodox mysteries in which the Watson character reaches the truth before the actual detective.”
Orthodox mysteries basically have no rules, huh? I was starting to wonder if this orthodox word actually had any meaning at all.
“What about you?” I asked.
I was pretty sure there were no spies within the SOS Brigade. Koizumi was the only one even remotely likely. He’d certainly been known to provide safe events to keep Haruhi from doing anything too crazy—while she was focused on those diversions, there was no chance of her bending reality.
“I mean, you getting deep into that conversation with T is what gave her the excuse to stick around.”
His smile never wavered.
“It seemed more like they were hoping I’d provide solutions in a pinch. At the very least, with the dying message—given the right hint, it was highly probable that Nagato or myself would be able to ascertain Takenao Notobe’s name.”
We started walking back to the room, shoulder to shoulder.
“Anthony Berkeley wrote a novel of that title, you see. In Japanese, it’s known as Fukuyou Kinshi, but the original English title was Not to Be Taken. Which is why it comes up on a web search. That’s why I said, ‘You’ll soon see why.’”
He looked momentarily downcast.
“We were all playing the same game, but I was on easy mode. Or it felt like I was, at any rate.”
If Koizumi had been in on it, I’m sure Tsuruya or T would have blabbed that by now, so I’ll take his word for it this time.
“But one thing that’s been on my mind…”
Go ahead.
“When we finished Episode One, Suzumiya jumped right to a conclusion. I was concerned that her idea would be the truth, or used as a trick in later episodes.”
Oh yeah, the thing about the Ep1 narrator not being Tsuruya, and the girl being Tsuruya instead? And then she’d suggested neither one of them was Tsuruya.
“Both ideas proved wrong.”
Yeah, it was a random shot in the dark before we had any clues to work with.
“Do you really think that?” Koizumi’s eyes were fixed somewhere in the vicinity of my temples. “If it were anyone else, you’d have a point. But this is Suzumiya.”
Fair. I guess I at least get why it’s bugging you.
“If Haruhi’s intuition had turned out to be on the money, that would have been because she warped reality to get the truth she wanted.”
“We would also have to consider the possibility that she’d unconsciously given herself precognitive powers.”
Those both sounded bad.
“But neither one happened.”
Did Haruhi’s first impression being wrong mean her powers were fading? Or common sense was winning? Or was this outcome what she’d subconsciously wanted?
“Given Suzumiya’s innate extrasensory abilities, the off-the-cuff deductions after reading the first episode could easily have led right to the truth.”
We were taking our time walking back.
“She wouldn’t even have needed to ‘guess.’ Her random burst of intuition would have become the truth. The answer the mystery club prepared would have been rewritten in that instant, becoming the sole truth, the only truth that had ever been.”
We had to wrap this discussion up before we reached the clubroom. I shifted down another gear.
“But as you said, none of that occurred. Her intuition flew far from the mark, and the answer was not adjusted to match.”
In which case…hooray, right? Why the long face?
“If this means Suzumiya’s reality-altering powers are diminishing, then I agree.” He stroked his chin. “But what if that’s not the case? What if Suzumiya unconsciously chose to reach the answer without reality alteration?”
Where’s the problem with that?
“Even a whim counts as a conscious act. If her unconscious desires overcame her conscious ones, overrode them, and altered the outcome Suzumiya actually desired, that means her unconscious energy is now more powerful than her conscious equivalent.”
She’s always doing all kinds of crap unconsciously. The closed space being a prime example.
“If her conscious and unconscious minds are opposed, the latter winning out is a big problem. I hope I am unduly concerned, but if this trend continues, her powers—which were never exactly manageable to begin with—will become impossible to control at all.”
Unconsciousness beats conscious. So…you mean, she might unleash her ludicrous power, and even she won’t be able to stop it?
“In simple terms, yes.”
But nobody, ourselves included, could tell if Haruhi had interfered with the outcome of the mystery game.
“True. The late Queen problem only occurs because the detective exists solely within the story itself. They are incapable of perceiving anything outside the bounds of it. Nor should they be. The detective is neither the author nor the reader and thus has no means of knowing anything except what is described within the story itself.”
Just like how we couldn’t figure out the heliocentric theory while we believed the world was flat? Nah, that’s a stretch.
“When a character shares a name with the author—and this is not exclusive to Ellery Queen—the character and author are not the same. After all, you can’t have a character who knows everything and controls events like an omnipotent god.”
One reason ancient Greek lyric poetry could impress while also being no fun at all.
“However, Suzumiya can do just that. She is capable of interacting with and influencing the reality in which we exist. We—aliens and time travelers and espers—only exist due to the manifestation of her powers. The SOS Brigade members were selected at random and coincidentally included three such supernatural beings. What are the odds?”
If we’re ever in trouble, I’ll have to make her buy a lottery ticket.
“I believe the odds of her winning will remain within the standard parameters. I think I’ve said this before, but she’s been consistently sensible when it comes to everyday activities like that.”
He laughed like this sidebar had been a great joke.
“Imagine Suzumiya as the detective in a whodunit. She is within the story yet has the power to arbitrarily rewrite said story. What happens then? The story progression is determined not by the author or the reader but by the intuition of a character within it.”
You might as well get a book where the ending and identity of the culprit changed every time. Sounded like a plus to me. You could enjoy a single book any number of times.
“I would imagine not.”
Why are you so sure?
“Because Suzumiya’s alteration abilities would affect the world outside the story. Even assuming the culprit was different on the first and second reads, the reader themselves would not notice the difference. If the second truth becomes reality, then their memories of the previous truth would be altered to match. Rereading the book would simply result in you perceiving it to have the same contents it always did.”
I’m not big on having my memories messed with.
“The phenomenon alters everything, so it isn’t specifically altering anyone’s memories in particular. After all…” Koizumi paused for a beat. “Suzumiya is doing all this unconsciously.”
Can’t complain when you put it that way. I know as long as it doesn’t go out of control, that’s far better than her doing anything intentionally. But if Haruhi was what Koizumi said, then it was like having someone in the story who didn’t know she was an omnipotent god.
In that light, then yeah, like Koizumi said, it was kinda scary.
“Eh, it’ll probably work out okay.”
As long as Haruhi was preoccupied with other things, then she wouldn’t feel the urge to muck with the world, even unconsciously. Might as well keep the harmless events coming. Like this one or the seven-wonders thing.
The literature-club door was in sight. I could hear four girls chattering away inside.
There was something I should ask.
“What’s up with that Tachibana girl?”
Seemed like he saw that coming.
“She and her group are tired of playing at secret societies. Chasing after Sasaki clearly won’t get them anywhere. Only potential issue is…”
Kuyoh Suoh?
“Yes. But as far as she’s concerned, I must insist on staying out of it. That is for you and Nagato to handle.”
And T’s just normal.
“I believe so.”
Well, good.
As we stepped back in the club, Tsuruya and T were getting to their feet.
Off to report the results to the mystery club’s senior crew.
“I offer my deepest gratitude for your help today,” T said, bowing low. “I have once again confirmed the pleasure of knowing each of you. You’re all every bit as wonderful as Tsuruya made you sound. Thank you, my friends.”
She then made a big show of shaking my hand and Koizumi’s. We were gonna see each other again in class the next day, but the situation left me with no choice, so I shook her hand back. As she finished up with Koizumi, she said, “We’ll have to discuss our favorite Father Brown short stories next.” I guess there were priests writing mystery novels now.
Meanwhile, Tsuruya gave me a hearty slap on the back.
“Yo! Today was a blast and a half! I was grinning the whole time! We gotta do this again,” she said as she waved at us on her way out.
“Absolutely!” Haruhi said, leaning back in her chair.
“Bye!” Asahina said, clutching her teapot.
I looked around the room, feeling like I was searching for the mistake—and then realized Nagato was out of place.
“………”
Her book was closed. She wasn’t reading anything. Her short-haired head was staring fixedly at Tsuruya’s back. It didn’t take long before the two visitors were completely out of sight, but Nagato’s gaze betrayed a strength of will far beyond anything I had ever sensed from her before.