Free The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa Page B

a necessary expense. You buy lunch for everyone.”
    And with that totalitarian decision, she started waving her hand. “Come on, everyone! The bus stop’s this way! Get a move on!”
    It didn’t escape my attention that her armband now read
Super-Director.
Apparently, Haruhi already believed herself beyond a mere great director. She must have had one hell of a movie in mind. I’ll say it again: An Asahina promotional video would be far more entertaining to film.
    After thirty minutes of bumpy bus riding, we got off at a stop in the hills. Then we spent another thirty minutes laboriously hiking up a steep trail.
    It was a commonplace forest park you could find anywhere. Being born and raised around here, I was quite familiar with the area. When I was in grade school, we had a hiking field trip to the nearby hills almost every year.
    It was a park in name only—in reality just some cleared-off open space with a fountain tacked on. An utterly empty place that made you want to openly question why a person would voluntarily climb up here. The only happy people I saw around were kids ignorant of pleasure and the family members who’d brought them here.
    We set up in a corner of the plaza where the fountain was and designated it as our filming base. Empty-handed, Haruhi looked to be brimming with energy, but I was completely worn out. If I hadn’t forced half the stuff onto Koizumi on the way up, I seriously might have collapsed. I leaned against the Wandervogel-issue-looking bag and tried to catch my breath.
    “Um, would you like a drink?”
    A small plastic bottle was thrust before me. The hand holding the bottle belonged to Asahina.
    “If you don’t mind that I already drank from it…” Oolong tea made for gods. It must taste heavenly. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. If I don’t drink it, lightning will strike me down.
    As I gladly reached for the offered drink, the evil devil’s hand brushed away the angel’s arm. Haruhi snatched the oolong tea away from Asahina.
    “Save it for later. Mikuru, now isn’t the time to be watering the help. We have to hurry or else we might lose this perfect weather. Let’s get the camera rolling.”
    Asahina’s eyes opened as wide as saucers.
    “What…? We’re going to shoot here?”
    “Of course we are. Why do you think we came here?”
    “Then I don’t have to change? Since there isn’t a place for me to change around here…”
    “Sure, there is. Look, there are places all around us.”
    Haruhi pointed to an area surrounded by a jagged ridge of trees.
    “N-n-no—H-help…”
    Before I had a chance to help, Haruhi disappeared deep into the woods with Asahina in tow.
    Once Asahina reappeared, she was clad in the spiffy waitress outfit that would serve as her film attire. Her hair was a tumbled mess as she gazed with quivering eyes at the autumn foliage growing on the side of the road.
    One of her eyes was noticeably a different color. Her left eye’s blue. What the hell?
    “Color contact,” Haruhi explained. “It’s pretty important to have the left eye be a different color. Look, that’s all it takes to add to her mysteriousness. It’s all we need to make this work. A symbol of sorts, a symbol.”
    She grabbed Asahina’s chin from behind and tilted her little face. Asahina just looked dumbfounded as she was being manipulated.
    “There’s a secret in this blue eye,” said Haruhi.
    “Well, yeah. Wouldn’t be much of a story if her eyes were different colors for no reason.”
    The sight of Asahina’s exhausted face was enough to hook me, though.
    “So? What’s so secret about that color contact?”
    “That’s still a secret,” Haruhi replied with a smirk. “Hey, Mikuru. How long are you going to play dead? Get your act together. You’re the leading actress. The most important person after the director and producer. Chin up! Stand up straight!”
    “Wah—”
    And with a sob, Asahina began posing per Haruhi’s instructions. Haruhi forced Asahina to